GeekSugar

It's What You've Been Waiting For: BSG, the Complete Series

GeekSugar — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 13:45:19 -0700

I have to be honest - I've felt like a piece of me has been missing since the finale of Battlestar Galactica. I know, I know, I gotta move on. But thankfully, the epic space opera can live on in my heart, and soon it can live on a loop in my DVD player! Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series ($220) hits shelves on July 28, and it couldn't come at a better time. What with So You Think You Can Dance drawing to a close, I'll need something to fill my time until the geeky shenanigans of The Office return to my screen.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a little channel-happy these days. That's what happens once you get a TiVo, but hey, you just gotta roll with the punches.

How to Fold a Piece of Paper Into a Makeshift CD Case

GeekSugar — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:06:09 -0700

Need to give someone a CD or DVD you've burned, or have long lost the case for? Don't buy a new case - just follow this tutorial by DIY Maven for how to make a CD case with a simple piece of white paper.

All you need is a sheet of standard 8.5-by-11-inch paper, and to follow these super simple folding steps.

Even though I'd throw it together in a pinch, you could do as the post suggests and print a design on paper or use a sheet of already-printed or colored paper.

Are You Hanging on to Old Media Formats?

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:00:10 -0700

Now that I have my Blu-ray player in my PS3, I feel like I can start buying movies again, in that format. I stopped buying DVDs because it's time to move forward, and it sounds like I'm not alone: DVD sales have flatlined recently; whether that has to do with people waiting to see if they should commit to Blu-ray or movie downloads remains to be seen.

Luckily, my big DVD library doesn't qualify me as a hoarder since my player is backwards compatible, but I still remember my boyfriend insisting that I get rid of my haggard old VHS tapes (I wasn't watching them). I give crap to other people, too - when I ride in my mom's car, I inevitably pull out a few old cassette tapes and wave them around saying, "really?!"

It's hard to give up old formats though; many people don't, electing to keep old players around because they enjoy the format (like with records) or just don't want to give up things they own. So tell me: Are you hanging on to old formats - VHS, music cassettes, records, etc.?

Source

The DVD That Refuses to Be Ignored

GeekSugar — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:00:54 -0700

Look, I am totally mature. But I still teeheeheed at this CD and case, although what it actually is is no laughing matter.

The breast-inspired design is for a great cause; the DVD promotes breast cancer awareness. The left, and empty side represents what happens when you don't check your breast health, while the DVD encourages insertion into a player to find out how. Either way, it's definitely creative and, uh, titillating.

Geek Tip: Use Window Cleaner to Fix Unplayable Discs

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 09:45:27 -0700

This tip actually comes courtesy of Netflix, after they were beginning to kill me by sending unplayable disc after unplayable disc. The first offender, (a How I Met Your Mother DVD, if you must know), refused to play in my DVD player, so I pulled out all my tricks to clean it (except for the ol' toothpaste trick, which I was tempted to try, but since I didn't own the disc, I had reservations), to no avail, so I reported it unplayable, and Netflix sent another copy of the DVD.

Would you believe it, the next HIMYM disc they sent would also not play! By then I was angry and cursing the Netflix gods as I signed in to my profile to tell them yes, you sent me another crappy DVD that I can't play. But instead of them telling me OK, they'd send a new one out (as they had the previous time) it was as if the website sighed loudly at me; the next message I got was something along the lines of "Have you tried Windexing it?" Defeated, I admitted I hadn't, so I tried it.

To see the rest of the tip, just read more.

I pulled out the Windex (I hear ya, I am trying to get rid of it and replace it with the green version but that bottle drains so slowly), spritzed it on a paper towel, and wiped away, being careful to not leave too many particles from the towel on the disc (next time I'll use a soft cloth and avoid more potential scratches with the paper towels). I placed the DVD into the player, and like magic, the disc played.

I'm curious, have you heard of this tip before? I was surprised I hadn't! For the concerns about using window cleaners on a disc, a quick Google doesn't yield much evidence saying it will damage anything, but if you're concerned, do go with an eco-friendly (and therefore, less chemical-y) window cleaner, as I'd imagine it would have the same effect as the commercial cleaner that I used.

Source

Where Do You Keep Your DVDs?

GeekSugar — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:07:02 -0700

All Blu-ray issues aside I spend a lot of time concerned with my DVDs. Not by how good or bad the quality is, not by which titles I need to buy or rent, but where they go in my house. Personally, I'm attempting a library situation (that's a shot of my setup below) and pretending that they're as attractive as books, and OK enough to be put on display, but I worry I'm kidding myself.

I know that a lot of people are taking to Handbrake and ripping their DVDs so all that remains is an ephemeral digital copy, as I've done with my music collection, but I'm not ready for that. Many people just keep them behind doors and don't have to look at them, and others are getting rid of the case altogether but keeping the discs in a book.

What do you do?

Geek Tip: Don't Write on CDs With Sharpies!

GeekSugar — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:01:39 -0700

If you're burning CDs and DVDs, you probably label them right afterward, and do what I (used to) do, which is reach for a Sharpie. But I caution you, as your friend and gagdet guru: Put down the Sharpie.

The chemicals in Sharpies (and most conventional markers) can eventually damage the data on your discs. I've written on CDs and DVDs plenty of times and while I'm not sure I've tasted the downside of it yet, why take chances? You can either label with the kind of markers that are made for writing on CDs, or do what I do and write on a white file sticker, or for something prettier, the stickers in this CD Packaging Kit should do the trick.

Source

Wal-Mart: Out With HD DVD and in With Blu-ray

GeekSugar — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:43:19 -0800

As the Blu-ray/HD DVD war continues with Netflix and Best Buy recently making the switch to Blu-ray, things are certainly looking gloomy for the future of HD DVD products. The hardest hit came today, with Wal-Mart announcing that it would be pulling the plug on on HD DVD and moving exclusively toward Blu-ray format movies and players.
By June, 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players. In the meantime, Wal-Mart will slowly be selling off the rest of its HD DVD products. If everything looks as good as Beyoncé in Blu-ray, then I may also have to make the switch!

Source

Where Do You Get Your Movies?

GeekSugar — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 00:12:01 -0800

This weekend my best friend turned me on to CinemaNow, which serves up on-demand and download and burn movies and video content. While I'm a Netflix girl, who occasionally rents DVDs from my local rental spot, the idea of legal downloads is really alluring.

CinemaNow has more than 4,000 feature-length films, television programs and music concerts and offers five different ways to get and pay for your movies: Free, Subscription, Rent, Buy, and Burn to DVD. So where do you get your movies?

Will Free Digital Copies Make You Excited About Buying DVDs Again?

GeekSugar — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:08:34 -0800

Fox's release of Family Guy's Star Wars parody Blue Harvest on DVD is exciting because of its inclusion of a free digital copy, so you can own both the DVD and iTunes copy - no long ripping process required, no legal bones about it.

The intrepid testers over at Gizmodo unboxed the DVD to find an extra digital copy disc and a slip with a code inside. Each can only be used once, which made testers question the complexity of something relatively easy to do - why not just give the code to enter online?

Anyway, it seems like a lot to do for a digital copy, but I like the idea that every time I buy a DVD, I have the digital version ready to go. Then again, every time I buy a DVD now, I think of the impending Blu-ray takeover and my piles of VHS tapes that landed in the goodwill bin. What about you? Do free digital copies make you excited to buy DVDs again?
Photo courtesy of Fox