Customer Reviews

Plasmaquarium Aquarium

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've always loved aquariums. I used to have several, including a huge tropical tank. Unfortunately, I just can't keep those up any more. That's why I lept at the chance to have a "virtual aquarium" - to turn my computer screen and my high def TV into a big aquarium. While the concept is a really cool one, this version isn't quite perfect. It's close, but they could do far better.
First, the basics. You choose from one of several "loops". These include 5 saltwater tanks, a koi tank, shark, freshwater, or tropicoral. You can choose from new age, jazzy or natural sound audio tracks. Then you sit back and watch the fish swim around. These aren't fake fish, they are films of real, live fish.

The issue is that this DVD claims it was made specifically for large, high definition TVs. However, when you play the DVD on that size TV, the fish are HUGE. They don't look natural at all. They look quite unnatural. Also, many of the scenes are VERY zoomed in - i.e. the camera's pointing at a tiny area of coral and a few fish swim by. Instead, they could have done a full, life sized image of a large tank, so you could see everything, and had them "actual size". That would have been far, far more interesting to me. The point is to have a virtual fishtank - not to see a few fish gigantic sized.

Here's a quick description of each loop included:

Saltwater 1: one coral lump, one plastic plant. Black background. Four main types of fish including clownfish.

Saltwater 2: one coral lump, one plastic plant. The sand slopes up to the left so you get even less "screen area". The background is bright blue. Yellow tangs and maybe 3 other types. This is so close up that sometimes there are only 1-2 fish on the screen.

Saltwater 3: This is a bit better, pulled back more. You get 3 coral lumps plus a plant. There are angelfish, yellow tanks, and a few others. The background is bright blue. This is one of my favorites because of the image size.

Koi: This very full koi tank has maybe 50 koi in it, all swarming. All different colors and shapes. On the downside, the tank is completely grey with NOTHING in it at all. It looks very depressing. I would have loved this if there was a nice river bottom, but it looks very sad, that they're in a giant grey holding tank.

Saltwater 4: Coral, shell, plastic plant and black background. This is done in a "far away" view similar to #3 so is also a relatively good one. There are 5/6 fish types represented here. This is also one of the better ones because of the variety of fish on the screen at a time and the more proper sizing.

Saltwater 5: Giant coral and 2 plants. The issue here is that we're in close again and there are a lot of fish all jammed in together. they don't really look happy to be squished in like this. This one seems very stressful vs relaxing. The background is bright blue.

Shark: On one hand this is one of the most interesting "sets" - there is a ton of coral and bubbles right in the center of the screen. Thre's a shark that swims about occasionally. A lot of the time though there is nothing at all on the screen. That being said, if you like sharks, this is a pretty cool one. We're not talking great white here, it's a small, brown shark.

Freshwater: This definitely suffers the super-zoomed-in problem. It's an interesting background - river rocks, coral, a plant. However, we are so zoomed in that we don't get the relaxing flow of the fish. We get maybe 3-4 fish zipping in and out of the screen. They are primarily the same shape and size, with yellow, pink and grey bodies.

Tropicoral: The final entry is also super zoomed in. The entire screen is a coral area. There are maybe 2-3 fish that can fit into that space at a time. These include clown fish and yellow tangs. It is just too close in to really be enjoyable.

I'm not saying I dislike the concept! I think the videos are very clear, the fish are great and the idea is a wonderful one. I would definitely buy more videos if these guys made them. My issue is that these are not a relaxing "watching an aquarium" atmosphere, which is what I wanted. They are either way too zoomed in, or they are not well laid out. These guys need to get together with some aquarium enthusiasts and film some actual, full length tanks. That would be perfect!

Length:: 0:58 Mins

Here is a sample of the NINE aquarium tanks on the Plasmaquarium Vol. I DVD.

I ordered this even after I saw some reviews that warned me against it because I couldn't find anything better and wanted an aquarium DVD. Why didn't I listen to the review that said the shots were too close? They are way too close even for a regular size TV. But that's not the only problem with this poor DVD:

The backgrounds of the tanks are ugly and dlstracting.

The fish are not very attractive and in the case of the koi, look distressed.

The music is terrible and the bubble sound tremendously annoying.

I was hoping this DVD would relieve stress. Instead, it created it. I wish Amazon had a full refund policy for opened items.

So glad I bought Hawaiian Dreams from the Waves Virtual Vacations series. That one more than lives up to its billing.

I think I may have to go out and shoot a better aquarium series. Does not seem to be a good one out there.

I received this DVD yesterday and my son has already watched it for like 10 hours! The tanks are beautiful and the water is clear and the detail is amazing. We have a 52 inch screen and this DVD is just perfect for it!! Go out and buy it right now!!

We've been searching for a video like this for a long time. We play the plasmaquarium fish tanks on our high definition plasma in our waiting rooms. The picture looks so real. The patients love it, especially the children. The tanks change every couple of minutes so no one gets bored .

The quality of the video is very good. Very vibrant colors and extremely sharp pictures. Looks very realistic. My favorite tanks are the koi tank, the three blue tanks with the yellow tangs and the shark.

Tank one is a saltwater tank with a black background and about 20 different very active butterfly fish, blue tang, clown fish, blonde naso tang and dogface puffer.

Tank two is a saltwater tank with a blue background and 15 fish like the jumbo racoon butterfly, vlamingi tang, candy stripe squirrel fish, yellow longnose butterfly and jumbo yellow tang.

Tank three is a wider angle saltwater tank with about 20 volitan lion fish, fiji fox face, black&white heniouchus, banded eel, dogface puffer, blue head wrasse, pork fish, angel fish and snowflake eel.

Tank four (my favorite) has what seems like hundreds (OK, probably less than 100) of koi swimming with a blue background. The music on this scene is also my favorite.

Tank five is a saltwater tank with the most colorful fish on the DVD. It has a black background with white sand - very cool. You see about 15 fish like the dogface puffer, blueline trigger, Hawaiian Sailfin tang, purple tang, harlequin tusk, black angel and sohol tang.

Tank six is a saltwater tank with blue background, white sand and 20+ very active fish.

Tank seven is the shark tank. It's wide angled with rock formations in the background and lots of bubbles as the shark swims around. This one would look cool in a lawyers office. (-:

Tank eight is the freshwater tank with very colorful pink and yellow fish with rock formations and a black background. You'll see sushine peacock, mad moori, tinfoil barb, fire hap, wolf fish, electric yellow and what I think is a gorami but not sure.

Tank nine is the tropical tank with rock and coral with several tropical fish, and one that seems a Nemo look-alike.

The music selections are pretty good in surround sound. We only listen to the relaxation music. You can take or leave the bubbling sound.

Overall, this was one of the best purchases we made on Amazon. Excellent selection of beautiful fish and sea creatures. Excellent picture quality, good sound and easy to use menus. We've purchased several copies for our house and for gifts.

Good value for the money. The aquariums look very good on my Sony KDS-60A2000 DLP widescreen TV. The screen isn't stretched and each individual aquarium looks natural when displayed. What I liked the most is the mixture of sea life on the DVD. The music is fine. The menus are easy enough. What you see in the sample pictures is what you get.

The best thing about this DVD is the quality. Its 16x9 widescreen, and looks sharp. All the different fish scenes are gear. The only thing is the fish tank sound isnt the best, but its pretty good. This company also makes a hi-definition version of this disc that only plays on HTPCs with Media Player 9. But its in 720p instead of the DVD resolution 480p. (...)

Me and my husband love to entertain. When we have guest, we hate to have the T.V. playing because it's so distracting from the conversation. When we bought this DVD and had our first guest over, they loved it. It was beautiful and exotic. Aquariums are nice but so much work. We have a 50 inch HD TV that transforms into a gorgeous fish tank in a flash. We have really enjoyed our DVD and hope you do too.
Steve and Selena in North Carolina

We used this product for the first time over the Holidays, it was a very nice, relaxing and a conversational piece.

I Love aquariums, but not the work that you have to do to keep these beautiful creetures alive. The Zen music keeps me calm at work. All six aquariums capture the attention of visitors that come to my office. Just lovely!