Crawdaddy's "Random Thoughts" about Home Video, Film & TV (2 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

I agree about its merits and demerits. The cast is wonderful even if they're let down by a meh story. I was disappointed Eddie didn't give us background on John Barrymore, Jr. I'll have to do my own research, I guess.

 

[Mark-P]

I agree about its merits and demerits. The cast is wonderful even if they're let down by a meh story. I was disappointed Eddie didn't give us background on John Barrymore, Jr. I'll have to do my own research, I guess.

You will discover that he has a very famous daughter.

 

[Matt Hough]

You will discover that he has a very famous daughter.

LOL! That much I knew. And I assume his life was tragic and short, but that's just a guess.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of DirecTV after 25 years. I don't watch much TV anyhow except sports. It has been several weeks and I'm still without my local NBC affiliate. I need to investigate my options more thoroughly going forward. I have ATV4K and Roku 4 units at all three of my HT setups in my home so there is something I can probably do that will cost me less money without these DirecTV squabbles.

https://deadline.com/2019/07/cbs-blackout-directv-u-verse-att-contract-dispute-1202649633/

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Man, I'm seriously thinking of getting rid of DirecTV after 25 years. I don't watch much TV anyhow except sports. It has been several weeks and I'm still without my local NBC affiliate.

Robert, my parents live in northern Michigan and have DirecTV, yet still have NBC (I spoke with them yesterday while they were watching The British Open Golf tournament on that station). It's odd that they are getting it and only live a little north of you - - they are in Roscommon.

My mother was recently complaining to me about the cost of DirecTV and possibly switching to using a Roku like her sister down here in southeastern Michigan. Unfortunately, I had to explain to her that their limited Internet capabilities where they live would make that more difficult. A couple of years ago I switched them to an AT&T cellular based service for telephone and Internet, but they are limited to 250GB of data per month (this is much better than their previous Verizon plan which had only 5GB per month). They have their TV on constantly from morning until bedtime every day, so I'm afraid they would burn through their monthly limit - - we use over 250GB most months and do not stream more than 3-4 hours a day (and some days not at all). We do use our Internet for other things, of course, but the video streaming still accounts for the vast majority of our data usage.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert, my parents live in northern Michigan and have DirecTV, yet still have NBC (I spoke with them yesterday while they were watching The British Open Golf tournament on that station). It's odd that they are getting it and only live a little north of you - - they are in Roscommon.

My mother was recently complaining to me about the cost of DirecTV and possibly switching to using a Roku like her sister down here in southeastern Michigan. Unfortunately, I had to explain to her that their limited Internet capabilities where they live would make that more difficult. A couple of years ago I switched them to an AT&T cellular based service for telephone and Internet, but they are limited to 250GB of data per month (this is much better than their previous Verizon plan which had only 5GB per month). They have their TV on constantly from morning until bedtime every day, so I'm afraid they would burn through their monthly limit - - we use over 250GB most months and do not stream more than 3-4 hours a day (and some days not at all). We do use our Internet for other things, of course, but the video streaming still accounts for the vast majority of our data usage.

My local channels are located in Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. Perhaps the Roscommon NBC affiliate is coming from Traverse City.

Anyhow, I'm just venting right now. With that said, I need to investigate my options as I don't watch enough of my Premier package that gets the bang for my bucks. I rarely watch any of the movie channels like HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Movie Channel, Starz and Encore channels.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

My local channels are located in Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. Perhaps the Roscommon NBC affiliate is coming from Traverse City.

Anyhow, I'm just venting right now. With that said, I need to investigate my options as I don't watch enough of my Premier package that gets the bang for my bucks. I rarely watch any of the movie channels like HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Movie Channel, Starz and Encore channels.

Yes, their affiliates are mostly in Traverse City (one may be in Alpena). That's too bad you are battling that issue in the mid-Michigan area.

Yes, those premium channels can really add up. We try to keep our cable package as low as possible, so we do not have any of those channels (we may still get Starz as part of our TV/Internet/telephone bundle, but we never watch it). I think the only add-on we have is a sports add-on to get a few channels I watch (NHL Network, Big Ten Network, The Golf Channel, etc.) and that is only about an extra $5.

 

[Cranston37+]

My local channels are located in Flint, Saginaw and Bay City. Perhaps the Roscommon NBC affiliate is coming from Traverse City.

This is what YouTube TV has for that area for $49.99...

(this includes the ability to record and channels have shows On Demand, including TCM)

 

[Robert Crawford]

As I stated in other threads, I finally bought my new HT equipment to upgrade my second HT in my home office. I lose 3-D by replacing that old Panny, but I never watch 3-D in my home office anyway as I do with my main HT and my bedroom HT.

LG OLED55C9PUA

Marantz SR6013

And a new TV Stand.

Okay, I have this new version of my Office HT up and running. I still need to do some tweaks wiring/cable-wise as I'm going to organize the cables and wiring in such a way that it's easier to keep them organized and cleaned. That new TV Stand is great as I have the new OLED on the rack of the stand which leaves three shelves for center speaker, Marantz 6013, Oppo 203, AppleTV4K and Roku Ultra along with the Harmony Hub. I decided to upgrade my Harmony remote to another Elite model after I purchased the same Klipsch's Atmos speakers that I have in my main HT for about $200 less than what I paid for them a couple of years ago. The Atmos configuration is 5.1.2 Man, I'm thinking of adding two more Atmos speakers, but I'm going to run this current setup for a while as I'm not in a rush to spend any more money.

So far the picture quality of the 55C9P is outstanding and there is definitely an upgrade over my 65E6P. Sure, I lose 3-D, but the 4K/UHD and same 4K digitals looks better to my eyes. Granted, it's been less than eight hours so more to come in that regard. Also, I have less bugs with the Marantz receiver in which audio dropouts after I upgraded my Harmony remote. I don't quite understand that development. Right now, I'm extremely happy and have decided to watch the entire "From the Earth to the Moon" Blu-ray on this new display. My sitting position is 6' away from that display. Again, more to come.

One more thing, I loss power last night about 11:00 p.m. and was still without it when my new display and stand showed up this morning so that complicated my installation as the power didn't come back on until 11:00 this morning. The Best Buy guys assembled the stand and placed the display on the rack. However, they left before power was restored so I finished up the install by myself which isn't a problem since I'm no rookie when it comes to installing new HT equipment.

I even had time to buy some new Blu-rays thanks to Kino's new sale.

 

[B-ROLL]

One more thing, I loss power last night about 11:00 p.m. and was still without it when my new display and stand showed up this morning so that complicated my installation as the power didn't come back on until 11:00 this morning. The Best Buy guys assembled the stand and placed the display on the rack. However, they left before power was restored so I finished up the install by myself which isn't a problem since I'm no rookie when it comes to installing new HT equipment.

You probably did a better job than they would have done

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Okay, I have this new version of my Office HT up and running. I still need to do some tweaks wiring/cable-wise as I'm going to organize the cables and wiring in such a way that it's easier to keep them organized and cleaned. That new TV Stand is great as I have the new OLED on the rack of the stand which leaves three shelves for center speaker, Marantz 6013, Oppo 203, AppleTV4K and Roku Ultra along with the Harmony Hub. I decided to upgrade my Harmony remote to another Elite model after I purchased the same Klipsch's Atmos speakers that I have in my main HT for about $200 less than what I paid for them a couple of years ago. The Atmos configuration is 5.1.2 Man, I'm thinking of adding two more Atmos speakers, but I'm going to run this current setup for a while as I'm not in a rush to spend any more money.

So far the picture quality of the 55C9P is outstanding and there is definitely an upgrade over my 65E6P. Sure, I lose 3-D, but the 4K/UHD and same 4K digitals looks better to my eyes. Granted, it's been less than eight hours so more to come in that regard. Also, I have less bugs with the Marantz receiver in which audio dropouts after I upgraded my Harmony remote. I don't quite understand that development. Right now, I'm extremely happy and have decided to watch the entire "From the Earth to the Moon" Blu-ray on this new display. My sitting position is 6' away from that display. Again, more to come.

One more thing, I loss power last night about 11:00 p.m. and was still without it when my new display and stand showed up this morning so that complicated my installation as the power didn't come back on until 11:00 this morning. The Best Buy guys assembled the stand and placed the display on the rack. However, they left before power was restored so I finished up the install by myself which isn't a problem since I'm no rookie when it comes to installing new HT equipment.

I even had time to buy some new Blu-rays thanks to Kino's new sale.

Congrats on getting everything setup, Robert. I always get a great deal of satisfaction from installing and configuring new equipment. Oh, and enjoy From the Earth to the Moon on that new setup. I have been going through the new BD set over the past several days -- I am through episode 8 -- and have been having a blast revisiting the mini-series. This is the first time I've seen the episodes in the widescreen format. The opening credits are a little cramped looking, as for some reason those are presented in 2.35:1, but the actual episodes look excellent in 1.78:1.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The opening credits are a little cramped looking, as for some reason those are presented in 2.35:1, but the actual episodes look excellent in 1.78:1.

Yeah, I noticed it too. Why did they do that instead of leaving everything 1.78?

 

[Cranston37+]

Yeah, I noticed it too. Why did they do that instead of leaving everything 1.78?

Robert, I'm glad to see you're alive and well after that Yankee game last night...

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert, I'm glad to see you're alive and well after that Yankee game last night...

Sorry about being late getting back to you, but, I haven't watched any of the games against the Twins. Not live broadcasting anyway. I've been too busy with other distractions. I did DVR'd the games and fast-forward through most of the game highlights then the Yankees post-game.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Congrats on getting everything setup, Robert. I always get a great deal of satisfaction from installing and configuring new equipment. Oh, and enjoy From the Earth to the Moon on that new setup. I have been going through the new BD set over the past several days -- I am through episode 8 -- and have been having a blast revisiting the mini-series. This is the first time I've seen the episodes in the widescreen format. The opening credits are a little cramped looking, as for some reason those are presented in 2.35:1, but the actual episodes look excellent in 1.78:1.

I planned on watching an episode today, but after picking up "Alita: Battle Angel" 4K/UHD from my local BB, I ended up watching that movie again. Also, I started sampling scenes from that film on iTunes and Vudu. Wow!

 

[Mike2001]

I watched my 4k copy of Alita yesterday too. It had a video glitch during the fight scene in the bounty hunter cafe. Return to Amazon and try again.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just got done watching the Blu-ray of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) on my new OLED. It never looked better to my old eyes with its splendid Technicolor. Just a great film! Man, Basil Rathbone and Claude Rains sure can play film baddies with the best of them. One thing that always bothered me to a certain degree was that bent sword Flynn used to overpower that last guard while rescuing Olivia.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yep, Warners did a splendid job bringing The Adventures of Robin Hood to Blu-ray. I'd love to see the same care taken with National Velvet, a beautiful Technicolor film in great need of some love and attention.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yep, Warners did a splendid job bringing The Adventures of Robin Hood to Blu-ray. I'd love to see the same care taken with National Velvet, a beautiful Technicolor film in great need of some love and attention.

Matt,

That's a title I've been patiently waiting on for years. Just a beautiful film that I have always treasured.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

I must add the excellent score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold on Robin Hood. Saw it a few days ago on TCM and a great film for sure.