Customer Reviews

Aquarium Widescreen

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Length:: 1:20 Mins

See a clip from all 4 aquariums and decide for yourself.

I've bought several best selling aquarium DVDs, but this DVD AQUARIUM WIDESCREEN (SHOT IN HD) stands out from the others. The vibrant colors and clarity of water create beautiful underwater scenes. Numerous fish of various size and colors float or swim naturally. I particularly loved the school of small blue fish in the Crystal Creek aquarium. The Reef Magic, Crystal Creek and Amazon Adventure aquariums are bright, lively, and fascinating to watch. Each has 4 different sound tracks: bubbles, ambient ethereal, ambient piano (my favorite), and lounge music to fit your mood or occasion. The unique 4th aquarium Blue Moods is a night aquarium which might work well in a soft lit room providing a quiet presence.

Just remember this is a standard DVD which can ONLY play standard definition or 480p lines of resolution. (There is NO WAY to play HD on standard DVD.) However, it does look a lot sharper than a DVD shot in standard definition since it is starting out with twice the detail. With that said, the only way to get HD (in 720p or 1080p) is to buy a new BLU-RAY or HD-DVD player and buy a BLU-RAY or HD-DVD copy of this aquarium. Those expecting HD on a standard DVD will be disappointed. They will have to wait for the the Blu-ray version coming soon in late 2007 or early 2008.

Over the Christmas Season, we procured a "virtual fireplace" DVD for our widescreen TV and loved it from the first play. As such, the next step was to try something else. Hence, we purchased this "virtual aquarium" DVD.

The DVD that we chose offers four distinctively different aquaria and provides each with two different ambient sound backings, one lounge music track and one "natural" aquarium soundtrack. The four different scenes turn the TV into a good variety of continuously changing scenery that is both mesmerizing and relaxing. The colors on three are bright and vivid, too bright and vivid in my opinion. I wish there was a way to tone them down somewhat. As such, I prefer the remaining "Blue Moods" video because it strikes me as being the most realistic. Any of the four provide the nice background of a large fish tank, without any of the hassle.

The recorded music provides a soft, non-intrusive background to the aquarium scenes. I would not hesitate to use it on a short-term basis with guests around, but listening to any of the tracks on a longer-term basis drives me nuts. As such, I prefer the aquarium sounds, but played at a very low volume. Such sounds fit the "Blue Moods" video in that you can hear the sounds and see the rising bubbles at the same time. Such is not the case with the other videos and here they seem somewhat superfluous and I prefer them almost inaudible. I can put music on the CD player and use the aquarium as a visual backdrop. It's a nice way to listen to music.

All in all, we like and enjoy our virtual aquarium but not as much as our "fireplace." I'd say it's an excellent product, but with a few flaws as noted. Other virtual aquaria are available, but I have not seen them.

Gary Peterson

I don't know what everyone is so excited about. I wasn't expecting HD but I was expecting top quality standard def. as it was supposedly shot with an HD camera, but this is terrible. I have a brand new Samsung top of the line 40" 1080P lcd display which puts out an amazing picture. My aquarium screensaver from Windows XP is far better than this and they aren't even real fish. If I were to see this not knowing it was a dvd, I would guess it was someone filming their fish tank with their home video camera. Very disappointed . . . played it for ten minutes . . . it's going out with the trash tomorrow morning.

Was pretty disappointed at finding this DVD not in true HD format. Most stations I receive now in 720p look better as far as detail expected in HD. The music is very good with this DVD and the colors are all quite fine, but don't buy this thinking your going to get a true high def 1080 DVD because it's not.
When buying DVDs "supposedly" in HD, how the heck are you gonna be assured your getting true HD and not some upscaled program. After all, The Andy Griffith Show is on some HD channels, but will never be true HD... copy?
If you don't expect any more than standard def from this, you'll be happy. I just expected more when it claimed, "Shot in HD."

The HD Fish Aquarium is very nice, but I wish there were more tanks to choose from. The music on each tank is very nice, and soothing. The quality of the recordings is fantastic. This product makes a very nice gift!

Do you want to turn your boring, big, black, blank plasma TV into a beautiful centerpiece when you have company? Then this DVD is your best bet.

I found the idea of an HD aquarium very appealing, especially since a close friend spent more than $10,000 to achieve essentially the same effect, albeit using real fish, salt water, coral, tank, filters and a lot of cold, hard cash.

My wife was genuinely thrilled when she saw the "reef magic" segment of this DVD for the first time. It's beautiful, colorful and relaxing. The sounds are fine, if you even use them; bubbles, ambient music and "lounge" music. We'll play XM on our favorite station, thanks, but the disc's soundtrack is adequate.

There are four "tanks"; "Reef Magic" is the best, "Amazon Adventure" is OK, "Crystal Creek" is rather lame and "Blue Moods" is, as the name implies, a bit depressing. It is very simple to instantly navigate "tanks" and sounds with the DVD remote. But trust me...you'll leave it on "Reef Magic" and supply your own tunes.

This DVD is worth twenty bucks just to transform a dead, blank, black screen into something visually stimulating. What else are you going to leave on when company is at your house...Fox News? The History Channel? Or do you prefer the black monolith?

Other reviewers have pointed out that this isn't High Definition. It's true. It's nowhere close to the clarity I enjoyed watching the Indy 500 last week. But it's fine for $20.

If a true HD version comes out I'll buy it immediately, but I'm happy I bought this one in the meantime.

The DVD is fine. I don't think that it is really shot in HD but for the price it is just fine and I enjoyed my purchase.

This is high quality and looks just like a salt water aquarium without
all the expense & maintenance. We put it on during dinner parties, after work to relax us and sometimes when we are away to keep our cats entertained.

This is a beautifully filmed aquarium which zooms to fill up my widescreen HDTV. I really enjoy the saltwater tank but with four aquariums from which to choose, I can have a different screen for the mood of the day. The music selection is fun and I enjoy the "lounge" music for parties and the "atmospheres" selections for just random listening. The bubbles sound is a great option too. My toddler is highly entertained by it and my party guests really ooh and ahh. It's a great way to mask the TV without having to cover it up. Be sure to set your DVD player to loop the chapter if you want it to keep playing because the music loop is every 12 minutes. I would recommend this to everyone and am often asked by my guests what DVD it is.