Yesterday Sony invited a bunch of us down to the Sony Pictures lot to get briefed on the latest about Blu-ray. They had just announced that the first BD titles would be hitting the street May 23, with more on June 13. These first titles are:
I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I would say I am fairly knowledgeable in the workings of consumer electronics gear and computers. I took several film and video classes in college, and even interned at a video production house. I would consider myself qualified to work a video camera, and a computer. Then why in all things holy CAN'T I GET THIS THING TO WORK?
In the March issue I did a Hook Me Up on how to shoot in HD. I mentioned there would be web content with links to HD resources and such. You can find that very web content here. Don’t bother reading it if you haven’t read the first part, ah, first.
While a website may mean nothing, and specs change, but at the moment Sony’s own PlayStation site is saying that the PS3 will output 1080p and play Blu-Ray movie discs. We’ve all figured out this would be the case, but here’s a little “proof.” At least, for the moment.
Am I the only one who saw similarities between Jerome Bettis and The Rolling Stones? How often do you see 34-year-old running backs, whose job it is to get hit on every play? By the same line, how often do you see 60+ year-old rock stars? Granted, I think Keith Richards has been dead since the 80s, and I think it’s debatable if Charlie Watts was ever alive, but still. Forty-two years and still going strong, that’s 15 years longer than most famous rock stars are alive.
Panasonic was in town showing off some of their newest goodies. I was lured out of the HT Lab/Batcave with the promise of pie and punch. There was neither. They did have a cool demo of what they call HDAVI. This allows you, if you have all Panasonic gear with HDAVI hooked up with HDMI, to turn on all your components (DVD player, receiver, plasma), switch to the right inputs, and start a movie, just by pressing one button. Sounds cool eh? What would be really great is that if all consumer electronics companies adopted the same standard so that this would work with every component. Come on, a boy can dream can’t he?
Sorry, I made a mistake in the February issue Face Off. In the opening and closing charts, I refer to the Toshiba as the 62MX195. We reviewed the 62HM195, which is what it says everywhere else in the text. Two letters in fifteen pages. I’m a failure, I know.