04/05/2006 On Monday I heard that later this week Mitsubishi will be showcasing some rear-projection TVs based on Texas Instruments' digital micromirror (DMD) DLP technology.
Downloads for movie collectors—as opposed to renters—are finally happening in a big way. Warner-owned Movielink, until now just a download-rental service, now offers 300 titles for download-ownership from six major studios. CinemaNow offers another 75 titles worth of ownable bits from three studios. Pricing, unfortunately, is actually higher than Amazon disc purchases, but hey, it's a start. The coolest permutation—alas, for Brits only—is Download to Own from Universal Pictures and Lovefilm. For one price you get two downloads, one for a PC and one for a portable media player—plus a hard-copy disc—all for one admittedly stratospheric price. Even if none of these schemes appeals to you now, it's clear that movie downloads are now a viable option for library builders, and it's only a matter of time before they go high-def. Blu-what?
Podcasts, those audio recordings of your innermost thoughts that you share with every Internet-connected person on the planet, are easily done with a hodgepodge of hardware and software. But they're most easily done with M-Audio's Podcast Factory ($180), which has everything you need to record and edit your podcasts and post them as MP3 files on podcasting sites.
HD Movies Free on Cable "Free" and "cable" don't usually go together. Yet about 80% of Comcast households are being offered a sprinkling of high-def video-on-demand movies free each month. April titles will include Cliffhanger, Desperado, and The Fifth Element.
"A guy walks into a talent agent's office.... " From that humble beginning spring 100 or so different riffs on perhaps the most vile, grotesque joke ever told. And the tellers here include everyone from Don Rickles, George Carlin, and Martin Mull to Whoopi Goldberg, Gilbert Gottfried, and Jon Stewart.
Oh, say, can you iSee? The first video recorder designed specifically for the iPod, ATO's iSee 360i allows you to record and store movies, TV shows, and photos directly from your DVR, TV, or PC. You can then watch the programs on the 3.6-inch LCD screen, which is 90% larger than that of the video iPod.