DVD's Have they Lost their Luster? (1 Viewer)

[Kevin_M_M]

dvds have only recently lost their luster for me but, to be specific, they lost their purchasable luster. my collection is currently pretty big but money has grown tight.

a few weeks ago, i joined netflix. i find its a godsend. i get to see dvds i just couldnt bring myself to buy and now, i'm finding, im also putting dvds in my rental queue that i was on the fence about buying.

i guess i began to realize that three factors were making me shy away from the massive purchasing i used to do:

1. $$$
2. i find i just dont rewatch enough of my discs to really warrant owning them.
3. the coming of hd-dvd has me nervous that ill soon be rebuying numerous titles.

so netflix is really making my day. i still will buy my favorites, especially tv on dvd like the simpsons and buffy, but for now, my rental queue is 200 strong and i'm loving it. but for shows ive never seen like oz and six feet under and movies i want to see but cant warrant buying like bad boys 2 and school of rock, its all about netflix baby.

 

[JohnRice]

Don't believe every piece of marketing you read. The myth has become fact.

 

[Joe Reinwald]

I'm an unfortunate person who always sees both sides of things. I think that the whole situation is a combination of several factors--

1) The novelty of the technology is gone - even though more and more people are first-time buyers, it's almost, I dunno, passe now. I remember when I bought my first player, all I remember people saying was how it also plays cds and you don't have to rewind. There's so much more to it than that! However, I do have to grin everytime I'm in the local brick-and-mortar and you see someone that you know is brand new to the format. They have the stack of "old" stuff and aren't checking the back to see if it's OAR or not. I think to myself, you'd better learn the meaning of "double dipping" and all about Superbit and on and on...

2) With "new" formats, of course there will be a ton of new titles. I am a tad too young to remember the hey-day of laserdisc, so I never owned one, nor did my parents. However, the move from an album-sized disc to a cd-size automatically means reissues and more $$$ in the studios' eyes. I don't think there will be nearly the number of reissues with hd dvd or whatever the next format will be, as long as it is backward compatible. On the plus side, though, I'm a fan of television shows (come on News Radio!), and am thankful that in a whole season will fit into something the width of 2 cases rather than a cinder-block size had they been on vhs years ago.

3) This sort of goes along with #1, but the fact that you can cram all these tons of extras onto a disc I don't think means as much anymore in general. Like a lot of you, I used to religiously watch every single thing on a disc--trailers, one viewing for each commentary, etc. Then I bought the deluxe Spidey set when it came out and was disappointed. I can't say that this alone spoiled it for me, but I haven't really been the fan of supplemental material since then. But of course, I also bought the Alien brick mainly for all the extras. Overall, I happen to like outtakes and bloopers best of all, and I think those are sorely missing in the extras area.

After all that, though, I still keep coming back. I don't buy nearly the amount that the majority of you do, but I also think in terms of spending $15 on Tuesday to watch anywhere and anytime, or $25 in a theater (you gotta go for the large popcorn!) for one viewing with me and my wife.

There are definite things to look forward to, though not without the negatives. Star Wars, but not theatrical, is the most obvious. Of course, they're George's movies, so he can do what he wants. We will all still buy them.

-Joe

 

[JonZ]

John,
Yes, Ive read some recent articles about the Superbit hype.The idea is what Im talking about. I dont want 4 commentaries and photo galleries and filmographies.

Use the disc space for the video and audio.

 

[Charlie Essmeier]

I've never been too worked up about DVD. By the time DVD hit the shelves in 1997, it was already known that HDTV would be here in 1998, which would pretty much render DVD not good enough.

It did, and it has, as anyone who watches Alias in HD when broadcast but has to watch it in 480i on DVD will attest.

The extras are interesting - sometimes. At that, they're only interesting once. But thanks to DVD's clunky menu systesms, you'll have to navigate around them forever.

DVD has ease-of-use issues that get worse every day. Turn on. Press Play. Sit through mandatory trailers and FBI warnings. Sometimes (James Bond) you have to pointlessly "activate" your disc. Then you have to wait for the animated menu to come into place. Then you have to try to find the sound menu. Want to use DTS? Are you sure? Blah, blah, blah.

For all of these reasons, I bought a really good LD player and put off buying DVD until a year ago. Even then, I did it only because I thought my new front projection system would leave laserdisc "unwatchable." I was wrong. I still watch LD about 90% of the time; DVD is just to ^%)*#&% awkward to use, and with a good scaler, LD is more than acceptable picturewise and still provides top-notch sound. To date, I've replaced exactly one laserdisc with the same title on DVD.

What I want is this - HD on optical media. I don't care if it's 12", 8" or 5" in size. I want a nice, progressive, HD transfer. I want clean, uncompressed audio. I want to press "play" and have the movie start. If I want a menu, I want to press a "menu" button. I want a good picture, and I want it to be easy to use. That's all I want.

My guess? I'LL NEVER GET THAT.

Charlie

 

[MarkHastings]

The future:

DVD Player: You have selected DTS, are you sure you want to use this option?
Me: Yes
DVD Player: You do realize that if you do not have a DTS capable reciever that there may be problems.
Me: I know
DVD Player: so what you are saying is that you do have a DTS capable player?
Me: Yes I DO!
DVD Player: Ok, but just to be safe, I will print out a statement that you must sign agreeing that you willfully chose and understand the DTS option you are about to listen to
Me: Ok
DVD Player: Are you sure you understand?

 

[John Geelan]

When DVD players became available to the general public for $29 at WalMart....that was the end of the mystique of DVD.

It still is pound for pound the best way to watch movies combined with a kick ass HT (thank you SVS) but the absolute thrill is gone because everyone has one of these players now.

At one time I was the only one on the block.

 

[JohnRice]

I remember, growing up, my folks bought me a bean bag chair. It was way cool.


Of course, my sister thought it was pretty cool too, so they got her one.


I was so pissed.


Of course, I was also six years old.

 

[JonZ]

All I wanted for Xmas in 81 was the brand new Han Solo Empire Strikes Back figure I saw in the Sears catalogue

I dont think DVDs are lost their luster, I just think peopel have become spoiled - I like having films I love with the best video and audio possible, but I dont want or need interactive menus,5 commentaries, photo galleries,links to websites,isolated scrores, etc, etc,etc

Did I mention I hate interactive menus.

PS - I hate interactive menus.

 

[Darren Haycock]

Yeah, it's kinda like a brand new video game console. You play a couple games and you're like, holy crap this is awesome! Some time passes and you get used to the better sound, graphics, gameplay and it just seems ordinary. Just part of life...

 

[JonathonSan]

I can certainly sympathize witht he thread starter here. I was an early adopter, not having really been old enough to get into LD, I jumped early into DVD. Bought my first player in '97 with my first movie..."Twister". I also feel like the format has lost it's excitement, partially because of its popularity, though without it we would not have nearly the number of movies to choose from, partially because of the looming possibility of HD-DVD coming into fruition. I still have, what I would consider a smallish collection for someone who has been into it for so long, about 250 titles, and adding slowly. I recently got into netflix which has helped a bit...now I can watch all those obscure unrated foreign movies I could never find before at the local renteries. Long gone are the days of going into Best Buy or the local LD shop to browse throught the 10 to 20 DVD titles to see what else I could get for my cool new toy, but that is a good thing. More recently I also got a projector and HD...which has really made me want for a newer format to take advantage of such a large screen. I now see the resolution limit of DVD and want better. Still this format is about the movie...at least to me...I rarely watch extras. DVD has for me lost its luster also, but it is the best we have for now.

 

[MarkHastings]

Perhaps a lot of the loss of excitement a lot of us feel is that whenever the mass population jumps on board a technology based product, it's the dumbing down process that irritates us.

Just like computers, when everyone starts jumping on board, it feels like I get bogged so far down in stupid questions that I find it tought to keep up with the technology. It's like everyones dumbness/ignorance sucks the joy out of the product and I end up resenting it in a way.

With DVD's, it's more of the appreciation of the format that we all hold so dear, that annoys us when the mass population jumps on. Seeing little kids throwing their DVD discs around like they were frisbees, seeing J6P being confused (or angered) by widescreen, etc.

It just makes the whole technology seem so generalized. Like when you put a highly concentrated drop of liquid into a large glass of water...it gets diluted :frowning:

Seeing things like "Fullframe only" discs, Coupons for Cleaning products or Pudding, etc. Makes me realize that I (as a DVD supporter and buff) was not really the target audience for this product. The discs are being marketed toward families and J6P's who don't spend as much on the format as I do!!! :frowning:

 

[JonZ]

How many of you who thinks theyve lost their luster own a 16x9 TV?

It makes a big difference.When I went 16x9,I was amazed how great some discs looked and still admire a great presentation of a film I love.

 

[MarkHastings]

I've had mine for a few years now, and I think the tv has also lost its luster. I am now used to the big picture and want a bigger one. :b

I will admit though, there are a few DVD's that just look way too cool on my tv.

 

[Norm]

I agree my parents thought they were watching a defective DVD, when it was the motion menu. I had to help them to push play on the remote, and my parents are only in their late fifties.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Well said. When I first got a DVD, I was simply blown away by how much better it looked than VHS and broadcast. Now I've gotten used to it, and have to "tolerate" broadcast (and no, we don't have HD and probably won't for several years ); since I've gotten used to the PQ, I view transfers more critically than I used to and sometimes nitpick. Ironic, really, when we should in a sense be celebrating that we've got a home video format that is this good already; sure, we can look forward to the Next Big Thing, but hey, let's enjoy what we have now, eh? Otherwise it's just all sour grapes.

 

[John Alderson]

For me it's just that I own most of the films now that I really feel like I NEED to own. Still, there's always something in my collection that I feel like watching. And mine is only 173 films big. My big obsession now is convincing my wife that I need to own every Trek episode ever made--on DVD

 

[John Geelan]

True about a 16X9 TV set. I know once I finally get one my DVD watching will only increase.

 

[JeremySt]

Right now my collection hovers around 350. It was up to nearly 380 a while ago, but I have been going through the process of getting rid of titles that I purchased only because they might make for good demo material. In my first 20 discs I purchased, I had crappy movies like TWISTER and LOST IN SPACE, just because they had impressive sound. I think my collection may never eclipse the 400 mark, just because I really cant think of too many more movies I want. There a few unreleased titles Im waiting for, but for the must part, my collection feels "done." Only movies I have yet to see can be possible additions. Ive started turning to non Region 1 discs, mainly for titles that have improved quality over R1 titles, part partially because there is a compelling mystery to what treasures I may find.

I agree that the in many ways, the "special edition" has lost it's luster. In the glory days of Laserdisc ( a format I still embrace) the "special edition" really was just that. Amazing boxed sets, quality driven content.. Buying a special edition of a movie like "The Abyss" was like buying a car. You felt as though you really were investing in something important. You felt like you actually "owned" the movie, and not just some thing you bought that was sitting next to the twinkies at the gas station. There was a real pride of ownership. Current releases like "West Side Story" and Warner Bros 2 discs sets are great, but its just not quite the same.

I used to purchase about 3-7 DVDs per month, now Im averaging about 1 or less. I know what the thread starter is feeling, but in no way does it make me want to walk away from my collection. I love it as much now as I did then.

 

[MarkHastings]

Oh my GOD! That is a SUPER quote on how the "specialness" of DVD's has faded.

Seeing DVD's in the grocery store is just so wrong, or seeing the gigantic BULK bin at Wal-Mart, or the new EZ-D's (i.e. Disposable), or even the DVD's that are packaged in boxes of cereal.

What was once revered as the Holy Grail of movie media (hidden behind glass cases, not to be touched by little childrens hands) has turned into some sort of toy, the shiny metal disc has whored itself out to so many uses that it has lost its' soul...ok, maybe that's a bit over-reacting, but it's true that the DVD soul has become too commercialized.