Friends movie upgrade completed with county help

The Lee County Parks and Recreation Department will buy the last two pieces of replacement equipment needed for the community center auditorium — a system controller and audio system processor — valued at $7,500. That brings the total raised in the effort to $54,131 — above the $50,000 goal. "To celebrate this achievement and to say thank you to the community, Friends has scheduled a special presentation of "Les Miserables In Concert: 25th Anniversary" at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 13," said Marta Howell, Friends of Boca Grande executive director.

Les Miserables performed at the O2 (formerly known as The Millennium Dome) in South London, England, presented on Blu-ray with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and full 1080p high definition with VC-1 encoding.

"The video quality on this release is spectacular with a great deal of sharpness and clarity," Howell said.

Blu-ray audio offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (48kHz, 5Mbps) for its main source.

"The DTS track is outstanding with phenomenal acoustics as recorded live," Howell said. "The sense of immersion is wonderful and one really gets the sense that you're sitting in the audience, especially considering the abundance of noise from the crowd. Pitch, bass, and balance are wonderful all around and the orchestral score is breathtaking. This presentation should put our new equipment through its paces."

Howell also thanked John Mendez for purchasing Les Miserables for Friends to show in the auditorium.