Author Archives: Stephen Dawson

Lord of the Rings month

Posted on March 28, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

April 2010 is the month in which the three Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies appear on Blu-ray. At this stage they are coming out as three separate discs, but I’m told that there will be a trilogy pack … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Disc details, DVD | 4 Comments

Resurrecting Polaroid, but don’t knock digital

Posted on March 26, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article about how an enthusiast has acquired the last Polaroid factory in Europe and started producing instant film again (monochrome now, colour to follow). Great stuff. But I would note that the piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Analogue, How Things Work | 2 Comments

Video bitrates for digital TV stations

Posted on March 25, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Rather than doing my usual mini-review for The Canberra Times for this coming Monday, I’ve done a piece on digital TV. Primarily, what it now offers. In preparing for it, I’ve gathered and calculated the basic technical specs for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Codecs, DTV, HDTV, Video | 6 Comments

Video vs PC settings

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

As a comment to this post, Victor suggests: You made some recommendations on settings in your S&I artical which I found useful, at least to confirm my own observations and assumptions. There was another setting I changed which was not … Continue reading →

Posted in BD-Live, HDMI, How Things Work, Video | 2 Comments

Blu-ray reviews

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just added five of my Sound and Image and Australian HI-FI Blu-ray reviews to the relevant page. The reviews are: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Pulp Fiction Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Star Trek The Wizard of … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Blu-ray, Disc details | 2 Comments

Gone With the Wind: Blu-ray vs DVD

Posted on March 21, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I think this is the oldest live-action movie I’ve done yet. Half a dozen comparison shots here, and here’s a sample (DVD to left, Blu-ray to right):

Posted in BD-Live, Disc details, DVD | Leave a comment

HD DVD

Posted on March 20, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Does anyone out there still own a HD DVD player? I do. What are your plans for it? Do you have a bunch of discs that you treasure? Or are you replacing them with Blu-ray?

Posted in Blu-ray, HD DVD | 4 Comments

Testing and cheating

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Has LG Electronics been naughty? Apparently it had installed a ‘circumvention device’ in a couple of its refrigerators. This, it is said, turns down the fridges when it senses they are in a 22C environment. The aim was to reduce their … Continue reading →

Posted in Testing | 1 Comment

Blu-ray giveaway – Halo: Legends

Posted on March 19, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Apparently this one is a number of animated stories coming out of the Halo game universe. The disc does not have a proper Blu-ray box, nor a slick, but it works just like a bought one. The disc is region … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Disc details, Giveaway | 3 Comments

Better not offend

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’m looking at the Blu-ray for 2012 at the moment, particularly the special extras. More particularly, the Mayan Personality Profile. You stick in your date of birth and it tells you everything you need to know about yourself. Amazing, heh? … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray | 2 Comments