So yes, I figure that while talking about horror movies at my every waking moment is groovy and all, and if I had it my way, this might be how I spent my days, a little variety wouldn't kill me. Besides, I have other stuff to talk about than horror movies, and it'd be a shame for all these lovely words to go to waste, don't you agree? Anyway, the thing I'm talking about that is only tangentially related to horror movies today is BluRay, winner of the war of HD entertainment, forever degrading the HD DVD to the wall of shame together with Betamax and doubtlessly several other formats that time has been even more unkind to than the two aforementioned ones.
My reason for writing about this is that I, finally some might say, have gotten myself a BluRay player for my computer. Installing the thing was a daunting task for someone more used to dealing with software, leaving the hardware to spiral into obsoleteness by itself. I guess years of using laptops will do that to you. Fortunately, the thing wasn't too hard to get installed. Not loving the fact that none of the media players I have seem to be able to play the BluRays, but I feel it's not too horrible, as the standard player that came with the bluray isn't too bad. It gets the job done, can't really ask for more... just yet.
As for quality, it's a step up, and since my computer screen is a nice little 1080p 16:9 wonder, I do get a fairly nice and sharp watching experience. Sure, it doesn't really make the movies any better, craftwise, but holy shit, they're nice looking. And before anyone asks, no this will not lead to me buying Avatar on BluRay, breathtaking visuals or no, that movie just pisses me off. That said, I do tend to seek out films with unique and interesting visuals when I'm buying BluRay discs. Thus far, I've got Splice (which I will review at some point) The Orphanage (Same), In Bruges, Paprika, Inception and The Dark Knight, which I probably will make the topic of another OTT.
Of course, this new upgrade in video equipment have left me with some measure of frustration, namely, the selection of BluRays available. See, DVDs had a good thing going now, it had become cheap enough for any two-bit production company to churn out their little disc-shaped nuggets of joy, or bottomless desperation, as the case often was. With BluRay, it has't quite reached this point yet, and thus, some of my weird, obscure movies are kind of tricky, read pretty much impossible to get on the format, which is a bummer, but at least I can look forward to "updated releases", well, if people go for the George Lucas route of film re-releasing, that is. We shall see how it goes.
My reason for writing about this is that I, finally some might say, have gotten myself a BluRay player for my computer. Installing the thing was a daunting task for someone more used to dealing with software, leaving the hardware to spiral into obsoleteness by itself. I guess years of using laptops will do that to you. Fortunately, the thing wasn't too hard to get installed. Not loving the fact that none of the media players I have seem to be able to play the BluRays, but I feel it's not too horrible, as the standard player that came with the bluray isn't too bad. It gets the job done, can't really ask for more... just yet.
As for quality, it's a step up, and since my computer screen is a nice little 1080p 16:9 wonder, I do get a fairly nice and sharp watching experience. Sure, it doesn't really make the movies any better, craftwise, but holy shit, they're nice looking. And before anyone asks, no this will not lead to me buying Avatar on BluRay, breathtaking visuals or no, that movie just pisses me off. That said, I do tend to seek out films with unique and interesting visuals when I'm buying BluRay discs. Thus far, I've got Splice (which I will review at some point) The Orphanage (Same), In Bruges, Paprika, Inception and The Dark Knight, which I probably will make the topic of another OTT.
Of course, this new upgrade in video equipment have left me with some measure of frustration, namely, the selection of BluRays available. See, DVDs had a good thing going now, it had become cheap enough for any two-bit production company to churn out their little disc-shaped nuggets of joy, or bottomless desperation, as the case often was. With BluRay, it has't quite reached this point yet, and thus, some of my weird, obscure movies are kind of tricky, read pretty much impossible to get on the format, which is a bummer, but at least I can look forward to "updated releases", well, if people go for the George Lucas route of film re-releasing, that is. We shall see how it goes.
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