Movie Palace

When I was a child there was a closed down movie palace downtown.  Every time I rode past it I would tell my parents or grandmother how that if I had the money I would open it back up.  Needless to say, I never got the money and never re-opened it.  Recently, photos of a movie opening at that theater came to light and I thought about how driving past it inspired my love of movies and home theater. 

As every young boy, I wanted a big tv growing up of my own.  I remember buying a stereo model and how disappointed I was later to find out I had a mono vcr and had to replace it as well.  I was the only one of my friends to hook up a stereo receiver and speakers to the "hi-fi" vcr I later bought to get stereo sound from vcr tapes and tv shows.  And I'm sure no one took me seriously when I expounded on the greatness of Dolby Pro Logic surround sound when I scraped up enough money to buy a capable receiver.

Today I enjoy movies on a 92" screen once a week.  My theatrer room is definitely not a movie palace, but high definition video and discrete 5.1 surround sound make a great substitue.  And maybe one day if I ever win the lottery.......

No Blu-ray at K-mart?

Attention K-mart shoppers, there will be no specials on blu-ray movies or players.

That seems to be the message you can draw from K-mart weekly ads the past few weeks.  They have not advertised anything but dvd players.  The Sony PS3 was in one ad, but it was being pushed as a gaming machine only.  They have only been listing dvd movies.  No listings with prices for both dvd and blu-ray. 

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that few of their customers are buying them.  I have not bought any high definition movies from them since I picked up an HD DVD disc (ouch!) a couple years ago.  Prices were too high for me.  Target, Wal-mart, Best Buy, etc, all have blu-ray movies and players in their weekly ads.  I guess if you're looking for a blue laser at the blu light, you better look somewhere else.

Switched to Component

I made the switch on my blu-ray player from hdmi to component video cables.  Not willingly, mind you, not willingly.  However, as soon as I turned it on my Robin Hood blu-ray began playing flawlessly.  No video dropouts, no cranky wife suggesting we watch something else, nothing but a great movie playing. 

I realize I am missing the full HD video I paid for and the HD audio to go along with it, but sometimes it is more important to have something work when you want it to than have nothing at all.  Now, hopefully, Samsung will issue a firmware upgrade that will correct these problems and I'll go back to HD sweetness.  Until then, 1080i will have to suffice.

Getting Tired of Samsung Blu-ray Player



Starting to get tired of my Samsung BDP-1590 Blu-ray player.  It is the same as the 1600 model, as far as I can tell.  After the firmware upgrade in December, it has decided it to have a wonderful hdmi handshake problem.  Sometimes if you wait long enough it will sort it out on its own, other times, well........  Each preview, menu, and movie start requires me to turn off and on my avr to sync it up correctly.  We tried to watch the new Russell Crowe Robin Hood the other night and finally gave up.  Techie folk want to figure out what the problem is, chase it down on internet forums and the like; regular people want it to work out the box and give up on it. 

I've thought about going with component cables for the time being to get away from the problem, but obviously I then lose 1080p and hd audio formats.  Maybe a new player should be in my future instead....