2 posts tagged “movie”

I upgraded my TV this past weekend, by a factor of a lot. I purchased, and installed, a Viewsonic PJ506D DLP front projection system with an Elite 80" screen that pulls down in front of my RCA 27" CRT. The old boob tube is about 7 years old now and cost as much then as this system did now. Mind you, this is a lower-end package deal that threw the screen and ceiling mount in for free, but at under $600 to my door, it's hard to beat. The projector is only 800x600 SVGA quality, that's standard def in modern parlance, which is fine because I don't have a high definition source anyway. And both the projector and screen are the old 4:3 aspect ratio, just like TV, which is also fine. Throw on a widescreen DVD and you've got a 5' wide image that's about 3' tall. Turn it to a TV channel and woah, the picture is enormous in the little room I've got it. It's almost too big and I suppose I could move the projector closer to reduce the size, but that would be just wrong. At 2000 lumens, it's brighter than most and can be seen easily in daylight, and with a 2000:1 contrast ratio, it's got a great dark-to-light range. These are features seldom seen together in this price range, which has made this a hot commodity for people looking to get started in the front projection world.

An important aspect about a projector is that it's located at the opposite end of the room (if small enough) than is the screen, so if your cable / satellite receiver is by the old CRT like mine is, you need a cable that's long enough to traverse the distance. To hide mine properly, I needed about 40' of wire. The projector has no fancy digital inputs, like DVI or HDMI, so I looked for an SVGA cable at Best Buy. Their longest was 12' at $50. I laughed and went to a home theatre specialty store where I found a very helpful employee. I expected him to try to sell me an expensive Monster cable, but listening to my story, he explained to my a simple 50' shielded coaxial cable with screw-in RCA connectors at either end should work well enough. At about $38 out the door, I was in business. I've since learned of an online store that sells a 50' S-video cable for about the same, so I -might- try that. But for now, I've got a very workable solution, and we're happy.

My friend turned me onto the deal (the idea was in my head years ago) and he bought the same system first, so I was able to check out his after it was installed. I was impressed enough that I decided to bite the bullet too. He also has an HD receiver and was able to show me an HD signal. VERY impressive, much moreso than SD. The projector only has 600 vertical lines of resolution, short of the 720 or greater normally associated with HD, but qualifies for the little-known EDTV resolution of 576 which is the same as the European PAL standard. The HD signal is downconverted to display and I must say that even so, it looked really good. I might need an HD receiver too. Too bad Discovery is not one of my satellite provider StarChoice's free HD channels though. I did get to watch their original show Race to Mars last night anyway. That was cool.

I've now witnessed first hand the infamous Rainbow Effect that DLP projectors are known for. In dark regions of the picture, if you look suddenly to a different area of the screen, you'll see a flash of RGB banding. It's also apparent in scenes of motion. This is because the projector uses a rotating disc that has colour windows on it. A monochrome image is shone through one of the windows as it passes by the solitary DLP chip, and the projected frame is synchronized with the colour presented at that time. The Rainbow Effect is an artifact of the eye/brain computer processing the image on the screen at a slightly different rate. More expensive projectors have a different chip for each of RGB, being a 3-chip system, with no rotating disc and thereby eliminating this effect. If you want to see how cool that picture is, go to the cinema and watch one of the digital screens, they use a 3-chip DLP projector. I saw Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3 this way and the detail was incredible. Back at home, I've noticed the effect is less pronounced the more you watch it, so it's quickly getting more bearable.

All in all, I'm glad with my purchase, and so is the wife. And that matters the most, because if the boss ain't happy, there's no avoiding it.

When I was young, I played with toys just most other little guys. Some played with G.I.Joe or Star Wars action figures, others with Thundercats or Hot Wheels, but my toy of choice was a fairly popular type of alien robot that would camouflage as various modes of transportation in order to fit into our world. No, I'm not talking about those wimpy GoBots! I play with the superior toy, the only toy that mattered, the Transformer.

Now that I'm all grown up, at least by years lived, I play with the real thing in my cars and motorcycles, but there's still an affinity for the toy in this man. In fact, there are a lot of grown men now who used to play with Transformers when they were young, and some of these men work in film, an industry that has been transformed with the advent of computer graphics. In recent years comic books have been adapted exceptionally well because scenes are now produced that previously could only be imagined. It's been a windfall for people like me who also grew up on comic books, and my Transformers have now finally hit the silver screen.

Opening last week, I finally got to see it for myself on Saturday after my plans for opening day fell through. I wore my Autobot t-shirt and was not disappointed, neither was my neighbour who saw it with me. The characters were changed somewhat from the original cartoon, which my parents lamented was only used to suck kids into buying the toys, but they retained a fair bit of the traits that made each one special. I was really happy to hear Peter Cullen's voice revived for Optimus Prime, but sorely disappointed that Frank Welker was not chosen for Megatron, who's bark had a certain evilness that cannot be replicated. Hugo Weaving did an adequate job on the Decepticon leader, but it wasn't the same. The rest of the robotic characters didn't get much in talking, but I guess that's the way the movie goes. The story revolved mainly around Sam Witwicky (originally Spike Witwicky in the cartoon) and his smoking hot girlfriend Whats Hername.

The action scenes were excellent, but the new design for the aliens made it difficult to see who was who when things got intense. The original toys transformed such that a fair amount of coloured vehicular bodywork was covering the robot body and the Transformer was easy to identify. But the movie robots had a lot of exposed internal componentry, too much at times, especially around the faces. And since the internals tended to be similar in colour between all the Transformers, when two or more battled it out it was difficult to tell them apart. Back to the facial structure, I wasn't keen on Megatron's appearance at all. And what the hell was he supposed to resemble. He was a Walther P-38 handgun originally, but was an alien jet for some reason this time 'round. Didn't like that much at all.

I liked that the filmmakers added a heavy dose of comedy, like when these five gargantuan robots are hiding in Sam's backyard from his parents, crouching under the veranda or pressed up against the wall. It was really quite humerous and Sam's mom had some choice lines too, much like Eugene Levy's father figure in American Pie. Ahhh, understanding 21st century parents are good for a laugh, eh? Also cool were the many jokes or hidden gems from the animated Transformers The Movie and the cartoon that really fleshed out the characters.

But I think best of all was how the movie was left open in the end to add a sequel or two which would, er, just be awesome. I enjoyed this one so much, and I can see watching it a hundred times over like I did the animated movie, that I can only hope for much more to come. Thank-you Michael Bay for making this film, and if I can suggest for the next one, more Starscream (the insolant punk) and many more Transformers. I can see this being a franchise that could kick some serious Decepticon ass! Not that some Autobots shouldn't get their due.

And thank-you to the two guys in crew cuts that had a grey Nissan Xterra in the parking lot with a big Autobot symbol in white on the hood. That gave me a good laugh!

edit: Reading an interview with Peter Cullen, there will be sequels! Spoke Cullen, "But Optimus will be to a larger degree in the second and third movie and that was explained to me from the very beginning by one of the producers."