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Blockbuster UK Ends Up Shutting 129 of 528 Stores[teaser]The rest of the company will be restructured in a way that makes Blockbuster appealing to buyers. [/teaser] It was hoped, as it always is, that when Blockbuster UK entered administration – like a British version of bankruptcy – that no one would need to be laid off and all of the company's stores could remain open. After reviewing the books though, it seems that's not the case. Lee Manning of Doloitte, the risk management firm that's in charge of the Blockbuster UK administrative process, has decided that a total of 129 stores must close in order for the company to move forward. "Having reviewed the portfolio with management, the store closure plan is an inevitable consequence of having to restructure the company to a profitable core which is capable of being sold." Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Mon Jan 21, 2013 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Blockbuster UK is Being Sold[teaser]The company has entered administration and is now up for grabs, either in parts or in full. [/teaser] We haven't heard too much out of Blockbuster in the US recently, but there are big things happening over at Blockbuster UK. The company has been going through hard times and has entered administration – essentially an alternative to liquidation. The plan is to sell off Blockbuster, in parts or in whole. "The core of the business is still profitable and we will continue to trade as normal in both retail and rental whilst we seek a buyer for all or parts of the business as a going concern," says Lee Manning of Deloitte's Restructuring Services. He stresses that one of the big concerns of the restructuring is to save as many jobs as possible. This marks one of several large UK retailers that have had trouble recently, including camera seller Jessops which entered into Administration only to close its doors completely. Source: BBCPosted Fri Jan 18, 2013 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
300 of LG's UHDTVs Have Already Sold[teaser]Not bad considering the $20,000 price tag and lack of native content. [/teaser] Ultra High Definition television may not be something that's common yet and it's not something that most people can afford, but 300 people in Korea have already shelled out for LG's $20,000 UHDTV set. That's a good sign, considering that this is a fairly niche market. It should also be noted that the 84LM9600 is just one of the 4K sets that's hitting shelves early this year, and if others sell in similar numbers, we may be looking at a strong future for the tech. Samsung's set may be more expensive, but they've only got 77 available for preorder, and we don't expect it to be long before that number becomes zero. Source: EngadgetPosted Thu Jan 17, 2013 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
Status Acoustics Announces the Unique New 8T Speaker[teaser]The design is intended to completely separate the mid and treble cabinet from the bass. [/teaser] The 8T speaker from Status Acoustics looks like – well we're not entirely sure. It's definitely interesting though. The speaker features three 10-inch subwoofers in a triangular formation with four 6.5-inch midrange drivers and a single 1-inch tweeter all aligned vertically. Thing is, those two sections are separate. The unique design of the 8T was created to eliminate cabinet resonance. The top section is held in place by a wire-concealing bracket which adds even more to the strange look of the speakers. They'll be available in the spring at $50,000 a pair and in 30 different wood-grain veneers. Source: Electronic HousePosted Thu Jan 17, 2013 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Samsung Prices its 85 Inch UHDTV at $38,000 in Korea[teaser]The massive set with the unique shape is up for preorder now in Korea. Now to see who's buying. [/teaser] UHDTVs from a variety of companies have been announced and at a huge range of prices. Westinghouse wants $300,000 for its set while LG is looking for around $22,000. Samsung just set the price for its TV and it falls closer to the LG at $38,000, or the Korean equivalent. Pricing can, and usually does, change by the time these TVs hit the States. Samsung's set packs a quad-core CPU, 2.2 channel speakers that should give you a nice sound boost and the Precision Black Pro LCD panel. Of course, it also includes the Timeless Gallery frame that really sets it apart looks-wise. A total of 77 sets are now up for preorder. Source: EngadgetPosted Tue Jan 15, 2013 at 11:00 AM PST by: -
Triluminos LED Backlighting Comes Back to Sony TVs[teaser]At least, you'll find it in Sony's upcoming 4K set. [/teaser] A lot happens at CES and sometimes things slip right by us. In this case, it's the return of Sony's Triluminos LED backlighting technology, which used colored LEDs instead of white to provide light to your screen. The end result was a richer picture, but the tech was cost prohibitive. Triluminos is back in Sony's new UHDTV sets thanks to QD Vision's quantum dot technology – something we heard a lot about over the last year but that has never really been applied until now. Using quantum dots and blue LEDs, Sony is able to produce colors across the spectrum and give you a more accurate and overall nicer picture. Unfortunately, this is only coming to 4K sets for now, but we're hoping it will trickle down in time. Sony also points out that it offers Blu-ray players made to play nice with Triluminos color, so you may want to pick one of those up to go along with your UHDTV. Source: EngadgetPosted Tue Jan 15, 2013 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
The First UHDTV Channel Launches in Europe[teaser]The new satellite channel is delivered at 40Mbps and is transmitting now. [/teaser] European satellite television provider Eutelsat has created the very first dedicated UHD channel and on January 8th, they completed their first 4K broadcast. The channel utilizes MPEG-4 encoding and transmits at 40Mbps, though future broadcasts will use different compression and less bandwidth. Eutelsat's new channel is designed more as a way to demonstrate 4K content and less something for people to watch 24/7. Still, the quick implementation does give hope for many more 4K broadcasts in the future. Source: EngadgetPosted Mon Jan 14, 2013 at 09:00 AM PST by: -
Bonus View Digest - Jan. 11, 2013[teaser]January is flying by. We've got a ton of stuff planned for this month. New features, film festival coverage, and contests. It's going to be a great couple weeks at The Bonus View.[/teaser] Before we get into this week's Bonus View Digest we just wanted to remind you of the 'Looper' contest we have going right now. Head on over to the contest and enter a free copy of 'Looper on Blu-ray. Today is the last day you can enter. Monster Madness This week's battles were tough ones. Make sure to keep voting in the Monster Madness Tournament so we can eventually find out who is the toughest S.O.B. in the movie monster world. Fell Beast vs. Giant Squid – Kothoga vs. Samael Vermithrax vs. Xenomorph Queen – Killer Rabbit vs. Bat Gremlin Blu-ray News Were you wondering what Blu-rays to pick up? Well, Josh covers all of the new releases in our Blu-ray Highlights column. We hope that you give 'Dredd' a chance. You might have thought that it was only a generic action movie, but it's much more fun than that. Home Theater News Josh continues the renovation on his new place in order to put a custom home theater in the basement. Check out his progress with this week's post about plumbing troubles. Theatrical News First up we have the new movie releases hitting theaters this week. Bryan Kluger lets us know what he thought of 'Gangster Squad,' 'A Haunted House,' and 'Not Fade Away.' Find out if any of them are worth seeing. We've also started a new feature here on the blog. Luke and Aaron are pretty competitive, and they've come up with a way to incorporate their friendly rivalry into a game about movies. It's called Box Office Pick'em. Each person tries to amass the most box office bucks by picking a roster of movies each month. Click on the link above to find out the details and to follow along. The Oscar nominations were announced yesterday. Did your favorite movies get nominated? Snubbed? Check out the full list of nominees now. Sundance Film Festival Aaron will be headed to Sundance next week. Earlier in the week he posted his tentative schedule for the 9 days he'll be there. It's absolutely packed with movies to see. Check out his schedule and see if there are any movies you're excited to hear about. Special Features The Weekend Roundtable this past week focused on Underrated Movies of 2012. What were some of the movies that you thought didn't get enough love? In the Mid-Week Poll we were curious to see what sort of electronics failures you've had over the years. Care to share your story with us? That's it for this week. Remember stay tuned, because all next week we'll be heading to the Sundance Film Festival, bringing you all the latest independent movie news, along with what the festival atmosphere is like. It should be a good time. Thanks for joining us for another week. Stay warm Bonus View readers! One last reminder about our 'Looper' contest. Enter to win a free copy of the movie now!Posted Fri Jan 11, 2013 at 01:00 PM PST by: -
Panasonic is Working on a UHD OLED[teaser]It seemed like Panasonic was staying out of the 4K game, but as it turns out, they're going to be right in the thick of it. [/teaser] Well we were wrong on this one. Panasonic's initial press information suggested that they were staying out of the whole 4K thin until the dust settled, but that's not the case at all. Just like Sony, they'll be bringing out a OLED UHDTV. Also like Sony, they've only got a prototype thusfar. The set is 56 inches, which technically makes it the largest. By an inch. The most important details – pricing and a release date – are still unclear, but you can be sure that Sony and Panasonic are going to be watching eachother closely. Source: CnetPosted Thu Jan 10, 2013 at 11:50 AM PST by: -
'Arrested Development' Returns May 4th[teaser]According to the creator, a movie is already in the works. Again. [/teaser] 'Arrested Development' may not have generated huge ratings when it first aired, but the series has found a great deal of success on home video and even more on streaming sites like Netflix – a service that's been looking for some original programming. The opportunity to pair up is one that the two couldn't pass up and the show is finally set with a release date – May 4th. Each episode of the show will revolve around a different character and other characters will have smaller roles. If you're watching a Gob episode – how cool will that be? – you'll still see the other Bluths, but they won't necessarily take up as much time as in traditional episodes. All 14 episodes will be available on May 4th, so fans will be spending their Saturday inside, glued to the set. It will also be the day that we start to see whether the moves Netflix is making will pay off. Source: Tech CrunchPosted Thu Jan 10, 2013 at 11:30 AM PST by:
