TV, Movies & Home Theatre - Page 46

Paramount Pictures has just gone Transformers crazy, with the studio wanting to setup a Marvel-like connected universe franchise for its Transformer franchise.

The studio has said that it's working on setting up a Transformers "incubator", where writers are tasked to come up with crazy ideas for new Transformers movies. Deadline is reporting that Paramount wants Akiva Goldsman, the writer behind I Am Legend and I, Robot to come on as Lead, where he would work with Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay. Paramount reportedly wants writers to come up with ideas not just for a multi-part Transformers sequel, but spinoff movies, too.

Goldman will reportedly not be penning any scripts, but he will be on the hunt for writers. Paramount is hoping to get a new Transformers movie ready for Michael Bay, but he has said that he probably won't be directing the new Transformers - but we've heard that before.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is only a year away now, and while we've seen Superman's new look, the new Batman and even Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor hasn't been unveiled, until now.

Jesse Eisenberg goes bald for the role of Lex Luthor, Superman's arch nemesis, with the director of the movie, Zack Snyder, explaining with Entertainment Weekly: "He's not any of the Lexes that you've seen, that's for sure other than him being a captain of industry and one person to the world and another person to himself. And bald, of course".

We don't have much to go on right now, apart from the single image of the evil genius that Eisenberg is playing. As a huge Superman fan, I'm positively ecstatic about how this is shaping up so far.

Netflix has been stepping up their efforts to combat piracy of their services, such as blocking VPN users, but it seems their largest threat comes from external competitors. Netflix recently sent a letter to their shareholders noting that piracy is one of their primary competitors, and specifically mentions the Popcorn Time app.

Popcorn time is an app that streamlines pirating a movie. It simply wraps the actual nuts-and-bolts of torrenting in an easy to use app, then streams the contents to the user. Instead of typical torrenting, where the user searches and then waits for the download, Popcorn Time starts streaming the torrent almost instantly. Popcorn Time is still just piracy in a slick wrapper, but the simplicity has made it a fearsome foe for Netflix.

Netflix cites a Google Trends graph that illustrates the growing popularity of Popcorn Time in the Netherlands. The results point to Popcorn Time gaining rapidly, surpassing such standard fare as HBO, and achieving parity with Netflix. On a global scale Popcorn Time is still a small player, so it is a bit puzzling that Netflix is so concerned about Popcorn Time's popularity in the Netherlands. However, for Netflix the trend highlights the overall growing threat from the piracy app, and in todays copy/paste app world there will likely soon be other apps that provide similar functionality.

It's been kicking around in limbo for a number of years, but to the surprise of many industry pundits Panasonic have today shown a prototype of the next generation Blu-ray format, dubbed 'Ultra HD Blu-ray' at CES and released key specifications. The full press release has been picked up by Blu-ray.com and confirms that the format will embrace 4K at up to 60 frames per second, the more efficient H.265 codec with bit rates up to 100 mbps, 10-bit gradation, High Dynamic Range and wider colour gamut.

Whilst the press releases does note that 'standards are being formulated by the Blu-ray Disc Association and have not yet been finalised', the company did not shed light on disc capacity or laser and pit groove technology will be employed. Panasonic did show a prototype of the player, but clearly it's in very early shape with the absence of a disc drive. With packaged media on the decline, it remains to be seen how the world will react to another disc based technology, but we might know a little more about the tech later this year.

The long-awaited release of The Interview resulted in only $1 million dollars in revenue at the box office. This is a small amount compared to most releases, which normally top $10 million when they feature top-billed actors. Sales results are also very likely skewed by the simultaneous release on digital platforms, such as Google Play and YouTube, which may have kept movie-goers at home. Sales figures from the digital release aren't available yet, but they are sure to garner widespread attention from the movie industry.

A digital release of a major Hollywood movie has never happened until much later in the cycle, primarily because the movie industry makes much more money from theater ticket sales. The inevitability of the ever-growing digital sales segment has raised questions in the past of how such a release would work. The impromptu release of The Interview should provide solid insight into how future movie releases may look, and how much money online platforms can generate in comparison to typical theater releases.

Releasing The Interview onto streaming services first was certainly unintended, and the result of the long-running hacking saga at Sony Pictures. Releasing the movie in theaters on Christmas day also surely depressed ticket sales, and figures from the long holiday weekend may be a better indicator of the The Interview's success.

Netflix has announced a new deal it has struck with Adam Sandler, the star of The Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore, with his next four feature films as an exclusive. With Sandler's movies grossing over $3 billion at the global box office, this could be an interesting move.

Sandler's movies also rank as the most-viewed by Netflix members in the US, Brazil, the UK and more. Netflix's Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos said: "People love Adam's films on Netflix and often watch them again and again. His appeal spans across viewers of all ages -- everybody has a favorite movie, everyone has a favorite line -- not just in the US but all over the world".

Sandler had something a little different to say: "When these fine people came to me with an offer to make four movies for them, I immediately said yes for one reason and one reason only... Netflix rhymes with Wet Chicks. Let the streaming begin!!!!" The deal sees Sandler's Happy Madison Productions working with Netflix to develop the four movies that will see Adam Sandler starring and producing in, to premiere exclusively to member's in over close to 50 countries that Netflix operates in.

One of the best kept copies of Action Comics #1, where Superman made his debut all the way back in 1938, is up for auction on eBay. This comic has its current bid at $1,750,200 - or $1.75 million.

The seller, Darren Adams who is based in Federal Way, Washington, explains that his copy of Action Comics #1 is "The finest known copy of the most sought after comic book in the world. A 1938 museum piece with PERFECT WHITE pristine pages". Adams said that he purchased it from a collector who had stored it in a bank vault. He adds: "I'm hoping that the next person can enjoy it as much as I do. I'd love it if a museum purchased this book for all to see".

Back in 2011, another copy of Action Comics #1 sold for $2,161,000 - with this copy reportedly belonging to Nicholas Cage, who is said to have purchased the comic for $150,000 in 1997. Funnily enough, Cage was in the running to star as the Man of Steel in the now-scrapped, thankfully, Superman Lives from around the time Cage purchased the copy of Action Comics. Bidding started on August 14, and will end of August 24, with 1% of the proceeds going toward the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, Reeve playing Superman in the original Richard Donner movies, as well as Superman 3 and 4.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken to Twitter to thank the cast and crew of the new Terminator movie, getting fans to begin their excitement for its release on July 1, 2015.

Schwarzenegger posted a picture of himself sitting on his chair, with the official title of the movie on the back: Terminator Genisys. He posted the picture to his Instagram account, with the following caption: "Hasta la vista, baby. I want to thank the cast and crew of @TerminatorGenisys for a fantastic shoot. It was challenging, it was fun, and it was rewarding. From our director to the producers, from the camera team to catering, from visual effects to hair and makeup - we couldn't have done it without you. I can't wait to see our finished project and I know we'll remind the fans why they fell in love with the Terminator. On July 1, 2015, I'll be back".

This is where it gets interesting: instead of it being called Terminator 5, or Terminator Genesis, we have Terminator Genisys. Schwarzenegger is sitting in front of a screen with the word "Genisys" on it, so we might expect the operating system for the T-800 to possibly be called Genisys? I think that's what we should expect from this, and while I'm trying not to get too excited about the new Terminator movie, I still can't wait to check it out next year.

Media streaming has been slowly replacing cable subscriptions for people for the last few years, and in the past 12 months, it has exploded with help from set-top boxes and HDMI dongles such as Google's Chromecast. As such, media streaming apps and services have been popping up left and right, and now it appears that AT&T wants its cut of the action as well.

Today AT&T announced that it has partnered up with the Chernin Group to develop the next major media streaming service that would be a direct competitor to the current number one, Netflix. AT&T says that together, the partnership has committed $500 million in funding the new service, and are currently working out how the service would work. Luckily for AT&T, the Chernin Group already owns such a service, called Crunchroll.

"A critical part of The Chernin Group's strategy has been our significant focus on the online video industry, and joining forces with AT&T only further underscores our strategic commitment in this area as operators, investors and programmers," said Peter Chernin, Chairman and CEO, The Chernin Group. "Consumers are increasingly viewing video content on their phones, tablets, computers, game consoles and connected TVs on mobile and broadband networks. AT&T's massive reach on those platforms across mobile and broadband and their commitment to the online video space make them the perfect fit for this venture with us."

Sanyo has pulled the wraps off its new 2014 line of HDTVs. The entire line supports 1080p resolution. Sanyo offers no 720p TVs or 4K TVs this year. All of the TVs in the line are LED backlit making them more power efficient than older CCFL TVs.

The new range includes sets that run from 24-inches up to 65-inches. Sanyo is selling the new line through Walmart and Sam's Club around the country. Features are shared across the entire range with the big difference being screen size. All of the TVs have three HDMI inputs.

All of the TVs also have analog and digital optical audio outputs. Most of the new TVs are fitted with a MHL port that makes the TVs Roku Ready. Rounding out the hardware features are a USB port for viewing images on the screen and a VGA input for PC connectivity. Pricing on the TVs is unannounced at this time.

Today Netflix announced that it has began streaming its first pieces of 4K content to customers with 2014 model 4K TVs that support the H.265/HEVC decoder. House of Cards gets the title of the first TV series to get streamed in 4K, and a couple of nature documentaries are also being offered in 4K. Unfortunately, those who have 4K televisions that were manufactured or bought in 2013 will not be able to enjoy these offerings from Netflix due to codec incompatibilities.

Website HDTVTest is reporting that the 4K streams coming from Netflix are being delivered at 15.6Mbp/s and show obvious signs of compression, but does look better than Netflix's previous high-quality offering of the so-called "SuperHD" format. Unfortunately there are just not enough 4K TVs out there at the moment for widespread testing results to call back to, but I feel that Netflix will have a long journey ahead before any full-quality 4K content is passed on to customers.

Being one of those people who love to tear things apart to see what makes them tick, I look forward to iFixit's new device teardown every time something new is released. This weeks Amazon Fire TV was no exception, but it is a little disappointing to say the least. iFixit managed the teardown in no time at all, and what was reveled is a single-board design that leaves little repair room that a DIYer would be capable of.

Scoring just a 6 out of a possible 10, the Fire TV is nothing more than another board in a box, meaning that no other electronic components reside off of its PCB. This is the way most devices are being manufactured in modern times as components are continuing to shrink and SoC's are increasingly becoming more powerful and capable of multi-tasking. The device does feature a Qualcomm Processor, 2GB of RAM and 8GB of NAND flash. It's basically any smartphone produced in the last two years minus the screen.

iFixit also tore down the devices remote and optional video game controller since the main box provided little eye-candy for the post. Just like the Fire TV, its accessories are simple single board devices that are quite hard for the average consumer to repair. iFixit did manage to confirm that the microphone that has been utilized in the remote control is the same microphone used in the Kindle Fire HD table.

Rumors of an Amazon-built set-top have been floating around for the better part of the last year, and today those rumors proved to be true. This morning Amazon.com announced the release of its all new Fire TV set-top box, a media streaming device that fully incorporates the Amazon ecosystem. Amazon is pulling out all the stops as well, and has enlisted Gary Busey to even record a promotional video for the new device.

Measuring in at less than an inch thick, the new Fire TV set-top box is capable of streaming full HD content to your TV over a common HDMI connection, and includes a remote that allows you to voice your commands, search for movies, and a wealth of other things. Amazon is also offering a separate video game controller that retails for just $40. Fire TV is not just closed to Amazon content, but features apps that integrate Netflix, Hulu Plus and many more services right on the box.

Fire TV is powered by a dedicated quad-core CPU and features 2GB of RAM that allows the device to continue smooth operation even when under a load from watching a House of Cards marathon. 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi is on-board and 8GB of internal storage is present. Amazon is retailing Fire TV for just $99 and is available now on Amazon.com. Do you think that a $99 set-top box is a justifiable purchase since Google's $35 Chromecast and Roku's $50 Streaming Stick do almost all of the same task for much less money?

Pioneer Electronics has been making audio gear for years. The company has a full line of home theater receivers that run the gamut from entry-level models up to high-end offerings that can cost thousands of dollars. Pioneer has rolled out a new home theater receiver aimed at custom installers called the VSX-80.

This receiver will ship at the end of the month for $700. The VSX-80 has a lot to offer for the price. It features seven HDMI 2.0 ports allowing you to connect a lot of sources to the receiver. It is Roku Ready certified so all the user has to do is plug in a Streaming Stick to get access to all sorts of streaming content.

Pioneer built-in support for 4K UHD video pass through. The best feature if the VSX-80 is that it is able to upscale standard HD content to 4K resolution on-the-fly. Using the receiver, you can set up a 7.2 channel audio system or use a normal 5.1 set up with the other channels for multiroom audio.

This week, Roku unveiled a new version of its Streaming Stick, a major upgrade from the $99 model it released in late 2012. The major difference is that the new Roku Streaming Stick will work with any TV with a HDMI port instead of only working on models that are deemed "Roku Ready."

The Roku Streaming Stick works on the same principal as Google's Chromecast, and features both iOS and Android apps to control the device. Not everyone likes using their tablet or smartphone to control their TV though and Roku has included a remote for those who still like to use them. The stick is basically an HD version of the Roku 1 that fits into a package the size of a large USB thumb drive and has more than 1000 channels of video programming.

The Roku Streaming Stick retails for about $50 which is $15 more than the Chromecast, and it includes major players like Showtime, HBO, Netflix, Hulu Plus, PLEX, and many more. It is up to you to decide if the extra $15 is worth it to you or not, but with Google recently opening up its SDK for the Chromecast, there is bound to be a wealth of apps arriving for it as well.

Voting for American Idol (that show is still on the air?) has never been easier thanks to a new feature from Fox and Google. Fans of the show can now vote on their favorite contestants up to 50 times per day straight from Google's search results. This new voting method virtually eliminates the need to ever vote via text messaging again, and has to open up the door even wider than before for vote scamming.

Fans can vote by simply heading over to Google.com on their desktop or mobile device and searching the keywords "American Idol, or "Idol" during the show's voting window. The sponsored ad will be a voting block which will allow each fan to vote for each contestant up to 50 times before clicking submit. Voting is done by taping or clicking on the contestants photo they wish to vote for. A pop-over will appear with a slider that can be adjusted with the mouse or finger to indicate how many votes that contestant gets. This will definitely make voting for the show easier, but I am left wondering why the show lets each contestant get up to 50 votes each per voter. It would make much more sense if voters were given just 50 votes total to distribute among contestants.

Over the weekend, Comcast and Netflix entered into an agreement that will see Netflix getting priority bandwidth allocation when streamed across Comcast's network. While many of us see this as a violation of the now defunct net neutrality laws, Verizon seems to disagree. Today Verizon's CEO announced that Netflix has also agreed to pay his company for the same type of prioritization over its network.

Verizon's CEO, Lowell McAdams, said that the two companies have been in talks for more than a year, and he fully expects that the two companies will come to terms quite soon. "If you see someone come in with a lot of load on the internet, with video, you've got to get that in an efficient place. So making the connection far out on the network is a good thing, and frankly, paying for it," said McAdams. "To me this shows you don't necessarily need a lot of regulation in a dynamic market here. By doing these commercial deals we'll get good investments and good returns for both parties."

Unfortunately, what this actually means for consumers is that Netflix will have to find a way to make up for the lost revenue that it is having to spend paying off the ISP's to ensure its content gets delivered in as high quality as possible. This means that Netflix will eventually have to raise subscription prices, or cut back on the number of movie and TV show licenses it purchases. This opens the door for the ISPs to do this sort of thing with other services such as Hulu, HBO GO, Amazon Prime, and Google Play.

You may have heard about companies like Sony, Nintendo and SEGA... as well as director and actor duo Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg, but what do you get when you mix it all together? A new movie coming out which focuses on the early 90s, and the console wars between Nintendo and SEGA.

The idea already exists in book form , with Console Wars coming out in May, written by Blake Harris. Console Wars focuses on SEGA's challenge to Nintendo in the early 90s with the SEGA Mega Drive. A movie based on the book is already being worked on, with Sony Pictures and Scott Rudin (of Moneyball, The Social Network fame) behind it.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg will be directing, with the comedy duo taking up the screenplay duties, too. Console Wars' author will serve as an Executive Producer, but is also co-directing a documentary on the same subject, with Rudin, Rogen and Goldberg all sitting on as producers.

In a world where it seems that sharing any form of media with your friends is illegal or against the service's ToS, HBO has stepped up to the plate and said that it is OK to share your HBO Go account with friends and family. In a recent interview with website BuzzFeed, HBO's CEO Richard Plepler went on the record saying that "It's not that we're unmindful of it [ HBO GO Account Sharing ], it just has no impact on the business."

Plepler says that the company sees HBO GO as an added value feature to its Premium Channel cable service and not as an individual product in itself. He went on to say that allowing users to share their HBO Account with friends is a "terrific marketing vehicle for the next generation of viewers," and that it could lead to more HBO subscribers in the future. "HBO Go is value added - what you want to watch," Plepler said, in response to questions about offering HBO Go as a stand alone product. "Right now, that's the right model for us. Are we always thinking about optionality, of course we are always thinking about optionality... if the arithmetic changes and made sense in a different way we are not going to be caught without the ability to pivot."

I take this as a breath of fresh air, and hope that more companies will be open to this kind of thinking, and will lessen their restrictions on account sharing in the future. HBO has the right idea, and if more companies follow suit, we could see a sort of "mini revolution" in the content streaming arena that would lead to more competition and value for the customer in the future.

Something that has just popped up into my radar in the last few minutes, is Transcendence. Transcendence is Wally Pfister's directorial debut, which stars Johnny Depp and Morgan Freeman.

There are two trailers, the one above which is narrated by Morgan Freeman, and the one below, which is narrated by Depp. Transcendence is based around the idea of artificial intelligence (AI), where work is done to create a sentient machine that 'combines intelligence of everything ever known with the full range of human emotion.'

The full synopsis makes it seem very, very intriguing: