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Bonus View Digest - TV Coverage Part 2[teaser]Wondering what you should be watching on TV? Well, with the new fall season directly upon us we've been covering almost every new pilot and returning show that we possibly can.[/teaser] Since we discussed our TV coverage on The Bonus View at the beginning of the week, we've posted a lot more recaps for you. Josh covered the pilot episode of 'Pan Am,' admitting that he was surprised that it "wasn't awful." Another huge premiere for the week was the big-budget sci-fi show from Steven Spielberg called 'Terra Nova.' Yes it has dinosaurs, but is it worth your time? You may be surprised to find out what Josh thought about it. Even though we only recapped 'New Girl,' Aaron spent all of last week brushing up on every sitcom that premiered. Check out his Sitcom Scorecard to see how each of the new TV comedies faired, and which ones should be canceled straightaway (We're looking at you, 'Whitney' and '2 Broke Girls'). As more comedies premiere in the coming weeks, Aaron will add them to the scorecard so everyone can get a good overview of the new shows on this fall. This week wasn't all about new shows. A bunch of returning shows were recapped too. We have new recaps for 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia,' 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' 'Project Runway,' 'Alphas,' 'Wilfred,' and 'Haven.' Finally, this week's Mid-Week Poll was TV related. We asked what new comedies are you planning on watching. 'New Girl' has taken an early lead. What new shows are you interested in? We'll continue to roll out the in-depth TV coverage as more and more TV favorites premiere. In the coming weeks we have shows like 'Dexter' and 'The Walking Dead' to look forward to. Please join us while we discuss some of your favorite shows with likeminded people.Posted Fri Sep 30, 2011 at 01:10 PM PDT by: -
Sony is Passing Cost of 3D Glasses to Theaters[teaser]And guess who they'll be passing it on to? Spoiler: it's you![/teaser] One day, and it might not be too far off, we're going to look back at all our posts about how horrible a $2 upcharge for 3D movies is and laugh. Not because the extra charge will totally be worth it or because we'll all be super rich, but because that's only the start. The common misconception is that the extra cash you spend on a 3D movie ticket goes to the glasses, but that isn't the case. That extra money is to help theaters make back the money from the projectors they spent a bundle on. The glasses are paid for by Sony. At least for now. Starting in 2012, the company is going to stop paying for the glasses and making theaters foot the bill. That means that somewhere between $5 million and $10 million per blockbuster movie will be spread out among theaters. And of course, that likely means that the cost will be passed on further to those buying the tickets in the first place. Source:Posted Fri Sep 30, 2011 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Sharp is Launching an 80 Inch TV in October[teaser]You're gonna need a bigger living room. [/teaser] Sometimes a piece of gear comes along that we can't help but drool over. The new Sharp LC-80LE632U is one of those. At 80 inches, it's an absolute monster, and the specs on it ain't too shabby either! To start with, the Sharp LC-80LE632U offers full array LED backlighting, 120Hz Fine Motion Enhanced and a dynamic contrast ratio of 6,000,000:1. It's a smart TV so you can get your streaming fix if you've got the internet hooked up. Even cooler - the folks at Sharp can log into your TV to troubleshoot, set up and adjust the picture quality. Next month, if you've got $5,499 and a big enough room to justify it, you'll be able to pick up Sharp's new 80 inch TV for yourself. If you don't have the room, start knocking down walls. Source: eCousticsPosted Fri Sep 30, 2011 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
'Shameless' Blu-ray Comes with UltraViolet Digital Copy[teaser]We've been hearing about Utraviolet copy protection for some time now - looks like it's finally here. [/teaser] No matter how you feel about copy protection, you can certainly see where the studios are coming from. They want their content sold, not pirated. That's where Ultraviolet comes in - the new DRM format championed by a variety of studios. With UltraViolet, you'll be able to watch the movie on your smartphone, computer, tablet or what have you, but you'll need to register your device to do so. You're limited to 12 devices, three of which can be streaming at any one time. As far as DRM goes, it doesn't sound too horribly intrusive. 'Shameless' is the first TV show packing UltraViolet on the Blu-ray release. Executive producer John Wells is pretty high on the technology, calling it a game changer. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Thu Sep 29, 2011 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
Paramount Combines Home Entertainment Divisions[teaser]The company is hoping to take a more global approach thanks to the changes. [/teaser] The folks at Paramount have made a big change to their company. Instead of having separate divisions for digital licensing, television licensing, and home entertainment, it's all been packed into one called Worldwide Home Media Distribution. One of the big points of the move is to put digital entertainment into the loop, rather than keeping it separate. "Integrating digital licensing with home entertainment and television licensing makes sense in the current marketplace and for the future," says Paramount's Rob Moore. "Marketing and distribution have become seamless global businesses and we need our structure to better reflect that evolution," he adds. "This new configuration allows us to be more flexible and to best capitalize on all opportunities across the breadth of the studio." Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Thu Sep 29, 2011 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Netflix Co-Founder Thinks Qwickster is a Good Idea[teaser]Well, at least somebody out there does... [/teaser] Netflix has been upsetting customers left and right. Most recently that has been in the form of a new pricing scheme and then a complete split between the physical and digital media parts of the company. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is taking a lot of flak over the choice, but co-founder Marc Randolph says it's a great idea. He mentions that back when Netflix first started, they sold DVDs as well, but ended up having to cut that part of their business despite the customers it would alienate. "By trying to run a business that did two things well, we inevitably were forced to make an endless series of compromises that resulted in us doing neither of them well," he says. "Not having to worry about compatibility between the services makes it infinitely easier to optimize every decision around the real prize, which is clearly streaming." Source: NewTeeVeePosted Thu Sep 29, 2011 at 07:00 AM PDT by: -
High-Def Digest-Digest: September 28thby Dick Ward [teaser]We've announced plenty of interesting new Blu-rays in the past few weeks. We've also interviewed the cast and crew of 'Jurassic Park,' taken a look at some new gear, and covered the incredibly fast moving world of streaming content. That's a lot to read in just 14 days, so we've compiled the greatest news hits of the last few weeks into one simple digest.[/teaser] Blu-ray News HDD Interviews the Cast and Crew of 'Jurassic Park' That's right, our own Michael S. Palmer got to talk to some of the people behind the scenes on one of the biggest movies ever made, including CGI master Dennis Murren and Ariana Richards who played Lex in the first two films. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2' Blu-ray Announced and Detailed The incredibly patient fans - or the ones who don't mind double dipping on some of the movies they own - can pick up the second part of the final installment on November 11th. Disney Will Make All The Blu-ray Money It Can! Disney has been pretty consistent with Blu-ray releases and the company isn't planning to stop any time soon. CFO Jay Rasulo says that physical media won't last forever, but Disney's going to embrace it while it's around. 'Captain America: The First Avenger' Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D Dated and Detailed! The best superhero movie of the summer hits Blu-ray in standard and 3D formats on October 25th along with commentary, features and cast interviews. 'Super 8' Blu-ray Date, Details, and Box Art Revealed J.J. Abrams wrote one hell of a love letter to Steven Spielberg with 'Super 8.' As you might expect, a blockbuster film like this comes with plenty of bonus features. You'll be able to pick it up on November 22nd. 'Jet Li Collection' Announced for Blu-ray 'The Legend,' 'Fist of Legend,' and 'Tai Chi Master' all in one collection for a MSRP of $24.99. Not a bad setup for Jet Li and martial arts fans. Get it on October 11th. Gear and Industry News Dish Network Launches the Blockbuster Movie Pass Streaming Service The two companies have launched one of the most impressive streaming services around and it's just $10 a month. The downside? For now, you have to be a Dish Network subscriber to get it. Logitech Harmony Link Makes your iPad or Smartphone a Universal Remote The new device from Logitech lets you use your touchscreen device as a remote for your home theater. There are a few extra bonuses in store for iPad users. Xbox TV is Coming for Christmas You'll be able to get TV directly to your Xbox starting at the end of this year. Full details are yet to be announced, but with the right price structure this could be enormous. Best Buy Earnings Fall Dramatically Things aren't looking great for the retail giant thanks to decreasing sales. The installation of more than 100 new mobile stores offset that number a bit, so things may not be as dire as they seem. Netflix CEO Apologizes for Changes, Then Makes Renting More Complicated Oh Netflix. We have such a love/hate relationship, but this move is really trying our patience. DVD/Blu-ray content has been split off into a company called Qwickster, which means you'll have to subscribe to two services instead of just one. Great.Posted Wed Sep 28, 2011 at 02:00 PM PDT by: -
ViewSonic Launches a Pair of Portable 720p Projectors[teaser]They're not 1080p, but they're cheap, lightweight, and play nice with digital files. [/teaser] Sometimes you're not looking for the absolute best in terms of video quality. You don't need the top of the line and you're even willing to settle for decent. Well the latest projectors from ViewSonic are just that - they get the job done. Of course, as a tradeoff for the quality, you get a projector that's nice and easy to carry around and just under three pounds for the higher end PLED-W500 and less than a pound for the PLED-W200. They're palm sized too, which means you can stick them in a briefcase or a backpack without having to make a ton of room. The PLED-W500, which offers a gig of internal memory for all your file playback needs, comes in at $699. The W200 will run you $499. Both will be available in October. Source: ecousticsPosted Wed Sep 28, 2011 at 11:00 AM PDT by: -
LG and Gunnar to Cross-Promote 3D Products[teaser]The glasses maker will be pimping LG while LG does the same for Gunnar. [/teaser] One of the big complaints when it comes to 3D television is that of the dreaded glasses. Passive sets use the same glasses as the theaters do, which is really nice in theory, but not in practice, since wearing those hard plastic abominations for more than a few hours at a time starts to get annoying and even painful. Companies like Gunnar have been making premium 3D glasses for a bit, but they haven't seen a lot of love up until now. A new partnership with LG should help change that. LG is going to be positioning Gunnar glasses as a premium accessory, which should help boost sales of the glasses. Gunner eyewear may be best known as an accessory for gamers and other folks who spend hours and hours staring at a computer screen. Their 3D glasses range from $49 up to $149. Source: TWICEPosted Wed Sep 28, 2011 at 09:00 AM PDT by: -
Blockbuster Subcriptions Increase by Half a Million[teaser]Apparently the Dish Network announcement made a pretty big impact. [/teaser] According to Blockbuster, they've increased by 500,000 subscribers in the last 30 days. We're willing to bet a large number of those new members came on board in the last week, after Dish announced their impressive streaming/disc combo service. The company hasn't disclosed how many of those subscribers might be getting a free trial, but either way 500,000 is a number that's hard to ignore, especially in such a short amount of time. Hopefully this interest will lead the way to Dish Network opening this service up to non-subscribers for an additional fee. Getting games and movies and streaming content from one source instead of signing up for Netflix, Qwickster and Gamefly is something with a great deal of appeal. Source: Home Media MagazinePosted Wed Sep 28, 2011 at 07:00 AM PDT by:
