What originally got you into DVD....... (1 Viewer)

[JeremySt]

In 1995, when I was 16, I had started building a home theater based around VHS Widescreen and was aspiring to be a laserdisc player owner, when a stereo salesman told about a coming format called DVD, flash forward to 1998, when DVD players dropped in price to less than $1000, and Im back in the HiFi Shop again. There, playing in all of it's widescreen, Digital Surround sound glory, was Terminator 2. On another screen, Das Boot, on another, Austin Powers, I filled my pants and wrote a check.

300 dvds and 5 DVD player swaps later, it's still a hell of a ride.

 

[Bryn]

If there was no Criterion Edition of "Brazil", I might still not have a player.

I was (and am) a huuuuuge Brazil fan. I ordered the set from Amazon before I even had a player, and bought my player as soon as they arrived (with the discs sitting there, there was no way I could resist).

The docos, the two cuts of the film, the Gilliam Commentary, I just couldn't not do it!!!

 

[Scott W.]

Because it was a new medium and we finally updated to a home theater system. I never really enjoyed movies when VHS was popular, but once DVD came out... both mediums became popular, regular entertainment for me.
Scott

 

[andrew markworthy]

I'd called in at my usual hi-fi dealers to buy a replacement connection cable, and whilst waiting to be served I happened to see a DVD player on demonstration (Bug's Life followed by Legends of the Fall) for another customer. I'd no real interest in DVD until that point. I'd heard of it, but, having not seen it, thought it was just a smaller version of laserdisc (which to be honest hadn't impressed me). Having seen this demonstration, I wanted it immediately. At that point my wife came in and did her usual rolling of eyes heavenwards, until I pointed out not only the superior picture quality but the fact that DVDs took up less space than VHS tapes amd there were chapter stops, so you didn't have to do lots of rewinding or fast forwards [I should perhaps add that my wife is a v. intelligent woman on anything other than hi-fi/HT matters]. She was sold on it and we bought it there and then. Incidentally, I forgot to buy the cable I'd gone in for.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Quality, price, and availability. I lived in one of the DVD test markets, so we had discs and players from the initial product launch. Best Buy was (and still is) my favorite store, although I quickly had all the DVD's they sold back in April of 1997. What was it, all of 40 titles?

I blew my friends away with a demo of SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. And I knew that the format had potential to displace laserdisc and videotape on that first day/date DVD release of SLEEPERS. $20 for a DVD, $40 for a laserdisc, and the VHS priced for rental. It was no contest, really.

It's hard to belive it's been almost five years now.

- DVDGuy- Steve

 

[TheoGB]

Commentaries. My mate had it and I was like 'yeah, whatever'. I don't really care about picture quality or sound - it's nice that it's so good but it's not that important.
However, he put on The Thing and as we'd seen it so often he said we should watch the commentary - never heard of one before and I was blown away by how cool it was. So bought a DVD-ROM within a few weeks and started borrowing off him.
For this reason a DVD really has to be an SE before I consider watching it. I want to get the most out of my money!

 

[Sean Conklin]

It was the thought that I could own my favorite movies on a beautiful everlasting disc, and the fact that most DVD's were presented in their Original theatrical aspect ratio, and 5.1 was also attractive

Damn I'm a DVD junkie now!

 

[Kyle Milligan]

"Why I went DVD" or "The birth of Told You So Productions website."
In 1998, I had been waiting for the recordable DVD players to hit the streets, which retail salesmen implied month after month would occur at any time in the near future.
So I waited anxiously for about 8-9 months, and found myself at the breaking point.
I rented "In The Company Of Men" from Blockbuster video, and found myself having to take apart my VCR to get out the tangled tape that was stuck inside.
At that precise moment, my decision to stop waiting and buy a DVD player was made. I already had a copy of the "Usual Suspects" on DVD, waiting for a player, and the recently released "Zero Effect" was calling my name. The appeal of audio commentary seemed to be the big draw at first for me, but I wouldn't know how much better it looked and sounded until I popped the 'Suspects' in. Approximately 30 seconds later, I was hooked and knew I'd never be able to watch regular VHS tapes again. The pricing was affordable for such a giant leap in quality over VHS, and many record stores were offering unbeatable bargains for titles like "L.A. Confidential."
Less than a couple of years later, I'm running a DVD review site, and continually impressed. For a couple of weeks last year, during a house renovation, I stayed with my in-laws and found going back to VHS completely unbearable. You really get spoiled. Just like the newly vamped cinemas all over town are making the old rep theaters difficult to go to.
So if nothing else, the widescreen presentation and superior sound are a driving force, but value for dollar seems to be just one more reason that LaserDiscs are the dinosaurs of the video age.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

I have been into movies as far back as I can remember (and I mean literally) therefore it was natural for me to get into Laser Discs as soon as I found out about them and could afford them. This was way back in 1989 when I was still in college in the US. Then in 1992 I moved back home to India and carried with me my precious collection of around 300 laser discs. But, since laser discs were not even heard of, let alone be available here, I was no longer able to get new movies :frowning: The cost of getting them from the US was prohibitively expensive to get all the titles just to watch them once. So the solution I came up with was to start a Laser Disc library and Home Theater equipment business here.
I have always loved new technology and therefore I could not wait to get my hands on DVDs when they were first anounced in 1996. Even though from a business point of view the arrival of DVD meant a lot of losses in dead investment of laser discs (close to 5000 by then) and having to invest all over again for catalouge titles on DVD. So although the business man in me kept telling me that we were better off without DVD the movie and technology lover in me won out and I immediately got into DVDs as soon as I was able to make a trip to the US. So it was with a Sony S7000 in March 1997 that my foray into DVD started. It was in the same year that I became aware of the 'Home Theater Forum' and it became a daily stop for me on the net, although the number of my posts do not reflect the length and regularity of my participation in this wonderful forum.
Sanjay
Member since 1997

 

[Robert Barker]

5.1 and Video quality.

 

[Russ Felton]

Boogie Night's being released on DVD is what did it to me. I was still into laserdisc at the time and was looking for Boogie Nights on laser. Well the Suncoast Video near me was bad about getting laserdiscs in on time.
Well they didn't have it on LD but they had a sh*tload of them on DVD and this wasn't the first time this kind of thing happened to me. So I broke down and bought Boogie Nights on DVD and a DVD player. I have not regreted it since.

Russy

 

[Larry Sutliff]

I've always been a movie fanatic and had a VCR in the early eighties. I started taping those great old Universal Horror films off of UHF broadcasts and though the picture quality was awful it was like heaven to own a complete copy of my favorite films. In 1984 I bought a Beta HiFi player which sounded awesome even on my measly stereo system.
I took a slight detour into 16mm(wonderful but too expensive and inconvenient)and then in 1995 bought my first laserdisc player. The quality was phenominal, and it was great to see films like SUPERMAN and the STAR WARS Trilogy in their OAR. I graduated to a 32" television(replacing a budget 25 inch set) and a Pro Logic sound system to go along with the laser player.
Then around '96 I heard about DVD. Like Ron, I was adverse to the idea of a new format, especially since I had just invested so much money in laserdisc(had 200 titles within six months of my purchase). But the cheap prices of DVD's-24.95 and less-convinced me to at least give it a look.I Went to a local hi-fi store in March of 1997 and was I hooked on the quality. I ordered the low end Toshiba model for like 500 bucks and I haven't looked back. Of course I eventually had to have a widescreen television and 5.1 sound but that's another story...

 

[Aaron Garman]

I remember the days when Laserdisc was king. I was already used to great picture and great sound for my films. Then comes DVD. Wast it a laserdisc killer, or just another Minidisc? For a year or so I checked it out and wondered. Then, in 1998, I saw Tomorrow Never Dies SE DVD on demo. I was hooked ever since. The sound was great, the picture perfect. I couldn't resist any longer. Although I had DD lasers, my player at the time couldn't output the signal, so DVD marks the first time that in my home I had 5.1 Digital Sound. Now I have almost 50 DVD's and I keep on buying. Let's face it, there are so many good titles and the price is, well, right!

AJ

LONG LIVE LASERDISC (and DVD too...)

 

[Chris PC]

I thought DVD was naturally a progressive technology, since it was used on PC's. I didn't realize that DVD's were of course used on TV's via interlaced TV. Back then, 2 or 3 years ago, I didn't put a whole lot of thought into the difference between TV's and PC monitors.

Anyways....2 years ago, I decided to pick up a DVD drive, instead of a CD rom for my PC, because I was getting a 19" monitor and heck, the difference in cost of the DVD drive was less than a standalone DVD player, so I thought I'd try it. I didn't even put a DVD in it for 9 months. Then I rented a few DVD's. I also hooked up my 20" TV to my PC. Then I got a 19" monitor and bought a couple of DVD's. It was a slow process. Of course, then last spring, I bought a used LD player and 175 discs. This was in response to realizing that I could never afford to buy all the DVD's I wanted.

 

[HenrikTull]

I got into DVD for the sole reason that widescreen was the standard.

Same here. Not until later I found out about the improvements in video quality
Also, I bought the DVD - player first, with the intention on playing it on my 21" TV. Since I had only bought Region 1 DVD's because of the superior extras vs. Region 2 DVD's I actually had to buy a new TV as well, as my old TV could only play PAL. $2500+ and a loan later, I was a satisfied man

 

[RobertR]

For me, the clincher was attending the Stereophile High End Show in mid 1998. I saw DVD demoed extensively on high end CRT projectors (I was contemplating getting a projector), and it looked great. I remember seeing one demo that looked more indistinct and fuzzy than the others. When I realized it was showing laserdisc, I was sold on DVD, and bought my first titles soon after.

 

[Gruson]

I too started with a 35" TV, Pro logic sound, and stereo widescreen VHS tapes (very hard to find).
I then got into LD and loved it. It was so expensive though. I loved LD and supported it over DVD....
Then, I went to my friends place and saw Aliens playing on DVD. It looked a lot better than laser and the sound amazed me.
I ordered a Toshiba DVD player the next day and about 20 DVDs very cheap through buy.com (love those coupon days!!)
Now, with a 65" HDTV, Progressive player, 7.1 sound, etc.... it has been one hell of a ride.
What a hobby! I just want HD-DVD now :frowning:

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

I was very skeptical about the hype of DVD, UNTIL I saw one playing in either Best Buy or Circuit City. I was hooked. I said, screw vhs, hello DVD!!

IOW, the picture quality is what sold me!

 

[Matthew Chmiel]

Porn in multiple angles.
Actually, there were a few reasons....
1) Most films presented in their original aspect ratio.
2) Bonus features (my first DVD, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery back in Summer 1999 had lots of bonus features).
3) The most important one of all: I could buy movies on the day it was released instead of just renting it and having to wait six months to finally purchase it (like with VHS).

 

[Matthew G Hetman]

Got into DVD's for the improved video quality over the Laser Disk as well as the better selection of titles that later materialized.