Terminator Salvation

 I do not think anyone can salvage this movie. It is the weakest in the series and I am yet to watch Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate.

Another Round - Druk

 

My views on the Danish movie Another Round by Thomas Vinterberg

Killing Ground

 

Does God Control our Life?

 

Mi 5X 4K TV

Recently my Samsung TV which I bought in 2012 went bust. The panel started cracking and showed patches. It was a 3D TV and the service person said the panel had to be changed and it will cot 40 K and it is better to go for a new TV. The sad thing is we don't have 3D TVs in the market any more. All my bluray 3Ds will go waste.

When I started to research for new TV I could see there was no one place where we can get genuine information. Amazon and Flipkart many times specifications are incorrect for ex they mention 2 HDMI ports while the brand website might mention 3 HDMI ports. Many times they don't mention if the HDMI is 2.1 or 1.0 or 2.0. Again only if we know so many variations exists we can buy the right thing. No single place provides this information.

If you take visuals there are Dolby Vision, HDR, HDR 10+, HLG etc and in audio you have Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, Dolby Atmos, DTS - X etc. From operating system point of view we have Android with its 9.0, 10.0, 11.0, Tizen, WebOS etc. From ports point of view we have ARC, eARC, Optical digitial out etc.

I agree it is good to have choice but as a consumer it is difficult to make the choice. 

My old Samsung TV was good in all front but it costed me a lot and at the time of buying I was not aware of the features it had. Having used to that I didn't want to miss out on the vital features.

I noticed there were so many reviewers available in youtube even in Tamil but they focus on some fancy stuffs rather than on essentials. Also these guys are biased while a group says Mi is the best there is another one who says Sony is the best and Mi is worst. Even there are reviews where they call Samsung and LG as subpar.

The retailers are in different mode Vasanth & co supports Samsung while Croma store supports Sony. To buy a Sony you have to pay lot of premium. Again having owned Sony products it will cost you more but will not offer some critical feature.

For a novice buyer everything will look similar but only when you try to use each feature we will learn what is not supported and what is.

I found Mi 5X series having Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it had eARC support and 2.1 HDMI support. It also supported DTS - HD. This was the only TV which had all these features and cost at least 30 K lesser compared to branded ones. 

Yes it doesn't have two way bluetooth support or ambient mode. Also the "nits" may not be as good as a TV which costs as bomb but nowdays lifetime of a TV is 3 to 4 years. I feel it is not worth to shell out a lot unless you have lot of surplus.

I am happy with the purchase and you do research your stuff before you buy yours.

Affair with cable

 My affair with Cable is an on and off one. I prefer to watch movies or programs without any ad interruptions. Our Tamil channels are notorious with advertisements. Especially Raj and Vijay can kill you with advertisements. Also the time I get to spend on TV has reduced considerably over the years. Another factor is if I spend time on Cable my DVD and Bluray collection remains untouched. The final nail was the new TRAI rule which increased the cost to a new high.

Earlier I had Tata Sky and their cost was high and even to look at issues in their service they will charge you. You will be charged just for the visit. I discontinued Tata Sky and remained Cable free for almost an year. Then I heard SCV cable provides almost all HD channels for a low cost. I switched to SCV and everything was going file till TRAI interfered with their illogical rule. I discontinued again.

I almost forgot how watching cable felt until I was admitted in hospital for few days where I had the opportunity of watching cable. This made me to take the service again in Dec 2019. After few months I felt the channels just repeat content and I really didn't have time for Cable in my life and discontinued it.

Now during the quarantine I saw people passionately enjoying programs in Cable which again made me regret my decision to discontinue cable. Again I have installed Cable against my family's objection.

I have not watched it continuously for 30 minutes since installing. Should see how long this will last. 

His Masters Voice

I heard through my friend and today read it in papers that HMV is planning to close its operations. HMV has always been synonymous with DVDs for me. When I was there in UK not a weekend passes without me visiting this beautiful store.

HMV along with Virgin Megastore used to be my two favorite shops. Virgin actually scored above HMV as it beat HMV in price but HMV always remained a symbol of music and movies.

Sometime back I heard Virgin Megastore closed its doors in UK and now HMV is following the same footsteps. Yes this was something expected as the online market is gaining popularity when compared to the traditional shops. But online shopping can never replace the pleasure of browsing through 1000s of physical discs and finally selecting something which you have been wishing for a long time. Now with HMV closing its doors thats the last nail on such a feeling. The future generation will never get to experience the feeling. When we realize HMVs famous logo, especially the faithful dog will soon be going into oblivion it is really painful.

Nee kobapattal

Though I m not a fan of Vijay some of my favorite songs has come from his films. One of the many forgettable movies done by him is Villu. It was very difficult to sit through the movie but this movie had some awesome songs. All those songs were wasted away in this hopeless movie. Especially this song "Nee kobapattal" is a very nice song. I liked the picturisation, vijays expressions and especially the lyrics. Hope you too like it.

Vicco Turmeric

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Cadburys

This is one advertisement which I never get bored off watching and kindles old memories