Widescreen

To everyone on a budget, there are pro's and con's. I only mention the budget part because one of my readers wanted to know why I wasn't projecting 1080p onto a foreign port's silky smooth waters, from my yacht to watch my movies, instead of viewing them on my 42" 720p widescreen television in my bedroom. The short answer is money. The more complicated answer: I try to pay cash for everything and as much as I am in my bedroom watching movies (not much) and wanting the most expedient way to not replace all my 'standard' (480p) DVD's which I'm still trying to replace from my laserdiscs - the most elegant and least cost-prohibitive way to do that, was the 720p. The Vizio 42" is one of the top units for compatibility. I know people who've had to have the latest/greatest/best/soonest and they make me chuckle. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just not what you'd call an early adopter. But then again, if I had unlimited funds, that likely wouldn't be the case. Each of us spends our money on things which are most important to us, and a future-proof television, for me, isn't one of them. I mock those who mock me because when the time is right, I'll simply buy another one. You know those console televisions your parents had? Yeah - that's what your set is going to look like soon enough. Your children will laugh at you.




Then again, what do I know? My son came in while I was composing this picture and said, "Wow - I really like that TV," as he pointed to the console. When pressed, he liked the woodwork. Who knows - by the time my son has children of his own, 70s retro may grip the nation...

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But I'm not here to talk about resolution, rather, screen size. I watched a couple of movies this weekend and simply sighed heavily that though my picture is indeed 36.5" (horizontally) it is but 12" high. That's right - my massive 42" widescreen television displays an image a foot tall, and no more. From the users guide:

Widescreen versions of DVD movies are most commonly formatted for standard 4:3 televisions.

This gives me 38.5" viewable (diagonal) - but only 12" high. Though I despise Pan & Scan, at least you get a lot more real estate. In this regard, it feels a lot like my new widescreen monitor. Although, I am getting used to expanding out, rather than up and down. Seeing a picture only twelve inches high, no matter how its presented, just feels...wrong.

Another thing which completely shocked me about this television is the amount of heat it puts out its front panel. WOW! Just walking by it burns my arm with targeted heat. Its not hot to the touch, but it radiates something fierce.

Still - its an amazing thing. It will be made one better when we finally get the last piece of the puzzle: The Blu-Ray player.

...

Enough about the television, on to the movies!

We watched The Golden Compass to ensure its suitability for our children (it was), and I agree with hiro_antagonist's review of it wholeheartedly. An enjoyable suspense from the daily grind for both children and adults.

Sweeny Todd on the other hand was brilliantly executed. Though I was familiar with the story from only a very high-level as that's one I'd not seen on stage, I was completely blown away by the film. Once again, we find that Johnny Depp embodies the protagonist to the degree that it is difficult to consider this role having been played by anyone else, and I'm not even a fan of his! A lot of this I owe to Tim Burton, who's choices in stylization are both bold, and brilliant. He's the opposite of technicolor; the entire movie (minus the flashbacks which were done the inverse of Wizard of Oz-style) was desaturated with just hits of color (usually a deep red) here and there. Just magnificent. The title sequence (textbook Burton) had me groaning with another highly-stylized film, and though this was, it wasn't as expected.

Burton, always keeping it fresh.



All that stuff I said about a 12-inch high image, yeah, swashbuckler332 fixed all that, and it looks glorious. Thanks dude.