"The DVD Comes of Age": Tomorrow's NY Times Arts & Leisure section (1 Viewer)

[Ted Todorov]

It isn't available online yet, but The Arts & Leisure Section on Sunday's (tomorrow's) NY Times is entirely devoted to DVD.

Looks very interesting: All of the normal sections like Art, Dance,
Theater, Music, TV etc. are devoted to DVD -- no just the Film
section. Check it out.

In the lead article, Elvis Mitchell calls DVD more influential on film than sound. Lots of good stuff on Criterion in his article.

Ted

 

[Galen_V]

In this week's Arts & Leisure Section, the New York Times has devoted pretty much the whole section to articles relating to "The DVD Comes of Age." It is really well done and covers how DVD has changed all of the arts, from film and TV (most obviously) to dance and art. The Elvis Mitchell article (one of the Times's film critics) is especially relevant as it talks about how DVD has changed the way people watch and look at movies. The section usually comes out Saturday for people with home delivery and Sunday on the newstands. I haven't checked if NY Times.com has posted it, but I know you will have to register with them to read the articles online.

 

[rich_d]

Yes, read it this morning - well worth a look.

 

[Andy_G]

I'm surprised that this section hasn't gotten more play on the HTF. When I checked at about 10 EDT, it had not yet been mentioned.

As Rich and Galen have said, it's really very good; Peter Staddon is even quoted (at least) twice.

 

[Peter Kline]

It probably won't go on to the website until 11 PM or thereabouts.

 

[David Lambert]

TVShowsOnDVD owner (and HTF member) Gord Lacey was interviewed for this article.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

I'm surprised that this section hasn't gotten more play on the HTF.

I also posted this link in a new thread with the hope that it gets more visibility...

Link to New York Times Special Section: The DVD Comes of Age (08/17/03)

(Free registration required.)

 

[Damin J Toell]

A decent article, aside from some strange remarks from Mitchell (laserdiscs arrived in the 90s? Criterion doesn't list Armageddon on their laserdisc page?).

DJ

 

[Peter Kline]

There are a bunch of articles not just one.

 

[Ted Todorov]

There are a bunch of articles not just one.

Yes, as I said initially, it is the entire Arts & Leisure section. I'm pretty amazed that the lead article on the "Film" page concerns porno DVDs. The NY Times seems to have discovered the porn industry recently and has had a number of neutral to positive articles on the subject over the last few weeks.

Mitchell's comment on the Armageddon laser disk is bizarre* -- but you never know -- maybe Criterion read the article and quickly fixed a bug on their laserdisk page... Mitchell does wax rhapsodic over the Scorsese commentary on the Taxi Driver LD. Has it been lost forever to those of us who never did LD?

Ted

*The more you know about a subject, the more outrageous mistakes you see in the mainstream press. Business Week had an incredibly dumb whopper on Panther, the upcoming version of MacOS X. Computer related articles, unless the author is David Pogue, can be painful or painfully funny as the case may be.

 

[David Lambert]

Yes, and at least one of them contain spoilers (if you haven't watched S4 of The Sopranos, avoid the Mobster article unless you want to know early what happens to Ralphie. I didn't know, and had avoided spoilers here on HTF about it. Shitheads.).

Looks like Gordo got snubbed quote-wise in the TV-on-DVD article, though I haven't read any but that one and the mobster one yet, so he may be quoted there. The one mention of TVShowsOnDVD in the TV-on-DVD article makes us and our user base sound kinda nutty, y'know? :frowning:

Having read that article and missing the one line (and its tone) that mentioned TVShowsOndVD until I re-read it, I can say without prejudice that I think the article talked way too much about supplements on these sets, describing examples in way too much nitty-gritty detail. She didn't talk hardly enough about the *phenomenon* of soaring sales of TV-on-DVD releases. A very boring article, and not hardly filled with any actual information. I hope the rest of this special DVD section is better.

 

[Andy_G]

David is, sadly, underused by the NYT. I miss his Macworld Humor columns.

 

[Michael Reuben]

As a sort of counterpoint to the Arts and Leisure features, the front page of today's (8/17/03) Times has perhaps the most frightening article about DVD I've ever read:

Action-Hungry DVD Fans Sway Hollywood

A representative excerpt:

Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said the prospect of DVD sales helped it afford the hefty budget of its summer hit "Bad Boys 2," with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. "Clearly the economics of some of the big event pictures we are seeing probably would not work without DVD," he said.

M.

 

[Scott_J]

Dave, you must have missed this article then. It should be more to your liking. (Still no quotes from Gord but there are some from Mr. Staddon and a Warner rep)

 

[Jack Briggs]

Michael, disturbing excerpts indeed.

 

[Francois Caron]

Michael, the article you quoted may be accurate if this was still a VHS based market, but the quote ignores many elements of the DVD format that make it a real life saver especially for self-employed moviemakers and the independant movie industry as a whole. For instance:

- You can create a DVD master on your PC, using existing high definition digital transfers as the source material. You can even create your own menu and silk screening designs.
- You can order a small number of discs from a DVD replication house, all created from the master disc and silk screening designs you created on your PC. Replicating a skinny DVD is much easier and a whole lot cheaper than duplicating a mountain of VHS tapes.
- You can create your own packaging (a wholesaler for the DVD cases, your PC and Kinko's for the DVD cover art).
- If the major chains and distributors don't want to carry your DVD, you can still sell it on-line either through your own Web site or through one of the many on-line DVD retail sites that don't mind having the oddball title in their catalogues.

All this wasn't really possible with the VHS format in all the years the format has existed. But with the DVD format as it is now, you can go as far as create your own professional looking DVD releases, and replicate and distribute them entirely from the comfort of your own home if need be. Each copy you sell will be just as good as your master disc. Granted you might not sell as many copies as the latest blockbusters, but at least you get to keep most of the money you make on the sales, minus the cost of supplies and taxes.

Honestly, for those of us who are just as happy to sell a few thousand copies of our work and not necessarily a few million, we've never had it so good.

 

[Paul_Scott]

"Most people don't have the time to spend hours and hours on a DVD," says Mr. Staddon of Fox. "Most will spend only 10 or 15 minutes with the extra features. But when they are buying the thing, they flip over the box and look at the contents. That's how they justify the purchase."

guilty.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I didn't want to register, so I didn't read it, but if the title is 'The DVD Comes of Age', they are surely mistaken, IMO.

To me, coming of age means that anything can be done, and that is not the case at all. I'm only going to mention one trilogy that fans have been screaming for for years now.

But there are other things too. I know that there is another thread around clammoring for the rest of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show'. I can only assume that the sales weren't up to par. I have the 4th season of 'Good Neighbors' and think that the rest won't come out here.

I know that this is sort of a 'DVD on Demmand' issue, but if it is of age, why is there so much out there that we cannot get?

What if I wanted just one episode of MTM? (Chuckles the Clown, to be exact). I'd be willing to get that, along with a few more episodes and pay about $20. for it. I have about 10 more single episodes from different TV shows that I'd love to have, but my hands are still empty.

Coming of Age - Ha! I think it has barely made it to puberty!

Glenn

 

[Damin J Toell]

Mitchell's comment on the Armageddon laser disk is bizarre* -- but you never know -- maybe Criterion read the article and quickly fixed a bug on their laserdisk page

I've checked Criterion's laserdisc list page within the last couple of weeks, and Armageddon was listed.

DJ

 

[Michael Reuben]

Michael, the article you quoted may be accurate if this was still a VHS based market, but the quote ignores many elements of the DVD format that make it a real life saver especially for self-employed moviemakers and the independant movie industry as a whole.

The article doesn't purport to be a review of the entire DVD world. The title is very specific: "Action-Hungry DVD Fans Sway Hollywood". Obviously the development of affordable digital equipment and media, including DVD, has other implications, which are beyond the scope of the article's stated subject.

M.