Current Sci-Fi Shows

[Son Of Chronos]

Ah so thats why V is having problems, yeah its abit silly they would think that way about it, I dont like this idea about a new director, the show was moving along fine as it was, and had the right amount of action in it if you ask me.I never watched lost so had no idea the shows had actress from it in each show, yeah that would explain the link.You know Im not the biggest star wars fan, to me they're just 3 great movies I saw as a kid, everything after that, the new movies, The TV shows, comics etc I really dont care about.I might have cared about the new movies if they had been as cool as that new star wars game The Old Republic, but they ended up being a pile of rubbish, and it seems like they have putting nothing but rubbish out reguarding star wars ever since.Ive heard Stand-Alone Complex is very good and it sounds right up my ally since I like cyberpunk stuff, their is a movie to the series as well aint it? not the proper movies I mean one that is in the same timeline/universe as the show, do I have to watch that first or is like the ending of the series or something?Ive never been a big fan of Macross, watched some of the older ones, but its love themes often bore me, I surpose I should give it more of a chance,Frontier is defenatley on my list too watch.Ive been watching Turn A Gundam not far into it yet but so far I must say it really is different from any Gundam Ive watched, it comes across as almost steam punk, not to mention the mecha designs are very different, I can see why this is the dark sheep to the Gundam franchise for Bandai, it doesnt seem like a show that they can make money off selling Gunpla, it also doesnt seem to follow the usual Gundam plotlines, i like for example how the pilot has no idea how to use the Gundam, rather than find the keys and go off fighting like a pro staright away, still along way for me to go on this, should finish watching it over the holidays.

[Crash]

The SAC Movie: "Solid-State Society" is ... a bit lacklustre really. None of the films really grab me except for the end of the second movie. But then again Appleseed Ex Machina is the same but even more fun! I wish they'd make a 3rd appleseed film.Lost is quite worth getting into. Calling it sci-fi is a stretch but it is undeniably brilliantly done.Macross F is a bit different - fair bit of boring relationship back-and-forth but also... lots of alien-blasting valkyrie-tranforming, missile-dodging, computer-generated action!!! Plus really good music - again Yoko Kanno and co. I've never seen another Macross apart from that one.Who's seeing Avatar and Iron Man2 (when it comes out)

[Son Of Chronos]

I should be seeing Avatar this Sunday, I recently saw the trailer on a HD tv and I got to say it really is on another level in CG, I cant wait to see it in its full glory at IMAX, aslong as my friends dont change plans.Iron Man 2 it looks ok I hope it doesnt suffer from bad sequel syndrome like Blade 2 and many more, I wonder what happend to the HULK thought he was going to be in part2 the way they setup the end of both movies last time.Werent they surposed to make a Live action appleseed this or next year, Ive seen it rumoured for ages, done right it could be an awesome movie like the animated movies.

[Crash]

Yeah I live in the North - we only have ... cinemas. Having said that the tiny cinema in St-Andrews got a grant recently for its new digital hard-disk projector and I have to say that the showing of Star Trek was the best I've ever seen. It put the Newcastle's Silverlink Odeon 12-theatre multiplex completely to shame with its fairly blotchy film projectors. District 9 wasn't too bad there but then it was shot in quite a bland, washed-out, grotty way anyway.No more Hulk, please - that whole thing is just gross and pukening. I got the feeling with Iron Man that they were holding back in order to leave them things to do in the sequels.I didn't mean to put a doubtful smiley - I just typed three "?"s.We're theoretically meant to be getting live action Evangelion - I wish they'd put the people planning all these live-action conversions 6 feet under cos you know it's not likely to work.If they could focus on the Rebuild of Evangelion series that'd be great - I've only seen the second one on a really terrible camera recording - it's not out on DVD yet. From what I could tell it was a tremendously weird and amazing film!!!Another anime I wish they'd get on with is Hellsing Ultimate. What a show that is too.

[Son Of Chronos]

Well I watched Avatar the first 3D movie I have watched and I must say I found it very good, took me awhile to get used to those 3D glasses, but it really was cool how they used it in this movie.The FX were amazing, its going to take some time for something to match that, will be defently getting this on blu-ray.As for the movie itself, well and figured out the whole story from just watching the trailer alone, so it ended up being exactly what I thought, even so I was well pleased with what I watched.My fav character is easily the General, I mean everyone watches for the villian dont they really in any movie, and he did his job well, so much I was kind upset when he lost the the last fight, but hey you knew it would happen.As for people announcing live action movies, yeah we could do without it, I feel the same way about the Akira live action movie, that is now set in new york, surposedly its a two part movie set for 2011, I wont hold my breath as it was surposed to be out 2009.As for Evangelion Im not a fan of the anime, but when they sad they were making a movie I just laughed because I knew such a project would never get off the ground, the budget would be HUGE, and as popular as EVA is, its not pop culture big, Transformers can only be done because Everyone knows about it, its like MrT or Hulk Hogan, even if you dont watch wrestling you know about them, pop culture.EVA is and always will be for niche anime mecha fans, not to mention the story is just way beyond what the average pop corn cinema goer can comprehend, and you would need 3-6 3hr movies to tell the story right, just too much going against it.If it ever did happen, it would be EVA in name only much like the laughable Resident Evil Movie series, I still cant believe they're making a part4 to that, ugh.I hope we get some good sci-fi's this year although 2009 was a massive year for sci-fi movies and TV shows, I dont think it can be topped, but lets see.

[Crash]

I got "Rebuild of Evangelion 1.11" which is an even more pumped-up version for Blu-Ray - that is well worth a look even as a kinda ... Evangelion 'reservist' I thought it was very good. Everything is done so inimatably well.You would actually need the same budget as NERV itself to make into live action and I hate Akira - it was the most wretched film I've ever seen. And no westerner that was just watching a film would be expecting the huge mythos that Eva has surrounding it. So you would just be cutting down on all that makes Eva great.Some relative of my girlfriend directs the Resident Evil movies and, having never really played Resident Evil proper, I quite enjoyed the second one. I saw a CGI Resident Evil film that looked like it was Japanese-directed and maybe closer to the games but I really didn't enjoy it.I just saw Avatar in 2D - I didn't want the faff of the glasses and yeah it was a major film.Everything it undertook it managed. I think the action seemed like a bit of an afterthought at the end though. The wait for the fur to start flying seemed to last forever.Didn't the General remind you of Sarge from Quake III Arena?

[Son Of Chronos]

RE2 the game that is, is the best one in the series followed closely by CVX.Indeed that CGI movie is from Capcom themselves I have it, its kind of a gap filler for what happens in the games leading upto RE4 AND 5.LOL you know you are right that General does remind me of the one from Quake 3, I remember that crazy intro on the game where he just kills loads of bad guys and then blows himself up when he runs out of bullets crazy stuff indeed.Off topic but I know you know a thing or two about computers etc, Im looking for a new laptop and wondered if you can recommend any?My budget is not high, most I will spend is 400pounds maybe 500 if it really makes a difference, I need something that can handle large graphics, what I mean is something that can handle programs like photoshop and after effects and videos, 3Drenderings etc.Now I know for 400/500 pounds Im not going to get the best of the best, but what I want is the best for that value if that makes any sense.Either way it will be huge step up from my current system which just doesnt cut it anymore.Ive been looking around and I cant really find anything and when I do, its mostly on ebay which im not sure to trust really.Anyway if you can help that would be cool, if not no worries.

[Crash]

Well for £500 you should be able to get a smart HP or whatever. I think Dell are usually overpriced and underspecced for the money...The parents both have HP notebooks and so does the ladyfriend and they've all been really great.I would think that even after-effects and video encoding/rendering would be mostly done in the CPU. Now that the mobile i7 is out, the Core2Duos should be suitably down-priced but they're really good CPUs and I really dislike Intel (so that's saying a lot).Only the 3d work necessitates a decent graphics unit but not a phenomenal one - most of the power is only needed to run games in high detail. I noticed in my travels the other day that an ATI graphics card in a notebook lowered the cost by about £400 in some cases and they are very good cards.Just remember in all graphics cards - the first digit in the model number is the series number (and shows how old it is) and the second is how high-up-the-range it is so the Nvidia 7600 is older than a 8400 but the 8400 is a less-prestigious model so they're probably about equal in power. But the newer they are, the fancier their features - so they have better pixel shaders, newer DirectX compatibility etc.Basically any modern notebook with a decent Core2Duo 7000 and above with a discrete graphics card, say Nvidia 9300 / 9600 or higher will do the job, I think.I'd say at the moment, given how powerful machines are - and for reasonable prices if you look in the right place - it's hard to go wrong.

[Son Of Chronos]

Alright man thanks for the info.You're right in that such programs rely more on CPU power and RAM, for rendering.ATI cards are good but in my research Ive found they have issues with programs that I might be using, so would just rather avoid them.I didnt know that about the graphics card thing, I mean I knew the first number meant it was newer but not a clue on the 2nd, makes sense thinking about it now.I wonder is the that the same for CPU's? I did a search for Core2Duo 7000 but I could only find e7000, is that the same thing? or do letters mean a different class too?And when you say "smart HP" you mean the the touchsmart laptops right?Needless to say Ive spent most of the day looking for what you recomended, Ive found something that I think is decent, its an acer but im not a brand whore, the system im using now is an acer and its lasted me 5 years almost, I know acers get a bad rep, but I cant say ive experienced it.In my searches today I came across alot of brand only people some of the stuff I read in forums was quite funny, I know Dell etc probably have better parts but for the prices acer does you cant moan, Im not paying 60+ quid for a name.Anyway here is the spec for the laptop Im looking at;Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo T6400 2GHz (800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)Memory: 3GB (1 x 2GB / 1 x 1GB)HD Capacity: 250GB 5400rpm Hard Disk DriveDisplay: 16" HD Acer CineCrystal LCDGraphics Card: nVidia 9300GS 256MBOptical Drive: DVD±RW (±R DL) / BD-ROMOperating System: Windows Vista Home PremiumNetworking: Ethernet LAN / 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wireless / Bluetooth 2.0 +EDRWecam: Integrated 0.3MP Crystal Eye WebcamProtection: Acer Bio-Protection fingerprint solutionPorts:ExpressCard/54 slot5-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)Three USB 2.0 portsHDMI port with HDCP supportConsumer infrared (CIR) portExternal display (VGA) portHeadphone/speaker/line-out jack with S/PDIF supportMicrophone-in jackLine-in jackEthernet (RJ-45) portModem (RJ-11) portDC-in jack for AC adapterBattery: 6 cell Li-ion BatteryIts price is just over 400 pounds, what you think about it, it really is a massive step up from my current system which is funny since I paid about that much for this machine, ha I guess time has moved on, but you're right theirs some good spec system out there for low prices.Anyway I have highlighted the parts that I think are important.Just how good is an Intel Core 2 Duo T6400? any ideas? is it miles off that 7000 you mentioned?Now I know the graphic card is not great, Im not to fussed I have no plans to play crysis on max settings or anything like that, just something that can run games decently, that is the 9300 you were talking about right? If theirs anything else you want to comment on go ahead.

[Crash]

Haha, I meant just any decent HP. They seem to be pretty fast and reliable with a minimum of BS from what I've seen. The brand doesn't matter - they never manufacture the machines themselves anyway so paying for a Sony / Alienware Notebook is like having an Armani... milkbottle or something.Well the Nvidia 9300 might have to reduce Crysis to FarCry-like settings for all I know to make it run - I can get Crysis to run at High most of the time at 1024x768 here but that is quite a struggle. But it certainly runs X-Bomber because I tested one out.The processors use a vaguely similar system in numbering except usually they have several ranges available at once rather than just one. Each model in a range has certain similarities like bus speed and architecture but as the second digit increases, so does the clockspeed and maybe the cache sizes (which are important).Most CPUs are much of a muchness - not worth spending a fortune on slightly higher models cos the performance increase is never that huge. Having said that - I tend not to follow that advice myself.