Monthly Archives: August 2010

The Gladiator rises again?

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve had the Blu-ray of The Gladiator on my shelf since late last year, pondering whether I should do a review. I should have, but other titles kept bobbing to the surface. It would have been unpleasant doing it, because … Continue reading →

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The brain/eye mechanism at work again

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Here is an excellent video, from Quirkology author Richard Wiseman, illustrating an aspect of the blind spot in the human eye that I’d never before thought of. Go and have a look, and then come back here. The new wrinkle … Continue reading →

Posted in Imperfect perception | Leave a comment

Power, chemical and electrical

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I was reading this Blog post on Depleted Cranium in which the spin of an Italian energy company is being highlighted. It has built what it calls a ‘combined cycle’ solar/gas power plant. The gas part has a capacity of 752MW of electricity … Continue reading →

Posted in Eco, How Things Work | Leave a comment

Frustration, for want of a numeric keypad

Posted on August 8, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

This past week or so I have had sitting in my office, too large to lightly put aside, a 55 inch Samsung LED/LCD TV. It looks lovely with its aluminium bezel, and its extraordinary sub-8mm panel thickness (over most of … Continue reading →

Posted in Rant, Testing | 1 Comment

Blu-ray Secondary Audio

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’ve just been scanning the new Blu-ray release from Sony, From Paris with Love. Like so many discs, it has an audio director’s commentary. What’s different is that this is implemented as BonusView secondary audio, rather than as a separate … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Blu-ray, Disc details | 1 Comment

Crosstalk – 3D and audio

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I have reviewed five different 3D TVs. All five of them had noticeable problems with crosstalk. Crosstalk is a word that has been used for decades in regard to consumer electronics. It is used to label a legitimate signal ending … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, Audio, How Things Work, Imperfect perception, Vinyl | Leave a comment

The Asian Aviator

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

A while back I ordered a few Warner Brothers Blu-ray discs on a two-for-twenty dollars special from EzyDVD. They came in yesterday. One of them was The Aviator, a fine movie. But when I was doing my indexing for my … Continue reading →

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

Madman Entertainment’s take on The Fifth Element

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

As I’ve previously mentioned, Madman Entertainment has taken over distribution of The Fifth Element in Australia. I’ve just received a copy and I’m happy to report that it is all good news. First, the video is identical to that on … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Disc details | 2 Comments

Will MPEG4 AVC become the dominant Blu-ray video codec?

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

I’m just wondering because the only Blu-ray 3D codec is MPEG4 MVC, which is an extension of MPEG4 AVC. The likes of Warner Bros which has pretty much entirely used VC1 will have to use MPEG4 MVC for any 3D … Continue reading →

Posted in 3D, Blu-ray, Codecs | 2 Comments

New Blu-ray discs coming

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

The news that I’m sure that we’ve all been waiting for: Donnie Darko! Yes, it is set for Blu-ray release on 11 August. Read all the details here, but the important thing is that it is a two disc release … Continue reading →

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