Monthly Archives: June 2009

Bags of boxes – giveaway

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve done a little tidy-up and as a result I’ve got about two hundred empty DVD cases. Happy to give them away to anyone who wants to come and pick them (or some of them) up. All of them work. … Continue reading →

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More Blu-ray releases from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

Posted on June 30, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

I received a package today from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with the two disc Blu-ray version of The Longest Day, plus The Siege and Big Trouble in Little China. All these are due for release on 5 August 2009, … Continue reading →

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New Blu-ray releases for 29 July

Posted on June 29, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Warner Bros is releasing a bunch of Blu-ray discs in Australia on the same day, some of which I’m really looking forward to: ‘Watchmen‘: The Complete Motion Comic Surveillance Woodstock International Ultimate Collector’s Edition (40th Anniversary) Woodstock Director’s Cut How … Continue reading →

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DOS

Posted on June 28, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

When I’m preparing Blu-ray vs DVD comparisons, my process these days is to rip most or all of the ‘I’ frames from the Blu-ray first, organise them, then select the comparison frames and rip DVD frames to match those. That’s … Continue reading →

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Gladiator for Blu-ray

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Universal Pictures has announced the release of Ridley Scott’s famous Gladiator on Blu-ray. They aren’t skimping, delivering it on two dual layer discs, including the theatrical release (155 mins) and an extended version (171 mins), plus 11 hours of extra … Continue reading →

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Over-rating our capabilities

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Subjective assessment of home entertainment equipment is important because there are characteristics of performance which aren’t well conveyed through measurements. I am not saying that these things aren’t captured by the measurements (thoroughly and carefully conducted); merely that few people … Continue reading →

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Picking differences

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Two posts down I mentioned the five musical samples at Is 24-bit Recording Really Better?, from Ethan Winer. Very useful for blind testing, these things, because they each start from the same 24 bit recording, present it in the same … Continue reading →

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Expectations destroy results

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Later, experimenters at Caltech felt that Feynman’s very presence exerted a sort of moral pressure on their findings and methods. He was mercilessly skeptical. He loved to talk about the famous oil-drop experiment of Caltech’s first great physicist Robert Millikan, … Continue reading →

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Audio subjectivism

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

My brother has drawn my attention to an episode of ‘Skeptoid’ in which (third item) the magical benefits of expensive audio cables are dismissed, along with the value of face masks in combating swine flu, the radioactive dangers of depleted … Continue reading →

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Slavish copying into picture quality disaster

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

The Australian version of the BBC TV show Top Gear is growing on me. Unfortunately, it copies the original so slavishly that this extends to some of the more horrible photographic choices. In particular, it follows a practice about which … Continue reading →

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