Recent content by bigluigi

Don't get too excited about "hype." You know I've seen about 7,000 movies in my lifetime, most are now on DVD. Of these 7,000 titles only about 500 have made it to my collection, so hype phrases like "fulfilling the director's intent/vision" doesn't hold much reverence for me. In fact, I view it...

Jari, Thanks for your response. Had the format war continued I think it would have developed along similar lines as the Betamax/VHS war with both formats vying for our dollar by offering sales, sales and more sales. Hardware and software prices would have slipped even further for both...

Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm only working from memory but it seems to me that the language describing the director's intent/vision is rather old "hype" used to promote widescreen/letterbox editions of titles going all the way back to VHS widescreen tapes and was rolled out by PR agencies...

Ouch!!! I feel and understand your pain. Perhaps this explains the relaxed satisfaction I get from simply recording HD titles off my DBS service and started a new non-physical collection with very little to lose financially speaking.

Laserdisc was always way to expensive for me until 2 events occurred almost simultaneously: The local video store began stocking LDs for rent and hardware finally broke the less than $500 barrier. Even so, over the next 5 years I bought only 6 titles. Than when the LD market collapsed, I did...

Michael, I'm merely responding to another poster's "speculation" that a "disaster" was imminent had the format war continued. Jari, actually, seemed certain of this so I was curious. True...this format war is over but its reasons and affects remain a favorite topic of discussion among posters...

No question that your "dead on" with your post. For every consumer that was buying pre-recorded tapes there were a lot more people like me that were buying blank Beta/VHS tapes and recording movies from OTA/Cable and other sources and amassing their collections in this economical fashion. I may...

Jari, Please, explain your speculation that having this format war drag on for several years would have been a disaster for HD optical media in light of what transpired this past year in terms of what happened to hardware prices and the sales on software products that greatly benefited...

Man, I know you mean well....but are you trying to get me killed.:laugh: I think your married so you probably know that "suggesting" how the better half should perform something as simple as how to watch a movie is fraught with danger. Besides, she belongs to a special group of people that...

If I may and strickly speaking for myself, VHS was rental ONLY for me. Oh, I did buy some "used' former rental tapes but stopped this practice as most tapes I bought were simply worn out. New tapes were too expensive for me. SD DVD, on the other hand, was very affordable. With few exceptions, I...

Until your ready to make that Blu-ray plunge might I suggest checking into small dish satellite services. Dish DVR Network has a damn good sale for new subscribers by offering a "free" Hi Def receiver/recorder and offers a large selection of Hi Def channels that would suit anyone's taste. The...

In 1999 I was paying on average less than $9 per title (even new releases) by using special online membership codes for joining and rejoining Columbia DVD club. "Frugal" is my middle name.

Have you seen the price of new SD DVD releases even at Walmart? (btw my favorite place to shop) For example $16 for "No Country for Old Men." Outrageous! BTW, again, check out the titles in the $5 bin - got some good ones in there. I saw all the episodes for "Victory at Sea" in there and picked...

You know I have no doubt that hardware prices will slowly be reduced to affordable levels within several years. It's the software that may remain relatively expensive for many years to come. Just think about it and apply some common sense. Who started this format war and why? It was the...

Yes....it may be uniquely American. Not to long ago I was at a friend's house and he was showing off his new HT equipment. I didn't think it was much an improvement over his old equipment but he had spent mucho bucks so to show support for his spending habits, I swooned. :crazy: