Category Archives: Video

Twinkles in the picture, but from where?

If you’ve been reading this Blog lately you will know that I’ve been using some inexpensive HDMI cables lately, marvelling at how well they work (ie. just like expensive ones). But then, last night, I was watching ABC’s ‘Media Watch‘ … Continue reading

Posted in Cables, DTV, Testing, Video | 4 Comments

The next big advance?

So it turns out that Peter Jackson is shooting his Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, in 3D and at 48 frames per second. Virtually all filming for cinema is done at 24fps of course, and one of the … Continue reading

Posted in 3D, Blu-ray, Cinema, HDMI, Video | 15 Comments

Tilting the lens on The Social Network

The other night I watched The Social Network on Blu-ray, and soon I’ll be writing a review of it. But I wanted to highlight here one brief part of it: a section starting around 84 minutes into the movie, called … Continue reading

Posted in Blu-ray, Imperfect perception, Video | 2 Comments

The imaginary world of colour

Colour is a construct of the mind. Out in the real world what we perceive as colours is simply a small subset (less than an octave) of the wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. Evolution has endowed us with a mechanism … Continue reading

Posted in Imperfect perception, Video | 1 Comment

Splitters!

I wonder if there could be a good market for a certain type of HDMI splitter. The scenario I have in mind is this: you have a high end home theatre receiver from a couple of years ago, but it … Continue reading

Posted in 3D, Blu-ray, Equipment, Video | 4 Comments

All Hail … Analog?

My brother kindly pointed me an article in the Wall Street Journal by Francis Fukuyama, entitled ‘All Hail Analog?’. Fukuyama is best known as a kind of historical analyst, generally of a conservative bent. In the late 80s and early … Continue reading

Posted in Analogue, Audio, Video | 8 Comments

Mad Max is 1080p24

When I mentioned the forthcoming Blu-ray release of Mad Max a couple of weeks ago, the view was expressed in comments that the interlacing problems with the DVD wouldn’t be replicated on the Blu-ray since it would be 1080p24, and … Continue reading

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

Apples and Oranges

I must say, as soon as I saw ‘The Biology of Home Entertainment‘ tweeted, I thought I’d be reading something interesting. It promised to explain ‘How your senses influence your level of enjoyment!’ That makes a great deal of sense. The … Continue reading

Posted in Audio, Rant, Video | 2 Comments

Do Video Bitrates Matter?

Well after my little rant yesterday, how about something rather more positive? The answer to my question in the title is: ‘Of course they do.’ The more important question is: how much? My view is that once you get up … Continue reading

Posted in Blu-ray, Codecs, Compression, Video | Leave a comment

Imagining colour

On the most recent Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe podcast the normal ‘Science or Fiction’ segment was run by Richard Saunders, the famous Australian skeptic, known for amongst other things The Skeptic Zone podcast. His first science or fiction question … Continue reading

Posted in Mysticism, Video | 2 Comments