Watch all the videos you want for one low price!  If it sounds like Netflix, that’s because it’s the same business model.  However, Video Mailbox was created by Peter A. Bobley in the late 1980’s!  Rather than DVDs, they used VHS tapes, but the business model was the same:  you pay a monthly subscription fee, you pick a queue of movies, and then you watch them, return them, and repeat the cycle!  Hacking Netflix, one of my favorite new Netflix-related sites, has all the information you need for your 80’s nostalgia trip.  Amazingly, Peter himself shows up in the comment thread to talk about his business venture, which makes for fascinating reading!

Here’s a great site about the history of Video Mailbox, and there’s even a full color brochure the service used to advertise.  There was also a commercial, which you can see below.  Talk about an idea that was years ahead of its time!  Browse and rent from home, massive selection, flat subscription fee, and they even provided the VCR if you didn’t have one!  Crazy how Peter just missed out on the gravy train.

If you’re like me and have been eagerly awaiting the debut of Netflix streaming video on the Wii, you now know when to start getting antsy.  After months of speculation, Netflix will bring its streaming service (via disc ala the PlayStation 3) to the world’s most popular video game console.  I’ve already signed up; go here and get in line with me, won’t you?

The estimated arrival is Spring 2010; that means it’s only a couple of months away!  Huzzah!

As a dedicated fan of Netflix and streaming video on demand in general, this is great.  I’ve been trying to think of a way to get to watch Netflix On Demand in places other than my computer chair, and short of buying a Roku or some other dedicated box, I couldn’t come up with anything besides hooking my laptop to my TV.  Now I won’t have to add something else to my pile of electronics in the entertainment center to get the most out of my Netflix subscription!

When I was in college, there wasn’t much you could do to decorate your dorm room.  A lot of people put up posters, but the really impressive decorations were things like Christmas lights and, if you really wanted to show off, glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.  The only downfall was that the stars weren’t permanent, and if the glue gave way, you’d be picking stars up off the floor for ages.

These days, with extreme home makeovers being all the rage, a must-have feature for any home theater is a starry sky made out of fiber optic lights.  If you want to make one yourself, but don’t have the budget for a theater makeover, then perhaps these Instructibles directions (complete with pictures) will help you replicate the effect for pennies on the dollar!

It’s a pretty cool effect, but I’d want it to be an actual star map of my area, so that way I could look up at my bedroom ceiling and see the same lights that’d be overhead on a summer night.  Still, it’s great for a kid’s room as a nightlight replacement, isn’t it?

Jacob Yarmuth is probably the biggest sci-fi fan you could ever meet.  That explains why he spent a staggering $70,000 at Visual Concepts in Louisville, Kentucky, to turn his living room into a Stargate-themed home theater.  Given the amount of details worked in by Visual Concepts and Nashville-based partners Sound Answers, that’s an incredibly cheap price for this epic Mona Lisa of personal theaters.

Here’s my question:  they went to great pains to hide the theater’s control system and to secret away all the speakers and whatnot behind panels.  It looks great that way, and if I was going to build one of these, it’s how I’d do it.  That said, why are all the HVAC register grills visible?  I know you can’t block them up, but couldn’t you at least paint them the same color as the walls behind them?  Is this some feature of the base that I’ve never noticed while watching Stargate?

Given that these guys are a local company, I wonder if they’d be willing to put in the home theater system of *my* dreams in exchange for some free blog-based publicity?  Probably not, but it never really hurts to ask, right?  Right.

With the multitude of DVDs, CD, books, and comics that come out every week in stores and on television, it can be hard to keep track of what’s worth watching and what’s worth skipping.  Nobody wants to plunk down hard-earned cash for a lousy CD or a mediocre comic book.  That’s why AJ over at Stalking with the Stars put together a great guide to free, helpful online resources for the pop-culture nerd.

I have to say, I’m a big fan of Fancast, Hulu, and that sort of thing.  I also love sampling the free MP3s from Amazon’s MP3 store; even if I don’t like the song, it’s free!  I’ve never tried imeem, but I’m going to have to give that a shot, too.

Are there any good sources for free stuff, or trial streaming of stuff, that I’m missing out?  The holiday gift season is approaching, so it’s time for me to start with my shopping, and any tips I can get would be greatly appreciated.

I love it when retailers play the “Anything you can do, I can do better” game.  Why?  Because the person who really wins is the consumer, at least when it comes to pricing wars.  For example, Walmart took on Amazon.com’s book prices, and Amazon lowered theirs in response.  Now, Walmart put out a deal where you can preorder their top 10 DVDs for $10, and now Target is taking them on by providing the same deal.  Everyone wins!

Here’s the Walmart selection.  And here’s the Target selection.  There’s no real difference between the two, except the Target top 10 has 11 DVDs listed.  It makes me wonder if the two companies will eventually have different movie offerings, or if it’s the same 10 DVDs for $10 from now until Christmas.

Most importantly, what’s Amazon going to do?  If they match this same deal, that’s an awful lot of copies of G-Force for very little money.

All good things must eventually come to an end.  For those of us who rely on Hulu to catch up on missed TV programs and for entertainment while trapped in our work cubes, it might end up costing a little money come this time next year.  Sadly, the free TV online service has announced plans to roll out a subscription-based option starting sometime in 2010.

Now, that’s not guaranteed to be bad.  If Hulu provides the same amount of advertizing-supported movies and television shows, then I’ll continue to use it.  If they put everything behind the subscription wall, no dice.  I’m used to watching network TV for free thanks to commercials, and the reason why people use Hulu is because it’s network TV for free thanks to commercials.

The fact is, if they make Hulu paid, people are going to stop using it.   I’ll just start using Crackle for my video-watching needs.  While the TV isn’t as good, the movie selection is spectacular.  If I miss an episode of The Office or Family Guy, I’ll just watch them at their respective official network websites.

Many years ago, DVD was languishing.  Nobody was picking up the players, and nobody was picking up the movies.  The VHS was king.  Then along came a little video game system called the PlayStation 2 and a little movie called The Matrix.  Utilizing DVD’s superior picture and sound quality, The Matrix and the PS2 blew minds in dorm rooms and game rooms across the world.  It was only a matter of time.

Blu-ray has had a rougher introduction.  Thus far, the system has been languishing behind DVDs.  For most people, there’s just been no need to upgrade to high definition as most of us still have crappy old SD TVs.  Then, along came a big budget comic book adaptation known as Watchmen.  The first week’s sales are in, and it looks like Watchmen just might be Blu-ray’s killer app.  In the first week alone, 36% of Watchmen’s sales were the Blu-ray edition!

It is a really loaded release, and the movie will look incredible in Blu-ray high definition.  Still, I’m surprised the movie is doing this well on home video when it didn’t do terribly well at the box office.  I suppose that’s the power of fandom?  Who knows.  I guess, if this is any evidence, Blu-ray is here to stay and those of us (me) who have been slow to pick up the torch best get to it.  Given that Watchmen is doing so well on BD, and the other Blu-ray releases are also selling really well, the writing is on the wall.

Tell me, loyal reader.  What movie release might make you finally go out and pick up a Blu-ray player?

You seriously will not find a cheaper Blu-ray player on the market.  Meijer has a Curtis Mathes Blu-ray Disc Player right now for $99.  That includes shipping.  If I were you, and if I had even the slightest interest in ever owning a Blu-ray player, I’d run over and buy one right now.  Just remember to use the code DOTMJR09 when checking out!

The only qualm about this machine is that it apparently doesn’t have surround sound analog outputs (digital only) or Profile 2.0.  But does that really matter when it’s several hundred dollars cheaper than the closest cheap Blu-ray player?  I didn’t think so.

There’s one thing I’ve always wanted:  a home theater.  I’ve talked about this time and time again.  However, there’s one thing better than a home theater, and that’s a home 3-D theater.  Little did I know you could build your own from scratch for the low, low price of $300.  Seriously!

Not only do they have step-by-step written directions, they also have a how-to video, a schematic like the one seen off to your side, and even places to go out and get good 3-D content for your personal viewing pleasure.  That’s pretty awesome, isn’t it?  It’s the complete set-up, the software needed, a calibration guide, and even the stuff to watch to test out your new 3-D system.

The only hard part to this whole affair would be finding two circa 2005 plasma screen televisions and a piece of very thin two-way mirrored glass.  Well, that and finding a pair of old-school 3-D glasses.  Other than that, it looks easier than building your own desktop computer or putting together a DVD rack!  I may have to keep my eye on eBay to see if I can put one of these together on the cheap.