Movies and Television on DVD, But Where is the Technology Heading?

Movies, they have been around to entertain us for over 100 years. Over this time, technology has improved to allow us to watch movies at home via 8mm reel to reel, VHS and Betamax video tape, CD-ROM (VCD movies) and currently DVD format. The DVD format, emerged informally as “digital versatile disc” around 1995. Research by Sony/ Philips and Toshiba around this time came from looking for alternatives to CD-ROM and VHS/Beta tapes as a replacement.

DVD has become a popular format for not just movies but for several platforms of media today, used in formats like DVD players for movies and TV series, consoles like the PlayStation and XBOX, and for Personal Computers (which are also used for storage, the DVD-R +R, DVD-RW & DVD-RAM formats).

Since 2005, Sony and Toshiba have again gone head to head with Bluray (Sony) and HDDVD (toshiba) and with those of you old enough to remember the Betamax (Sony) and VHS (Toshiba) it is reminisce of the format wars of 25 odd years back.

For most, these two new formats are generation II of DVD, Bluray has a slightly larger capacity than HDDVD (around 30 Gb compared to DVD of around 4.7Gb) and uses a thinner blue laser on players (large red lasers are used on players that play cd and dvds) and HDDVD although slightly less capacity than Bluray (around 25Gb) uses a thinner red laser and is easier to manufacture in plants that make standard dvd discs. This presents new issues for the consumer. Which do I buy? What are the advantages and disadvantages? What is the cost?

Holographic DVD is also another emerging format that looks like getting commercial release in about 2009 and has storage looking to 200Gb and upwards. Thats about half a million MP3′s, or about 400 hours of Standard Definition video or 80 hours of High Definition video. Whew !

Standard definition video ? High definition video? What the heck is this you ask. It is how a picture or video playback is displayed on a screen and that screen needs to be capable of High Definition playback (TV, rear projection. LCD or Plasma), TV and Video/ DVD has played back in Standard Definition for about the last 50 years. It is approximate to 800 x 600 DPI on a computer screen, where High Definition is approximate to 1280 x 1024 DPI on a computer screen.

Digital download (the internet and wireless internet), another emerging technology not just for viewing video on computers, but for cell phones as well. Cable TV, TIVO, Digital or broadband TV (IPTV), yes yet more technologies on the TV front vying for your hard earned dollar. Most consumers in the USA already have these 3 technologies.

Confused ? Thats understandable. Its 2007 and we haven’t had more to choose from to get TV or movie entertainment than any other time before it. We don’t know what technology will be available in 5, 7 or 10 years, but one thing is sure. No matter how good the tech is, the best will be the one that consumers desire to use the most…

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Native American Businesses Portrayed in Movies and Television

Interestingly, Native American business has been portrayed in movies and television over the recent years. Though not delivered in depth as say a movie like Wall Street and the numbers few, the number of occurrences is definitely rising. These business portrayals extend beyond the old Westerns. Though not always in the most positive light, the Native businesses being represented include the success of tribal gaming.

Americathon was a film from late the 1970′s set into the farcical future of the late 1990′s. The idea is that America is in broke and in debt to Native Americans who could possibly repossess America. So, the President, played by John Ritter, decides to hold a telethon to raise money to pay the debt. The Native business holding the debt was Nike, which is now a massive corporation owned by American Indians. Again this was highly fanciful, comedic film.

Joe Dirt was another comedic film where the lead character comes across a Native fireworks stand helmed by a character named Kicking Wing, played by Adam Beach. Upon meeting Joe Dirt Kicking Wing only sells snakes and sparklers but is convinced by Dirt that he needs to sell what people want. Dirt runs down a list of his favorite fireworks.

In the television show The Soprano’s episodes Christopher and Eloise a tribal casino plays a significant setting. The Christopher episode concerns itself with Christopher Columbus Day and the tension between Native Americans and Italian-Americans concerning the holiday. Eloise has the casino and the tribal chief’s helicopter in a signature moment as the character Furio nearly kills the show’s principal character Tony Soprano with the helicopter blades.

Walking Tall was remade with wrestling star The Rock as the lead character. The antagonist uses a tribal casino to run the community that is wrought with corruption including the sheriff’s department. It is mentioned that the antagonist came to run the casino with probably fraudulent Native American ties.

Using a Native American business as a story device in television and movies will only grow as Native success in business grows. Undoubtedly, tribal casinos will be a major platform as they lend themselves to dramatic possibilities more than other business endeavors. However, that is not to say that other forms of Native American business can appear on screens in the future.

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