TurquoiseB wrote: > --- In [email protected], Bhairitu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> Unlike you I grew up in a small town in the country and the nearest >> theaters were 20 miles away. Movies were a treat and not something >> to send the kids to do while shopping. Besides I got more hooked >> on the Friday night horror movies on TV most of which were old >> public domain films (so the station didn't have to pay much for >> the rental). The town where the theaters were had a liberal arts >> college where the rich sent a lot of their kids and so the theaters >> would often show some of the art films of the day. Those were my >> mainstay in high school and continued when I attended went to >> college in a large city that also had good supply of art house >> theaters. >> > > I grew up in movie theaters. My mother told me that > they could take me with them to the movies even when > I was a baby. I never cried; I would just shut up and > watch the screen. I don't remember that, naturally, > but I remember spending almost every weekend at the > double features, and then when we started living on > Air Force bases, the movies changed every night and > cost 25 cents. I saw a lot of movies. > > In college I discovered foreign and art films, and > from that point on I've been a goner. I think film has > been the most important medium of art on the planet > for most people of our age. For the newer generations, > TV has been more important. But there is a big differ- > ence between film and TV -- hot vs. cool. You'd have > to have read McLuhan to get the difference, but I > think it's a real one. > But there is a big difference between analog TV which is what McLuhan saw and digital TV (HDTV). In fact in more and more theaters the old film projectors are being replaced by new Christie HD projectors that play the film off a hard drive. The resolution isn't that much more than an HD set but the picture is clearer, you don't get film scratches, etc. In fact I've had to learn to sit back even further in those theaters (the closest one about 1/2 a mile away has 4 digital auditoriums) because the screens are bigger than in the film auditoriums.
Right now we have a format war going on in the US between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Blockbuster just announced they are going with Blu-Ray rentals. Some techies believed that Blu-Ray which has more disc capacity would be better but the studios finally said they just put the same files on both formats no extra enhancement. HD-DVD will probably win since the players are half the price of the Blu-Ray even selling for as low as $250. And Sony is greedy and never learns. Then there was the rumor that Wal-Mart denied (of course but probably true) that they put in an order for two million HD-DVD players from a Chinese manufacturer. That would definitely shake up the HD disk market. However there are some studio execs and tech reviewers who feel that neither will win but be niche like laser discs because 1) upscaling regular DVD players do such a good job that most people don't notice the difference and 2) more for anti-piracy video on demand will replace disc rentals. I can watch IFC films currently playing in theaters on Comcast OnDemand but they're not HD so I don't. In two years that will change. I may go see "1408" which comes out next weekend. I hope it plays at the theater 1/2 mile away. They showed the trailer but that doesn't mean it'll get booked there.
