Photos make great Christmas gifts

It's been a while since I've posted something photography related. I did get the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS Image Stabilizer USM lens, but the weather has been so bad/cold here that I haven't had a chance to get out and use it yet. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be sunny and around 65 F, so I am taking those days off from work to get out and enjoy the warmer weather and make use of this monster.

For Christmas, I usually do something photography related for my family. I usually create a calendar for my parents and sister. Last year the calendar was all photos that I had taken over the course of the year.

This year, I decided to do something different with the calendar. I have been teaching myself photo restoration and have made a project of restoring several boxes of my mother's old photos. For this year's calendar, I chose my sister and I as the theme. I sifted through 38 years of photos and picked out about 24 of my favorites to restore for the calendar. It was quite a time intensive project, but it turned out very nice and my sister and parents loved it!

I also chose to restore a 37 year old portrait of my grandparents (who are no longer with us) to give to my mother, her sisters (my aunts), and each of the grandchildren (my sister and cousins). I think that this really moved them. They had this picture already, but it was old and faded. I was glad that I could bring them so much joy and memories. This was a tough project because of the state of the photo, but I think my hard work on it paid off.

I used an Epson Perfection V700 Photo scanner, VueScan scanning software, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended for all photo restoration work.

Hopefully I will have some photos to share on Monday or Tuesday. I will probably hit the National Zoo and the Smithsonian area in Washington D.C.. I may even head out to Arlington National Cemetery. I haven't been out there in a few months.

My thoughts on the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war

I have been a relatively quiet supporter of HD DVD since the release of the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Most of my favorite movies and TV shows were available on HD DVD. The fact that Battlestar Galactica was available exclusively on HD DVD sealed the deal for me.

Signs seemed good for HD DVD. Most movies/shows that were available on both formats were typically selling better in HD DVD according to Amazon.com's top 100 'Bestsellers in DVD' list. I usually use Panet Earth as the benchmark for HD format performance. If you haven't viewed this show in HD then you haven't experienced HD! For months, the HD DVD version was outselling the Blu-ray version. Within the past week or two, the Blu-ray version has jumped slightly ahead of the HD DVD version. I should also note that the regular DVD version has continuously outsold both.

But back to the 'Bestsellers in DVD' list. Just before Christmas, Amazon.com launched a 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale for HD DVD discs from a list. That put about 10-15 HD DVD discs in the top 100 DVDs list. It seemed like things were looking good for HD DVD because there were only about five Blu-ray discs in the list.

However, Amazon.com has now launched a 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale for Blu-ray. As of this posting, Blu-ray currently has 34 titles listed in the top 100 discs from all formats, whereas HD DVD only has three titles in the top 100. For the first time (that I am aware of), Blu-ray titles are even outselling regular DVD titles. The first four Harry Potter movies in Blu-ray format are the top four titles in the list.

Yesterday, Warner Bros. Entertainment announced that they were going to drop HD DVD support at the end of May 2008 and move exclusively to Blu-ray. Until that date, they will release HD DVD titles after the standard DVD and Blu-ray releases.

"Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008."

There was a follow-up announcement which stated that New Line Cinema was also switching to Blu-ray exclusively. At this time, it is unknown whether HBO will follow suit.

In response to this announcement, the HD DVD Promotions Group has decided to cancel Sunday's CES Press Conference.

Even though I have been an HD DVD supporter, I view these recent events as a welcome defeat. Sure, I hate to think about the money I spent on HD DVD discs. But I had only purchased a few 'must-have' titles because I was waiting to see how things turned out in the "format war". But I have really enjoyed watching HD DVD titles from Netflix over the past 1 1/2 years so I have no regrets.

If the HD DVD Promotions Group really wants to do what is right for the consumers, they should take this opportunity to end the format war. They should release the final two major studios (NBC/Universal and Paramount) from their exclusivity contracts, or let those studios buy their way out of the contract. I wouldn't be surprised if those studios had a clause in the contract for scenarios such as this.

I had high hopes for HD DVD, but in the end I really just wanted one format to be decided upon so I didn't waste a lot of money on dead technology. I just ordered my first four Blu-ray discs from Amazon.com's 'Buy One, Get One Free' sale. Guess which ones.