I love movies, the excitement of the red carpet, and talking about geeky things like home theater and the latest DVD formats. That's why I created Movie Chow. It's sort of an electic gathering of the things I love about the movie industry and its offspring.

The site is themed with three different sections.

DVD SNACK BAR

This is where you can read about the latest DVD releases. You can also read about your old favorite and perhaps not-so-favorite DVDs. Click on "Quick Glimpse" and an animated box will open up and give you the scoop on techy things like aspect ratios, as well as a guide to the DVD in review. Click on "DVD Vault" and you can scan the DVD covers and find a review you want to read.

PREMIERE CHOW

This is where you can get your daily requirement for star gazing. You can cruise through galleries of Hollywood's most famous faces like Johnny Depp, Teri Hatcher, Cheryl Burke, Orlando Bloom, Julie Andrews and many more!

POPCORN COMBO

Just like the combos you can get at the movie theater snack bar, here you can read my blog about home theater, movie theaters, DVDs, Blu-ray and whatever comes to my mind. It's a combination of blog, critique and some nonsense.

As for me, I'm a professional writer and photographer. I've written for Los Angeles Downtown News, Go magazine (Air Tran Airways), Widescreen Review and my sister site, From Script To DVD. I've worked with Sony Pictures, Disney and Paramount on stories and reviews.

Equipment Used At MCC

The reference systems used at Movie Chow consist of:

Panasonic 16x9 53-inch television (480p)
Sony Playstation 3
Sony C222ES Super Audio CD player
Vandersteen Model 2Ce Signature II speakers (front)
Paradigm Atom speakers (surrounds)
Rega Brio3 amplifier
Marantz SR4002 receiver
Hsu STF-1 subwoofer
Monster Cable for interconnects and speaker wire

and

Panasonic plasma 16x9 50-inch television (720p)
Oppo DV-970HD DVD player
Energy 5.1 surround sound speaker system with an Energy subwoofer
Denon AVR-2307CI receiver

I will be upgrading Movie Chow's reference system very soon. The systems here represent "real world" systems. Since I'm not sponsored by any of the companies listed above or below, the products used here represent what I would consider reasonably priced, and they're attainable by mere mortals like myself. My philosophy, and perhaps this is shared by others, is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to bring high quality home theater entertainment into your home.

I also use these two systems (currently) to gauge the quality to DVDs and their soundtracks. In real world systems, different pieces of equipment can give a viewer different image and sound quality. When you read my DVD reviews on picture and sound quality, I try to combine what I see and hear into a rating.

Please explore this site, click on the Amazon.com and Google tabs when you get a chance, and enjoy Movie Chow!

Bill Kallay