Marc’s Movies 0.98 Released!

OK. It has been a bit longer than expected but the wait was worth it. Marc’s Movies has expanded by almost 50% to a whopping 1,945 movies. This release adds 564 movies in total. There would be another 50 or so movies add, but a lack of proper DVD covers are keeping them from being released. Perhaps they can be located for the next release. Along with this good news, there is also some bad news. The collection now weighs in at 1.66 TB which means that a 2 TB drive is now the minimum drive needed to fit the entire collection on one drive. Luckily, prices on these types of drives are now very low and can be had for as little as $70 for an internal drive and $90 for an external drive as of the time of this writing.

In another bit of news, I should share that I believe that there will one final big update in the future. After that, I think most historical movies would have been added. After that, only smaller updates will be issued to add new movies to the collection. I’m guessing 2,500 would be the upper limit for the size of the collection.

I should also share that I’m working on an HD version of this collection with 1080P versions of the movies here. Currently the HD collection stands at roughly 350-400 movies, but the size of the collection make it prohibitively difficult to share easily. So far, the average file size would equate to about 2TB per 200-250 movies. At this rate, the collection would be about 15-20TB in HD form.

So, get with the person who gave you the collection to get this newer version if you want it. Besides filling in the holes and requests from earlier, some other movie files were fixed. These fixes include the Adam Sandler collection that had hard-coded subtitles as well as new versions of Back to the Future II and III which ended prematurely.

Expect 0.99 next March.

The new movies added are:

10 Things I Hate About You	1999
13 (Thirteen)	2010
13 Going on 30	2004
16 Blocks	2006
27 Dresses	2008
3 Ninjas	1992
3 Ninjas – High Noon at Mega Mountain	1998
3 Ninjas – Kick Back	1994
3 Ninjas – Knuckle Up	1995
8 Heads in a Duffel Bag	1997
A Cinderella Story	2004
A Force of One	1979
A Life Less Ordinary	1997
A Low Down Dirty Shame	1994
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy	1982
A Nightmare on Elm Street	2010
About a Boy	2002
Across the Universe	2007
Adam’s Rib	1949
Addams Family Values	1993
After the Sunset	2004
Air Force One	1997
Alice	1990
All-Star Superman	2011
Almost Famous	2000
American Ninja	1985
American Ninja 2 – The Confrontation	1987
American Ninja 4 – The Annihiliation	1990
American Ninja 5	1993
An American in Paris	1951
An Officer and a Gentlemen	1982
Angel Eyes	2001
Annie Hall	1977
Another Stakeout	1993
Anything Else	2003
Arsenic and Old Lace	1944
Astro Boy	2009
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes	1978
Attack the Block	2011
Babe	1995
Baby – Secret of the Lost Legend	1985
Babylon A.D.	2008
Bachelor Party	1984
Bad Company	2002
Bananas	1971
Barton Fink	1991
Batteries Not Included	1987
Bean	1997
Beavis and Butthead Do America	1996
Becoming Jane	2007
Bedtime Stories	2008
Better Off Dead	1985
Beverly Hills Ninja	1987
Bewitched	2005
Black Sheep	1996
Blood Simple	1984
Blue Valentine	2010
Bonnie and Clyde	1967
Booty Call	1997
Boyz ‘n the Hood	1991
Bride Wars	2009
Bridesmaids	2011
Bridget Jones – The Edge of Reason	2004
Bridget Jones’ Diary	2001
Bringing Up Baby	1938
Broadway Danny Rose	1984
Bruno	2009
Bubble Boy	2001
Buffalo ’66	1998
Bullets Over Broadway	1994
Buried	2010
Cabin Fever 2 – Spring Fever	2009
Cadillac Man	1990
Candy	2006
Carnosaur	1993
Casino Jack	2010
Cassandra’s Dream	2007
Cats & Dogs – The Revenge of Kitty Galore	2010
Cedar Rapids	2011
Chain Reaction	1996
Charlie St. Cloud	2010
Chicken Run	2000
Clash of the Titans	2010
Click	2006
Clifford	1994
Clue	1985
Cold Mountain	2003
Colors	1998
Conan the Barbarian	1982
Coneheads	1993
Conspiracy Theory	1997
Copycat	1995
Crimes and Misdemeanors	1989
Crossing Delancey	1998
Cyrus	2010
Dark Days	2000
Dark Water	2005
Daydream Nation	2010
Deconstructing Harry	1997
Desperately Seeking Susan	1985
Despicable Me	2010
Devil	2010
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Rodrick Rules	2011
Dirty Harry	1971
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	1988
Doom	2005
Dr. Dolittle	1998
Dr. Dolittle 3	2006
Dr. Jeckyll and Ms. Hyde	1995
Dragnet	1987
Dragonball – Evolution	2009
Drunken Angel	1948
Duck, You Sucker	1971
Easter Parade	1948
Easy A	2010
Eat Drink Man Woman	1994
Eat Pray Love	2010
Eclipse	2010
Edward Scissorhands	1990
Eight Crazy Nights	2002
Electroma	2006
Elektra	2005
Elizabethtown	2005
Entrapment	1999
Erin Brockovich	2000
Ernest Scared Stupid	1991
Ever After	1998
Everyone Says I Love You	1996
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex – But Were Afraid to Ask	1972
Explorers	1985
Face-Off	1997
Far and Away	1992
Father Goose	1964
Father of the Bride	1950
Field of Dreams	1989
Flipped	2010
Footloose	1984
Forbidden Planet	1956
Formula 51	2001
Four Brothers	2005
Four Lions	2010
Foxes	1980
French Kiss	1995
Fun with Dick and Jane	2005
Funny Face	1957
Gang Related	1997
Get Him to the Greek	2010
Ghetto Blaster	1989
Ghost Dad	1990
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past	2009
Ghosts of the Abyss	2003
Ghoulies	1985
Ghoulies IV	1994
Gilda	1946
Gnomeo & Juliet	2011
Going Overboard	1989
Going the Distance	2010
Gold Diggers of 1935	1935
Great Balls of Fire!	1989
Great Expectations	1998
Green Card	1990
Green Mansions	1959
Green Zone	2010
Grown Ups	2010
Gunga Din	1939
H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds	2005
Hackers	1995
Hannah and Her Sisters	1986
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows – Part 1	2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	2009
Haunted Honeymoon	1986
Heartbreakers	2001
Heist	2001
High and Low	1963
High Spirits	1988
Hobo with a Shotgun	2011
Holiday	1938
Holiday Inn	1942
Hollywood Ending	2002
Hop	2011
Hot Tub Time Machine	2010
House of Flying Daggers	2004
Houseguest	1995
How Do You Know	2010
How to Steal a Million	1966
How to Train Your Dragon	2010
Husbands and Wives	1992
I Am Number Four	2011
I Love You Phillip Morris	2009
Idle Hands	1999
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka	1988
In Bruges	2008
Inception	2010
Inherit the Wind	1960
Inspector Gadget 2	2003
Interiors	1978
Intolerable Cruelty	2003
Iron Man 2	2010
I-Spy	2002
It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World	1963
It’s Pat – The Movie	1994
Jackass 3.5	2011
Jekyll and Hyde…Together Again	1982
Jetsons – The Movie	1990
Johan Hex	2010
Johnny Mnemonic	1995
Josie and the Pussycats	2001
Jumanji	1995
Just Friends	2005
Just Go With It	2011
Just Like Heaven	2005
K-9	1989
Kate & Leopold	2001
Kickboxer	1989
Kickboxer 2 – The Road Back	1991
Kids in the Hall – Brain Candy	1996
Killers	2010
Knight and Day	2010
Knockaround Guys	2001
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai	1998
La Femme Nikita	1990
La Vie en Rose	2007
Leatherheads	2008
Leave It to Beaver	1997
Legend of the Guardian – The Owls of Ga’Hoole	2010
Legends of the Fall	1994
Letters to Juliet	2010
Lions for Lambs	2007
Little Women	1933
Little Women	1949
Longtime Companion	1989
Look Who’s Talking	1989
Lost Boys 3 – The Thirst	2010
Love Actually	2003
Love and Death	1975
Love in the Afternoon	1957
MacGruber	2010
Madadayo	1993
Madame Butterfly	1995
Making Mr. Right	1987
Manhattan	1979
Manhattan Murder Mystery	1993
Marie Antoinette	2006
Marmaduke	2010
Married to the Mob	1988
Mars Needs Moms	2011
Masters of the Universe	1987
Match Point	2005
May	2002
McHale’s Navy	1997
Mean Girls	2004
Meet Joe Black	1998
Melinda and Melinda	2004
Messenger of Death	1988
Michael	1996
Mighty Aphrodite	1995
Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers	1995
Miller’s Crossing	1990
Miss Congeniality	2000
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day	2008
Miss Potter	2006
Mississippi Burning	1988
Mister Frost	1990
Mixed Nuts	1994
Modern Times	1936
Money Train	1995
Monkeybone	2001
Monster House	2006
Monster in the Closet	1986
Moulin Rouge	2001
Mr. Bean’s Holiday	2007
Mr. Magoo	1997
Mr. Saturday Night	1992
Murder on the Orient Express	1974
Must Love Dogs	2005
My Darling Clementine	1946
My Fair Lady	1964
My Favorite Wife	1940
My Name is Nobody	1973
Mystic River	2003
Nanny McPhee	2005
Nanny McPhee Returns	2010
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind	1984
Navy Seals	1990
New Jack City	1991
New York Stories	1989
Night of the Comet	1984
Nights in Rodanthe	2008
Ninja Cheerleaders	2008
No Regrets for Our Youth	1946
No Way Out	1987
O Brother, Where Art Thou	2000
Oblivion	1994
Oblivion 2 – Backlash	1996
Operation Petticoat	1959
Orgazmo	1997
Over the Top	1987
Paranoid Activity 2	2011
Paris When It Sizzles	1964
Paris, Je T’Aime	2006
Partie de Campagne	1936
Patch Adams	1998
Paul	2011
Peeping Tom	1960
Pokemon – The First Movie	1998
Pokemon 3	2000
Pokemon The Movie 2000	1999
Predator 2	1990
Predators	2010
Prince of Persia – The Sands of Time	2010
Problem Child	1990
Problem Child 2	1991
Problem Child 3 – Junior in Love	1995
Quigley Down Under	1990
Rabbit Hole	2010
Radio Days	1987
Radioactive Dreams	1985
Raising Arizona	1987
Ramona and Beezus	2010
Ran	1985
Rashomon	1950
Red Beard	1965
Red Riding Hood	2011
Reign Over Me	2007
Resident Evil – Afterlife	2010
Return to Sleepaway Camp	2008
Revenge of the Nerds II – Nerds in Paradise	1987
Revenge of the Nerds III – The Next Generation	1992
Revenge of the Nerds IV – Nerds in Love	1994
Rhinestone	1984
Rio	2011
Road House	1989
Robin and Marian	1976
Robin Hood	2010
Roman Holiday	1953
Romeo Must Die	2000
Roxanne	1987
Rubber	2010
Rugrats in Paris	2000
Rules of Engagement	2000
Run Lola Run	1998
Runaway Jury	2003
Sabrina	1954
Saturn 3	1980
Saw 3D – The Final Chapter	2010
Scarlet Diva	2000
Scoop	2006
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World	2010
September	1987
Serenity	2005
Seseame Street Presents – Follow That Bird	1985
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers	1954
Sex and the City	2008
Sex and the City 2	2010
Shadow of a Doubt	1943
Shadows and Fog	1991
She-Devil	1989
Shiloh	1996
Shrek Forever After	2010
Silent Night, Deadly Night	1984
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3 – Better Watch Out!	1989
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4	1990
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5 – The Toy Maker	1991
Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2	1987
Silk Stockings	1957
Sleeper	1973
Sleeping with the Enemy	1991
Sleepwakers	1992
Sliding Doors	1998
Slumber Party Massacre	1982
Slumber Party Massacre II	1987
Slumber Party Massacre III	1990
Small Time Crooks	2000
Sniper	1993
Sniper 2	2002
Sodom and Gomorrah	1962
Soldier	1998
Soloarbabies	1986
Something’s Gotta Give	2003
South Park – Bigger, Longer, & Uncut	1999
Soylent Green	1973
Spanglish	2004
Sphere	1998
Splice	2009
Spring Break	1983
St. Elmo’s Fire	1985
Stage Door	1937
Stakeout	1987
Starcrash	1978
Stardust Memories	1980
Starman	1984
Staying Alive	1983
Stormy Weather	1943
Strange Brew	1983
Strictly Ballroom	1992
Sucker Punch	2011
Sudden Impact	1983
Suddenly, Last Summer	1959
Super	2010
Superstar	1999
Suspicion	1941
Swamp Thing	1982
Sweet and Lowdown	1999
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance	2002
Take Me Home Tonight	2011
Take the Money and Run	1969
Tangled	2010
Team America – World Police	2004
Tequila Sunrise	1988
Terms of Endearment	1983
That Thing You Do!	1996
That Touch of Mink	1962
That’s Entertainment	1974
That’s What I Am	2011
The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T	1953
The Addams Family	1991
The Adjustment Bureau	2011
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen	1988
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle	2000
The American	2010
The A-Team	2010
The Bachelor	1999
The Back-up Plan	2010
The Bad Sleep Well	1960
The Band Wagon	1953
The Beverly Hillbillies	1993
The Book of Eli	2010
The Brady Bunch Movie	1995
The Brood	1979
The Care Bears Movie	1985
The Children’s Hour	1961
The Chipmunk Adventure	1987
The Color of Money	1986
The Constant Gardener	2005
The Count of Monte Cristo	2002
The Curse of the Jake Scorpion	2001
The Day the Earth Stood Still	2008
The Door in the Floor	2004
The Dukes of Hazzard	2005
The Dukes of Hazzard – The Beginning	2007
The Exorcism of Emily Rose	2005
The Expendables	2010
The Extra Man	2010
The Flintsones	1994
The Fly II	1989
The Fog	1980
The French Connection	1971
The Fugitive	1993
The Girl Next Door	2004
The Graduate	1967
The Great Ziegfeld	1936
The Haunting	1999
The Heavenly Kid	1985
The Hidden Fortress	1958
The Hitcher	1986
The Hobbit	1977
The Hole	2009
The Honeymooners	2005
The Horse Whisperer	1998
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus	2009
The Jewel of the Nile	1985
The Ladies Man	2000
The Langoliers	1995
The Last Airbender	2010
The Lavender Hill Mob	1951
The Little Rascals	1994
The Lizzie McGuire Movie	2003
The Longest Yard	2005
The Lower Depths	1957
The Magnificent Ambersons	1942
The Man Who Wasn’t There	2001
The Mechanic	2011
The Medallion	2003
The Money Pit	1986
The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz	2005
The Nanny Diaries	2007
The Neverending Story II – The Next Chapter	1990
The Neverending Story III	1994
The Night Flier	1997
The Notebook	2004
The Notorious Landlady	1962
The Nude Bomb	1980
The Nun’s Story	1959
The Omega Code	1999
The Onion Field	1979
The Other Guys	2010
The Outlaw Josey Wales	1976
The Patriot	2000
The People Under the Stairs	1991
The Philadelphia Story	1940
The Pirate	1948
The Powerpuff Girls Movie	2002
The Red Shoes	1948
The Romantics	2010
The Rugrats Movie	1998
The Ruins	2008
The Saint	1997
The Search for One-Eye Jimmy	1994
The Siege at Ruby Ridge	1996
The Silencers	1966
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice	2010
The Sound of Music	1965
The Stuff	1985
The Sunset Limited	2011
The Ten Commandments	1956
The Town	2010
The Ugly Truth	2009
The Wedding Planner	2001
The Wings of the Dove	1997
The Wolfman	2010
The Woman in Red	1984
The Wood	1999
The Wrecking Crew	1969
The X-Files – Fight the Future	1998
The X-Files – I Want to Believe	2008
Them	1954
They Shoot Horses, Don’t They	1969
Thor	2011
Three Days of the Condor	1975
Tombstone	1993
Toy Story 3	2010
Trilogy of Terror	1975
Troll	1986
Troll 2	1990
True Grit	1969
True Grit	2010
Turtles Forever	2009
Two for the Road	1967
U.S. Marshals	1998
U-571	2000
Ultraviolet	2006
Under Siege	1992
Under the Rainbow	1981
Unstoppable	2010
Vampires Suck	2010
Van Helsing	2004
Van Wilder	2002
Vicky Cristina Barcelona	2008
Wait Until Dark	1967
Walk the Line	2005
Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps	2010
War and Peace	1956
War of the Worlds	1953
War of the Worlds 2 – The Next Wave	2008
Watchers	1988
Wedding Crashers	2005
Wedding Daze	2006
Whatever Works	2009
What’s Up Tiger Lily	1966
When In Rome	2010
Winter’s Bone	2010
Woman of the Year	1942
X-Men – First Class	2011
xXx	2002
xXx – State of the Union	2005
Yogi Bear	2010
Yojimbo	1961
You Got Served	2004
Your Highness	2011
Zathura	2005
Zelig	1983
Ziegfeld Follies	1945
Ziegfeld Girl	1941

New Release Coming Soon…

It’s been almost a year since the last update and I promise that the wait will be worth it.  The next update is brewing with roughly 250+ movies being added potentially.  These updates include a couple director’s filmographies, as well as many cult classics from the 80s along with some more classic movies to round out the collection.  As usual, the normal staple of recently released movies will be added as well.  Look for the release to come out sometime later this summer.  Cheers!

Roku HD-XR Player on Sale Today Only!

Although these probably won’t last long, you can snag a Roku HD-XR media player on Woot.com today for only $69.99.  These are the same ones that we just reviewed and usually go for $99 (which was just dropped about a week ago from $129).  As is usual for Woot items, there is $5 shipping and the items being sold today are refurbished units.  I’ve never really had a problem with buying refurbished units before but you should be aware that they usually only have a 90 day warranty compared to the usual full 1 year manufacturers warranty.  This item can be purchased with an extra $10 Squaretrade warranty which will push it back up to the usual 1 year if you bought a new product, but that is optional.

www.woot.com

Marc’s Movies 0.93 Released

A new update is here which mainly consists of both Disney and Troma releases.  This will probably be the last major update until the holiday season.  The collection adds a total of 104 new movies to bring the total number up to 1,378.  There were some issues with procuring dvd covers for a few hard to find Troma films.  Hopefully they can be added in the next release to please the Troma fans.  The new additions are:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea 1954

101 Dalmations 1961

101 Dalmations II – Patch’s London Adventure 2003

102 Dalmations 2000

Actium Maximus – War of the Alien Dinosaurs 2005

Aladdin 1992

Aladdin – The Return of Jafar 1994

Aladdin and the King of Thieves 1995

Beaty and the Beast 1991

Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1971

Cannibal! – The Musical 1993

Cinderella 1950

Cinderella II – Dreams Come True 2002

Cinderella III – A Twist in Time 2007

Citizen Toxie – The Toxic Avenger IV 2000

Class of Nuke ‘Em High 1986

Class of Nuke ‘Em High Part II – Subhumanoid Meltdown 1991

Class of Nuke ‘Em High 3 – The Good, the Bad, and the Subhumanoid 1994

Cop and a Half 1993

D2 – The Mighty Ducks 1994

D3 – The Mighty Ducks 1996

Dinosaur 2000

Dumbo 1941

Escape to Witch Mountain 1975

Fantasia 1940

Fantasia 2000 1999

Girl, Interrupted 1999

Hannah Montana – The Movie 2009

Hercules 1997

Homeward Bound – The Incredible Journey 1993

Homeward Bound II – Lost in San Fransisco 1996

James and the Giant Peach 1996

Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter 2001

Jungle 2 Jungle 1997

Killer Condom 1996

Lady and the Tramp 1955

Lady and the Tramp II – Scamp’s Adventure 2001

Leroy & Stitch 2006

Lollilove 2004

Luther the Geek 1990

Mary Poppins 1964

Miracle 2004

Mother’s Day 1980

Mulan 1998

Mulan II 2004

Muppet Treasure Island 1996

Old Yeller 1957

Peter Pan 1953

Pete’s Dragon 1977

Pocohontas 1995

Pooh’s Grand Adventure – The Search for Christopher Robin 1997

Popeye 1980

Poultrygeist – Night of the Chicken Dead 2006

Rabid Grannies 1988

Race to Witch Mountain 2009

Redneck Zombies 1987

Remember the Titans 2000

Return from Witch Mountain 1978

Return to Oz 1985

Signs 2002

Sky High 2005

Sleepaway Camp 1983

Sleepaway Camp II – Unhappy Campers 1988

Sleepaway Camp III – Teenage Wasteland 1989

Sleeping Beauty 1959

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937

Something Wicked This Way Comes 1983

Space Zombie Bingo!!! 1993

Surf Nazis Must Die 1987

Tarzan 1999

Tarzan II 2005

That Darn Cat! 1965

The Apple Dumpling Gang 1975

The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again 1979

The Aristocats 1970

The Aristocrats 2005

The Black Cauldron 1985

The Emperor’s New Groove 2000

The Fox and the Hound 1981

The Fox and the Hound 2 2006

The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1996

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II 2002

The Jungle Book 1967

The Jungle Book 2 2003

The Lion King 1994

The Lion King 1½ 2004

The Lion King II – Simba’s Pride 1998

The Little Mermaid 1989

The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Beginning 2008

The Little Mermaid II – Return to the Sea 2000

The Love Bug 1968

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 1977

The Mighty Ducks 1992

The Rescuers 1977

The Rescuers Down Under 1990

The Shaggy Dog 1959

The Sword in the Stone 1963

The Three Caballeros 1944

The Toxic Avenger Part II 1989

The Toxic Avenger Part III – The Last Temptation of Toxie 1989

Time Barbarians 1990

Treasure Island 1950

Troma’s War 1988

Tromeo and Juliet 1996

Unbreakable 2000

Who Framed Roger Rabbit 1988

Zombiegeddon 2003

A look at both the forthcoming new Apple TV and other alternatives.

The new Apple TV "hockey puck"

Today, Apple unveiled their new Apple TV product which will start shipping in a few weeks.  On first blush, this little “hockey puck” as they are calling it, seems very attractive.  However, upon further inspection this new player is not suited to compliment Marc’s Movies (or any other downloaded material for that matter).  As this TechCrunch post highlights, the new Apple TV was designed with your parents in mind.  This is not a device for anyone who has technical knowledge or knows how to use BitTorrent.

Why is this?  Firstly, the device will not play many video files beyond the H.264 standard which means that only about 5-10% of Marc’s Movies would play without conversion.  Secondly, the new Apple TV will only output video at a maximum resolution of 720P.  I am reading that this is primarily due to lower download bandwidth and to keep the power rating at a svelte 6 watts.  That’s great for the environment, but not so great for future video capabilities.  Finally there is the issue of a rental only service which I am speculating was done to appease and sway content providers to lower the prices to the 99 cent level.  I believe Apple has it right to both push for a 99 cent per episode sweet spot and to unburden the general user from having to move and manage content on their devices.  (Moving a 23 GB HD season of a show is kind of a pain in the arse!)  It seems though that Apple was just bitched-smacked by the content providers by not only allowing Amazon to offer similar episodes for purchase rather than a rental, but then green-lighting Amazon to announce it on the same day the Apple came out with their new product.  Ouch.  I’m guessing Steve Jobs is on the phone right now with his voiced raised at certain individuals over this PR snafu.

It seems that even before the first unit ships later this month, the new Apple TV is destined to become another hobby for the big A.  There is currently a mystery mini-USB port on the back of the Apple TV which will undoubtedly be exploited by the homebrew community to add functionality.  I’m all for that, but personally I just want something that works out of the box and will therefore likely skip this generation of the Apple TV as well.  Looking elsewhere in the market, there are some good alternatives that might be a better choice for your HD home entertainment system.

I was originally going to make this section to compare three products, the WD TV Live Plus, the Roku XR, and the Pop Box, but it seems that the Pop Box is undergoing some growing pains as it has been plauged by so many bad reviews and returns, that Amazon has pulled it from the site.  It should also be noted that Engadget ran a similar post today comparing the Apple TV, Roku XR, a Blu-Ray player, and Pop Box.

Video Player Comparison

All boxes here should play 95-99% of Marc’s Movies according to their spec sheets.  Also, the Xbox360 currently requires a gold Xbox Live account to access Netflix which can run you an additional $40-60 per year if you don’t already have one.  In addition, it should be obvious that you need a Netflix account to access Netflix on any device which currently starts at $9 for accounts with online access.

Looking through this list, it should be noted that if the thought of buying individual TV episodes for 99 cents appeals to you, the Roku player is the only choice.  Some of you hardcore downloaders might scoff at the idea of paying anything for a TV show.  I’ve already seen comments on many stories today stating that “There’s nothing cheap about $.99 streaming.”  If you break down the math, a typical television season is roughly 23-24 episodes, so a season will run you just shy of $24 bucks which is about the cost of a season on DVD/Blu-Ray.  Now I have two points of commentary and opinion about this issue that I would like to end this post with.

Firstly, I think it’s about time we examined the idea of “owning” a physical object.  If you purchase streaming rights from Amazon V.O.D., you get those “streaming rights” for life, so as long as you have an internet connection, you can hook-up and watch your show.  In today’s world, this is not a burden and unless you believe in the big brother conspiracies that the corporations will take away your right to watch your season 4 of Law & Order: SVU,  you will be able to curl up with your shows whenever you want.  Also, (and up until about a month ago, I was horribly guilty of this) what purpose does storing physical discs serve except to serve as some sort of trophy to guests?  They take up a lot of space and if your collection is big enough, becomes a pain in the ass to handle once you move.

Secondly, is there no limit to piracy?  Don’t many of us claim that we only pirate movies, TV shows, apps, music, and just about everything else because there is no viable alternative to the market that meets our needs?  Personally I can attest to pirating The Daily Show with Jon Stewart almost daily in the past.  I didn’t have cable and I loved the show, but I didn’t love it enough to pay $60 bucks a month to watch.  Once Hulu came out though (and later the Daily Show website), I dropped pirating TDS altogether.  Sure, there were commercials on Hulu and The Daily Show website has some major buffering problems, but I wanted to support something I liked.  Not only that, but is much easier to just click on a link and watch the show (almost) instantly instead of hunting down a torrent file and waiting for the entire show to finish downloading.  Instant gratification and viewer support is worth sitting through a couple of commercials and buffering pauses. I also think those things are worth 99 cents. The market is trying to test the waters of this new model as evidenced by the fact that only ABC and FOX are joining this new streaming venture.  I say that if you have the option, you should try to support it.  If we just sit around and raise our noses at this olive branch from the networks, we can be assured that they will point at this as an example of why cheap access to content won’t work and will avoid this type of deal for a long time.  Worse still, is that we will be nothing more than thieves.  We can hide behind the mantle of the inept content providers, but if we don’t encourage them with our wallets, we only have ourselves to blame.  I hope that in the future we can have access to any content we want at any time for a cheap and reasonable price which would make Marc’s Movies obsolete.  Until then, I’ll continue to share and share alike, and support viable options that the marketplace tries to provide that can lead us towards that goal.

http://www.roku.com/

http://www.wdtvlive.com/

http://www.xbox.com

RSS Feed now up and live!

Finally got the RSS feed up and running so feel free to subscribe and keep on top of everything here.  If you are not aware of what RSS is or how to use it, watch this quick video:

New Domain Name

Our new domain name has finally propagated through the internet.  You can reach this site at the more easy to remember address of: marcsmovies.org.  The old website address should still work, but all future documentation will address the new address.

F.A.Q. Posted

A new F.A.Q. section has been posted for all of the questions I have been receiving today with the new push to widen the Marc’s Movies circle.

Marc’s Movies 0.92 Released

A new update to Marc’s Movies has been completed which adds 112 new movies to the collection bringing the total up to 1,274.  This update has rounded out selections from Bill Murray and Adam Sandler, as well as added some missing series such as Halloween, Superman, The Jason Bourne movies, and The Terminator movies.  Also, the collection now boasts 97 of the top 100 IMDB films (with the exceptions being M, Modern Times, and Inception).  The exact list is as follows:

A Christmas Story 1983

Alice in Wonderland 2010

All About Eve 1950

Amelie 2001

Anger Management 2003

Bad Santa 2003

Billy Madison 1995

Bulletproof 1996

Caddyshack 1980

Caddyshack II 1988

Casino 1995

Charlie’s Angels 2000

Charlie’s Angels – Full Throttle 2003

Croupier 1998

Das Boot 1981

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2010

Dirty Work 1998

Don Juan DeMarco 1994

Ed Wood 1994

Gandhi 1982

Garfield 2004

Garfield – A Tail of Two Kitties 2006

Ghostbusters 1984

Ghostbusters II 1989

Gods and Generals 2003

Good Will Hunting 1997

Half Baked 1998

Halloween 2007

Halloween – Resurrection 2002

Halloween – The Curse of Michael Myers 1995

Halloween 4 – The Return of Michael Myers 1988

Halloween 5 1989

Halloween H20 – 20 Years Later 1988

Halloween II 2009

Halloween III – Season of the Witch 1982

Happy Gilmore 1996

Heat 1995

Howard the Duck 1986

Ice Age 2002

Ice Age – The Meltdown 2006

Jackass – The Movie 2002

JFK 1991

Kingpin 1996

Lady Vengeance 2005

Legion 2010

Little Shop of Horrors 1986

Magnolia 1999

Mallrats 1995

Monty Python’s Life of Brian 1979

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life 1983

Mr. Deeds 2002

Office Space 1999

Open Season 2006

Othello 1952

Percy Jackson & the Olympians – The Lightning Thief 2010

Pet Sematary 1989

Platoon 1986

Quick Change 1990

Rain Man 1988

Repossessed 1990

Requiem for a Dream 2000

Romeo + Juliet 1996

Scarface 1983

She’s Out of My League 2010

Shutter Island 2010

Sleepless in Seattle 1993

Sling Blade 1996

Stalag 17 1953

Stand By Me 1986

Stripes 1981

Supergirl 1984

Superman 1978

Superman II 1980

Superman III 1983

Superman IV – The Quest for Peace 1987

Terminator 2 – Judgment Day 1991

Terminator 3 – Rise of the Machines 2003

The 40 Year Old Virgin 2005

The Bounty Hunter 2010

The Bourne Identity 2002

The Bourne Supremacy 2004

The Bourne Ultimatum 2007

The Bridge On the River Kwai 1957

The Butterfly Effect 2 2006

The Butterfly Effect 3 – Revalations 2009

The Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 2005

The Crazies 2010

The Doors 1991

The Great Escape 1963

The Hills Have Eyes 2006

The Hills Have Eyes II 2007

The Hollywood Knights 1980

The Karate Kid 2010

The Killing Fields 1984

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 2004

The Lives of Others 2006

The Losers 2010

The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956

The Mummy 1999

The Next Karate Kid 1994

The Scorpion King 2002

The Terminator 1984

The Third Man 1949

The Untouchables 1987

The Wedding Singer 1998

The Witches of Eastwick 1987

Tootsie 1982

Unforgiven 1992

World’s Greatest Dad 2009

Youth in Revolt 2009

You’ve Got Mail 1998

Zoolander 2001

Hard Drive Deals

Looking for a hard drive to get your copy of Marc’s Movies? Here are some deals found on the internet for various 1.5 TB hard drives.

On Newegg.com, you can click the following link to see all 1.5 TB external hard drives. The current lowest priced model is $89.99 + $5 shipping.

Newegg.com External 1.5 TB hard drives

If you are an Amazon type, you can see a similarly priced deal on this WD external drive for $94.99 + shipping. Remember, if you are a student (or just have a valid .edu email address) you can get a free year of Amazon Prime which includes FREE 2-day shipping and overnight shipping for $3.99. You can find out more about that deal here: AMAZON PRIME FREE FOR 1 YEAR FOR STUDENTS.

Western Digital WD Elements 1.5 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

WD 1.5 TB External Hard Drive

If you want to go a cheaper route, if you already have an external drive or if you don’t mind an internal drive for your setup, you can find this internal SATA drive from ewiz.com for only $68.40 after using the 10% off discount code: PREPPY

Samsung EcoGreen F2 HD154UI 1.5TB SATA2 5400rpm 32MB Hard Drive

Samsung 1.5 TB internal hard drive