Break free of Apple’s limitations. OS-X on a PC.

I’ve blustered on and on about how Apple doesn’t offer anything like a Shuttle PC for Pro Mac users who need something smaller- or something that is rack mountable, to easily integrate, remain connected to, and travel with all the other video gear.

Pictured here is Shuttle’s Quad-Core Xeon Processor. I pitted the Shuttle against the Mac Pro, similarly configured, and guess which costs more? Moreover, there’s an article on LifeHacker which can make the Shuttle (or any similar build your own) system the cheapest Mac Pro anywhere…

Break free of Apple’s limitations. OS-X on a PC.

I’ve blustered on and on about how Apple doesn’t offer anything like a Shuttle PC for Pro Mac users who need something smaller- or something that is rack mountable, to easily integrate, remain connected to, and travel with all the other video gear.

Pictured here is Shuttle’s Quad-Core Xeon Processor. I pitted the Shuttle against the Mac Pro, similarly configured, and guess which costs more? Moreover, there’s an article on LifeHacker which can make the Shuttle (or any similar build your own) system the cheapest Mac Pro anywhere…

Blu-ray 1.0, 1.1, 2.0… is your player out of date already?

Cnet Asia has a nice little rundown on the versions of Blu-ray specifications players are supposed to meet. Little did we know that October 31, aside from bringing out ghouls & goblins, made version 1.0 part of the undead– no longer living, but yet, still out there, walking around.
Well, maybe not walking, but still sitting on store shelves.

Blu-ray 1.0, 1.1, 2.0… is your player out of date already?

Cnet Asia has a nice little rundown on the versions of Blu-ray specifications players are supposed to meet. Little did we know that October 31, aside from bringing out ghouls & goblins, made version 1.0 part of the undead– no longer living, but yet, still out there, walking around.
Well, maybe not walking, but still sitting on store shelves.

Specs lie. (Actually they just mislead us.)

In a wonderful commentary article (rant) at High Def Digest, Joshua Zarber takes a moment to put down the hardware and the manuals and speak directly to the “number purists” among us and basically tells us to grow up.

HD Home Audio Formats Explained.

High Def Digest has an amazing rundown of each audio format available on each high-def home video standard- i.e. Blu-ray and HD DVD. Moreover, Joshua Zyber gets into the nitty gritty about the various audio interconnects between the players and other equipment, and how the myriad of audio formats are handled by each interconnect, on each optical standard. Yes, that’s a matrix of 56 different possibilities that Mr. Zyber has organized into a nice, neat article.

Blade Runner – The Pristine Print

I went to see Blade Runner – The Final Cut.

First I have to say that the Zeigfield Theatre in NYC is a beautiful place to watch a film.
Even though the preshow was filled with commercials like your local run-of-the-mill multiplex, the theatre itself is a posh, 1000+ seat, single-screen, elegant viewing room. It is up stairs from the street level and the entire ambiance evokes the feeling of stage theater, as opposed to just the silver screen. The only thing it is missing is a curtain to open up in front of the screen before the main performance. (But then, if the screen was covered, there’d be no commercials… but I digress.)

The previews rolled right into the Ladd Company logo, (the green tree) which I immediately recognized. Then a long pause, and the first concussions of the stellar Vangelis soundtrack and the opening titles, white on black.
I looked carefully at the screen and saw that they were rock solid.

No waviness. No jitter. No odd flicker. Perfect… it was made as well as they could make it…