That’s the promise behind Vudu’s new “disc-to-digital” service, which scans DVD and Blu-ray discs from your home collection and adds digital copies of your movies—well, some of your movies, anyway—to a cloud-based digital locker.

Once stored in your “My Vudu” locker, your movies are accessible from your PC, Mac, iPhone & iPad, and Android tablets, as well as such devices as Vudu-enabled HDTVs and Blu-ray players, the Roku set-top box, and game consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. (Nope, no Apple TV, or at least not yet.)

Even better, you can opt to convert selected DVD movies to 1080p “HDX” video quality—not quite the same level of sharpness as Blu-ray, but pretty darn close.

Sounds interesting, right?

You can add your old DVD discs to your “My Vudu” digital locker, and even upgrade them to HD—for a price.

Naturally, though, there’s a catch—several of them, actually, starting with the fact that Vudu’s “disc-to-digital” service isn’t free.

First, let’s go over the basics.

For starters, you’ll need to sign up for a free Vudu account (Vudu, by the way, is the maker of one of the first streaming TV set-top boxes, and it’s now owned by Wal-Mart), and you’ll also need to register with Ultraviolet, a video-streaming “standard” established by five of the biggest Hollywood movie studios.

Once you’re all signed up, you’ll be prompted to download Vudu’s disc-to-digital utility, versions of which are available for both PC and Mac. I downloaded the Mac version, and the installation process took only a few minutes.

After that, you fire up the Vudu app, click the “Disc to Digital” tab, click the “Add Disc” button, then insert a DVD or Blu-ray disc into your system’s optical disc drive. (Yes, your PC will need a Blu-ray drive to scan Blu-ray discs—and no, Macs don’t come with Blu-ray drives, at least not built-in.)

It takes less than a minute for Vudu to scan and identify a DVD, but prepare to pay up before adding the movie to your digital locker.

It takes less than a minute for Vudu’s software to scan and identify a disc—and if it finds a match in its massive database of digital movies, you’ll get the chance to instantly add the movie to your “My Vudu” archive.

And here’s comes the first catch: Vudu charges $2 for every DVD you add to your digital locker, and that’s if you choose the SD (“standard definition”) version of the movie.

Want to pony up for the HDX (high-definition) version of a DVD? That’ll be $5, please.

Meanwhile, adding a Blu-ray disc to your Vudu lockers costs $2 for the digital HDX version.

(For a limited time, Vudu is offering a $2 credit toward your first disc conversion, and it’s also offering 50% off if you convert 10 discs at once.)

You can watch your Vudu disc-to-digital movies on an iPhone, iPad or Android tablet, but only in SD.

Once you’ve added some movies to your Vudu locker, you can watch them on your PC or Mac using the same “disc-to-digital” program you just downloaded.

Vudu also offers streaming video apps for iPhone/iPad and Android tablets (which can only play the SD versions of your Vudu-converted movies, by the way), as well as apps for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and Roku.

Apple TV still isn’t supported, although you can try streaming your Vudu movies (in SD, mind you) from your iPad to Apple TV via AirPlay.

Now, here’s another catch: there’s a good chance that only some (and perhaps even just a fraction) of your DVDs and Blu-rays can be added to your Vudu locker.

Why’s that? Well, to begin with, only five of the six big Hollywood studios—Sony, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Fox—offer movies through the service, with Disney being the lone but notable holdout. In other words, don’t count on converting any of your “Pirates of the Caribbean” DVDs to your digital Vudu locker anytime soon.

Many of my DVDs—including “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” and “Jaws”—were “not eligible” for transfer to my Vudu movie locker.

And even if you are trying to add a movie made by one of the other five studios, a given film must still have been “legally cleared” for streaming via Vudu.

Example? Well, I had no problem adding my “American Graffiti” DVD (from Universal) to my Vudu locker, but when I tried adding “Star Wars” (Fox), I was curtly informed that the movie was “not eligible” for conversion—and I got the same answer for such high-profile titles as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Paramount), “Jurassic Park,” (Universal), and “Jaws” (ditto).

Still, several other DVDs worked fine, like “Star Trek II” (Paramount), “The Maltese Falcon” (Warners), and “North by Northwest” (also Warners).

I should also mention that my new HDX version of that classic Hitchcock thriller looks splendid—far better my old standard-definition DVD version, in fact.

Got any questions about Vudu’s “disc-to-digital” plan? Let me know in the comments below.

Bonus tip

You can search Vudu’s library of available disc-to-digital movies right here before going to the trouble of downloading the software.

The post DVD/Blu-ray tip: Testing Vudu’s instant “disc-to-digital” service appeared first on here's the thing.

Click a thumbnail below to start the slideshow…

Note: I’ve culled the various Blu-ray release dates from Amazon, Hi-Def Digest, and other sources.

The post 9 classic movies coming soon to Blu-ray appeared first on here's the thing.

Sure, I’ll rent the odd feature from iTunes or stream a TV show from Netflix’s instant streaming catalog; after all, it beats slogging to the local video store in a snowstorm. But I’m still partial to good old-fashioned discs, even if it means waiting a day or two before pressing “play.”

Why trek to a Redbox kiosk, drive to Blockbuster (yes, they’re still around), or wait for a red Netflix envelope to arrive in the mail when you could stream a movie rental with a single mouse click? Well, there are at least five good reasons I can think of, starting with…

1. DVDs and Blu-rays never buffer
Once in a blue moon, I’ll get a scuffed DVD from Netflix that skips just as you’re about to find out whodunnit—and no, that’s not cool.

Far more aggravating, though, are the times when the movie I’m streaming grinds to a halt, usually due to a choppy broadband connection. (Anyone with a cable modem who’s tried to stream an instant Netflix video on a Saturday night—precisely when everyone else on the block is also trying to stream a Netflix movie—will know what I’m talking about.) Sure, the video stream usually resumes after “buffering” for a few seconds, but the interruptions can be jarring, not to mention frequent.

2. Blu-ray picture quality can’t be beat
Several streaming-video services now offer HD instant movies and TV shows at full 1080p resolution, but not all 1080p video is created equal. Indeed, even the rock-solid high-def videos you’ll see from the likes of Vudu, Xbox Live and Netflix look a little soft compared to the razor-sharp picture on the best Blu-ray discs.

For my money, “Avatar” looks more astonishing on Blu-ray than it did in 3D at my local IMAX theater, and I was equally impressed by the theater-like image quality of “The Tree of Life” on Blu-ray.

Related: 10 classic, must-have Blu-ray movies

A recent viewing of “Moneyball” at 1080p over Xbox Live’s “Zune” video store looked … well, just OK (maybe somewhere between DVD and Blu-ray quality). Now, “just OK” might work fine for a straight-ahead drama like “Moneyball,” but it’s a shame when it comes to an epic like “Tree of Life,” or the newly restored “Gone With the Wind.”

And while some of the videos in Netflix’s instant catalog look surprisingly good (take “Black Hawk Down,” for instance), too many are marred by VHS-quality transfers that have been cropped to fit your HDTV screen.

3. You want it, you got it
Probably the biggest complaints I hear about Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service is that the selection stinks—and specifically, that the 25,000-odd streaming titles on Netflix are continually being shuffled in and out, seemingly at random. And while the video catalogs of à la carte streaming services like iTunes and Amazon tend to be a bit more stable, individual titles may still be yanked in deference to the home-video “windows” of such premium-cable channels like HBO and Showtime.

On the other hand, a quick glance at Netflix’s DVD and Blu-ray catalog reveals a staggering number of movies and TV shows—more than 100,000, all told, including just about every movie ever made.

And while the big movie studios have started holding back their latest releases from Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster for a month or more (to boost streaming and pay-per-view rentals, or so the theory goes), you can at least be fairly confident a DVD that’s available for rent today will still be available tomorrow, next week, and the following month.

4. Subtitles and alternate audio tracks
More and more streaming-video services are offering subtitles and closed-captions for their instant-watch titles—particularly Netflix, which only recently began adding English subtitles to its streaming collection. Still, too many streaming-video services fail to offer subtitles or alternate-language tracks for their rentals, which can be particularly annoying for a) hard-of-hearing viewers and b) those of us who’d rather not hear Gérard Depardieu speak in badly dubbed English.

DVDs and Blu-ray discs, on the other hand, typically offer a generous selection of subtitle and audio options—perfect for, say, non-English speakers who want to watch the new “Star Trek” movie with Portuguese subtitles, or movie lovers who like hearing the actors in French films speak, you know, French.

5. Bring on the extras
For the most part, the movies and TV shows available for streaming come without any documentaries, deleted scenes, audio commentaries, or any other “extras” at all, save for a few exceptions on iTunes and Vudu.

Granted, most of us don’t really care about extras or bonus features when it comes to popcorn-munchers like “Friends with Benefits” or “Captain America.” But if you want Roger Ebert to give you an audio tour of “Citizen Kane” (and I highly recommend you do), you’ll have to rent the DVD or the new Blu-ray to listen in.

So, what about you? Are you still renting movies and TV shows on DVD and Blu-ray, or are you ditching discs for streaming?

The post 5 reasons why DVDs and Blu-ray still matter appeared first on here's the thing.

Also this week: my review of the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus and its eye-popping 4.65-inch touchscreen; 10 classic, must-have Blu-ray movies; and 7 upcoming gadgets to keep an eye on next year.

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Holiday Gift Guide: 10 classic, must-have Blu-ray movies
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7 gadgets and tech products to watch in 2012
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Holiday Gift Guide: 6 super smartphone accessories
From a stylish Bluetooth headset to a roll-up keyboard, we’ve got six great gifts for your favorite iPhone-, Android-, or BlackBerry-toting road warrior. Read more…

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Podcast 008: Gadgets to watch next year; last-minute shopping tips
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How to unlock the Galaxy Nexus Android phone with your face
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Happy Holidays from here’s the thing!
I wanted to take time out and wish you and your families all the best in this Holiday Season. I’m looking forward to an amazing 2012! Read more…

The post Last-minute shopping tips; Samsung Galaxy Nexus reviewed; gadgets to watch in 2012 (week in review) appeared first on here's the thing.

1. Citizen Kane ($32)
Widely considered one of the best (if not the best) movies ever made, Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece continues to dazzle audiences and inspire filmmakers, and it gets a welcome Blu-ray makeover in this handsome box set. Included in the package: audio commentary by director Peter Bogdanovich and critic Roger Ebert, plus a full-length documentary about the efforts of media titan William Randolph Hearts to suppress the picture.

Related: Top 5 reasons to buy a Blu-ray player

"We're off to see the wizard..."

2. The Wizard of Oz ($94 for the box set, or $13 for the standard version)
I’d actually never seen “The Wizard of Oz” all the way though until I saw the newly-restored Blu-ray, and I have to say—I’m glad I waited. You’ll see every brick in the Yellow Brick Road on this 70th-anniversary Blu-ray edition, which makes the classic trip to Oz look like it was filmed yesterday. The pricier box set comes with a 52-page commemorative book, four hours of “extras,” and even a “limited-edition” Oz-themed watch.

3. Ben-Hur ($65 for box set, or $39 for the standard version)
See the epic chariot race in all its widescreen glory, complete with a restored Dobly Digital soundtrack, a full-length “making-of” documentary starring Charlton Heston himself, vintage screen tests, and more.

4. The Sound of Music ($17)
This three-disc set boasts an interactive “back-lot” tour of Robert Wise’s beloved musical (just wait ’til you see the sweeping opening shot on Blu-ray), along with an audio commentary with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. And yes, there’s a “sing-along” version included, too.

5. The Bridge on the River Kwai ($17)
David Lean’s harrowing, widescreen war epic gets the Blu-ray treatment, complete with a 35-page book detailing the production, replicas of the original lobby cards, a squad of documentaries, interviews with William Holden and Alec Guiness, and more. Still missing in action, sadly: a Blu-ray version of Lean’s masterpiece, “Lawrence of Arabia.”

"I'll never be hungry again!"

6. Gone With the Wind ($47)
They don’t make ’em like they used to, and there’s no finer example than this soaring Civil War melodrama. Released in 1939, the same year as “Wizard of Oz” (what a year that must have been), “Gone With the Wind” probably looks better now than it did during its original theatrical run. And on Blu-ray, the devastating shot of the wounded soldiers in the aftermath of the Battle of Atlanta is truly draw-dropping.

7. West Side Story ($20)
Another great musical—except this time, it’s set in the mean streets of Manhattan rather than the mountains of Austria. Leonard Bernstein’s score is remastered in luscious 7.1 DTS-HD audio, and 50’s-era New York looks superb (and appropriately grimy) in widescreen 1080p HD.

8. North by Northwest ($14)
“Vertigo” may be considered Hitchcock’s greatest movie, but for my money, you can’t beat the thrilling “North by Northwest,” featuring Cary Grant at his suavest—even as he was dodging that infamous cropduster. “Vertigo,” by the way, isn’t on Blu-ray yet, although another Hitchcock classic—the still-terrifying “Psycho”—is.

"Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it."

9. Stanley Kurbick: Limited Edition Collection ($95)
This massive 10-disc Blu-ray set boasts nine of Stanley Kubrick’s greatest movies, including probably my favorite film of all time: “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Also included: “Spartacus,” “Lolita,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “A Clockwork Orange,” “Barry Lyndon,” “The Shining,” “Full Metal Jacket,” and “Eyes Wide Shut.”

10. The Godfather trilogy ($68)
I had no idea how badly the “Godfather” movies needed a makeover until I watched the new Blu-ray versions recently; in particular, the opening, now fully-restored wedding sequence from “The Godfather” is a revelation.

11. The “Star Wars” saga ($87)
Hey, weren’t there only supposed to be 10 movies in this holiday Blu-ray countdown? Well, yes, but I can’t let this list go by without mentioning “Star Wars,” which finally landed on Blu-ray this past fall. The box set includes all six movies, complete with razor-sharp 1080p HD visuals and restored digital soundtracks; check out my eyes- and ears-on impressions right here.

The post Holiday Gift Guide: 10 classic, must-have Blu-ray movies appeared first on here's the thing.

Roku ($49 to $99)

One of the best buys you’ll find in home video, period, the compact Roku TV set-top box delivers everything from streaming Netflix videos to TV shows from Hulu, professional hoops from the NBA, and even games like Angry Birds (if you get the $99 XS model). All you need is an HDMI-enabled TV and an Internet connection.

Apple TV ($99)

Yes, it’s twice as expensive as the cheapest Roku box, but the $99 Apple TV offers up some pretty compelling features for iPhone and iPad users—particularly the ability to wirelessly stream music and video from your handheld to a TV via the Apple TV’s “AirPlay” feature. Even better, the Apple TV will wirelessly “mirror” whatever is on your iPhone 4S’s or iPad 2’s screen (including the web browser, games, and the photo gallery) on your big-screen HDTV. You’ll also be able to rent movies from iTunes, stream your iCloud music collection, and watch streaming Netflix videos.

Related: Is Apple TV worth it?

Apple Digital AV Adapter ($39)

Here’s a stocking stuffer-priced alternative to Apple TV. Just plug the Digital AV Adapter into an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, connect the adapter to your HDTV via an HDMI cable, a presto—you can instantly stream videos, music, and music from your iDevice to your big-screen TV, or even “mirror” your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 display.

Optoma PK301 pocket projector ($399)

Small enough to fit in the palm, the battery-powered PK301 pocket projector connects to smartphones (including the iPhone and Android phones), tablets, laptops, and Blu-ray players, and it’s capable of displaying a 10-foot widescreen image onto a nearby screen or wall—perfect for turning your backyard into a drive-in. Pricey but eye-popping.

Harmony One universal remote ($199)

It’s been out on the market for a few years now, yet the Harmony One remains my favorite universal remote. Just launch the setup software on your PC or Mac, enter the makes and models of your various home theater devices (like your HDTV, Blu-ray player, game console, and streaming set-top box), sync the Harmony One remote with your system via the included USB cable, and you’re ready to go. Last step: gather up all your old remote controls and hide them in a drawer somewhere.

Disney WOW: World of Wonder Blu-ray calibration disc ($39)

Have someone on your list who just got a new HDTV and Blu-ray player? Help them get the best picture possible with this Blu-ray calibration set from Disney, which features step-by-step instructions for tweaking the settings on their big-screen TV, as well as a color filter for making sure blue skies aren’t too blue, grassy fields aren’t too green, and golden sunsets aren’t too golden.

Bargain HDMI cables ($10 or less)

You don’t have to spend $100 or even $50 on a standard HDMI cable, no matter what the clerks at your local big-box retailer say. Click here for tips and buying advice if you’re planning on tucking an HDMI cable or two under the tree.

Bonus: HDTV and Blu-ray player shopping
So, want to surprise a special someone on your list with an HDTV or Blu-ray player this year? Unfortunately, there are too many HDTVs and Blu-ray decks on the market for me to make specific recommendations; that said, check out my cheat sheet for first-time HDTV buyers, as well as some of my recent notes on Blu-ray.

The post Holiday Gift Guide: Home theater gear for the living room and beyond appeared first on here's the thing.

But much has changed in the mere five years since the very first Blu-ray player went on sale, for the jaw-dropping price of $999. The early glitches of the high-definition format (such as 30-second to minute-long delays before a disc would start to play) have been ironed out, prices have dropped like a stone, and the big movie studios—all of them—have been cranking out Blu-ray titles like there’s no tomorrow.

Of course, the rest of the home-video world hasn’t been standing still, either. YouTube, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix, and other streaming services have exploded in popularity over the past few years—so much so, indeed, that they’ve threatened to render DVDs, Blu-ray, and other “physical” video media obsolete. After all, why bother trekking to the video store or waiting for a disc to arrive in the mail when you can stream a movie over the Internet, instantly?

Well, good question. But if you ask me, there are still five good reasons that a Blu-ray player might belong in your living room, starting with…

1. It’s the best-looking picture you’ll see in your living room

Blu-ray isn’t the only way to watch HD-quality movies and TV shows at home. After all, cable and satellite TV carriers have been offering HD for years, and you can certainly stream HD video via Netflix, iTunes, and even YouTube.

But high-definition video that’s streamed over the Internet or delivered via cable or satellite is subject to an excessive amount of compression—that is, a signal that’s been tightly squeezed to save space, or “bandwidth.” Ever noticed that the HD picture on cable looks blocky, jumbled, or otherwise less than razor-sharp? That’s video compression in action, and it’s not pretty.

Now, just to be clear, the video that’s burned to a Blu-ray disc has been compressed, too; otherwise, there’s no way the high-definition version of “Avatar” would fit on a single disc. Unlike pay-TV HD channels or Internet-based video services, though, Blu-ray video doesn’t have to travel through miles of cable or get bounced off an orbiting satellite; instead, it’s delivered all of a few feet from your player to your HDTV, over an all-digital HDMI cable.

The result: a crystal-clear, 1080p image that has the potential to be truly eye-popping, especially if you own an HDTV that’s larger than 40 inches or so.

2. More and more movies are available on Blu-ray

When the first Blu-ray players arrived back in 2006, you could watch all your favorite movies on Blu-ray disc—well, as long as one of your favorites was “50 First Dates,” “Hitch,” “The Fifth Element,” or “The Terminator.” Indeed, even more than a year after Blu-ray hit the market, fewer than 1,000 Blu-ray titles were available, compared to nearly 100,000 titles on DVD.

In recent months, though, the big movie and TV studios have been stepping up their Blu-ray disc production, with the number of Blu-ray titles swelling to more than 15,000 by this past summer.

Today, just about every new video rental is available on Blu-ray, while a growing number of older, “catalog” titles—including “Citizen Kane,” “Ben-Hur,” “The Sound of Music,” all three “Godfather” movies, “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Patton,” and “North by Northwest”—have either made or are about to make the jump to Blu-ray. Indeed, the biggest movie franchise of all time—”Star Wars”—just came out on Blu-ray last week.

That’s not to say there aren’t still some gaping holes in the overall Blu-ray catalog—where’s “Lawrence of Arabia,” or “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” for example? Chances are, though, that most of the movies on your top-10 list are now available on Blu-ray.

3. Blu-ray players are cheaper than you think

It wasn’t all that long ago that even the cheapest Blu-ray decks cost north of $200, but prices have dropped dramatically over the past 18 months. A quick search on Google yields dozens of brand-name Blu-ray players (as in Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio) on sale for less than $100, and price tags are sure to plummet even further come Black Friday.

4. They’ll play your old DVDs

Don’t worry, you won’t have to toss out your dusty DVD collection if you get a Blu-ray player. Every Blu-ray deck on the market, including bargain models, will play DVD discs—and in fact, thanks to the “upscaling” video technology in the latest Blu-ray players, your old DVDs may look better than ever, although they still won’t match the picture quality of a Blu-ray disc.

5. Many Blu-ray players come with built-in Netflix and Amazon streaming

If you’ve been flirting with the idea of streaming movies over the Internet onto your HDTV, buying a Blu-ray player might be the easiest way to get started.

More and more (although not all—make sure to double-check the list of features before you buy) Blu-ray decks come with built-in support for instant Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu videos, perfect for streaming videos and watching Blu-ray discs on the same device.

If you do decide to buy a video-streaming Blu-ray player, though, keep in mind that you’ll need to connect the player to the Internet before you can start streaming. Just about any Blu-ray player on sale today comes with a wired Ethernet port, but that would involve stringing an Ethernet cable from your home broadband router to your living room. Instead, consider spending a little extra for a Wi-Fi-enabled player that connects to your home wireless network.

Have more questions about Blu-ray? Let me know!

The post Top 5 reasons to buy a Blu-ray player appeared first on here's the thing.

Also: eyes-on with the affordable Mint floor-cleaning robot; what you need to know about Windows 8; the new “Smart Lists” on Facebook; and my first impressions of “Star Wars” on Blu-ray. (Dazzled, I am.)

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Need help with one of your gadgets? Let me know!

The post Week in review: Sending multiple photos from your iPhone; a Swiffer-using, floor-cleaning robot; “Star Wars” on Blu-ray appeared first on here's the thing.

Yes, the original Star Wars movies—”A New Hope,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi”—will make their long-awaited debut on Blu-ray this Friday, along with the iffy prequels (the dreadful “The Phantom Menace,” the so-so “Attack of the Clones,” and the pretty-good “Revenge of the Sith”) from a few years back.

The classic Star Wars trilogy—or at least the “Special Edition” versions, which include a host of controversial tweaks and changes by the ever-meddling George Lucas—has been out on DVD since 2004, but the arrival of the Blu-ray versions marks the first time that the saga has been available on home video in glorious, full-on HD.

Full disclosure

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ll just come out and say it: I love Star Wars. Love it. I saw the first movie when I was seven, and I barely remember a time when I didn’t know who R2-D2 and C-3PO were. I can’t even objectively tell you whether the original Star Wars is a good movie, or whether the special effects in “Empire Strikes Back” look dated.

The new Blu-ray version of “Star Wars” reveals just how grimy the cabin of the Millennium Falcon actually looked.

So it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that I went ahead and pre-ordered the complete Star Wars box set ($139, or $80 if you shop around online), and when the discs came Thursday—a day early—I immediately pounced and queued up my favorite scenes to see how they’d look in crystal-clear, 1080p-quality HD. No, I haven’t had time to sit through all six movies yet—hence the “first impressions” title of this post.

Alright then, how does Star Wars look on Blu-ray? Initially, I didn’t notice a huge change from the DVD version: the famous opening title card (“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”) and crawl (“It is a period of civil war…”) look bright and sharp, as does the first sight of the gigantic Star Destroyer rumbling over the top of the screen … yet the Star Wars DVD from 2004 looked reasonably sharp, too. So no, I wasn’t initially bowled over.

But here’s the thing

But here’s the thing when it comes to Blu-ray: it’s the delicate, razor-sharp subtleties that eventually start to amaze you. During the scene where the evil Stormtroopers blast their way onto Princess Leia’s fleeing star cruiser, I noticed the whiskers on the chins of the Rebel soldiers, the dents on R2-D2’s battered shell, the scuffs on the walls and hallways. A little later, I saw—probably for the first time in decades—how grungy the cabin of the Millennium Falcon really was.

“Great, kid! Don’t get cocky.”

Indeed, one of the most memorable things about Star Wars isn’t so much the space battles or the special effects, but how lived in everything looked—a key detail that’s easy to miss on DVD or VHS.

That’s not to say the special effects in Star Wars don’t look spectacular on Blu-ray. I wasted no time in dialing up the two most thrilling sequences in the entire saga: the Millennium Falcon’s escape from the Death Star in Star Wars (featuring Luke and Han seated in a pair of spinning gun turrets, firing laser bolts at a squadron of pursuing Tie Fighters), and the jaw-dropping march of the towering Imperial Walkers on the ice planet Hoth.

And yes, the two scenes look wonderful—in part because the original special effects have been left mostly untouched by glib digital enhancements. Yep, the Imperial Walkers in “Empire” still lurch around thanks to the jerky wonders of stop-motion animation (“Jason and the Argonauts,” anyone?), while the Tie Fighters from Star Wars still look pretty stiff while they’re flying in formation. Overall, though, these 30-year-old effects still give me the chills, and I’m thrilled that they’ve been preserved as-is.

The Imperial Walkers: still big and scary, after all these years.

I also gave the more recent Star Wars prequels a quick look, and they too look spectacular — perhaps even a little too perfect, if you ask me.

With all its grit and scruffiness, the universe of the original trilogy looked like a place where real people lived and breathed. The soulless digital perfection of the prequels, on the other hand—particularly the last two movies, “Attack of the Clones” and “Revenge of the Sith,” which were shot entirely with digital video cameras—looks a little too synthetic for my taste.

But hey, maybe that’s just me being middle-aged and grumpy. It’s also worth noting that you can buy each trilogy on Blu-ray separately, for $70 each.

Never satisfied

Of course, not everything in the Star Wars saga has been left untouched by the never-satisfied George Lucas, who first began tweaking various scenes in the movies more than a dozen years ago.

“Sorry about the mess.”

For instance, there’s the now-infamous “Greedo shoots first” sequence from Star Wars, in which Han Solo now blasts a green-skinned bounty hunter in self defense rather than ruthlessly taking the first shot. Several other scenes have also been “enhanced”—for better or worse—with new digital effects, some of which now look ironically dated.

The tinkering continues in this new Blu-ray set, with two changes to “Return of the Jedi” drawing a fusillade of criticism from fans: the plastic, sewn-in eyes of the adorable Ewoks on the forest moon of Endor now “blink” (yes, it’s strange, but not horribly distracting), and Darth Vader now yells “No!!!” as he tosses the dastardly Emperor to his death — a cheesy, snicker-provoking change.

The all-digital prequels, such as “Attack of the Clones,” look perfect—almost a little too perfect.

Believe me, I truly wish George Lucas would leave well enough alone when it comes to Star Wars. But while some hard-core Star Wars fans will probably boycott the Blu-ray discs thanks to Lucas’s latest tweaks, I’m certainly not asking for my money back.

The complete box set of Star Wars movies also comes packed with multiple audio commentaries and three (yes, three) bonus discs filled with documentaries and other extras, none of which I’ve really checked out yet. You can read all about them here. I did switch on the Star Wars commentary track for a few minutes, only to doze off as George Lucas drones on about myth-making and his thoughts on Joseph Campbell. Ah, let’s just get back to those lightsaber duels, shall we?

Bottom line

All in all, the new Star Wars box set is pretty much a must-have for movie lovers, not to mention the perfect reason to finally break down and snag a Blu-ray player.

And now, you’ll have to excuse me; I have an appointment on Yoda’s home world of Dagobah.

(Images from StarWars.com)

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Starting Friday—tomorrow—about 21,000 of the company’s 27,000 kiosks will be stocked with the latest Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 games, including such recent releases as “L.A. Noire,” “Infamous 2,” “Red Faction: Armageddon,” “Brink,” “Lego Pirates of the Caribbean,” and “Just Dance 2.” (If you haven’t heard of any of these games, don’t worry—your kids have.)

Redbox video game rentals will set you back $2 a night, twice as much as nightly DVD movie rentals. (Blu-ray rentals at Redbox kiosks remain $1.50 a night.)

Worried that video games will hog kiosk space that would be better suited for movies? Don’t fret. According to the L.A. Times, each Redbox kiosk will only stock between 22 and 28 games, leaving room for about 200 DVDs and Blu-rays.

Want to find a video game-packing Redbox kiosk near you? Just visit Redbox’s game page, select a title, and enter your ZIP code to search.

Source: Los Angeles Times

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