ThunderPeel2001

I thought you'd said that, Tycho. I looked for that setting and couldn't find it, though. (That's one thing that hasn't been mentioned yet: The awful and ugly UI.)

Yes! That makes a lot of sense! Thanks, shammack.

Yes, but not whining doesn't equal demand. Cameron will do what he wants, sure, but that doesn't mean he's not paying attention to what's going on. Jackson did what he wanted, too, and nobody (except hardcore film lovers) cared. HFR was an interesting experiment, but so far it's failed. I wonder if variable frame rate might work? 24fps for actor moments, HFR for action scenes?

100 is way too much. I've always said there are about five ratings that people actually use: Bad, OK, Good, Great, AMAZING! 100 is not only artificially precise, but it's open to interpretation. I rated a movie "60" (which in my book is "OK/above average") but Criticker said I'd rated it "BAD". If 60 is "bad", I can't imagine what's lower than that... So 0-60 is "bad" or worse? Is their system really set up to have more degrees for just how bad something is? Very bizarre, especially because "bad" is bad. You don't need to know the different between "bad", "terrible", "awful" and "catastrophic". It's not like you're going to go? "So the movie awful? I think I'll give it miss then. Oh wait, Julie only thought it was "terrible"? Hmm. Maybe I'll give it a shot..." :-/ I'll keep at it and see what results it gives me.

Hmph! I hate it when TT games have moments like that... You're like, "Huh? Was I supposed to get something there?" Ah, well. Onwards! Enjoying it a lot so far. Episode two had some weird quirks (introducing a whole new character out of the blue -- kind of losing the thread of the previous episode) but it's still very intense and I'm enjoying it. With a bigger budget, you kind of think they could produce something truly spectacular -- fewer bugs, better direction/writing -- but what I've seen so far is fantastic. Looking forward to watching/playing the rest.

Even if the BDA do hash out a HFR spec (and it would be quite a big jump from 1080/24p to 1080/48p), there's no guarantee that it will then be adopted by every manufacturer, and even less that they'll go back and add support for older players. Right now The Hobbit is the only film in production with a non-standard frame rate, and even though the film itself was successful, cinema-goers were not overwhelmingly demanding HFR. In fact it was shown in 24fps in most places Cameron has talked about using 60fps for Avatar 2 and 3, but given the lacklustre response to HFR in The Hobbit, I'm not sure he's going to follow through. So yes, taking all this into account, I remain very skeptical that any manufacturer will spend money writing patches for existing players to support 48fps. Time, as you say, will tell!

Was that it? So why steal her hat? Weird. I just don't get it. It felt like it was supposed to poignant or a twist, but it just went over my head

Well all I know is that I bought a load of XBox games when I first got my 360, and a few months after MS promised backwards compatibility for every title ("eventually"), they shut down the team responsible for it. I sent them a few emails asking for information about the games I wanted to see supported, but I don't think I ever got a reply. Then when Sony released the second version of the PS3, didn't they also not really bother with backwards compatibility? It seems like it's something companies make promises about, but that most players won't actually care about when they don't follow through. I was the only person I know who cared when MS reneged on their promise. But I never play XBox games now (even the few that work), so I guess I can't complain too much.

Just finished the second episode and I have a question about the video recording... Actually, I just didn't get it all. Sorry if I'm being stupendously stupid, but what was I supposed to infer from it?

The updates that are rolled are usually AACS key updates. Nothing more complicated than that. I'm not sure why you believe it would be so easy for them to justify issuing mass updates for all their players. It would cost a shitload of money... for one movie... to watch it in a format the average person doesn't even know or care about. The PS3 is the obvious exception, but I'm not even convinced Sony will spend the money to add 48fps for that. We'll just have to wait and see how much demand there is.

Yes, as I said, it would require the manufacturers updating the players (and TVs). I'm not convinced they'll spend the money just for one movie. As for TVs, interpolation would be a massive shame, as it would make the image judder slightly. PAL TVs already handle 50Hz out of the box, but it would still result in the 4% PAL speed up that so many people dislike. Really the solution is firmware upgrades... but I see that as a potential deal breaker for manufacturers. New hardware, maybe, but free upgrades for old hardware? Much less likely.

Very exciting. This could be great! I used Big Picture mode one and really liked it -- then it crashed in the background and I didn't receive my achievements and I swore never to use it again.

Everyone always complains about backwards compatibility when a new console comes out -- but no-one seems to really care about it. Both MS and Sony pulled their support for it when it was shown that most players didn't care. I'd like it, but the chances are that I wouldn't go back as often as I think I would.

It's not just that. Just because your TV does 60Hz, doesn't mean it can do 24, or 48, or any number it's not designed to. Same goes for your player. They'd need to be patched by the manufacturer. Also, the BD spec isn't completely locked down, from what I hear, so it's possible that 48fps might be added in the future... but, as I say, the hardware will have to be altered to support it, too.

It's highly unlikely that his TV or Bluray will support 48fps without a software update from the manufacturers.

Wow. That actually look incredibly useful... Every OS should have it by default.

Apparently a lot of the complaints were media BS. At least according to Jackson. I think the 48fps 3D was the clearest, least painful, 3D I've ever watched.

Can't say I'm remotely convinced by this. 1. Sure, he has "quirky" characters (I'm ignoring the likeable protagonists thing because that's every movie). He also has quirky dialogue. Seeing how lots of people have tried to emulate this and failed, I don't see how it fits into a "formula", though. It requires skill. 2. Doesn't every movie do something with their characters? Don't we want to see them having adventures? 3 and 4. I think I get what this trying to get at, but what you're actually describing is suspense. Hitchcock described the difference between shock and suspense, thusly: There is a distinct difference between ‘suspense’ and ‘surprise’, and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean. We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let us suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, ‘Boom!’ There is an explosion. The public issurprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table, and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware that the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the décor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions this same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: ‘You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There’s a bomb underneath you and it’s about to explode!’ In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second case we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story. Tarantino has become great at creating suspense in his movies (especially in Inglourious Basterds). Again, this isn't a formula, it's a skill. 5. Once again, the protagonists in every movie always have the cards turned on them, don't they? If they didn't face obstacles, there wouldn't be much of a plot? 6. I really don't get this one. Maybe it's true for Reservoir Dogs, but I don't see it for the rest of his films. In all, I don't see how any of this ruined his films for you :-/

I'm confused :-/ You've seen this thread, right?

Congrats on still being alive! Hope you recover quickly.

Well holy crap if I didn't just stumble across something that totally blew my mind today. If you're not an old school Amiga fan, this will undoubtedly mean very little to you. (Sorry to get your hopes up.) Pinball Dreams AND Pinball Fantasies in completely faithful high-definition 3D renditions! You can finally see that these tables would actually look like, while retaining the exact gameplay and, quite importantly, the music... Wherever you go! (I may never do anything else with my iPad again.) Linkies: Pinball Fantasies HD and Pinball Dreams HD Come join me down the rabbit hole of highly addictive pinball games! You don't need that job, or that house, or that partner. Everything you need involves a shiny metal ball and some flashing lights...

I might check that out. There was something wonderfully nostalgic about revisiting these old Amiga games in HD, though Some Brazilian guy was making a real life replica of the PartyLand table -- the reverse of Pinball Arcade!

Nice! Definitely going to check that out. For directory usage stats, I use TreeSize - it's free, tiny, portable, and über fast.

So everyone's bought this, right? Apparently it's also in the OSX App Store, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sae_RLPckU

Nope: