USA Today Story on DVD--Need Help!! (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

After reading the print edition of USA Today, I am also somewhat disappointed with the article. Considering there is another article about the release of http://www.usatoday.com/life/llead.htm http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/006466.html

 

[Stephen Orr]

I understand the purpose of his article, and personally, this might actually cause more people to start buying our favorite video format....
Anyway, it's pretty cool to get mentioned in USA Today, especially in the first paragraph. I've sent the web version of the article to all my relatives.
Thanks, Thomas!

 

[Joshua Clinard]

I too was concerned that he didn't even mention widescreen at all. I wrote a half page e-mail to him, and half of it was concerning OAR. When I walked into the store arn read it on my break, I thought that it was just an advertisement for Episode 1.

 

[Jodee]

I didn't understand something in the article...
What is it about DVD that you can cook pasta while it's playing that you can't do with VHS?
That paragraph utterly confused me. I'm still wondering what that statement meant.

 

[george kaplan]

I for one was disappointed. I never sent him an email, but I did reply in this thread that he should mention OAR vs. p&s.

I understand the purpose of his article, and personally, this might actually cause more people to start buying our favorite video format....

If an article explained OAR and got more people into dvd, great. But not explaining it, and getting more J6P into dvd who'll turn around and complain more about black bars, is a bad thing.
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13-time NBA world champion Lakers: 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

quote: I understand the purpose of his article, and personally, this might actually cause more people to start buying our favorite video format....[/quote]
If one is truly a film buff, this person should be on the DVD bandwagon by now. The article is aimed more towards the casual moviegoer/video renter who still has not made the leap towards DVD. Unfortunately, these people probably could care less about OAR. The article clearly ignored a very important element for DVD collectors.
Another missed opportunity while the gap between pro-OAR and pro-Pan & Scan widens as more and more articles like this try to convert the late adopters by discussing the benefits of DVD but fail in the most important aspect of them all - a discussion on widescreen presentation of the film's original aspect ratio.

~Edwin
[Edited last by Edwin Pereyra on October 15, 2001 at 04:49 PM]

 

[David Oliver]

Isn't it possible he did write about OAR vs. Pan-n-Scan and his editor, well, edited it out, for space reasons or whatever? Who knows maybe he got so much input on OAR fromyou guys that he is actually working on an article to specifically adress that? Just trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Blu]

It wasn't meant to be a technical article. It was a piece about how well DVDs sell now and the future. I like OAR movies but I wasn't the least bit disappointed that it wasn't mentioned at all since it wasn't a technical article.
Sheesh. It is all about collections and the enjoyment of them.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

Isn't it possible he did write about OAR vs. Pan-n-Scan and his editor, well, edited it out, for space reasons or whatever? Who knows maybe he got so much input on OAR fromyou guys that he is actually working on an article to specifically adress that? Just trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.

The print edition of the article in which this piece will be widely read also has big pictures of Snow White and The Grinch. If it was, in fact, written, I don't see why a compromise cannot have been achieved with the OAR discussion still remaining in the article but with smaller pictures or just one.
One has to look at the actual layout of the article, which covers about a third of an entire page to see what I am talking about.
~Edwin

 

[Blu]

Read the original post. There is no mention at all of a OAR vs. P-S debate. He wasn't looking for that information. He wanted to know about 4 quarter DVDs and what we as consumers were looking forward to.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

... (emphasis mine)

I believe OAR as a reason why most here like DVD has been mentioned at least more than once.
Did I miss something?
~Edwin
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http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/005780.html#8 http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/Forum9/HTML/006466.html

 

[Blu]

I'm just saying don't be critical of the guy when he had no intention of writing about OAR vs. P-S in the first place. He never asked "What do you think of OAR?" It clearly was a piece about the upcoming DVD releases for the 4th quarter. You could fill entire articles with the OAR debate but that wasn't his focus. He wrote exactly what he asked for information on.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

He did not have to go into the entire OAR v. P&S debate. A simple blurb on widescreen presentation would have been nice without being too technical.
Like I said earlier, it was a missed opportunity.
~Edwin

 

[Tino]

Blu
First off, welcome to the forum.
Secondly, perhaps you should re-read Mr. Arnolds original posts which asked us how avid a fan we are, what got us into DVD's, why we like it and what we are planning on buying.
He was obviously asking for our, consumers, input on all these reasons, and I think most would agree that the most important aspect for all of us here is OAR. To leave that out of the article, when he asked us why we love DVD, is unfortunate IMO.
I really hope he responds again in this thread and sheds some light on why he left that out.
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Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
[Edited last by Tino on October 15, 2001 at 08:09 PM]

 

[Thomas Arnold]

Lighten up, guys! This was a simple, basic article on DVD's escalating popularity, aimed at the majority of consumers who are still buying and renting VHS. DVD diehards consider OAR a crucial issue, and I'm firmly in their camp--I believe video committed one of the biggest atrocities when they started releasing movies with the sides cut off to fit the TV screen, and wholeheartedly thank DVD for at least giving us the chance to watch the movie the way it was made, the way it was intended to be seen, and the way it should be seen. But this article wasn't aimed at DVD diehards --it was aimed at the average Joe who probably doesn't even have a DVD player yet, but who might want to know more about this format he's started to hear about. It was basic DVD 101 as we enter the fourth quarter. It was a marketing and consumer trend piece, with a very limited word count in which I couldn't begin to explain the whole OAR issue. Besides, OAR is not exclusively DVD; even before DVD, there were widescreen diehards and they either went to laser or on occasion got their wishes when the studios released widescreen VHS cassettes.
The OAR debate may be well be the subject of a future issue, and both sides will be explored. Yes, there are people who prefer pan-and-scan, especially the casual low-end user who rents rather than buys. You'd be surprised how many complaints I get from retailers--I am an editor at Video Store Magazine--because certain movies are available only on widescreen! I've actually gotten letters from retailers who want to organize a petition drive to get all movies released pan-and-scan on DVD. This is a good topic for a later story, the debate over OAR, but this was neither the time nor the place. It was a fourth-quarter "curtain raiser," aimed at the uninitiated.

 

[GregoryP]

Come on guys! Cut Thomas some slack here. I just read the article and found it to be a great introduction to the wonderful world of DVD and DVD collectors. The point of the article wasn't to push the OAR agenda or anything. Anything that mentions DVD is good in my book.
Thanks for consulting us for the article Thomas! I hope you stick around and join in some of the other discussions.
Gregory

 

[Blu]

Perhaps he will. He left his email address.
He gave a specific example of what he wanted in quotes. The fact that he didn't put the OAR question into the article is further proof he wasn't looking for that information. Perhaps he did put it in and it was edited out in which case I apologize. True OAR is very important on this board and may very well be the reason many of us started collecting DVDs, but that isn't what I got at all from reading his post. It wasn't aimed for the DVD coniseur who has a home theater. It was aimed at the "Wow the Grinch never looked better!" crowd, which I am a part time member of!
Thanks for the Welcome!

 

[Blu]

I also hope Mr. Arnold sticks around on this board as well!
The more the merrier!

 

[Rodney]

I think people who are criticizing the article (specifically not discussing OAR) are missing the point of the article. As Blu pointed out, this was an article on people's enjoyment of DVD as a hobby.
Of course, I could be a wee bit prejudiced, as my name starts the article.
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-Rodney
No MAR'ed Films, I want my OAR!

 

[AaronMK]

Thomas,
The article served its purpose very well, IMHO.
Hopefully, when the time comes for an OAR article, it will be just as well written.
Being an editor of Video Store Magazine, could you get more articles run on the outrage many of us have at the likes of Blockbuster, Netflix, and Wal-Mart for trying to make DVD P&S only, and refusing to carry OAR releases of all titles.
The http://www.hive4media.com/news/html/breaking_article.cfm?article_id=1927
It would be cool to see more articles like that, with a more general focus on the fact that, even in a time of increased demand for P&S DVD, retailers and rental outlets should support OAR on each title and carry all titles OAR in all of their stores for both rental and sale (each where applicable, of course), along with P&S versions if they feel the need to cater to that crowd.
I don't have access to the print version of Video Store, but I hope the passion that many of us have for OAR is being touched on in it, since many of us are patrons of the stores at which the magazine is targeted.
Thanks and best wishes.
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My DVD's
If a movie is not available in OAR, than it might as well not be available at all.