movies

FixMyMovie is a new service that takes your pixelated digital video clips and does its best to fix them. The technology stems from MotionDSP's processing technology, which is similar to what's used in government intelligence operations to improve those dark and grainy security films--like you see in movies.

The entire process is fairly straightforward: Just upload and tag a supported movie file, and the service will crunch it on its servers. You get a note by e-mail when it's done. Once it's finished you can preview the first 10 seconds of the enhanced version, as well as compare before and after results live, by pressing the "compare" button. What's even cooler is a stills mode that lets you compare the before and after with an easy-to-use slider that follows your mouse. Whatever's on the left of the slider is the old, with the new on the right.

To grab the improved film, there are download options for multiple formats, including iPod-formatted H.264, Adobe Flash, and Windows Media. You can also grab quick embed code to stick it in any blog, which I've done after the break.

I tried out the service on several video clips this morning and got improved results on every single one of them. The most dramatic improvement of all was with text, which managed to turn almost unreadable pixelated words into legible sentences. Just be wary, though: The service can only handle clips up to 352x288 in resolution, which means the VGA videos from your digital camera aren't going to cut it. Older cameras, on the other hand, are fine.

FixMyMovie is launching in beta at this morning's DEMOfall conference in San Diego with $25 worth of free processing for everyone while still in its beta period. Eventually, FixMyMovie plans to charge users for the option to enhance video and still images, which can also be captured manually by users within the Flash player. I can see this service being hugely popular, as everyone wants better looking video clips, and ways to improve older, lower resolution clips.

Update: It's worth noting you need the latest beta of Adobe Flash 9 to view videos on the service (which makes the neat, live before and after feature possible). You can pick it up here, or just get a feel for what it can do with the screenshot below.… Read more

The irony of the MediaDefender case is that while one segment of the entertainment industry huddles with FBI agents over the theft of e-mails, another segment has acknowledged purchasing stolen e-mails.

In court papers made public last month, the Motion Picture Association of America disclosed that it paid a hacker $15,000 for private e-mails belonging to TorrentSpy, a BitTorrent tracking site. The MPAA, which said it was unaware that the e-mails were stolen, has accused TorrentSpy of encouraging copyright violations.

Then came startling revelations about the tactics employed by MediaDefender, an antipiracy company that tries to thwart illegal file … Read more

Many a Gotham geek was jealous of the NewTeeVee Pier Screenings, those outdoor short-film festivals hosted by the Om Malik-helmed new media blog--they were, at the time, restricted to the San Francisco Bay Area. But now NewTeeVee's coming east for a night of user-submitted short films on September 24, held at the XChange event space in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood.

The theme is "love stories," and NewTeeVee's Liz Gannes emphasized that while pornography is not allowed, the films submitted may encompass anything from lost lovers to favorite foods. There will, in addition, be popcorn and beer … Read more

As I mentioned over the weekend, video games have once again become part of my life. And as I explore far away lands like Hyrule or Gaia, along with newer places like the city of Rapture in BioShock, I can't help but be amazed at how far video games have come in the past decade. And with that in mind, I'm left wondering why the New Release rack at Blockbuster is still filled with 90 percent garbage. For a business that relies on entertaining people, the movie industry really needs to take some pages out of the video game play book.

Video games have become the most entertaining form of enjoyment. Period. Think back to some of the new movies you've watched in the past few years and tell me how many of these justified the two hours you wasted watching it. Chances are, that number will be quite low when compared to the number of great games you've played in the last year. Of course, the reason for this is quite simple: The movie industry has become monolithic and its very business model has become derivative and outdated. There is very little drive for anyone to make a unique and extremely exciting movie anymore because producers know that many of us will go out and watch the garbage no matter how bad it is. On the other hand, video game developers--largely relegated to second-class by the Hollywood-types--have something to prove. And in the process of proving themselves, it's the video game developers that are providing the real entertainment.… Read more

David Pogue takes a contrarian position to the Macalope's view on iMovie:

Most people are used to a product cycle that goes like this: Release a new version every year or two, each more capable than the last. Ensure that it's backward-compatible with your existing documents.

IMovie '08, on the other hand, has been totally misnamed. It's not iMovie at all. In fact, it's nothing like its predecessor and contains none of the same code or design. It's designed for an utterly different task, and a lot of people are screaming bloody murder.

And at … Read more

Macworld's Jeff Carlson has a first look at the new iMovie.

It's unfortunate to see that some features of the previous version -- which, in all actuality, was not a previous version at all but a separate product that's been discontinued -- are gone, but they do at least allow you to download the old iMovie for free.

Still, the Macalope agrees with Jobs' assessment that it was simply too hard for amateurs to easily and quickly make movies to upload to the web -- to get that instant gratification -- with the former application known as … Read more

Fans of the PlayStation Portable (PSP) media device must continue to wait for a download store, a feature that experts have said is a must if the player is ever to launch a significant challenge to the iPod.

Sony representatives, which have been holding press gatherings in major cities in preparation for the September launch of the upgraded PSP, refused on Tuesday to set a launch date for the download store.

They did reveal that the store will launch with "short-form" games. Whether music and movies will be available at rollout is "still unclear," said John … Read more

Okay, this is going to get controversial. Just bear with me.

The Siggraph conference is basically defined by the intersection of art and technology. The ideal Siggraph attendee is both an artist and a technologist, though lots of us are only one or the other (personally, I can't even draw flies).

At Siggraph this year, the well-known patent expert… Read more

Let's just say this Superbad flick, which opens August 17, is pretty highly anticipated. Comedy fans are psyched because it's produced by Judd Apatow of The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up fame. And geeks have been equally pumped to see teen nerd icon Michael Cera, formerly of Arrested Development and more recently of the CBS Web series Clark and Michael, doing what he does best--spending long durations of onscreen time acting as awkward as possible.

So, as you can imagine, the atmosphere was decently enthusiastic when the crew behind National Lampoon heir apparent CollegeHumor threw an advance screening … Read more