If I buy or rent a movie, be it DVD or BluRay, why must I be bombarded with stupid previews that I don’t want to see?

I can understand it at the theater. Fine. That’s how people find out about the absolute latest movies and future movies. The previews on discs are for old things. Who cares? I got the disc because I wanted to watch the MOVIE. Not the stupid shit before the movie that you want to shove down people’s throats. I just want to sit down and turn the movie on. Not sit down, turn the previews on and get bored after 10 minutes of shit.

Normally I can deal with this. I just hit Menu and skip through them all. Then that feature was disabled on almost everything. So then I could press the Next Chapter (or skip) button at least through most of them and get to the menu fairly quickly. Today, I found a new low.

Received Where the Wild Things Are from Netflix and popped it in. Tried Menu to skip the Blu-Ray ad that came on. Fail. Tried the Top Menu button (sometimes that works with Blu-Ray, not an option for DVD). Fail. Tried the Next Chapter/Skip button. Fail. Wait… what? In all the discs I’ve had, I have NEVER had that be a problem. EVER. Apparently they have reached a new low.

And while we’re talking about previews… can someone explain to me why there are advertisements for Blu-Ray on Blu-Ray discs? Newsflash: If I got a Blu-Ray movie to watch, I ALREADY HAVE BLU-RAY! You don’t have to tell me how awesome it is, I already know. Stop wasting my time.

Speaking of movie studios, stop fucking over Netflix. I pay for Netflix to watch movies when I want to watch them. Not for them to pay you and for you to fuck them over by making them wait another month for new releases which then fucks me over waiting for new releases. It takes long enough to get a new disc from them as it is without having a fabricated waiting period because you wanted more money.

In closing, I’d just like to say that you suck. All of you. I hate you.

(ok, i’m done. back to the movie)

See, told you so.

Moving right along to seriousness. This TV really is quite spectacular. But let’s back up a bit… if you remember a week or so ago, I posted about ordering my new TV. I ordered through vanns.com and got a great deal. $1499 even. No tax. Free shipping. Cannot beat that price for this TV (right now). I even ordered a Square Trade extended warranty with it for 3 years. Figured the money saved on tax/shipping would be put to better use with a warranty.

Shipping was via freight – as it is with most large TVs. The shipping company had called me early yesterday morning to set something up. They were able to call me at work when they were just a few minutes out and I took a quick break to head down to get my TV. Met the guy there, he helped me bring it inside and waited while I looked it over and opened it up to make sure everything arrived OK. All was well… I signed the paper and got to work.

Setup was easy. I mean, all there was to do was attach the stand. So a forewarning here that doing this with just one person is kind of awkward with such a large TV. I got it on though and was set to go. Removed the old TV and put the new one on the stand. Fit just right in the space I left for it. Like, literally about a half in clearance on each side. I have to say though, the whole time I was setting it up, I was kind of giggling and laughing uncontrollably about how ridiculously large it really was. It looked smaller in Best Buy.

Later in the day when I was able to actually turn it on, the picture was just gorgeous. I hadn’t even touched a bit of calibration yet and already I was pretty impressed. After I had ordered the TV though, I had bookmarked a couple calibration setups to try out. Frankly, I wasn’t really very impressed with either one. Of course those settings wouldn’t be perfect for everyone… and since I wasn’t too happy with either one, I was thankful I had also purchased a calibration BluRay from Amazon. Spears & Munsil is practically the only BluRay/HD specific calibration disc I could find.

Went through most of the options on that disc and got it about where I wanted it – at least as best as my eyes can see. Put in Speed Racer on BluRay and let ‘er rip. Wow.

That’s all I could say. It was awesome.

The picture is great. I really don’t have the vocabulary to describe it. I’m not really a videophile of any kind and far from an authority on the subject, but I’m very happy with it. Definitely worth the $$. Even the aesthetics are perfect for my tastes. I played around in the menus a bit. Customized the couple things I could (turned internal speakers off, turned off the blue light thingy at the bottom, named the inputs, etc). The menu, IMO, is a bit slow. But that’s OK b/c how often are you really going to be going through the menus on this thing to change options? Rarely.

The Internet@TV stuff though, that’s another story. Once I got it connected to the internet (which was fairly easy), I tested out some of the “widgets” and “snippets” it uses. I was even able to log in and tweet from my TV (you should have seen Jen’s face). That all sounds wonderful… but the Internet@TV stuff is PAINFULLY SLOW. Like, “I don’t know why it was included” slow. I really can’t picture anyone sitting there using this stuff through the TV and its remote. Just awful.

Two things to go along with that though… I didn’t buy the TV for it’s “widgets.” I consider that more of a marketing gimmick. It really was terrible. Secondly, the internet connection is at least helpful with regards to software/firmware updates. It will update via the internet when something is available. That is something I will like.

Overall, I’m extremely happy with it (if you couldn’t tell). I realize not everyone is in the market for something like this (or even could afford it?) … but if you have the means, I would definitely recommend the PN50B860… or any of Samsung’s Series 8 plasmas for that matter.

Later on in the evening, Jen and I watched 9 on BluRay. Turned off the lights and just enjoyed. It was seriously like a movie theater.

The top 4 movies in my queue are either Long Wait or Very Long Wait (3 of them are the latter). Yes, they’re recent movies… but come on. You can’t tell me THAT many people still are watching Funny People. It came out like 3 weeks ago! What is going on?

This reminds me of many of the rumors in the past that Netflix would start staggering your movies if you watch too many – likely on the assumption that you’re just ripping/copying them (which I am not… this time). I just want to see the movies I want to see.

I have actually purchased two new movies in the last month because I didn’t want to wait 6 months for Netflix to get around to sending them to me. I bought Star Trek a little while ago (which is awesome) and just this past weekend bought Terminator: Salvation (also awesome).

So as soon as Netflix gets to sending me Funny People, Public Enemies, The Hangover and Inglourious Basterds… I’ll be waiting… if I don’t go buy them all first. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to enjoy the second rate movies I have backed up in the rest of my queue. I hope someone is really enjoying these new releases… cause I’m not.

Thanks Netflix. Thanks for nothing.

It’s not like it is any crazy, action-filled show of madness and intensity. I don’t know if it is the writing or the actors. Is the story that good? Are they selling it that well? Strange because it often feels slow moving and boring. Then they just broadside you or something and I’m dragged back in. Can’t… stop… it.

Maybe it is because it is about a time that I never knew – and while not necessarily “based on a true story” … I feel that there is a certain truth to it all. I think that helps. Of course I don’t know if people were REALLY like that in that era, but it is plausible. And that’s enough.

Season 3 just ended and I CANNOT wait until season 4. This is the kind of show that I buy on disc (BluRay in this case). I have season 1 and need to pick up season 2 when I get a chance. It is fantastic.

If you haven’t been watching this show, that’s sad. Hit up iTunes and see if you can start from the beginning. Like I said though, it may feel slow – so be patient. Give it some time and give yourself a chance to get into it.

I also like movies about cars. Some are better than others. Then there are some that are just so bad… they’re actually a lot of fun to watch. I’m talking about the Fast and the Furious series… if you didn’t know.

As a quality flick, all of the movies in this series fail… but being a car person, I find great enjoyment in them – even if they did spawn an entire generation and culture of ricers. Yes… ricers. Stupid kids (or in some cases, adults) that buy crappy cars and do stupid things to them that have no value, no benefit, no performance… no real purpose other than trying to look like they might drive a race car. And they don’t. “All show and no go” is a common term there. Or if you prefer the acronym: Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements.

Annnyway… as much as a joke as these movies are, they’re fun. I’ve had the first three on DVD for a while and even went to see the latest at the theater when it came out.

Turns out they were all just released on BluRay (at least the new one was – the others may have already been out). What better opportunity to upgrade my poor DVDs than with fancy new BDs? No time like the present!

Even with the PS3 taking over DVD upconverting duties from my (very recently purchased) DVD player, I still was leary of getting rid of it… mostly for its ability to brilliantly and easily play my entire collection of movies and TV shows on my computer. Only catch was I had to put whatever I wanted to watch onto a USB drive and plug it into the front of the player. Still.. quite simple and very worth the trouble.

Turns out the PS3 can stream media from other sources. Also turns out that Windows Media Player 11 can share my current collection to the PS3 (I had at first tried a program called TVersity for this, but had nothing but issues).

All of my files are divx or xvid coded avi files, and WMP doesn’t seem to have that much trouble streaming them to the PS3. I just have to search for the media server and browse through what I have. I had a couple little issues at first but I was able to watch an entire episode of Top Gear without much trouble.

The PS3′s stock just went up in my book and I may be able to get rid of my DVD player after all.

Good thing.

I now have 3 different sources connected via HDMI and another pair of devices connected through component HD cables. Jen thinks I’m crazy. I tell her it’s worth it.

Oh wait.. what am I rambling about? Jen got me a Playstation 3 for Christmas (with the Formula One World Championship game). So not only do I get the joys of another gaming console but I also be the benefit of having a BluRay player – and what might as well be considered one of the better BluRay players.

I used some of my Christmas cash to pick up a couple movies and another accessory. Got Hitman, No Country for Old Men and the Band of Brothers set, all in BluRay. I also got the Nyko Blu-Wave for it… so now I can control the PS3 with my Logitech Harmony.

The PS3 uses Bluetooth for the controllers (same as the Wii) so you can’t use an infrared remote (the Harmony). The Nyko thing remedies this.

Time to start building another collection I guess…