News and other tidbits that Chad Cloman finds interesting enough to share
It’s a common belief: if you raise prices then income will also increase. But this isn’t always true. Earlier this year, Netflix, the DVD and streaming movie provider known for it’s affordable prices, made some changes to its pricing structure. They lost 800,000 customers as a result. Their stock price plunged, and they may be in the red for most of the next year.
Netflix is known for sending movies through the mail, but now more and more of its business is done via online streaming. From the linked article: “Three years ago we [Netflix] were a DVD-by-mail company that offered some streaming. We are very proud to announce that by every measure we are now a streaming company, which also offers DVD-by-mail.” To get a grasp on just how big this is, a recent study by Sandvine found that Netflix is responsible for 20% of downstream internet traffic during certain peak periods. And the folks at Netflix, being no dummies and seeing the future for what it is, have made it easier to access content from game consoles.
Link (PDF): http://ir.netflix.com/…
(via The Consumerist)
Let’s face it: 3D glasses just plain suck. Never mind that I use prescription lenses and have to put the cheap movie-theater glasses over top of the ones I’m already wearing. Some people get eyestrain-related headaches when watching 3D movies, and they blame it on the glasses. The truth, however, is that the headaches aren’t necessarily caused by the glasses. As mentioned in a previous Chad’s News post, most 3D movies aren’t actually filmed with 3D cameras but are converted after the fact. If this conversion is done poorly, eyestrain will result. And even when they are filmed in 3D, the linked article discusses other issues that can cause the headaches.
Link: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/…
(via Slashdot)
I’ve heard that you should never strike a deal to get part of the net proceeds of a movie because most films never make a profit (always ask for a percentage of the gross). Now I finally understand why that’s the case. The linked article explains how Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix grossed $938 million yet still had a $167 million “loss”.
Link: http://www.techdirt.com/…
(via Slashdot)
With 3D movies becoming all the rage, Slate takes a look at the difficulties inherent in converting an older 2D movie into 3D. Unfortunately the viewing experience is not as good as native 3D, especially if they do a sloppy job. Also, since it costs more to film in 3D than to convert from 2D, we may see upcoming films doing the conversion anyway.
Link: http://www.slate.com/…
(via Neatorama)
Over at UserFriendly, artist J.D. “Illiad” Fraser lists five movie concepts that will terrorize your inner geek. My favorite is “Windows Me: The Rebirth.”
The Hunt For Gollum is a high-quality Lord of the Rings fan film describing the period when Aragorn tracks down Gollum. In the books, it’s only mentioned in passing, and this film imagines what the hunt could have been like.
The movie is a large download. For those readers who prefer to use BitTorrent, there are several good torrents available.
Here are 11 predictions in Back to the Future II that came true. Pretty good for a sequel!
Link: http://www.11points.com/…
(via mental_floss)
Netflix sees the future, and the future includes on-demand streaming video. Why use snail mail to get Netflix DVDs when you can download the movie right now? Makes sense to me, although I doubt the quality of the streaming video will be as good as that of DVD or Blu-ray.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Much like the DVD of The Matrix which I believe was the first major release to fully exploit the new medium, the Blu-ray version of The Dark Knight has a bunch of bells and whistles. Note that you’ll need a Profile 2.0 player to use BD-Live.
Link: http://arstechnica.com/…
Next weekend’s release of The X-Files: I Want to Believe will not address the X-Files mythology. But should you want to know the full and unambiguous history of the mythology, I refer you to the linked site. After reading sections 0 through 4 of the primer, and based on my own experience watching the show, I finally got the big picture—which was originally presented in disjoint pieces over scores of episodes.
In response to last week’s theatrical release of The Incredible Hulk, the linked article lists 10 movie characters that could take on the Hulk and possibly win. Personally, I think Dr. Manhattan and Jean Gray should be tied for first place. (And if you’re wondering who the heck is Dr. Manhattan, don’t fret—the Watchmen movie hasn’t been released yet.)
Link: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/…
(via digg)
