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Selecting The Best DVD Rental Service

Selecting The Best DVD Rental Service

Renting movies at a store has almost become a thing of the past with online options and streaming content more the norm today than ever before. Netflix is the leader in online rentals and streaming media to all kinds of devices within the home, but are they the best for you? Blockbuster has similar services now and a number of upstarts are moving into the business to create additional competition for Netflix. Lets take a look at the qualities and services you should look for when comparing online DVD rental services.

Shipping Time: Does the DVD provider have a local shipping location to reduce the time it takes for your DVDs to arrive at your house? If you watch a lot of movies at home, delivery times can vary from between 1-2 days and 3-4 days.

DVD Selection: Consider both new releases and other categories when determining which online DVD rental service to join. Classics, TV Series, and Independents have become more popular recently.

Availability: It will be hard to tell how many copies are available until you begin to request DVDs in the mail. The larger the service, the more copies of a DVD they will usually have.

A Plan that Fits: First determine what you need as a household, how many DVDs will you watch in a given month? Then compare plans of all the companies under consideration that meet the needs that you have.

Ease of Use: Once a member, consider how easy it is to navigate the online service. Hopefully you were able to get a free 2 week trial with the service so you know before you begin paying if reserving DVD titles and having them shipped to you is something simple or more of a chore.

Ratings: Reviews from others will make getting the best DVDs into your queue and delivered to your home. If the online service doesn’t have user ratings or they are difficult to get to, look for a different service.

Streaming: If you want to be able to watch movies on your PC or streamed to your XBOX, make sure the DVD rental house provides the specialized service. At this time there are bigger differences in this area than most of the other categories discussed.

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Creating a theater experience in your home.

Setting up a home theater is something that lots of people are doing in this day and age. It is actually easy to make your own home theater, irrespective of what others may say. You can set up a home theater which would remind you of the cinema in your locality. It also contains special seating which is well upholstered and also very comfortable and safe for the spine. You may add a few captain chairs with a drink holder as well as movie theater seating in your room along with a large screen or flat TV that is place on the wall in front of the chairs. This would set up your home theater in a jiffy.

There are so many options that you can take when you set up a home theater. There are some options that can cause you to pay a lot of money. If you want to limit the amount you want to spend, do try to take some time and evaluate all the options in terms of quality as well as price too. Some people go in for costly home theater introductions. But the same money can help you buy a few more seats with movie theater armrests or a larger screen and maybe even add a popcorn machine for the same amount. There are so many people who are wise with how they spend their money and they ensure that they get the best value for their money.

There are some theater accessories that cost a lot of money (and others that don’t like a cup holder). Some of these are rocker as well as reclining seats may cost more but they are very comfortable also. Having a good loudspeaker system is also part of the audio experience of the home theater. Getting a flat TV is also advisable. Flat screen TVs are so much better in picture clarity as well as lower glares and better viewing pleasure. A surround sound system and a mini bar can complete the sense of luxury for your home theater system.

You can get a sense of what you need from commercial movie theaters. You can choose those decorative aspects that you can see from catalogs and also magazines and documents that are taken from commercial cinema. These will help you to go with your budget as well as style and make your basement into a wonderful home theater system. If you look at articles on movie home theaters, you will form a good idea about costs as well as the accessories.

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Netflix makes Subtitles Available on Desktop Viewing

Netflix makes Subtitles Available on Desktop Viewing

Netflix recently announced on their blog that subtitles are available on some movies streaming to the PC/Mac. About 100 titles have been added to the close caption selection. Over time the DVD rental and streaming media company hopes to add additional titles to the close caption available group in addition to other streaming devices.

The company posted in June of 2009 that they were working on the technology and explained the difficulty in adding subtitles to movies post-production. Silverlight clients are the easiest formats to deliver the new functionality and therefore the release of PC/Mac subtitles this year.

Also look for other platforms to have close captioning in the coming months. Lost Seasons One through Four are some of the television episodes that you can watch on your desktop to see the new technology in action. English subtitles on English video isn’t something the company expects to be widely used but finds the development of the technology important.

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Home Movie Night for the Family

Having a home movie night is a way to involve the entire family in a family moment. Sometimes, however, it is easier said than done, so finding something of interest to older kids is the key. Food is often the secret weapon in gaining their participation.

If you’re trying to give your family a nutritious boost without spending a ton on groceries, there are two easy, delicious treats to make for home movie snacks – homemade donuts and smoothies.  Smoothies give a great deal of fruit vitamins, and donuts taste great and make for tomorrow’s breakfast!

Smoothies are a simple process, as they only require fruit, milk, juice, and ice.  Choose the fruit combinations that you or your family prefers — popular mixes are strawberries and bananas, or oranges and blueberries, or cherries and vanilla flavoring — and blend together with the ice, milk, and juice.  If you desire thicker smoothies, add more milk; for thinner smoothies, add more juice.  Smoothie maker blenders are often designed especially for smoothies, but are only individual portions, so make sure you’re using a large enough blender for the entire family.  If your kids are fussy about vitamins, simply add them into the mix for extra doses of vitamin A and C.

Donuts require a bit more preparation.  The dough is a simple process, only flour, eggs, milk, and yeast — if you enjoy thicker donuts, add less yeast — mixed together.  Pour the batter into rings, or strips for eclairs and bear claws.  Drop the rings in frying oil, and be careful not to leave them in to long or they will burn.  Let the donuts cool, then apply a sugar glaze, frosting, or even fill the inside with jelly.  Donuts usually only last one or two days before they go stale, so eat quick!

Be sure to take some photos of the family cooking and watching their movie. In years to come this will help everyone recall the time fondly.