Movies Archives - Page 8 of 9

Straight to Download

Last100 spotted this Hollywood Reporter story over the holiday detailing MGM’s venture into straight-to-download movies. On Tuesday, MGM debuted “A Dog’s Breakfast” on iTunes and Amazon Unbox. The flick is directed by and stars “Stargate Atlantis” actors and is being hyped on YouTube. The key here is that the movie has a built-in audience of … Read more

HD DVD Enables Web Features

Toshiba’s latest firmware update, available via download or mail-order disc, for newer HD DVD players facilitates the viewing of movie-related web content and reportedly squashes the chroma bug. Blood Diamond is the first flick to to enable web access and according to High-Def Digest: Taken as a whole, while the interface is certainly nice and … Read more

On-Demand DVDs

While some of us just can’t resist endless iPhone coverage :), there are a few other things in the CE world to keep an eye on. Among them, the DVD Copy Control Association has very quietly approved CSS copy-protection technology for use in movie download services and DVD kiosks. What does this mean? It means that companies can start offering on-demand DVD burning of the movies you buy. Instead of figuring out how to transcode video for a portable media player or how to stream downloaded flicks from a PC to a TV, now you can transport media the old-fashioned way. Just take it with you on a good old DVD.

The one major downside? If you’re consumer at home (i.e. not buying from a kiosk), you’ll need a new DVD burner and a new type of DVD-R disc to burn downloaded movies.

In the endless quest to move media around, we’ve come up with a couple of “alternative” solutions in our household.

Pier Screening Offers Glimpse At Future Of VOD

As a video enthusiast, I love checking out new companies that are trying to get a piece of the digital landscape. It’s easy to pay attention to the big guns in the industry, but for every AppleTV, there are 100 smaller companies playing just as an important role in redefining the future of television. At this stage of the game, it would be impossible to predict how things will end up shaking out, but at the end of the day, it’s the consumers who will win the most.

Last night, I had an opportunity to attend NewTeeVee’s 2nd Pier Screening. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but was really impressed with how things turned out. They hosted the event at pier 38 in San Francisco. This is a great venue. If felt like I was at a Drive-In theater that was built right over the water. There was something unique about being able to mingle at a party while watching the sun go down. Later on it got cooler, but they had heat lamps that people could cuddle under Once it got dark, they started the program and I was able to hear some interesting insights into the video world, from some of the people who’ve been involved in digital video from very early on.

During the event, NewTeeVee screened a number of parody videos and gave out awards for the most interesting ones. The winner was the hilarious “Real World Ikea“. It’s a story of what happens when five strangers stop acting polite and start getting real. They really probably should have told Ikea, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as funny if they knew that they were moving in.

Flash Drive Fun

The state of television today got you down? Never fear, your favorite movies are just a digital download away. Or, enjoy the universe of your favorite flick in an Xbox 360 game. Or, pick up movie extras on a flash drive! Yup, a flash drive. Flash drives have quietly been added to the line of … Read more

Back To The Future: 21st Century Movies

As a digital TV blogger, I spend a lot of time writing about where I think television is heading. Given the impact that technology is having on the television experience, it hard enough to know what is going to happen next week, let alone 25 years from now.

This is why I was surprised at how eerily familiar things seemed, when I was reading Paleo-Future’s review of the The Omni Future Almanac. The book was written in 1982 by Robert Weil and offers his vision into what the television industry would be like, in the 21st century.

We’re only a few years into the 21st century of course, but considering that it’s been 25 years since the book was published, I couldn’t help, but be impressed with how many of the predictions he got right (except for the whole people loving westerns thing, he was way off base on that one.) In looking over the list of predictions, here are a few, that I think we’ll continue to see throughout the rest of this century.

*Instant classics will be created by increased Hollywood hype and intensive advertising. Aggressive marketing techniques will also be used in the promotion of pay television and home video media.

More on Vudu VOD

The NY Times follows up Gizmodo’s scoop today with an effusive article how Vudu will “turn America’s televisions into limitless multiplexes, providing instant gratification for movie buffs”… without mentioning the ITVN, Akimbo, Moviebeam wasteland of products that preceded Vudu. Why would consumers pay $300 – $350 for a box that does one thing: charges for … Read more

Punk’d by Borat

How my buddy Tim was punk’d… and Netflix wasn’t surprised:

I got the movie Borat via Netflix and it I was a little bitter that it was a bootleg copy. Looked like a consumer purchased DVD with the title inked on the surface with a Sharpie. So I report it to Netflix, being the good citizen that I am and this is the response.

We appreciate this opportunity to assist you with “Borat.” “Borat”, is a comedic social satire. In keeping with the tone of the movie itself, the movie packaging was intentionally designed by the studio to look like a “bootlegged” or pirated movie. We hope you enjoyed “Borat” and appreciate your inquiry!