HTF Newsletter: September 2010

Exclusives from Home Theater Forum

2010 CEDIA EXPO Coverage

Ron, Parker and Patrick Sun just returned from Atlanta where they provided excellent and extensive HD video, photo and commentary coverage of the 2010 CEDIA EXPO, one of the biggest home theater related trade shows.  To get a preview of new products and the future of home theater visit our CEDIA 2010 forum.

Two Tickets to Paradise Interview and Giveaway 

Neil Middlemiss had the opportunity recently to talk with D.B. Sweeney about his first film Two Tickets to Paradise which was just released on DVD.  D.B. Sweeney, star of films such as The Cutting Edge,Eight Men Out, Memphis Belle, and Miracle at St. Anna, as well as in the mini-series Lonesome Dove,Harsh Realm, and guest starring roles in everything from House, M.D., to 24, shared his experience getting his directorial debut off the ground, working with great actors, and what it was like running the show.   Read the complete interview here. We have 5 copies of Two Tickets to Paradise to give away courtesy of Paramount. To enter just make a post in the review thread. Winners will be chosen by random on Friday October 8th and must reside in the US or Canada.

Don't Let Me Drown Giveaway

Image Entertainment has given us three copies of Don't Let Me Drown, a story of two Brooklyn teenagers finding comfort in each other while dealing with the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedy. Directed by Cruz Angeles and featuring a stellar cast, Don't Let Me Drown was a Grand Jury Prize nominee at the Sundance Film Festival and has won the Audience Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival along with the awards for Jury Prize and Best Editing at the Woodstock Film Festival.  To enter post in the announcement thread.  Winners will be drawn at random on Friday October 8th and must reside in the US or Canada.

Iron Man 2 Interview With VFX Supervisor and Co-Producer

Neil also participated in a virtual roundtable with Janek Sirrs - Visual Effects Supervisor, and Victoria Alonso - Co-Producer on Iron Man 2.  HTF was fortunate to have several questions answered during today's roundtable (as noted), and a number of interesting points came out, including the difficulty in creating the suit-in-a-suit-case visual effects scene and changes between the first and second film's VFX.  Read the entire roundtable discussion here.

Chat Announcement

Our next chat will be on October 11from 5:30-7:30PM PT (8:30-10:30PM ET) with award winning writer, director and producer Kenneth Johnson creator of The Bionic Woman, V, The Incredible Hulk, Alien Nation and other Emmy Award Winning Shows.  Kenneth will be taking your questions about all of those shows and the upcoming DVD release of The Bionic Womanseason 1.  We will give away 5 copies of the DVD courtesy of Universal Home Video at the end of the chat, so don't miss it!  Full details and access to the chat can be found on our Chat Page.

A Few Words About.TM

Robert A. Harris is a film historian and preservationist who specializes in restoring the large-format widescreen films of the 1950s.  If you are looking for the bold, unfiltered truth about the transfer quality of the latest releases look no further.  This month Robert takes a look at Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and the classic King Kong both on Blu-ray.

Current Conversations on the Forum

How does the new Beauty and the Beast Blu-ray from Disney stack up to past releases?  Join the conversation and read Matt's review here.

The Bionic Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man are finally coming to DVD.  Are you planning on buying either release?  Did you ever watch the shows?  Discuss the upcoming releases here with Gord and David from TV Shows On DVD.

The After Hours Lounge is where you can find all conversations not related to home theater.  Are you a sports fan?  Any thoughts about the current football or baseball seasons?  How are your teams doing?  Click on a link to let other members know.

Each week Mike Frezon and Patrick Sun bring you the best DVD and Blu-ray deals of the week and new release pricing in The Weekly Roundup.  There are also links to reviews so you know if a title is worth adding to your collection, or should be avoided.  Which titles are you planning to get this week?

Site Updates

Easier to Find Reviews
We have made several changes to the site lately to make reviews more accessible.  They number of reviews visible on the sidebar has been expanded from 3 to 5 and the most recent reviews along with other site content is now featured on the front page.  As always you can click here for all our featured reviews, or go to any of our review archives: DVD | Blu-ray | HD DVD

New Classifieds Section and Navigation Improvements
We also launched two brand new buy/sell/trade areas, hardware and software and moved the existing listings to atemporary archive.  The new system makes it easier to browse and sort through ads allows a picture to display with the post (optional) and has built in feedback.  Its still free to place ads, so check it out.  To make it easier to navigate that site we brought back the drop down box and we just added a more forums menu to the top of the page allowing you to go directly to any specific forum regardless of where you are on the site.

New Facebook Page
Become a fan of Home Theater Forum on our new Facebook page.

Support HTF When You Shop 

When you click on a link on HTF to Amazon, Newegg, or to a variety of other retailers and make a purchase, you're supporting HTF. We now have a dedicated display of all our affiliate stores. There are over 70 on-line retailers including some for our members overseas. Check it out next time you are planning on making a purchase -- It's an easy way to help us keep HTF going and growing.

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