Another call from my editor: "Almost finished watching television, Bass?" I bit my tongue. He was referring to last week's column about PCs and TVs, and how they're merging. "Right-o, boss," I said, glaring at the phone--but knowing I was good to go on at least one more newsletter about multimedia.

DVD, My One and Only

For watching movies on television, there's nothing better than DVDs. They provide sharper images than tape, and have neat features such as director's comments and hidden scenes. This week I'm going to tell you how to buy DVD hardware and movies (while continuing to aggravate my boss). So grab your remote control and let's get started.

Step into my living room and you'll see absolutely nothing that compares to what we talk about in "How to Buy a Home Theater System." Our buying guide is packed with details about TVs, DVDs, speakers, and other components--most of which will make you salivate.

So you've already got a rig, but want to upgrade? Well Philips has a TV tuner for you. Ummmm, no, it's a video recorder with a wireless remote control. Wait, it's also a bunch of other things. For the lowdown on this and a slew of other new home theater products from Philips, read "Philips Unveils Products for the Digital Home."

How about a really slick DVD player? Both Pioneer and Samsung are touting new devices, both with lots of gee-whiz features. Start with the Pioneer DVR-002 that allows you to use rewriteable DVDs. The story's "Pioneer Plunges Into Multimedia." Next up is Samsung's $2500 (yeah, that's right) DVD-HD1000, which we talk about in "Samsung Aims High With New DVD Player." And Samsung's not done yet. The company's expecting a 54-inch, 1920-by-1080-pixel television in the next few years. Learn more in "Samsung Set to Unveil 54-Inch LCD TV."

Dig This: I've been playing with this little physics game called Reflections for a few days; I'm up to the tenth level. The first few are easy--but after level four, you'll start to furrow your brow. Hint: The lasers don't fire. Think reflections. [Personal note to editor: To get started, instead of reading Help, drag the concave icon from the left portion of the game and drop it five saucer lengths above the laser, so the light bulb is to the immediate right. Now with your mouse (the thing you slide on your desk, remember?), click the button with the arrow pointing left (in the lower right part of the game) three times. Get the idea?]

What Do You Want to Watch?

Now that you've got the hardware, let me tell you about how I find movies.

Netflix is my favorite online DVD rental service. I use Netflix's $19.95 plan; it lets me have up to three DVDs out at one time, with an unlimited number of rentals per month. I'm averaging about 12 DVDs each month, which works out to about $1.50 a viewing. The $13.95 economy service gets you four rentals a month, with up to two movies out at a time. Once I order a DVD online, I sometimes get it in the mail the next day, but more often in two days.

It's neat that Netflix doesn't bother with late fees. That's particularly good when you travel, because then you can take a couple of DVDs on the plane. Look through "Mobile Computing Tips: Watch DVDs in Flight" for more tips.

Of course, there are things I would do differently. (And if you elect me president, you'll see dramatic changes.) For instance, I want a temporary hold for when I take a two-week vacation. And I've figured out a way to keep a list of movies I may want to see but just not now--I'd like an easier way to do this.

BTW, would you prefer buying your DVDs? A buddy of mine suggested the DVD Price Search site. [Thanks, John D.] It works like the PCWorld.com Product Finder, comparing prices and factoring in shipping promotions and tax.

In the future, you may be able to download movies to your TV, uh, PC, um, well, whatever device you end up using. Steve Fox predicts the future in "Plugged In: Digital Movies Invade the Living Room."

My Favorite Movie Review Sites

I can't talk about DVDs without mentioning some of my favorite movie sites. The first is The Internet Movie Database, the elder statesperson, and the one I use the most. Besides movie reviews, IMDb has a couple of great features I use a lot: I can keep a list of the movies I want to see; and I can see when a movie is showing, if it's out on DVD, or if it's playing on TV. (You can find this feature by clicking on the "My Movies" tab.)

Another movie site I'm migrating towards is Metacritic.com, primarily because of its Metascores, a terrific way to help me evaluate whether a DVD's worth renting. Metascores lets me check out a movie's rating based on the weighted average from reviews of roughly 30 critics.

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