To 3D or Not to 3D? That is the question!

WE'RE BACK....so I have finally got my affairs in order enough to post again.  I thank those who stuck with us here at Reel Geekz and hope we can win back those who may have lost interest.

So lets get right to the point...so 3D is here!  It started officially with the release of Avatar which was filmed with a special camera as to give it a sense of depth, and has now expanded to the newly released 3DTV's and a slew of other movies.  However, is the technology really that good?  Well, that is a bit of a yes and no answer.

A recent visit to a local Futureshop that had a Samsung 3DTV on display was an eye opening experience.  The picture is incredible.  Media designed specifically for 3D is smooth and crisp and literally appears to jump off the screen.  The TV even has a mode that will convert your favourite 2D TV shows into 3D.  Imagine Baywatch in 3D??? eh???  I know the scene you are picturing too.  Pam Anderson or the Hoff running in glorious slow motion 3D.  Sorry, I digress.  True you have to wear special glasses in order to see the 3D effects and these can give some a slight headache (yours truly included), but incredible none-the-less.  When combined with movies such as Avatar makes for a truly amazing viewing experience.

However, the problem arises when other movies try to capitalize on the 3D phenomenon that were never originally in 3D.  Take Clash of the Titans for example.  The movie was filmed in traditional 2D with 2D effects and were never originally meant to be in 3D as the Director felt the technology was too expensive.  However after witnessing the conversion process, felt the 3D enhanced the look of the film and the movie was converted for theaters.  I am here however to humbly disagree with the Director.  There are many points in the movie where the film looks better when you take the glasses off.  Whenever something passes between the main subject and the viewer, you loss your focus for a moment.  This is particularly bad during the movies many fight scenes...in fact, it is so bad that sometimes you cannot tell who is winning until the very end.  Furthermore, the glasses have a slight tint and darkens the film noticeably.

Overall, I saw if you are interested in seeing this 3D craze, then go see the movie.  It is still an enjoyable movie that differs much however, from the original AND the source material.  As more movies come out that are filmed in 3D, my opinion may change but right now I think a great 2D movie is far better than a mediocre 3D.

Site Changes

Hello all readers,

So I know I haven't posted anything for a while and I apologize but life is making it hard to keep up with he pace I set for myself when I created this blog.  My goal is to post something by the weekend and then make a post a week instead of three.

I there is anyone interested in being a writer with me please let me know.  Maybe as a team or small group we can produce a steady flow of material and expand our reader base together.  Not that I don't appreciate each and every one of you already following the blog from the beginning.  THANK YOU EVERYONE!

Anyway, heading to bed after a long night shift.  I'll have something posted shortly, I promise.

DVD, HD and Blu-Ray...oh my!

So, you may be asking yourself "Self..what is the difference between my current DVD's and the new HD format disc?"  Go ahead, I'll wait for you to ask.

Finished?  Good, okay well I happen to have found the answer.  In the new world of HD digital media there were two main formats produced: the failed HD-DVD and the champion the Blu-ray disc.  Described in this post is what makes the formats different from regular DVD's and from each other.  We will also discuss why the Blu-ray media format won the HD format war.


The Basics

So, if you've ever seen inside a CD or DVD player you will know that there is a little red laser that reads little pits on the surface of the disc.  In the case of rewritable media, the pits are replaced by burn marks (hence, burning a disc!).  The laser of a CD driver has a wavelength of 780 nanometers (nm) and general use recordable DVD is 640 nm.  The CD laser reads the pits/burns as 1's and 0's, or binary and translates that to the information the computer displays or the stereo projects.  The need for a new HD format was answers by Sony and Toshiba.  Sony created the Blu-ray and Toshiba created the HD-DVD.  The main difference between regular DVD/CD's and HD media is the type laser used.  HD media use a blue laser with a smaller wavelength, 405 nm to be exact.  This means that smaller pits can be used since the laser is smaller and more information can be saved.  However, both HD-DVD's and Blu-rays discs use the same 405 nm blue laser.  If this is true, what should you ask, is the difference between the two?  Furthermore, why did Blu-ray win over HD-DVD?  Good questions, you ask and I'll wait right here.

Good to go?  Okay, lets continue.

The Difference

The distinguishing difference between these two formats is the coating on the disc.  HD-DVD's have the same coating as regular DVD's.  The coating is 0.6 mm thick and allows the HD-DVD to focus at a certain length close to the surface and record so much information.  The coating of a Blu-ray disc is 0.1 mm thick and allows for a longer focus length and therefore store more layers of information.  In the end, Blu-ray won the format war because it could store more information, the production methods were new and the technology to record them was not available to the public (which would limit the ability of criminals to pirate the media) and with the adoption of the format into the Sony PS3, the backing of several prominent movie companies and Disney pushed the market in Sony's favour.  The War was over.

Weekly Question - Mar. 25th, 2010

Feeling uncreative this week, sorry all.

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE HERO?

Post your answer below.