Roots: 25th Anniversary DVD - Beautiful but ... (1 Viewer)

[Larry Gardner]

For a 25 year old mini-series - this DVD looks awesome. Just seeing all of the actors is outstanding (since a lot have passed away).

However, I was all set to watch this miniseries this weekend and am somewhat annoyed that Warner Bros has decided to release them on flippers. Episode 1/2 - Disc 1, Episode 3/4 - Disc 2, Episode 5/6 - Disc 3. Each disc episode does not fill the disc.

Was planning on putting the series in my changer and watch non-stop. Now I can't.

The packaging is nice - 3 disc gatefold. For people who care - the box set is the same height/width of a snapper - so it stands out from other non-Warner boxsets.

 

[Brian Lawrence]

You where planning on watching Roots from beginning to end without getting out of your seat? Yikes!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Larry,

I second the opinion of Mr. Lawrence.

Unless you planned to sit from beginning

to end without getting out of your seat, I

don't know why the side division is a problem.

Actually, the division works out very well.

In a lengthy miniseries such as this, I'd rather

have the opportunity to stretch my legs after

watching an episode and then flip the disc over

to watch the next one.

I'm not condemning your preference to want to

be able to switch episodes on the fly without

getting up, but I just don't see this as a major

hassle for anyone.

 

[Ben Motley]

Sounds like a few people need a little slack in their lives. Praise Bob!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I think I know what Larry is talking about, though. It's nice to watch continuously when you can and then pick up where you left off, leaving the discs in the player over however long you are watching them. I know if the baby cries and I have to interrupt my viewing 10 minutes before the end of a disc side, it's convenient, if not exactly essential, to be able to keep watching without leaving the ol' Barca lounger. The fact that it is episodic television makes the breaks logical, at least.
Regards,

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Larry and I are alike. He doesn't have a player. It's a changer, so they go in - AND DON'T COME OUT! I am a little ticked off too. I figured that they could have put 3 hours on a side, and the only way out is to fork over another fifty bucks. Sheeech!

Glenn

 

[David Lambert]

It's a changer, so they go in - AND DON'T COME OUT!

So you've got one of these "jukebox" things that daisy-chain together and holds every disc you own in it, and you never take them out and put them away in their boxes.

I have a co-worker with this type of system. He had a 200, then upgraded to a 300 that daisy-chains, and offered to sell me the 200 for cheap. I passed.

A) What do you do with all the keepcases and snappers, etc.? I definately am not the type to toss 'em! You might want to sell the item later on. And, if you have to store 'em, might as well be in plain site as in a closet or the attic.

B) What ABOUT flippers, like this release. You can't get V or The Stand either, can you? Not without major inconvenience.

It would make sense if these devices flipped the discs for you with the push of a button on the remote. Do they?

At most I think I'd want a 3-disc carousel, for situations like The Godfather Part 2 or The Ten Commandments.

Maybe a 5-disc just for the occassional party, so I could toss in 5 music video DVD's and choose random track & disc play.

 

[LarryH]

For me, the lack of the ability for any DVD changer to play both sides of a DVD just means that I don't even consider the purchase of one. I say that this is the player manufacturers' fault for not addressing this need. This feature was available on many laserdisk players, so should be less of a problem for smaller DVDs.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

PLUS WHAT ABOUT DUST CONCERNS that always concerned my on CD Changers, the discs get dust, no way to avoid it.

 

[JohnJB]

I beleive the Sony CX860 (300 DVD changer) plays both sides, it's been out ages, fairly cheap too, but in price not in quality.

 

[Rich Malloy]

It would make sense if these devices flipped the discs for you with the push of a button on the remote. Do they?

Not for DVDs that I know of, but back in the day when analog cassette tapes were still viable, NAKAMICHI's top of the line deck would actually flip the tape (the drawer would come open and the tape would extrude, flip, and then get sucked back in). This was their response to the "automatic reverse" feature that became extraordinarily popular in our couch-potato culture, but which severely reduced sound quality due to the rotating heads never quite aligning perfectly.

 

[Craig S]

NAKAMICHI's top of the line deck would actually flip the tape

Ooh, I remember that one, Jack. I lusted after that deck, but financial concerns made me settle for a more practical Denon (sans auto-reverse, of course). The Nak was high on the cool-meter, though.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I keep my cases on some shelves for easy access if I need to see/read something. I just don't have to pull them out.

As for the flippers, which these are, I just buy a second copy. Some of them get to the end of the first disk and automatically eject, go to the next DVD and start playing, which is really nice.

I don't understand the 'dust' problem. Ok, I know that they are not airtight, put they are pretty close to it. I never have had to clean any of mine. No fingerprints or taco dip to deal with too.

Glenn

 

[David Lambert]

As for the flippers, which these are, I just buy a second copy.

Oh, my God. And people accuse ME of having money to just throw away!
Do you really do that? Or are you putting us on?

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I don't know about Larry, but I do. You have to realize that there are not that many flippers out, and they are all old, so they sell for like $10.98 or whatever. I have six, and three of them run automatically. Besides, pulling a disk out of a 300 unit changer isn't all that fun.

I did have to look around in order to find the 3 disk version of the 10th Kingdom. That one saved me from buying another set, but I figure that in 50 years, when the flippers will become collector's items, I'll have 2 and make a killing.

Glenn

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm with the folks who are annoyed by the fact Roots is a flipper. Would I ever want to watch all 567 minutes of it all in one sitting? Of course not, but there was no reason for the breaks to be forced on us. It looks like the third DVD needed to be double-sided; side six is dual-layered, so I guess it needed extra headroom. (This is probably because of the video commentary; the sixth episode is only about 95 minutes long, and the "documentary" on side six doesn't run very long.)

However, the first two discs could and should have been RS-DL. It's not a major complaint, but I still thought it was an unneeded nuisance...