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The Players In Internet Movie Downloads

The Players In Internet Movie Downloads

There are several online movie download services that have established themselves as real players in the instant gratification film niche. The latest to join the fray is Apple with its iTunes Movie Store. You can download a film to your Mac, your PC or your iPod – although watching a feature link film on that three inch screen could leave you babbling into your popcorn box.

Apple is joining a number of existing online services. The largest among them include Guba, Movielink, CinemaNow and – who else? – Amazon’s Unbox. With the exception of the Apple site, you’re going to need a PC and in most cases, use the Microsoft Explorer browser to download your films. It’s not just films that are available – many of the services have a TV library as well.

There are a number of variations among the sites – size of library, presence (or absence) of first run films, and variations in the licensing agreements. Without exception, your download will include digital rights management (DRM) technology which controls your use of the downloaded file.

The Apple store recorded one million sales in its first month of operation, seizing on its position in the media download market to get off to a running start. They feature Disney products, but these days Disney has a number of film genres put out under various labels. Their recent releases cost from $12.99 to $14.99 to download.

Amazon has deals with 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. That’s an excellent collection of partners, and their film lineup reflects it. You can download The DaVinci Code for just under fifteen bucks, and a show from TV’s CSI for $1.99. They have been heavily criticized for incorporating some extremely intrusive software into their download process.

Movie Link is a partnership of several major movie studios, another example of content developers trying, successfully and economically or not, to create a distribution network. Their library is probably the best on the block, as the partner roster includes MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Brothers, Disney, Sundance Channel, BBC, and National Geographic. If you’re searching for an obscure gem, Movie Link has the largest catalogue online. Their new releases are usually $19.99 and their better catalogue choices $9.99.

CinemaNow is the only service to have managed a film release simultaneously with the DVD release, which they accomplished with “Too Fast Too Furious.” They also will provide the ability – for a price – to burn selected downloads to a DVD. Their licensed partners include Disney, Fox, Lionsgate, NBC Universal, Sony, and Warner Bros. Their prices for new releases range from $14.99 to $19.99 and their catalogue charge is $9.99.

Guba is the bargain download shop, with a library built on deals with Warner and Sony. They began originally as a Usenet service provider, and feature a Usenet uploads in their onsite search. Their prices top out at $9.99.

While Netflix has been talking about getting into the download business for two years, their service remains in the planning stage. They’re going to be challenged when they make the transition from DVD to computer file, as many of the major movie houses have tied up their download rights in services that are their own creations, such as Movie Link or services in which they are partners.

The computer-driven movie-on-demand service is on the scene, and many think it will be the format of choice in a few years. A top end PC is capable of being a highly functional entertainment center, and the convenience of true on-demand films is going to overshadow even the most sophisticated cable TV on-demand services, as compression technology improves and download times drop.

Home-Entertainment – taking it to the next level

Home-Entertainment – taking it to the next level

Of course, if price is no object and you’re willing to spend anything to get the very best home entertainment system, then there is a lot of expensive specialist equipment out there for you.

The first thing you will probably want to spend money on is a better sound system – audiophiles are forever coming up with new ways to fill rooms with speakers, and get a better sound experience. If all the wires running across your floor would upset you, then don’t worry, as you can get wireless surround sound speakers for not too much more than normal ones.

If your sound system is good enough, you might even want to have sound insulation put into whichever room the home entertainment system is in, to keep the sound from escaping and disturbing others. This means that you can have the sound up very loud without having to worry about what anyone thinks of you.

When you get to the point of buying a separate TV from your normal TV just to play films on, you might think about buying a projector instead. The main problem with projectors is that they’re not much good for normal TV viewing, but if you’re planning to keep one aside and use it just for films, then it can be much better quality, as long as you have a clear wall to point it at.

To take it to the next level, you might consider putting your home cinema in its own ‘cinema room’ (sometimes called a ‘screening room’), complete with sound insulation, a screen for a projector and extra-comfortable cinema-style seating. Some enthusiasts go as far as to decorate this room to look like a cinema, with red curtains, movie posters, and a popcorn machine. If you do go this far, then you don’t have to keep the home cinema just for yourself – you can invite friends over to enjoy it too, and even hold screenings of particularly rare and good films.

Home Entertainment – bringing the cinema to you

Home Entertainment – bringing the cinema to you

As home entertainment equipment gets cheaper and the quality gets better each year, more and more people are starting to wonder about setting up their own home cinema system. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of a home cinema compared to just going to the real cinema?

Well, let’s start with price. Sure, going to the cinema can be expensive, especially if you buy popcorn and hotdogs every time, but it’s nothing compared to the cost of buying a home cinema system. For the price all the equipment you need, even though the price is going down, you could still go to the cinema every week for years – and that’s before you consider the cost of buying or renting the films!

However, the fact that you can buy and rent films is a big upside of having a good home entertainment system. When you go to the cinema, your choices are limited to what they’ve got – with a home cinema, combined with the unique power of the Internet to locate almost any DVD in existence; your choices are almost unlimited.

Yes, you have to make your own film food, but at least it’s cheap, and you can have as much as you want. You also don’t have to put up with other people eating and talking through the film – but if you want to pause it and answer your phone then at home you can.

Really, it’s a trade-off, even once you take price out of the equation: you’re never going to get a screen as big and a sound system as good as the one in the cinema, but what you lose in quality you make up for in control. Besides, many movie buffs say that although the picture may be smaller, they believe that the overall quality of the film is higher when they configure their own equipment, instead of leaving it to the underpaid teenagers who staff the projectors in modern cinemas.

Planning a Themed New Years Eve Party

Planning a Themed New Years Eve Party

If you are planning a New Years Eve party, you might also be considering having a specific theme for your party. While a theme is not a necessary part of a New Years Eve party or any party but it can make any party significantly more fun and interesting. Planning a themed New Years Eve party is a great deal of fun but it is also significantly more complicated than planning a party without a theme just because there is more coordination involved in the planning process and in trying to ensure all of the elements of the party fit within the theme. This article will discuss the process of planning a New Years Eve party with a theme and will offer samples of appropriate themes and how they can be applied.

When planning a themed New Years Eve party the host has the option to incorporate the theme as much or as little as they wish. Examples of items which can be incorporated into the theme are invitations, decorations, food, beverages, music, entertainment and even the guests’ attire. Guests who attend the party have the option of fully taking advantage of the theme and dressing or acting in a particular character during the event or simply attending the party and enjoy the atmosphere, food, beverages and entertainment provided by the host.

Themes for New Years Eve parties can be any theme the host selects and does not have to relate to the holiday at all. One example of an unrelated theme is a Western theme. The host can set the team by sending out cowboy hate shaped invitations encouraging guests to dress appropriately for a country hoe down. Once the guests receive the invitation, they will have an understanding of the theme of the party. If themed parties are not popular with your circle of friends you might want to follow up the invitations with a personal call encouraging your guests to dress according to the theme and assuring them you will be dressing similarly. I planning the entertainment for your party you can consider hiring a country western band to host the party. You might even hire a line dance instructor for an hour or two to offer group line dancing classes to the guests. In incorporating the theme of the party in the decorations, you can purchase hay bales to place around the room and use colored handkerchiefs for napkins. The food at your party should also incorporate your theme. If you are offering a sit down dinner, chili is a good choice. Stew would also be a good option. If you plan to have appetizers, you can create theme related appetizers by giving traditional appetizers unique names. You might refer to mini bagel pizzas as wagon wheels or mini egg rolls as hay bales. For beverages you can serve ice cold beer in glass mugs.

An example of a more elegant theme for a New Years Eve party might include a red carpet extravaganza where guests are encouraged to dress like their favorite movie star from any era. Alternately the theme could be limited to a specific era with guests expected to dress like stars from the appropriate era. This is a good idea for a New Years Eve party theme because many guests like to dress in their most elegant clothing and this would give them the opportunity to dress to impress. The theme for a New Years Eve party with this theme might be an invitation in the shape of an elegant silver star inviting guests to join you on the red carpet for the premier of the New Year. In decorating for this event, the host should include a red carpet in their entryway and may want to use a series of motion detected strobe lights to mimic the flashbulbs of paparazzi lining the red carpet of movie premiers. This will serve to immediately get the guests in the spirit of the party. Entertainment for the party might include giving out New Years Eve awards to the guests in a series of different categories and allowing guests to give a short speech as they receive their award.