X-Men Digital VHS Review At DVDfile (1 Viewer)

[Michael St. Clair]

McDonald's burgers are 'easy to buy'.
Budweiser beer is 'easy to buy'.
Some of us are interested in the best that life has to offer.
In general, the typical american consumer who is more interested in convenience than quality is the same group that wants to dumb down the format with pan-and-scan.
Me, I'm happy to be an enthusiast.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Hmmmm....there also seems to be quite an an influx of Pan & Scan only DVD titles coming to market in the past year.

And yet the percentage of OAR releases is still much higher than it ever was with LD. OAR LDs only became more common as the LD player installed base became...(gasp)...bigger. I'm not sure why people act as if LD was the holy land for OAR enthusiasts. If MAR releases were as common now on DVD as they were throughout most of the LD timeline, we'd have many more "the sky is falling!" and "let's petition!" threads than we do now (if such a thing is possible). And yet, somehow, people act as if LD was an untouchable ideal of home video and DVD is destroying OAR. If anything, DVD has increased OAR acceptance for the home video market. But, I guess if it isn't exclusive enough to make someone feel special, it isn't worth our time.

DJ

 

[Damin J Toell]

In general, the typical american consumer who is more interested in convenience than quality is the same group that wants to dumb down the format with pan-and-scan.

So: has DVD quality increased or decreased since 1997?

DJ

 

[Michael St. Clair]

And yet the percentage of OAR releases is still much higher than it ever was with LD.
has DVD quality increased or decreased since 1997

The difference between now and 1997, or 1998, or 1999, or 2000, or 2001 is this:
The number and percentage of pan-and-scan-only releases is increasing. Before, it was decreasing.
This is far more concerning than the overall makeup of releases.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Hmmmm....there also seems to be quite an an influx of Pan & Scan only DVD titles coming to market in the past year. Coincidence with DVD's "mainstream" acceptance? I don't think so. Keep me in the niche mentality. I never had problems getting my LBX laserdiscs weekly from Ken Crane's (at 30% off) or my local Suncoast or Tower Video.

I think what he means is that there were plenty of non-OAR laserdiscs released...even in the "last days" of laserdisc.
Interesting, many of these titles that were P/S on LD I have in glorious 16x9 WS on DVD! Much Ado About nothing is one example. Sadly, Muppet Treasure Island is not.
The truth of the matter is that all things being equal DVD has a higher percentage of OAR to MAR than LD had. Not a reason to let it slide when a studio screws us with a P/S-only transfer...just trying to present a realistic impression of how things really are.
-dave

 

[Damin J Toell]

This is far more concerning than the overall makeup of releases.

Not really. If LD is our ultimate example of perfect niche format, then LD's MAR-to-OAR ratio should be our threshold level of acceptability, right? DVD is still is a better format than LD in that light. And yet, it somehow isn't good enough and people talk wistfully of the days of niche formats, when prices were higher, availability was lower, and OAR was less prevalent. The good ol' days...thank god they're over.

DJ

 

[Dave_P.]

And yet the percentage of OAR releases is still much higher than it ever was with LD. OAR LDs only became more common as the LD player installed base became...(gasp)...bigger.

Actually LD's started out as Pan & Scan ONLY in the '80's (I believe Die Hard may have been the first non-Criterion LBX disc) and in an effort to cater to those who wanted to see their films in OAR, made the transition to LBX only in the early '90's (there were no Pan & Scan only lasers after 1993). DVD followed the same curve, but is now heading in the opposite direction. When Universal joined the DVD club back in '97 with their P&S only titles (Babe, The Paper, Backdraft, etc.) and Warner gave us their "Budget Line" P&S only discs, us early adopters (also a good percentage of laserdisc owners) made an outcry and the curve generally gravitated toward OAR (Universal went LBX, Warner's "budget line" and dual format discs disappeared) for a few years. But now since the days that a player can be had for $50 and you can pick up a DVD at the checkout spinner at Walgreen's, we're getting Pan & Scan only discs of big studio movies and even the remasters are going from LBX to P&S (Tree's Lounge anyone?). I'm all for choice as long as we're actually given one, but DVD is heading in the wrong direction. Maybe I'll start a petition for the studios to bring back laserdiscs!

 

[Damin J Toell]

Actually LD's started out as Pan & Scan ONLY in the '80's (I believe Die Hard may have been the first non-Criterion LBX disc) and in an effort to cater to those who wanted to see their films in OAR, made the transition to LBX only in the early '90's (there were no Pan & Scan only lasers after 1993).

So...the situation for OAR became better as the installed base got higher. Yay for the days of niche formats, huh?

DJ

 

[Patrick McCart]

Actually LD's started out as Pan & Scan ONLY in the '80's (I believe Die Hard may have been the first non-Criterion LBX disc) and in an effort to cater to those who wanted to see their films in OAR, made the transition to LBX only in the early '90's (there were no Pan & Scan only lasers after 1993).

Manhattan was the first LBX laserdisc, released by MGM/UA Home Video.

 

[Damin J Toell]

(there were no Pan & Scan only lasers after 1993).

Really? I'd love to purchase a WS LD of Bob Roberts: SE (August 1994) or Boxing Helena: SE (May 1995).
DJ

 

[Dave_P.]

LD was a niche format. How many were there in that base a million? And that's probably where it would've topped out anyway, being fairly cost prohibitive LD would've never been mainstream. We fought for the OAR through the years and that's what we got in the end and we were happy. Sorry if I sound elitist, but if that's what I have to be to get my OAR, so be it. The bottom line is can you honestly say that the OAR situation is getting better or worse with DVD's accessibility to the mass public?

 

[Damin J Toell]

The bottom line is can you honestly say that the OAR situation is getting better or worse with DVD's accessibility to the mass public?

Slightly worse, but still better than any other format ever. Whether this is due to or in spite of its mainstream accessibility, it doesn't matter to me. At the end of the day, DVD is the best format that home theater enthusiasts have ever had available to them. And yet it gets little respect because some people are afraid of ever admitting that they do something so gauche as enjoy a format that non-enthusiasts want to buy into, as well.

DJ

 

[Dave_P.]

I am certainly not disrespecting DVD. I'll be the first to admit that DVD is leaps and bounds over LD as the better format. I've replaced probably half of my 600 LD's with their DVD counterparts so I could enjoy an anamorphic transfer on my 16x9 TV or a new DD5.1 or DTS track. But with the way things are going that's exactly the sort of thing that I will not be able to do.

 

[Damin J Toell]

But with the way things are going...

The way things are going is that we get every recent theatrical release in OAR, as well as the vast majority of catalog titles in OAR. The way things are going is still better than the way things were.

DJ

 

[DaViD Boulet]

there were no Pan & Scan only lasers after 1993

Simply not true. It is accurate to say that the studios responded to the demand by serious movie-collectors to offer widescreen presentation on laserdisc with great frequency, but there was never an industry-wide policy put in place that was met without exception.

There are both many instances of P/S-only laserdiscs offered after 1993 as well as P/S pressings done along side widescreen (like we see from studios like Universal and Fox with DVD) like Braveheart...which I tried to rent on laserdisc only to discover that it was 4x3 P/S when I got it home.

-dave

 

[Troy LaMont]

Peter,
Thanks for your response and participation. AFAIK,this offer;

At least at DVD's launch, we had 25 titles that were easy to find (at least if you lived in the seven test cities.)

Good point, especially the part about the test cities. Not that D-Theater is that limited, but it took time for DVD to grow, to reach the masses. I say let's give the studios doing D-Theater a few more months to produce software and then let the criticism begin.
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To all the 'tape' bashers I'll reiterate some facts that I posted some months ago. Everything that you enjoy to date orginates from a tape base. I find it ironic that the studios trust tape as an archival and reproduction method for their multi-million dollar gems, yet the consumer is the one that has a problem with a format that produces a picture that's at least 6 times better than anything they can currently purchase (not record) and at a price that's under $35 for software.
Tape originated formats;

• DVD
• CD
• SACD
• DVD-A
• D-THEATER
• LP
• ATSC
• NTSC

Troy

 

[Michael Silla]

"The number and percentage of pan-and-scan-only releases is increasing. Before, it was decreasing.
This is far more concerning than the overall makeup of releases."
This may be true but in relation to the sheer volume of sales in the format, I really think the number of P&S releases are not at true "scary" levels. With the amount of rants I've seen here over the past year against the likes of Blockbuster and Walmarts of this world, I would think that every second release I look at on the shelves would be P&S only.
Well, I have been "amazed" with my last two visits to both places where I was actually hard pressed to find a P&S only disk (Harry Potter notwithstanding ). I was able to find most of the Superbit titles at Walmart (some of which I had been searching for weeks to find). I haven't had any trouble finding widescreen titles at Blockbuster either.
Michael.

 

[Julian Lalor]

The way things are going is that we get every recent theatrical release in OAR

Perhaps every adult orientated theatrical release, but not every recent theatrical release (Snow Dogs, Max Keeble, Big Fat Liar).

 

[Damin J Toell]

Perhaps every adult orientated theatrical release, but not every recent theatrical release (Snow Dogs, Max Keeble, Big Fat Liar).

You're correct, my error.

DJ

 

[Aaron Croft]

I would like to point out that nobody is really discussing this particular release (well, maybe 1 or 2 posts)...

So what is the difference betweeen the anti-HDVHS and the pro-HDVHS posters on this thread? Absolutely nothing, you are all off topic.
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On Topic:

Nice review, although I am also concerned with the setup used to review this movie. Those who can afford an HDVHS player will MOST LIKELY be using a nicer setup. I like the fact that they used a film that allready has a high quality DVD transfer tho, and I don't know why some of you are saying the comparison is useless.

Aaron