It was twenty years ago today.... (1 Viewer)

[David Norman]

I 'met' Mark Harrill first on Compuserve HT group in the early-mid 90's probably and remember when he starting selling LDs mostly out of his house in Nashville. He became my main source fro LD and DVD for about a decade. My first payments were actually written on check directly to him and not even under the Digital Eyes banner. After he moved to Illinois and eventually sold/bought out be the company that eventually turned into DVDPlanet was about the time Amazon was really making their move.

Mark sold me my first DVDs in April 1995 since he happened to be near one of the regional trial markets that sold them and I bought one of the early Sony DVD7000 tanks in April that still had the Region and Macrovision switches built in. I think after about 6-8 weeks they removed those since not many of teh Media companies weren't happy with them. The Region switch was only marginally helpful since it had no PAL converter built in, but the Macrovision switch removed some degradation from teh picture and allowed me to tape on the VCR to share movies with a few friends and co-workers (borrowing, not selling)

I think I joined here around 1998-1999 the first time after Compuserve was long gone and the USENET groups were fading -- apparently my original account info is lost so hard to know exactly.

I do miss Dr Fowkes too. He was part of that early Compuserve forum and not surprising was one of the most active people there. I think there are still a few of that crowd here. .

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I found this place while looking for "prior art" references. Back then I was a patent attorney writing applications for Sony in the field of digital audio. I learned more about the details of digital audio than you can imagine.

 

[ChristopherG]

@Zen Butler isn't just a "past" member, Christopher! He still pops in on occasion.

Personally, I wonder about Rob Lutter and Rain (and his nostril).

My mission now will be to get Parker stop in to this thread and leave a note!

Hadn't thought about Rain (and his nostril) for awhile.

 

[DavidMiller]

I joined in 2004 as dmiller68 but something happened during one of the migrations so now this is me... I moved here after being a long term member and running the gamer section of HomeTheaterSpot. When the owner went nuts and the site fell apart I needed a new home. I also ran my own gamer forum for quite awhile PreGameLobby that took my focus away from Home Theater off and on. However, over the last few years my focus has been back to home theater and enjoy the banter here most of the time. Also the member of several Facebook home theater groups.

Hoping to go to the next meetup as the one two times ago was a blast.

 

[Osato]

I bought my first DVD in late 1998. I had to get the special edition DVD of Tomorrow Never Dies!! I know that was my first disc purchase. I picked up a Panasonic DVD player shortly after that.
I also picked up all of the bond film series that I could, batman films and Star Trek films.

Great times.

I am surprised that I didn't join the site until 2000. Were accounts reset sometime before that date?
I have no memory of how I discovered the site, but I'm sure it was James Bond or Star Trek related!

 

[Osato]

I found a post of mine from July 30 2001. ABout Star Trek 5 and that it deserves a directors cut of course.

I was unable to find any messages older than this one.

 

[Rodney]

I was another one that found this site through Tannehill's DVDResource. I loved that site!
I bought my first DVD Player for around $700, and got a coupon for a free DVD. Out of a small selection available, I selected True Romance.
I remember the "Fight DIVX" campaign back in the day, and also happily discovering that my rear projection television set was able to do the "anamorphic squeeze".
I remember being a lurker for quite awhile before joining here at HTF.

 

[TravisR]

I don't really remember how I found this place. I'd guess it was via a story on The Digital Bits about a Warners chat and I just started coming here too but I don't remember for sure.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

Hah! I remember my first DVD, Air Force One, which I still have. I didn't even have a DVD player yet. I was still very much VHS-oriented. I owned a handful of video tapes, but it wasn't long before I got my first Oppo DVD player. Also, my 27-inch tube TV was the best I could do for quite some time.

 

[dana martin]

well someone had to mention it, i also miss some of the great conversations and humor, because we have lost some members through the years like Steve Tannehill

 

[Parker Clack]

It is really hard to believe that HTF has been around for 20 years. Oh the trials and tribulations.

Ron started Home Theater Forum as a Forum on CompuServe and he was working with another friend that got busy and
couldn't help any out any more. I had joined the forum because I wanted someone with like interests to be able to talk to.
Back then you had to dial in and download the text, reply to them off line and then upload them. That forum was poorly
run by CompuServe so I started looking around. I found a .cgi based forum and signed us up. On the forum I found
another guy that was building an HTML with Apache and MySQL forum. I told Ron I believe we can take the forum to this
new layout and we did. The rest is history.

Since 1997 when we registered the URL for hometheaterforum.com (should have bought htf.com as it was available at
the time) we had simple rules. Real names, moderation of posts, no discussion of religion or politics and to treat everyone
as if you were meeting them face to face and not behind a keyboard. The real name policy limited our membership a lot and
we probably would have had 100,000s more members if we allowed any name. Bur we wanted to keep it personal and
friendship based.

The real strength of HTF has always been its membership. I have never witnessed anything else like it on any other
forum over the years. With the help of RAF, Cess, Mike Knapp, Crawdaddy, Mike Frezon, Adam G and too many others
to mention over the years and great sponsors like Warner Brothers, Sony, Paramount, Fox, Better Cables and the new
start up SVS we could keep the forum free (another must have). I would be negligent if I didn't mention the 100s of
dollars donated so we could buy new servers and to help for bandwidth when we needed it or the forum would have
been gone years ago. Again our membership saved us.

Now HTF has new owners and members but the place is still the same at heart. That is what is so great. The layout
and look have changed (for the better) but what drives it remains the same. I applaud all of your participation in
keeping HTF alive.

I would be remiss if I didn't say how much I love all the guys that started up HTF with Ron and I. Cess hug Josephine
for me. Mike I honor our friendship more than you know. Crawdaddy I miss your mind and knowledge of movies. I
really really miss RAF. Adam I really miss seeing you and hopefully one day I can meet your kids.

Ron. Love you my friend.

Packy

 

[Mike Frezon]

My mission now will be to get Parker stop in to this thread and leave a note!

 

[Doug Wallen]

I have been here since 2001 and I believe that I found this place through the Digital Bits. Even after joining, I was still very much a lurker. I found it hard to believe that anyone could be interested in anything I could say. So glad I was proved wrong. I have always found this board to be the best place for news and information and I am so pleased that the mods are always active and keeping this place the great site that it is.

16 years out of 20, pretty long time to be a part of this fine community.

 

[Bob Cashill]

Bravo! Been here a long time myself. Cheers to my HTF friends, through the good, the bad, and the ugly, the movie (several times, in several formats, coming around again!) and the ever-lively threads.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I remember officially joining when the Warner editions of the Chaplin movies came out (2003?), but I had lurked for a while prior. At the time, I was a film school student disappointed that my peers didn't have to knowledge or interest in classic film that I did. The long discussions about movies I always imagined I'd have in college were had here instead. This site has been a home away from home for me from a long time, and I'm grateful for it. I especially appreciate that we all share our real names and that these feel like real conversations we could just as easily be having face to face. I've never been to an HTF meet but hope to one day!

 

[Mike Frezon]

well someone had to mention it, i also miss some of the great conversations and humor, because we have lost some members through the years like Steve Tannehill

Steve, RAF, and Scooter (Jolley) are three that come immediately to mind. Probably many others whom, unfortunately, we don't even know about.

My own personal story about coming to the HTF is this: I was VERY active on another forum devoted to Disney music. HTF member Rob Kilbride (please don't hold it against him!) invited me over to take part in a discussion about the 10-9-01 DVD release of Disney's Snow White.

I am always amazed that with all the platform migrations over the years I can still point to my very first post on the forum...and also be amazed that the first person to respond was fellow mod-to-be DaveF (along with our reviewer Ken McAlinden)!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Steve, RAF, and Scooter (Jolley) are three that come immediately to mind. Probably many others whom, unfortunately, we don't even know about.

Scott Atwell is another prominent member who is no longer with us. His Star Trek and Dark Shadows threads live on in the TV on DVD & BD section. He was probably the nicest person I ever met online. I really miss our discussions.

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm a relatively "newbie" only joining in 2008. My first post was over a month later in the Get Smart S1 set release thread (I had to look it up - yes, it's amazing those old posts are still available!). I have no idea just how I stumbled across this site but it's likely due to someone posting on the DVDTalk site (where I also maintain an active presence).

When I found this site I had few people I could talk movies and TV shows with. Most people just don't care that much for the topic and think you're odd if you spend lots of your free time watching movies/TV shows. I now have a coworker who loves SF/Fantasy/Horror films as much as I do and a couple of others with whom we share a love for a couple of more recent TV shows and will discuss them, sometimes at length. In spite of that, this is still a "go-to" place for me.

This is a GREAT place to hang out and I sometimes feel lost if no new posts come in "fast enough."

Completing the tone started in the title of this post:

It's wonderful to be here
It's certainly a thrill!

(And I also still don't know exactly who Billy Shears is - or was.)

Cees

"Billy Shears" is Ringo Starr (who sings "With a Little Help from my Friends" on the "Sgt. Peppers" album).

According to legend, he's also the replacement for Paul McCartney who was killed in an auto accident in 1966 (wikipedia). Supposedly this was supported by Ringo in this article (Full article here - excerpt below):

Spoiler

FORMER BEATLE RINGO STARR CLAIMS THE “REAL” PAUL MCCARTNEY DIED IN 1966 AND WAS REPLACED BY LOOKALIKE.
by Barbara Johnson
WorldNewsDailyReport.com



Beverly Hills| The former drummer of the Beatles, Ringo Starr, surprised the world this morning during an interview in his luxurious Californian residence, when he admitted that the 45-year old rumors about the alleged death of Paul McCartney in 1966 were actually true.

In an exclusive interview with the Hollywood Inquirer, Mr. Starr explained that the “real” Paul McCartney had died in a car crash on November 9 1966, after an argument during a Beatles’ recording session. To spare the public from grief, the Beatles replaced him with a man named William Shears Campbell, who was the winner of a McCartney look-alike contest and who happened to have the same kind of jovial personality as Paul.

“When Paul died, we all panicked!” claims Ringo, obviously very emotional. “We didn’t know what to do, and Brian Epstein, our manager, suggested that we hire Billy Shears as a temporary solution. It was supposed to last only a week or two, but time went by and nobody seemed to notice, so we kept playing along. Billy turned out to be a pretty good musician and he was able to perform almost better than Paul. The only problem was that he couldn’t get along with John, at all.”

William Shears Campbell, better known as Billy Shears, does indeed “disappear ” from records in 1966 and no traces of him can be found after Paul’s alleged death.



Mr. Starr alleges that the group did send out a lot of hidden messages through the years to prepare the population for the truth.

He notably says that the entire Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was awash with Paul-is-dead clues: the Beatles had indeed officially formed a “new” band featuring a “fictional” member named Billy Shears, which happened to be the actual name of Paul’s replacement.

“We felt guilty about the deception” added Ringo Starr. “We wanted to tell the world the truth, but we were afraid of the reactions it would provoke. We thought the whole planet was going to hate us for all the lies we had told, so we kept lying but sending subtle clues to relieve our consciousness. When the first rumors finally began about the whole thing, we felt very nervous and started fighting a lot with each other. At some point, it was too much for John and he decided to leave the band.”

Ringo Starr claims that he finally decided to tell the truth, because he was afraid that it was going to die with him. At age 74, he is the only other surviving member of the famous band besides Paul McCartney, and he was afraid the deception would never be revealed.

The rumors of Paul’s death began more than 45 years ago, but had always been dismissed as nonsense by the band and its entourage. In September 1969, American college students published a series of articles in which they claimed that clues to McCartney’s death could be found among the lyrics and artwork of the Beatles’ recordings. Clue-hunting rapidly proved infectious, and within a few weeks, it had become an international phenomenon. Rumours only declined after a contemporary interview with McCartney was published in Life magazine in November 1969.

Neither Paul McCartney nor anyone from his entourage have commented on Ringo Starr’s declaration yet, but the interview has already provoked a lot of reactions around the world. Journalists and paparazzis from around the world have surrounded the residence of the musician only minutes after the interview was broadcasted and are awaiting for the star to comment on the allegations.

The British MI5 also announced an investigation to determine if an imposter could have indeed posed for 48 years as the Member of the Order of the British Empire, Sir James Paul McCartney, during official ceremonies involving Queen Elizabeth II.

Yes, it's wonderful to be here!

 

[Sam Posten]

It was the holy trinity of DVD for me. The Digital Bits. DVD Resource. And HTF. I had a college fraternity brother who introduced me to laser disks at a time I was taking a film history class. My mind was blown wide open. I knew I could never get into laser disks, but these DVD things looked like they would be pretty cool! I bought Desperado and a few others and was in for life. I'm sure everyone has their own favorite memories but these are mine!

Remember those awesome RCA sets we all bought at Sam's Club cause nobody would pay $4k for em and they would do REAL anamorphic?

Remember "What it means to own a movie"?
https://web.archive.org/web/2013021...metheaterforum.com/a/why-i-own-so-many-movies

Remember when DIVX died?
https://www.wired.com/1999/06/ding-dong-divx-is-dead/

Remember when HD-DVD gave up?

Remember the HTF meets? (Ahem!) And meeting playmate of the year and not knowing it? /facepalm

Remember the NYC DVD buying lunches?

Remember the Scootapaloozas? And the Walmart Van visits?

Remember our visit to meet member Jeremy Kipnis?
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...theater-6-million-dollar-home-theater.323030/

"There, I fixed it!"

Thanks for an awesome home here at HTF. I am proud of all of us!

 

[Johnny Angell]

I joined in 1998. Over the years I've been a member of several HT forums, but this one has become my "go to" forum for sometime with another a distant second.

This forum is responsible for countless eye rolls from my wife and for seriously depleting my retirement account. I always claim I don't collect movies, but then I look at all the discs I haven't watched for 1, or 2 or ... a whole lot more years.

Keep it up HTF, we need ya.