David Lambert
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2001
- Messages
- 11,377
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Since the HTF doesn't have a section for "DVD Literature", and since the precedent of using the Software section was set here, with the magazine's announcement, and here again with the "Anyone Subscribe yet?" thread, I decided that this is the right place for this feedback thread. Admins can move it if they think it's necessary.
I took up the challenge of being one of the first 10 to respond, and was rewarded yesterday when I received my complimentary issue of DVD ETC.'s Premiere Issue in the mail.
I will start by stating that I will definately take advantage of the special HTF Membership offer of 2-year's-subscription for the price of one. I expect to do that before this Memorial Day holiday weekend is over.
The magazine is all-glossy, standard magazine size, 130 pages, cover price $4.99 ($6.99 Canadian). Seems to be not-too-overrun with ads (a common complaint these days is that a periodical will be over 50% ads...this one MIGHT be right at 50% at most, but definately not more than that).
The first issue ("June/July 2002") seems to cover more of the hardware side than the software side, but the mag looks designed so that the mix ratio is rather flexible. Hopefully we'll see more of a balance between the two on a normal basis, with the occassional shift as appropriate for special occassions (perhaps higher on the hardware side in the aftermath of CES shows, and then leaning a bit more on the software side for the winter holidays and the avalanche of new titles).
It was said that the HTF would be prominent in this magazine. Well, we were mentioned in the "Fade In" column on Page 12, which is the introduction by editor Clint Walker. The results of our "The First DVDs You Should Purchase" poll are on Page 82 (more on that shortly). And on Page 93 it is evident that we are linked to on their BargainCenter site (which doesn't appear to be live as of this writing); the example shot posted shows a nice large link in the upper left of the page, next to the masthead! We should get some lurkers and new members as a result of this, folks! Be patient with them and play nice...
I enjoyed looking through the different features aimed at all levels of skill, from the "Cable 2002" (which might help some of us to convince the missus that it's not a bad idea to spend more than the cost of 3 special editions to get the gold-plated component video cables instead of continuing to use the tin-plated S-Video connection) to the in-depth look at high-end toys like the Fujitsu 50" HD Plasma display!
Someone in another thread compared this to Total Movie magazine on a "fun factor" level. I agree that it's a lot more straight than TM, but TM got carried away with it and has gotten left in the dust as a result. Also, I'm confident that these guys will loosen up as time goes on, but right now they are taking the exact right tact to kick things off, if you ask me. In the meantime, both my wife and I got a kick out of the "Seen And Noted" portion of Page 24!
On to the "Collections" article on Page 82. It features the Top 10 DVDs "chosen by the experts at the HTF". I cannot say that I'm suprised at any of these choices; they are all top notch! And, I won't mention them here yet out of respect for the publishers (I figure that if the results were meant to be published here then Terry Carroll and Ron Epstein would have already seen to it, so I won't contradict that without permission). I will say this: I own 8 of the 10 titles on that list. One I don't own because I just haven't gotten around to it yet (#8), and the other we just haven't been interested in the film's subject matter (#5, and I will get blasted for this one, I'm sure...though I may have to get it now, both because of this new recommendation and because it is rumored to be unavailable soon in it's current form, as HTF members already know).
#1 and #4 are titles I voted for. I'm a tad surprised that #1 beat #'s 2-4, but not VERY surprised. But I *am* concerned that they showed the correct cover art for #1; I thought that the correctly voted-for version would have been more "ultimate".
Even more confusing is the bottom of the column stating this: "Next Issue: The HTF's Top music DVDs". I don't recall seeing a music- (or even musical-) related poll, do you guys? I did a search and didn't find one. Maybe I'm just getting senile, but the only other poll I could find for DVD Etc. was the "Top 10 Videos You Can't Get On DVD" poll. Did I miss something?
One possible explanation here is that maybe the only error is stating that it is the "HTF's" top music DVDs...the "Next Issue" section on the last past says this (all spelling/grammer errors quoted are theirs):
Since the HTF doesn't have a section for "DVD Literature", and since the precedent of using the Software section was set here, with the magazine's announcement, and here again with the "Anyone Subscribe yet?" thread, I decided that this is the right place for this feedback thread. Admins can move it if they think it's necessary.
I took up the challenge of being one of the first 10 to respond, and was rewarded yesterday when I received my complimentary issue of DVD ETC.'s Premiere Issue in the mail.
I will start by stating that I will definately take advantage of the special HTF Membership offer of 2-year's-subscription for the price of one. I expect to do that before this Memorial Day holiday weekend is over.
The magazine is all-glossy, standard magazine size, 130 pages, cover price $4.99 ($6.99 Canadian). Seems to be not-too-overrun with ads (a common complaint these days is that a periodical will be over 50% ads...this one MIGHT be right at 50% at most, but definately not more than that).
The first issue ("June/July 2002") seems to cover more of the hardware side than the software side, but the mag looks designed so that the mix ratio is rather flexible. Hopefully we'll see more of a balance between the two on a normal basis, with the occassional shift as appropriate for special occassions (perhaps higher on the hardware side in the aftermath of CES shows, and then leaning a bit more on the software side for the winter holidays and the avalanche of new titles).
It was said that the HTF would be prominent in this magazine. Well, we were mentioned in the "Fade In" column on Page 12, which is the introduction by editor Clint Walker. The results of our "The First DVDs You Should Purchase" poll are on Page 82 (more on that shortly). And on Page 93 it is evident that we are linked to on their BargainCenter site (which doesn't appear to be live as of this writing); the example shot posted shows a nice large link in the upper left of the page, next to the masthead! We should get some lurkers and new members as a result of this, folks! Be patient with them and play nice...
I enjoyed looking through the different features aimed at all levels of skill, from the "Cable 2002" (which might help some of us to convince the missus that it's not a bad idea to spend more than the cost of 3 special editions to get the gold-plated component video cables instead of continuing to use the tin-plated S-Video connection) to the in-depth look at high-end toys like the Fujitsu 50" HD Plasma display!
On to the "Collections" article on Page 82. It features the Top 10 DVDs "chosen by the experts at the HTF". I cannot say that I'm suprised at any of these choices; they are all top notch! And, I won't mention them here yet out of respect for the publishers (I figure that if the results were meant to be published here then Terry Carroll and Ron Epstein would have already seen to it, so I won't contradict that without permission). I will say this: I own 8 of the 10 titles on that list. One I don't own because I just haven't gotten around to it yet (#8), and the other we just haven't been interested in the film's subject matter (#5, and I will get blasted for this one, I'm sure...though I may have to get it now, both because of this new recommendation and because it is rumored to be unavailable soon in it's current form, as HTF members already know).
#1 and #4 are titles I voted for. I'm a tad surprised that #1 beat #'s 2-4, but not VERY surprised. But I *am* concerned that they showed the correct cover art for #1; I thought that the correctly voted-for version would have been more "ultimate".
Even more confusing is the bottom of the column stating this: "Next Issue: The HTF's Top music DVDs". I don't recall seeing a music- (or even musical-) related poll, do you guys? I did a search and didn't find one. Maybe I'm just getting senile, but the only other poll I could find for DVD Etc. was the "Top 10 Videos You Can't Get On DVD" poll. Did I miss something?
One possible explanation here is that maybe the only error is stating that it is the "HTF's" top music DVDs...the "Next Issue" section on the last past says this (all spelling/grammer errors quoted are theirs):
.....I still have yet to read the in-depth Harry Potter review, or the discussion with the director of I Am Sam, but skimming both makes them each seem like a good read. If I have anything more to add after I'm through with the mag top-to-bottom then I'll post more.
I'll close with a just couple of criticisms, both in the spirit of helping improve the product (I'm not looking for arguments here, these are just "from my heart"):
1) I have to agree with another HTFer who mentioned that none of the DVDs reviewed got less than a "B" rating (and only one of those, everything else got a "B+" or better. Of the 15 reviews, 3 were music (Gimme Shelter, Last Waltz, Rattle And Hum), 1 film (Harry Potter), and the other 11 were TV-on-DVD product (items close to my heart, as you see by the right side of my signature). I agree with all the reviews of the items I've seen, let me make that clear. But it should be noted that the average person *may* question the credibility of a magazine that never has anything bad to say in the DVD reviews. And I don't just mean in the given scores, I also mean in the details. Buffy's "B" review basically indicates (to me) that the reason it's rated so low is because not enough extras were included with the set. No other criticisms are made. However, it has been noted often here on HTF that this first season's video was dark and grainy, due to the fact that the show was shot and aired that way. Could this have contributed to the score? If so, SAY so. If it's defensible as not being part of the DVD's responsibility, then maybe the final score should be higher? Food for thought. Also, why does both Larry Sanders and Spongebob Squarepants get B+ ratings? Same reason or different reasons? Because the text of the reviews show only positive things about both!
All 11 TV-on-DVD product reviews were written by the same person (perhaps this person is an HTF member, but if so a search doesn't turn up the name), so I'm unsure if this is a writing thing or an editing thing. Just food-for-thought.
On to the other criticism:
#2) The picture on page 54. That should be all I need to say. If the OAR enthusiasts on this forum can't figure out what's wrong with this picture, then I don't suppose explaining it will help anyone. While it is an extremely effective shot, it never really happened on-air. It's about as real as the shot (using the same Zenith 56" 16:9 HDTV) as on Page 12.
How about we just stick to shots that are plausibly real, instead of definately unreal? The HTFers will spot 'em a mile away!
Thanks for the great magazine. As I said, I'm convinced enough to subscribe! Two ideas for future articles that would have HTF involvement: 1) Home Theaters of members, like the one owned by Robert A. Fowkes, and featured in the Wall Street Journal a while back! Or Scooter's! 2) Storage ideas for big libraries, like the ones discussed in this thread.
Also, maybe in the future you can do a more in-depth look at the portable DVD players. I'm staring at page 124 and asking myself, "What the difference between the Panasonic LV50 and LV65 models?". Off to go find out the answer...