What originally got you into DVD....... (2 Viewers)

[John_McKittrick]

I had over 150 VHS tapes when I got into DVD. And there were a few of my favorites that showed signs of degrading. That is what made me get into DVD. The discs last forever just like CD's as long as you take care of them.

John

 

[Nick White]

Maybe 3 years ago I heard that the Back to the Future films would be released on this format, DVD, and would include tons of extra stuff. Most notable to me at the time were the deleted scenes. At that point I knew I had to see this footage, and had to get myself a DVD player. Back then, the discs were due out really soon (haha). Hopefully I'll see them next year. Hopefully.

 

[ChrisLee]

Well I love anime. And when I heard of a format back in 1998 that could have both soundtracks to a movie on a single disc (ie English and Japanese) and then display the appropriate subtitles I said to myself, "I Gotta Get That". So short answer I got into DVD because of the extras. And thats before I even knew about the differences in P&S and WS, DTS, and DIVX. In fact my first and only player is a Divx player. Turned out to be a pretty good deal when I got that hundred-something dollar apology from CC

 

[Keith_R]

I got into DVD last Christmas, although my obsession started a little before that. I had been really hooked to the idea of getting a DVD player because I heard of the extras and the picture and the sound(my older brother David also kinda influenced me ) I never really collected VHS because I never got into it and LD was to much for me. I did lots of research into DVD and saved cash for about a year and finally last Christmas I got my first and only DVD player (so far), a Toshiba 2150! I was so happy. My entire family thought I was crazy but they agreed to my plan. My older brother David bought me a couple DVDs for Christmas which were Lethal Weapon (original verion),andAliens:SE. My mom bought me another DVD for Christmas which wasT2:UEand I bought another one with my leftover Christmas money it was End of Days. I started off as a J6P preferring P&S but with the help of HTF and David I now love WS. Recently I just bought my first 5.1 system and am now knee deep in my hobby. Since I started last Christmas, I have 30 DVDs in my collection. Not as big a collection as some of us but still alot.

 

[SteveGon]

Why did I get into dvd? Because I love the movies! I could never afford to collect laserdiscs and I was sick and tired of VHS (too few widescreen titles). Then, in the summer of '99, I happened to work a lot of over-time so I ran out and bought myself a dvd player. The first dvds I bought were The Road Warrior and Robocop CC. That was about 350 titles ago...

 

[Brett Hancock]

When I saw Terminator 2:The Ultimate Edition for the first time. That's when I knew that I had to have a dvd player. From then on I picked up as many movies as I could because I realized how amazing DVD's are. What was cool about it is when I saw that DVD players had come down in cost to a point where i could afford them I did not buy a single vhs tape for a whole year. I stick bye my decision.

 

[Michael Warner]

I needed a new computer in the spring of 98 so I got one with a DVD-ROM and decided to route that to my stereo and TV. I owned a few discs but rarely watched them and never rented any either. In the spring of 99 I noticed the Toshiba SD-2109 for $250 and decided to go ahead and get a standalone player. While reading up on the specs online I stumbled upon the many DVD sites and forums and before I knew what hit me I was hooked. I had never paid attention to the ads or demos so I didn't really know what to expect out of DVD but I wound up buying the hardware on a whim and that was that.

 

[KrisK]

Quality ... especially for Indian Movies, where you get a lot of pirated crap on VHS. With my upgrade to 5.1, there is no going back. = Kris

 

[Dmitry]

It was a logical next step for me. First, I stopped watching broadcast movies because they were "edited for content". Then I stopped watching most VHS tapes because they were P&S. Then just when I started looking at the LaserDisc along came DVD and I discovered it to be the perfect medium! I bought very few movies on VHS (I had Star Wars Trilogy and James Bond collection, both WS), but with the arrival of DVD my collection began to grow uncontrollably...

 

[Ed St. Clair]

1.When the format promised better than LD video [true].

2.And promised better than CD sound [two channel vs. two channel true. Stereo CD vs. 5.1 DVD, rarely. Even a 5.1 DVD-A mix has a tough time besting the the two channel LPCM CD's sound. To bad DVD soundtrack audio doesn't compete well with LD soundtracks, especially DVD DTS vs. LD DTS].

I never got into LD because of cost, flipping sides & changing discs. I know they finally came out with side changing players, however less than three years before DVD arrived. Sided changes on the LD were 8 seconds at best, and some were as high as 12 seconds. The DVD format 'promised' seamless layer changing [1/6 of a second], yet we all know better than that. And LD never had mulit-disc players for the public, where DVD had mulit-disc players within the first year.

 

[David Lambert]

I heard about DVD coming loooong before its release in 1997.
I worked as a manager of a retail software store. I read in the insider mags, including Computer Retail Week and Video Store Magazine. They all talked about how great DVD was going to be when it arrived. I read about the squabbles between the members of the consortium, and was gratified to see them work it all out in the end.
When the launch came in '97, I had left my job of 13 years after being married for just a few months. I couldn't just spend the money like that. Also, DVD felt so far away, so expensive, and so...precarious. I decided to hold off and make sure that more studios joined in, the price came down, and I could get it at the local store much more easily.
A year later, it was no longer precarious. The price was heading down, and I could see it in some of my local stores. But I was a new father, and it wasn't in the cards yet. My wife was staying at home with the baby, and my lone income couldn't support a movie habit. I told myself and Stephanie that I was "waiting for DVD-Recordable to come along...no use converting until I can record, too".
I told myself that for another year-and-a-half. I brought up the subject from time-to-time, and Stephie would always say that we should just go ahead and get it. She was working by the spring of '99, and by fall I was to have gotten a promotion and a raise. I knew I was on the verge of making more money than I ever had before, and my wife was making good money too (her biggest level as well).
We hadn't yet moved from an apartment to a house, so the rent was low. Also, we outright owned the car we then had.
It was time.
In Sept. '99 we finally bought our first and only standalone DVD player, a Panasonic A120...which still does a standout job today. We bought our first DVD at the same time, a film we'd never seen, even though both of us had wanted to all of our lives: The Exorcist - 25th Anniversary Edition.
Within a week we bought our next two discs, both of them MAR: Space Jam and Doc Hollywood. The idea of Looney Tunes for our son convinced us on the first one, and the low, low $9.99 price was the factor on the second.
Oh, how I've since learned!
It's been over two years and almost 1000 discs later. I am so glad I didn't wait for recordable! My 2nd player is my computer's DVD-ROM drive, and we're planning right now to get a 3rd player so we can finally watch discs in the bedroom! We feel like cheaping out and getting an Apex or something and sticking it in there, but I'm trying to convince myself to buy a Progressive Scan instead and stick the A120 in the bedroom. This would be a good move toward finally getting a Widescreen TV next spring...

 

[Mike Mallory]

Picture quality all the way. I paid $2200 for two Sony SuperBeta SL-HF900's in 1985 (so I could use there editing features) and one of them is still working (and still outstanding picture quality for the half inch tape format).

- Mike

 

[Rob T]

My dad decided it was time to get a big screen and a DVD player and it was right around the time that X-Men came out on DVD so that was the first DVD that I got and needless to say the video and audio quality were great, just like the movie.

 

[Darren Rowley]

I don't really know! Since getting a DVD player I have come up with a hundred reasons. All I remember is reading in '95 about a new super CD that was code named DVD (guess it stuck). Then in August '97, I found my self with a good bonus from work. I walked into the electronics store and walked out with a DVD player and a few movies.

I always wanted to have a movie collection, but hated the space requirements of VHS on my shelf. I hated the wallet requirements of LD, so never went that course. DVD was the perfect fit. But of course I had to upgrade everything in the HT so it turned into a very expensive hobby anyway!

 

[Brian O]

The picture, sound, extras, small disc and archival format, and low cost factor were what sold me.

Back in early '83 a college dorm buddy had gotten either an early laserdisc or videodisc player and had a few movies that looked and sounded great. At least compared to regular broadcast TV. VHS rentals hadnt yet gotten going. I thought it was very cool to own the movie.

I bought my first VHS player in late '84 and started renting/taping some movies. But, I quickly realized that tape would not stand the test of time very well. So much for the VHS collector in me.

I bought my first receiver in '88. It was a Pioneer Surround sound, not Pro-Logic. I was not very impressed with the Surround info coming out of the rear speakers. Very weak Amps for rears/center back then. Pro-logic was a small improvement IMHO so I skipped that generation of receivers.

I always liked the Laserdisc format, but the software was too expensive for me and renting them was a tough find, so I skipped Laserdiscs.

I started hearing about the upcoming DVD format in mid '90s. This sounded like the ticket for me. But, the hardware was pretty pricey initially, so I held out until late '98.

When upgrading my computer in '98, I got a DVD-Rom player. I was immediately impressed and started buying up DVDs that Xmas.

I wanted to watch these on my bigger 35" Direct-view TV, but was not that impressed with the picture and no remote capability running from my computer.

So, I made the leap into a new DD/DTS HT sound system and a dedicated DVD player and have never looked back. I was completely blown away the first time I heard DD 5.1 in my house. Nothing had ever sounded like that before here.

I expanded my DVD collection quickly with all the internet deals in '99/00. About 2/3's of my 200 plus DVDs I got at around $10 or less.

Initially, sound/video quality is what got my attention. OAR wasnt that big a deal to me initially because I wanted my whole screen filled up(can you say J6P). But, with the education from HTF, I realized how much I was missing and became enamored with OAR presentations. The increased resolution of DVD also overcame any detail issues I had watching a Widescreen movie on my 4:3 35" TV.

Also, my appreciation for older films(pre '70s) has grown considerably. Being a history nut, I really like these older films and the extras that document those times...and being able to see the movie in pristine condition usually.

I love extras! I like having as much as possible about a movie in one package.

Being a digital disc format, I am hoping that my DVDs will last a lifetime. Time will tell.

 

[Alex Spindler]

For me, it was the extras. I had been drooling over the concept of laserdisc for some time, most notably that it had the extended cut of Aliens. When I saw the Alien boxset, I was sold immediately. What a great way to be introduced to the format. I think I picked up Heat as well, so I had great source material for my Pro-Logic system for some time - at least until I made the 5.1 leap.

 

[Jim Rykel]

One movie pushed me over the edge;

The Good the Bad and the Ugly. I had to see the extra 14 minutes, and had been looking at DVD already. I bought a Toshiba (2008?) player at Best Buy for under $300....

..the madness had begun.

 

[LarryH]

One word: anamorphic.

Although I recognized the appeal of letterboxed movies on my good old laserdisk format, I longed for more lines of vertical resolution. When I read about the 33% increase in vertical resolution offered by anamorphic DVD's, I ordered a Toshiba 40" 16x9, bought a DVD player with component outputs and never looked back.

(Naturally I've never seen one of those rare anamorphic laserdisks - just as well)

 

[JasonK]

Like others in the thread, I got into it for the OAR reason. Being a poor college student, I couldn't afford to get into laserdisc. DVD was an affordable way to get my favorite films in their OAR. I bought my first player in October of 1997, an open-box Toshiba, for $350ish. I still have it, as a secondary unit. I did that, knowing the earlier I took the plunge, the more software I could accumulate, without having to re-purchase stuff I owned on LBX VHS. The picture knocked my socks off, my first 2 DVD's were Blazing Saddles and JFK. One year later, I bought all my 5.1 gear, then eventually an LD player and a new TV. And of course, plenty of DVD's.

 

[Ruben Zamora]

I've always been into AUDIO. I'm from back in the days of HI-FI. Stereo Sound, then Surround, Then Pro_Logic, then Dolby Digitila, DTS. I've always followed the Sound advancments. And when DVD's were in DTS and DD. I said, "well I gotta get a DVD player."