Marta and I made the paper: DVD Far From Dead: Despite competition, new titles draw buyers

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10597022

Snip


Marta and Steve Dawes with their Blu-ray collection and copies of "Sleeping Beauty" on laserdisc, DVD and Blu-ray.

Steven Dawes and his wife, Marta, switched to the Blu-ray format last July specifically for the Cinerama DVD release of "How the West Was Won."

The couple has more than 1,000 DVDs and about 30 Blu-ray discs so far, said Steven Dawes, who was at the Mart to buy "Bolt" and "Quantum of Solace."

"We're being a little more selective (about Blu-ray), but as the new things come out that we haven't purchased before on DVD, we snap them up," Steven Dawes said.

Although the Daweses are aware that Blu-ray discs cost more, the extras that generally come with a Blu-ray release usually make it worthwhile.

"We're still discretionary," Marta Dawes said. "It has to be something with decent extras, so we'll get our value for that extra money." In the case of "Sleeping Beauty," she said, the high-quality Blu-ray picture was worth the extra cost.

The Daweses usually go to stores on release dates, when new DVD releases are on sale.

"There are some movies where the picture on DVD's OK, but there are some movies, if you want to catch all the action and sound, you want to go Blu-ray," Steven Dawes said.

Marta Dawes said her husband asked permission to buy "Quantum of Solace," which neither of them had seen yet.

"This is a blind buy," he said. "We don't really like to do that, but at $20 on Blu-ray . . ."

Marta Dawes called it the "White Noise" rule, based on the bad experience they had when they bought Michael Keaton's "White Noise" sight unseen.

"If we don't see it, we don't buy it, but I made an exception in this case and told him he could because of the price."


A DVD of the 1963 blockbuster "Cleopatra" is a prize in the Daweses' collection. They began collecting movies in 1979 when they got their first video cassette player.

[Touchdown]

1. Ha! You lose. I have 34 Blu Rays

:woohoo:

But I only have about 500 DVDs, and was too young and poor for Laserdisc.:cry:

Congrats on making the paper!

[Omaha Steve]

4. Our Blu collection is listed online

http://www.blu-ray.com/community/collection.php?member=Indian%20Hills%20Theater

[Touchdown]

6. Cool site. Have you ever ventured to Home Theater Forum?

I hung out there long ago, before Bush. After he stole the election, lost my hobby interest.

[Omaha Steve]

10. I used to be a regualr there before the DU became my biggest hobby

Here are some other places about movies or video I visit.

DVD Price Search: http://www.dvdpricesearch.com/

DVD Review: http://www.dvdreview.com/

Cinema Laser: http://www.thecinemalaser.com/

TV Shows on DVD: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/

The Digital Bits: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/

Ultimate Disney: http://www.ultimatedisney.com/

Our DVD player is region free and can convert the PAL format. To compare versions of DVD from around the world we use http://www.dvdcompare.net/

For tech film history: http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/


The restoration of The Robe is here: http://www.studiodaily.com/filmandvideo/currentissue/10226.html


His is why John Wayne's The Alamo must be restored now or lost forever: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/robertharris/harris032009.html

[Deja Q]

2. 1000 DVDs?!

Or 1000 titles?

After counting how many titles I have, it still doesn't amount anywhere near 1000 discs...

:wow:

[Touchdown]

3. If he has all the Star Trek series, then that would make 155 discs.

or 29 titles (three shows at 7 years, one at 2 1/2, and one at 5):shrug:

[Omaha Steve]

12. Over 1,000 titles

We got into DVD at the beginning of the second wave of players in 98.

[DJ13]

5. I thought I was the only oddball with Laserdisc!

My old player is a Pioneer "Laseractive" thats both a Laserdisc player and a Sega game console.

This is what it looks like-



Nice article!

[Cheap_Trick]

7. Nope, I have a Laserdisc player too.

Pioneer Elite 930. With over 100 discs. The door doesn't open anymore :(

[ContinentalOp]

8. Thank you guys!

It's folks like you that help me keep my job! :thumbsup: Although I'm skeptical about the long term viability of movies on disc. On demand will be the future and hopefully the studios can get their act together on that front before losing too much business to piracy as the record labels did.

[Touchdown]

11. I think disc based movies will be around for awhile. Don't worry.

right now, there's no way an HD download at 5 gigs(That's even less than DVD's 9 gigs) can compare with the picture and sound quality of a 50 gig BD.

When I see a downloaded film, even a 1080i version, I see inaccurate colors, non-existent contrast, digital artifacting, massive pixelization, and audio dropouts. For a videophile or home theater enthusiast, this is torture. Blu-Ray's picture is pristine, accurate and the sound quality is near perfect. No download can come close.

3 things will have to happen for digital download to take over...
1) Storage space is going to have to get a lot cheaper. At 50 gigs a download, A TB hard drive will only hold 20 movies. for my collection, I'll need at least 25 terrabytes of HD space for blu-ray quality movies, which is the only way I'll rely on that technology at this point.
2) Our broadband infrastructure is going to have to double, if not triple the average transfer rate. Even if somebody puts a 50 gig movie for sale on the net, it would take the better part of a day to download it. I can be off to the store, buy a BD, and be back home watching it by the time the first 15 minutes is downloaded with 3 or even 7 mps. That will take massive investment from the private telecom industry, and may even require government funding for rural installation.
3) Hollywood is going to have to embrace digital downloading. The MPAA hasn't been so quick to embrace it, and film studios are even more zealous and protective about their copyrights.

On demand is good for a preview,or even a night of enjoyment, but at least my Satellite company won't let me keep it, and they will erase it off my DVR when the time is up. If I want to keep the movie, then I'll need to buy a physical disc. OD is fine for a piece of crap like "What Happens in Vegas", but a complete waste of money and time for a good film like King Kong (2005), Slum Dog or Milk.


EDIT: Excuse me.. RIAA not MPAA.

[Cheap_Trick]

9. I'm closing in...

I've got 957 titles on DVD (1,605 discs).
28 HD-DVD's


here's my list at dvdaf.com:

http://bunecarlos.dvdaf.com/

dvdaf.com is a GREAT site to help keep track of your collection.

[spoony]

13. "white noise" rule, lol

I think you'll have better luck with the new Bond :)