America’s Civil War is a landmark in our nation’s history, so it is no surprise that countless documentaries have been created about every facet of the conflict. In this 2 disc set from the PBS Explorer Collection, you’ll find five programs that look into specific elements of the Civil War in great detail. Gettysburg: The Boys in Blue & Gray (written and directed by Robert Child) gives an in depth look at the Battle of Gettysburg, from a personal perspective. John Brown’s Holy War deals with the controversial actions of John Brown, including how he was viewed at the time and in the modern era. Lincoln’s Secret Weapon tells the story of the U.S.S. Monitor, a key edge in the war and revisits the ship in the present, as recovery efforts are undertaken. The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry reveals the true story behind the regiment portrayed in the film Glory, with a wealth of archival photos to help bring the story to life. Reconstruction: The Second Civil War deals with the trials & tribulations the nation faced as it tried to rebuild after the epic conflict. This is an excellent look at the impacts the Civil War left in it’s wake.

I’ve seen a lot of documentaries about the Civil War and to be honest, some just rehash information and visuals from previous programs. America and the Civil War collects five programs that avoid that fate, as each provides an in depth, insightful look at a unique element of the conflict. These topics have been covered in other documentaries, but not with this level of attention and detail, so history buffs should be quite pleased. I found the Reconstruction program to be the highlight, since the fallout of the war isn’t often dealt with in this extensive fashion. The John Brown program is also of high interest, with a focus on how history has looked back on his actions. But all five offered the kind of detailed, polished presentations you’d expect from the acclaimed sources like American Experience and Nova. With almost seven hours of content on tap, America and the Civil War offers a great value that history buffs won’t want to miss.

Some episodes are presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, while others are shown in full frame. In either case, the episodes are always shown in their intended format, so no concerns there. These programs looks good, about what you’d expect from a non-HD broadcast. The images are clean and sharp, with no digital errors or other concerns present. There is some variance in terms of source, so some elements look better than others, but that’s to be expected with documentaries. Overall, these programs looks good and fans should be satisfied.

Some programs feature a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, while others offer a stereo presentation. These kind of programs don’t need expansive audio, so the sound design is simple, but effective. The narration and interview dialogue tends to be the focus, so vocals are clean and easy to understand. The rest of the audio takes a backseat, but still sounds fine. So not much else we could want from this type of material.  The programs also support English subtitles.

And a child would lead them...

Anyone who has young boys knows that there is a phenomenon happening on Youtube and gaming that in my view is rewriting the  rules of content production and delivery. My boys Josh, 9 and Jamie, 7 are Youtube addicts but they are not watching cats play piano or anything like that. They are addicted to a series of videos produced as far as I can tell by a couple of guys in their basement. What these guys do is narrate their game play on a game called Minecraft. Josh and Jamie don't actually have the game they just watch these two guys play narrate,  joke and sometimes swear. I had a talk with my boys about that when I heard it.

They no longer watch television unless they use the Youtube app on my Samsung to watch Minecraft on the big screen. One day I thought I am going to sit down with my guys and find out what this is all about. Within about two minutes I was bored silly but that's not the point. The point is these video are getting hundreds of thousands of hits and they are redefining what we consider to be "entertainment".

And this entertainment is happening online and growing right under our collective noses. Why bother any more jumping through flaming hoops to get a movie made. Just find an audience online and deliver them what they want - production values be damned.

Now this of course has been coming for a very long time and I believe we have reached the tipping point with online video consumption. DVDs died a very sudden death in 2008 and they ain't coming back. I could see that in the royalties payments for my films they sank like a stone. And even my newer films and the one that is getting the most notice and publicity, The Wereth Eleven, has not moved the units it could have ten years, even five years ago. No we are definitely in the streaming age and thank goodness.

Watching a DVD disc in my house has become a frustrating ordeal. First you will find the empty box and then you will locate the heavily scratched silver disc under the couch and hope you can clean it enough to play. Most times it won't.

Cable is for all intent and purposes is dead. It is cheaply produced content and unfortunately disposable. This is to be expected as the audience has shrunk drastically. The ad revenue is simply not there to support producing the content/ Streaming, watching Minecraft and other gameplay on Youtube this is what is growing and this is where the future is now. In fact is probably already old news.

If you want to explore more Minecraft content I recommend checking out The Top 15+ Minecraft Mods over at Lyncconf.