Free Republic

Washington, D.C. (December 8, 2011) -- Verizon may be planning to launch a service next spring that would compete directly with Netflix and could involve a partnership with Redbox, according to several news reports. Reuters reported Tuesday that Verizon was negotiating agreements with media companies for the right to stream their content. The wire service added that Verizon was interested in launching a streaming offering in areas outside of its FiOS TV markets. For instance, if you could not subscribe to FiOS where you live, you could subscribe to Verizon's Netflix-like streaming service. And TechCrunch, the AOL tech site, reports...

A young boy living in Port Said, Egypt, narrowly escapes a bomb blast that destroys the apartment block where he lives. After discovering that both his parents were killed in the explosion, he decides to travel (on foot) to Durban, South Africa, to be with his only living relative, an aunt. During his 4500 mile journey across africa he has many adventures including a first hand experience with the slave trade and living for a time with a band of poachers and criminals. After several months of travel he finally arrives at his destination. Saw this movie on TV...

Redbox is making an announcement about its prices today, and we want to make sure that you hear it from us first. Starting on Monday, October 31, the daily rental charge for DVDs will change to $1.20 a day.* The price change is due to rising operating expenses, including new increases in debit card fees. Daily rental charges for Blu-ray™ Discs and video games won't change.** Additional-day charges for DVDs rented before 10/31 won't be affected, either. In order to make the transition easier, Redbox will discount the first day of all online DVD rentals to $1.00 from 10/31 through...

My wife just received the following email... Dear xxxxxxx, It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster. While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes. The email goes on to advertise what neat things they now offer, etc. etc. Looks like the feedback from the general public caused someone high up in the ranks at Netflix...

Since the moment Sarah Palin stepped on the national stage, her followers from O4P, C4P, and Team Sarah (to name a few) have been working in the background to promote her, defend her, and lay the foundations for a 2012 POTUS run. With the DVD release on October 4th, Palin supporters have an opportunity to sway voters to her cause. So, fellow Palanistas, if you have an "Undefeated" movie night, have it listed.

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 7:49 AM, Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix wrote: Dear Chris, I messed up. I owe you an explanation. It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing. For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success...

It's the twilight, he thought. I hate the twilight...He glanced back. The white rectangle stood above the roofs, saying in immovable finality: September 2. Oh: Atlas Shrugged on DVD Nov. 19. Liberals hate it. That's all you need know.

Dish Network has decided to keep more than 1,500 Blockbuster stores open, but will close about 200, Blockbuster said Thursday. There was no immediate word on which stores will stay open or be closed. The satcaster purchased the video retailer in April in a bankruptcy auction. Since then, there has been widespread speculation that Dish would use some Blockbuster retail locations to sell its satellite TV service and related products. However, Netflix's recent decision to change its pricing structure may be fueling interest by Dish to keep as many Blockbuster stores open as possible. Dish's executives may now believe that...

I have a question. I would like to get a system to convert old VHS video tapes to DVDs. Simplicity is key. Ideally, I would like to be able to simply put a tape into the machine, along with a blank DVD, push a button, and walk away. Money is not the key issue here, but I do want good quality results. I would be willing to go up to about $400 without blinking an eye, for the right system. If such a push-button system is not available, I could do a Windows 7 thing, but I'd prefer not to....

I have various tech needs that I'm looking for solutions for. Ideas? Bueller....Bueller....Bueller....

Panasonic Corp's Digital AVC Marketing Division will release a rewritable single-sided three-layer Blu-ray disc that is compatible with the Blu-ray Disc Rewritable Format and has a capacity of 100 Gbytes April 15, 2011. The company claims that it is the world's first rewritable Blu-ray disc with a capacity of 100 Gbytes. The new product is a 2x-speed recordable Blu-ray disc compatible with the BDXL Part1 Version3, and its capacity is twice as large as that of an existing single-sided two-layer Blu-ray disc (50 Gbytes). Specifically, it is possible to record about 12 hours of a terrestrial digital TV program in...

When Netflix started up more than 10 years ago, its sales pitch was pretty simple: Hey, subscribe to us, and we'll mail you DVDs that you can then mail back to us without worrying about any late fees. But as the rental market moves toward online and on-demand models, Netflix's iconic red envelopes may eventually become as antiquated as VHS tapes. Beefing up their streaming business, Netflix has predicted that in about two years their economics will be geared more toward their "Watch Instantly" service than through physical discs. For that to happen, Netflix will have to nudge their DVD-loyal...

Blu-ray discs are supposed to represent "the maximum high-definition experience" yet there is little difference in quality to that of a DVD, apparently. A study by consumer advocate Which? found less than a third of Blu-ray films demonstrate an exceptional difference compared to the equivalent DVD, and with a large gulf between the best and worst, HD quality is inconsistent.

I'm interested in buying a DVD recorder. My main reason is to allow me to record certain programming for easy reference. After recording a program on my cable company's DVR and it's saved, you get the options, and one of those options is "record to VCR"....are there DVD recorders out there that allow you to record SAVED DVR programs? The reason I ask is you get people saying it's difficult because most DVD recorders don't have tuners. That's not my problem, or inquire, I don't want to record "live" broadcasts, just the ones I've saved digitally on the cable DVR.

Stop. Take a deep breath. Before my headline gets you all worked up, consider what I'm saying here. The CD and other optical discs, like DVDs and Blu-rays, are obviously going to live on for a while as a way to transport media. But make no mistake that today, with two unveilings, Apple has effectively sealed the fate of the optical disc in the computer industry. Soon, it will go the way of the floppy disk... First of all, the first-generation Airs were a bad combination of underpowered and overpriced. That is no longer the case. Second, they required some...

Archbishop John Nienstedt announced Monday that every Catholic in the state will be mailed a DVD defending marriage as between one man and one woman, as he hopes to "rally the troops" around the Church's position on the divisive issue just six weeks before Election Day. Nienstedt appears at the beginning of the eight-minute video, which was prepared by the Knights of Columbus, and will be mailed to the state's Catholics on Wednesday, paid for by a large donation, the archbishop told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Monday evening. The archdiocesan website lists the state's Catholic population at "approximately 800,000." "Our target...

After five years of testing, the U.S. Navy is finally entering the digital age for navigation. Five years ago, the first all digital navigation system was installed, in the USS Cape St. George (a cruiser). Called the Voyage Management System (VMS), this version used 29 CDs containing the 12,000 paper nautical charts that were stored in several large filing cabinets on the Cape St. George. The current version of VMS puts all the electronic charts on one high density DVD, or a portable hard drive. The navy has been working on VMS since the 1990s, and the first thing they...

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2010 – Defense and USO officials joined military families at the U.S. Navy Memorial here yesterday to celebrate the launch of a new DVD created to help military children cope with a parent’s deployment. Trevor Romain, award-winning author and children's books illustrator, jokes with military children after a USO-sponsored film screening of the DVD "With You All the Way” at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., March 30, 2010. The DVD was designed for military children dealing with deployment. USO photo by Mike Theiler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "With You All the Way” --...

Convenience, choice drawing consumers to other movie options On a recent weekday, Ken Moore browsed the new release wall at Hollywood Video but he couldn’t avoid the “Store Closing’’ banners that draped the inside and outside of the Quincy store. “I’m like a dinosaur,’’ said the father of two from Milton. “People tell me ‘You’re still going to the video store?’ and I’m like ‘Yeah.’ ’’ Moore is a part of a growing minority of movie renters who shun the convenience of instantly uploading moves online or grabbing a DVD at supermarket kiosks in favor of roaming the aisles of...

Have a Philips DVD recorder and DirecTV HD. Been getting ALOT of these errors lately when trying to record certain programs. Have tried using all DVD formats +RW, -RW and so on with no luck. Been having to resort to VHS on some programs. Any ideas?

Recently I rented a DVD of the award-winning 2003 documentary Winged Migration. Famed as one of the most unique and beautiful films ever made, Winged Migration literally takes the viewer up into the sky as it follows birds on their long-distance seasonal flights around the world. Somehow, seemingly as if by magic, the cameras are right there amongst the migrating birds, and you feel as if you are flying thousands of feet in the air with your fellow avians over landscapes which range from the picturesque to the breathtaking. When the film was over, all I could say was “Wow!”...

Netflix to delay renting some new DVDs Subscribers must wait 28 days under new deal; other studios may follow msnbc.com news services updated 4:06 p.m. CT, Wed., Jan. 6, 2010 Netflix's 11 million subscribers will have to wait nearly an extra month to rent the latest movies by Warner Bros. Under an agreement announced Wednesday, Netflix's DVD-by-mail service won't send out Warner Bros.' latest DVD and Blu-ray discs during the first 28 days after they hit the market. The deal is a first for Netflix. The company expects to reach similar agreements with other major movie studios later this year....

Just read a small story about Netflix. Netflix just cut a deal with Time Warner, not to rent Time Warners new releases for a month after release. This will give Time Warner the ability to sell more copies of their new movies for a month, to customers who "just can't wait" to see the new shows. In exchange for this concession, Time Warner, will sell the DVDs to Netflix at a dicounted rate at the end of that month. And here comes the point that most interests *me*. They (Rime Warner) will allow netflix a greater level of access to...

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill., Jan. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Redbox, the fully-automated DVD rental provider located at the nation's leading grocery, mass, drug and convenience stores, rented more than two million DVDs on New Year's Eve surpassing the Company's previous one day rental record by more than one-hundred-seventy-thousand rentals. "District 9," "G-Force," "Paranormal Activity" and "Julie & Julia" were among the night's top rentals. With more than 19,000 locations nationwide, consumers have embraced the convenience, fun and value of redbox. "With many Americans celebrating New Year's Eve at home and many more resolving to save money in 2010, redbox proved a great...

Enough cool suggestions were made by you that I have decided to add them to some of my selections which didn’t make my first cut and post a second list of titles that will add flavor to your home library.

Falling home video revenue is decreasing jobs, film prod'n A regional economic group estimates that dollar DVD rentals from Redbox and others has cost the entertainment industry $1 billion and that the "ripple effect" will cost hundreds of millions more. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. study said the nationwide declines in home video revenue will cause an additional $500 million in losses as more than 9,000 related job cuts wipe out almost $400 million in wages, primarily in Southern California. The dramatic assessment comes amid growing popularity among recession-wracked consumers of ultracheap disc rentals offered by Redbox and...

The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — SNIPPET: "Khaled Nawaya, a flight instructor, was arrested by Canada Border Services agents when they found $800,000 in gold coins and other currency in his car and pockets on Oct. 6, as he crossed into Surrey, B.C., near Vancouver." SNIPPET: "He'd been living in the U.S. since he was 17 and had gained approval for permanent residency in Canada. Besides the gold, Canadian agents found a ring bearing the insignia of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government since 2002. They also seized 9/11 conspiracy theory-themed DVDs and a...

LONDON (Reuters) – The amazing eyes of a giant shrimp living on Australia's Great Barrier Reef could hold the key to developing a new type of super high-quality DVD player, British scientists said on Sunday. Mantis shrimps, dubbed "thumb splitters" by divers because of their vicious claws, have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom. They can see in 12 primary colors, four times as many as humans, and can also detect different kinds of light polarization -- the direction of oscillation in light waves.

To: Charlize Theron, Hugh Jackman, Seth Rogen, Tina Fey, Steven Spielberg, Michael Mann, every actor, actress, screenwriter, costumer, best boy, cameraman, set designer, makeup artist, and agent--plus anyone else who makes their living in the film industry. From: Greg Sandoval, CNET media reporter and film fan. Re: Your livelihood Cut your spending. Save your money. Many of the revenue streams that have gushed into your industry for decades, some for nearly a century, are about to dry up. This will likely mean a period of belt tightening like you've never seen before. The end is coming for DVDs, traditional movie...

Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies SuckPosted By John Nolte On October 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm In Entertainment, News | 163 Comments Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy [1], competing technologies such as video games [2]and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox [3]… everything but the quality of the actual films. First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But...

A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world's largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits. As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles. The move comes as major film studios are reeling from declines in revenue from DVD sales as cash-strapped consumers turn to low-cost rental services and digital downloads for home movies. "We think the new strategy implies Wal-Mart no longer sees DVDs and Blu-ray...

I need to copy some DVDs of some lectures but have no software. What do you use? thanx

SAN FRANCISCO – DVD copying software sold by RealNetworks Inc. appears to be an illegal pirating tool, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a legal battle that's been closely watched in Hollywood and elsewhere. The Seattle-based company's RealDVD software violates federal anti-piracy law and also goes against a contract RealNetworks signed to gain keys to unscramble DVDs, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel said. DVDs are embedded with anti-piracy technology that prevents copying, Patel noted. "RealDVD products are designed primarily for circumvention of that technology," she wrote. "This unauthorized access infringes the Studios' rights because it entails accessing content...

A federal judge in San Francisco has sided with Hollywood studios and ruled against RealNetworks’ DVD-copying software saying RealDVD allows users to engage in copyright infringement. U.S. District Court Marilyn Patel, in an order issued late Aug. 11, wrote that RealDVD “circumvents a technological measure that effectively controls access to or copying of the studios’ copyrighted content on DVDs.” Patel’s order effectively bars RealNetworks from selling RealDVD in any form, including its Facet DVD player that can create and store DVD copies. Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, said he was “very pleased” by...

A US startup has developed a new DVD-R technology that it claims will be readable for 1,000 years. Millenniata's tag line is "Write Once, Read Forever" - and if forever can be defined as 40 generations, that's exactly what its Millennial Disc Series promises. Millenniata president and CEO Henry O'Connell told The Reg that the Millennial Disc Series is designed to eliminate the need for governments, financial institutions, libraries, and others to regularly refresh and rotate their digital-data collections. "At the present time there is no digital media that can preserve data for more than a few years," said O'Connell....

LONDON -- Falling DVD purchases and rentals by consumers have contributed to a drop of more than $2.6 billion in the global video biz sector, according to the latest figures Monday from Screen Digest. Internationally, last year consumers spent $26.4 billion on video software, with $18.1 billion of that spent on buying DVD discs. The overall figure represents a 3.6% drop on 2007 spend and a 4.7% drop on disc sales alone, the research shows. Screen Digest says the sales figures are in line with the overall trend that saw consumer spending plateau between 2004 and 2007 and the North...

A Taiwanese carpenter who found out about his wife's affair when he spotted her starring in a pornographic film with his friend later stabbed him in a revenge attack. The man, known only as Lee, from Taipei, spotted his wife cavorting in a DVD called Affairs With Others' Wives which he had bought to watch at home. The encounter was apparently recorded on a hidden camera in a motel.

It's a first lady faux pas -- wearing expensive, high-fashion French designer sneakers to a food bank. Michelle Obama wore the sneakers, made by Lanvin, while helping feed the poor at a Washington food bank on Wednesday. The pricetag on the footwear? A cool $540. Keds, they're not. The sneakers, which come in denim and satin, are a favorite of comic Ellen DeGeneres and rapper Kanye West -- and they're "certainly not a reflection of the poor economy," said FOX News' Noelle Watters, host of iMag Style. "She paired the kicks with a much more reasonably priced cardigan from J....

Warner Bros. today will launch a service giving the public the opportunity to custom-order DVDs of films never before released via the medium. The move is seen as a response to dwindling DVD sales and also to customer demand for titles that while not totally obscure, didn't necessarily generate enough heat to merit a full-on DVD release. The Warner Archive Collection, available at WarnerArchive.com, includes films dating back to the silent age and for $19.95 per disc Warners will burn, package and ship for receipt within an estimated five days. Currently there are 150 titles available with for a total...

BEFORE the censors cracked down in mid-1934, Hollywood unleashed a flood of sexy, taboo-busting movies to lure audiences during the Great Depression. Six elusive titles -- most have never been shown on TV -- turn up in "The Pre-Code Hollywood Collection," out tomorrow, which vividly shows just how far the financially struggling studios were willing to push the envelope. Paramount especially seems to have gone out of its way to flout the Production Code Administration (PCA), whose myriad prohibitions weren't seriously enforced until Catholic groups threatened a boycott.

I never imagined I’d say it, but I’m beginning to identify with Barack Obama. I’m certainly not referring to his politics or his narcissism, but it seems that both of us really suck when it comes to gift giving. First, he gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown some DVDs that were incompatible with English electronics, and then he gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod that contained his speeches. Well, I hate to admit it, but I can empathize. Shopping for a prime minister has got to be hard enough, but trying to shop for a woman who has her own country would...

Poor old Gordon Brown. While he was being savaged in Strasbourg, the Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd was getting a terribly thoughtful present from President Barack Obama - a rare original printing of sheet music, the "Anacreontic Song", by John Smith, known these days as the "Star Spangled Banner". This was, as the Aussie press was not slow to point out, in stark contrast to "the lousy gift of DVDs Obama gave Brown" during his recent visit. Rudd had given Obama a personally signed and inscribed copy of Thomas Keneally's biography of Abraham Lincoln. Not bad, but not quite as...

A few years back, it emerged that US Senator Ted Stevens had been given an iPod by his daughter, and it had changed the way he saw the RIAA and the measures for which it lobbied. It's always seemed to me that once politicians -- at least those not beholden to the entertainment industry -- experienced the stupidity and frustration of the locks and controls that groups like the RIAA and MPAA put on content and want backed up by law, they'd realize they were little more than attempts to frustrate consumers and prop up outmoded business models. Maybe the...

Confirmed: DVDs that Obama gave Gordon Brown are the wrong format posted at 4:50 pm on March 19, 2009 by Allahpundit Send to a Friend | Share on Facebook | printer-friendly Via Media Blog, one final cringeworthy indignity from the gifts that keep on giving. Until now I thought Obama’s team had spent about five minutes brainstorming on what to get Brown. I was wrong. It was more like two minutes. What’s that term The One’s been using for his foreign policy? Ah, right. “Smart power.” Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he...

One gets the vision of top level security men, clad in their black suits and matching sunglasses, earpieces in place, scanning the aisles from left to right as Obama rolls up his sleeves and gets elbow-deep in the ‘2 for $11’ DVD bin at Wal-mart.

British press aghast at 'cheap' Obama giftMarch 07, 2009 British newspapers are upset over what they see as rude treatment given to Prime Minister Gordon Brown by U.S. President Barack Obama this week, observers say. The London dailies criticized Obama's treatment of Brown during his state visit to Washington this week on several fronts, including alleged cheap gift-giving, the New York Daily News reported Saturday. President Obama has been rudeness personified toward Britain, The Daily Telegraph wrote Friday. His handling of the visit of the prime minister, Gordon Brown, to Washington was appalling. The main point of contention was an...

You can see the entire video in one video, and you can now purchase the DVD of the entire Rush CPAC speech at: http://www.c-spanarchives.org/library/index.php?main_page=product_video_info&products_id=284357-3&showVid=true I just purchased it, since I rank this speech right up there with Reagan’s conservative speeches/writings. Maybe you can show this video/speech at rallies/tea parties, etc. Get the word out about how conservatism works for Americans. Tommy Miami, FL

Movie Studios Offer Consumers Win-Win Way to go Blu-ray By Jim Bray February 14, 2009 It looks as if there may be an outbreak of consumer-friendly common sense coming from a couple of the big Hollywood studios. This particular anomaly is a way to help people transition to the Blu-ray format by marketing "combination" disc packages that include both DVD and BD versions, so those who don't yet have a Blu-ray player (which is most people) can watch their favorite titles on DVD now, with the BD version waiting patiently in the package for the day when they do eventually...

AN old skeleton has emerged from Jane Fonda's closet to remind us of her traitorous embrace of the North Vietnamese, which got her dubbed "Hanoi Jane." Docudrama Films is re leasing on DVD a long-suppressed documentary called "FTA," a k a "[Bleep] the Army," which chroni cles the anti-war shows Fonda staged in front of GIs. The flick opened in theaters in 1972 the same week she flew to Hanoi and encouraged the Vietnamese com munists to fight "American impe rialists."

Of the Globe Award winners; Which SHOULD be seen on the Big Screen of a theater? Which will play as well on DVD?