New release buzz...Godzilla 1998 will be on home video on November 3.

According to TWICE, the multi-disc set of From the Earth to the Moon is to be released November 10. The retail price will be a little steep ($120), but the price is supposed to include four DVD's, including ample special edition content.

From the newly relaunched Universal Home Video DVD website comes their new releases through October:

August 4

• Blues Brothers 2000 - Collector's Edition

• Army of Darkness
• Fletch
• The Frighteners (woo hoo!)
• Joe Kidd
• Somewhere in Time (boo hoo!)
• Tremors II: Aftershocks
• The War Wagon

• The Blues Brothers - Collector's Edition
• Lionheart
• Primary Colors
• Raising Cain
• The Real McCoy
• Rumblefish
• The Thing - Collector's Edition
• Videodrome

• American Graffiti - Collector's Edition
• Mercury Rising

• Animal House - Collector's Edition (woo hoo!)
• Black Dog

• Career Opportunities
• Dragnet (dum, da dum dum...the hilarious 1987 version)
• Fear
• The Hindenberg (I wonder how it ends?)
• The Secret of My Success
• Rollercoaster (but will it be in Sensurround?)
• Smokey and the Bandit

30 July 1998:

On the store front...I have gotten several emails from people talking about Blockbuster and DVD rentals. At least one of the San Francisco stores jumed the gun in tomorrow's rollout. Several smaller markets are getting DVD's in at least one store, although only 150-200 titles. I am even hearing of other chains, like Tower Records in Philadelphia, who are renting DVD's overnight at a reasonable rate. (Thanks to Vince, Howard, Katherine, and certain Blockbuster insiders for email on this topic)

If you have some time to spare (and even if you don't), you owe it to yourself to check out the MGM Video Savant. Glenn Erickson fields as many questions as he can, and has also written many feature articles on topics as diverse as Cinerama, film sound formats, the Munchkin Murder Mystery, and 3-D, Glenn even has an excellent overview of the differences between letterboxing and pan&scan. I must have spent three hours reading through the articles archived on the Savant site, and still have many left over for a few return visits. Check it out!

Let's see...Paramount leaks three or more potential DVD release lists, all of them slightly different, and gives out different dates for an announcement of these releases. This is mere speculation on my part, but this sounds like a mole hunt to me...

29 July 1998:

He moved Broadway in ways no one had ever imagined. Today he died. In memory of choreographer Jerome Robbins, who died today at the age of 79. To see his work in action, look no further than the great new DVD edition of Fiddler on the Roof.

Palmetto will street next week at Warner's nice retail price of $19.98. That's three movies at this wonderful price point...shall we shoot for four?

You know, it's times like these I wish I were psychic!

Let's see...I predict...that one day Paramount will announce DVD titles...

I predict...that you can probably track down the list of movies Paramount announced for Divx and figure out which ones are coming to DVD...

I predict...that these little guessing games will not have to go on too much longer...

I predict...that if I don't get some sleep, I may not be awake when that announcement comes...

Stay tuned, everyone...this will be a day long remembered...oh wait, wrong movie to allude to! :-)

28 July 1998:

As it is way past quitting time on the West Coast, it looks like Paramount will not be sharing anything with us today. The only buzz I hear is coming from one of my speakers. Sigh. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. You know something? Does it really matter what Paramount releases on DVD as long as they do release something on DVD?

While there is no news from the Paramount front (yet) it does appear that the incredible response to potential news is gumming up the works on the DVD Resource Forum and on this server. I have had to take the DVD Resource Forum offline temporarily. Sorry about that. If something noteworthy happens, I will post it here as soon as possible.

Argh! I settle down Monday night to see what's on the satellite and maybe even spin up a DVD. I switch on my receiver, a Pioneer 906, and I hear a rapid snapping sound coming out of the left front speaker. "Odd," I think. "The cats must have been jamming to something, since it was working fine last night." I then spend the next hour attempting to track down the problem, ultimately ending up with an isolated receiver (nothing plugged into it) that snaps incessantly out of the left channel no matter what speaker I hook up.

There's a scene in the hilarious movie In & Out where the supermodel is faced with the frustrating task of figuring out how to dial a rotary phone. That's me now with my remote control. No, I don't look like a supermodel, but like her I sit on the couch with remote control in hand pressing buttons and whining that I can't get it to work. Wimper!

Unless Paramount announces their DVD's before I go to work, any information I receive will first appear on the DVD Resource Forum under the General Discussion topic.

27 July 1998:

Paramount news...well, not yet! Their publicity department is not talking about DVD releases, although I did have a nice chat this evening with someone fielding what has to be a lot of calls. I guess we will have to just hang on and wait to see what comes about.

Although...from a very trusted source, I have heard that Paramount has a very aggressive release schedule for the remainder of the year. I don't know exact titles, yet, but with the numbers that are being bandied about, there will have to be some great ones included!

In mail today comes word of two more DVD/Divx articles, one in the Chicago Tribune, the other on MSNBC. I guess it's open season on Divx, eh?

Response to yesterday's request for DVD Player Bargains on the DVD Resource Forum has been good. There are indeed some low prices to be found. Please keep looking, and please keep reporting those prices!

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle had several good features on DVD and Divx (thanks, Brian Conrad).

Several Blockbuster employees wrote to say that the formal launch of DVD rentals in all Richmond, San Francisco, and Salinas/Monterey stores will be this Friday.

Reviews were posted over the weekend for Camelot and How the West Was Won.

Over the coming days and weeks, I have a lot planned for this site. I thought I would share some (but not all) of my to-do list with everyone so that you can see where things are headed:

• Assign the moderators to the DVD Resource Forum
• Complete DVD review submission guidelines and resume publishing reader submissions
• Write reviews for several Hong Kong and independent DVD titles
• Reinstate the quick review, and place many, many more of them online
• Expand and categorize more links on the "Resources" page(s)
• Refresh/revise other pages

Dear Readers:

Your fellow DVD enthusiasts need your help! There are some great bargains on DVD players, with prices at $300 or less. These lower-priced players will open the DVD market up to many, many more people as the holiday season approaches. But where are these deals? Well, now you will find them listed right here!

The next time you go to a store or venture into an online retailer and find a DVD player bargain, make a note of the make, model, price, taxes and/or shipping charges and post them on the new DVD Player Bargains area of the DVD Resource Forum.

Be sure to include the store where you found the bargain, and how long the sale price is effective. If there are any special features of the player (like built-in Dolby Digital decoder) please include them as well.

We have already gotten a fantastic response with some incredible prices! Thanks everyone!

26 July 1998:

Need a little historical background before (or after) you see Saving Private Ryan? Then check out Encyclopedia Britannica's detailed spotlight feature on the Normandy Invasion, including this fascinating look at the history behind the movie.

A brief follow-up to yesterday's post of the Japanese website with the Fox movies listed for sale. Derek Hofmann (thanks, sir!) confirms the title translations and says that the distributor behind the movies is Pony Canyon.

I heard an interesting rumor yesterday but can not confirm it just yet...could Tuesday be the day that we find out just how deep Paramount's love is for DVD? Should we be dancing for joy? You know, sometimes I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose. Or is the rumor I was provided just a bit of jive talkin'? (Got your boogie shoes handy? Personally, life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah, stop all these song title puns! Got the Fever yet?)

Now in all seriousness, I have gotten three reports of Paramount announcing their first DVD releases on Tuesday. Titles are supposed to include Face/Off, Grease, Star Trek: First Contact, and a surprise. Whether or not that is Saturday Night Fever or Titanic (or none of the above), who knows. Every time I try to make a prediction about DVD release plans, I get knocked down, and that gets to be a little painful after awhile. So, come what may, just stay tuned and I'll be sure to keep you updated.

25 July 1998:

Happy Birthday, Dr. Jeff!

If anyone reads Japanese, here is that new release listing featuring region 2 DVD's that are Fox titles in the United States. (This page will take a long time to load as the front CGI is having to generate graphics for the Japanese character set.).

Is this a harbinger of similar releases on DVD in the United States? We can only hope.

Weekend update...I am working on that letter to Fox, but it is not coming easy.

It is interesting what a litle time will do for the perspective on a movie. I sit here just a few hours after seeing Saving Private Ryan, and many moments of the film still haunt me. I am struck also by the sheer terror of seeing a tank go after people in combat. As presented in the movie, it makes the T-Rex attack against the Hammond children in Jurassic Park look like child's play.

I hope by the time this instant classic makes its way to home video that Mr. Spielberg is supporting DVD.

I just got back from the last Friday night showing of Saving Private Ryan, once again on the Texas Giant screen at the U.A. Galaxy 9 in Dallas.

Tom Hanks gives one of the best performances of his career as Captain John Miller, whose harrowing experience on the beaches of Normandy is rewarded with a mission to find Private James Francis Ryan, one of four brothers serving during the allied invasion of Europe. Private Ryan's three other brothers were just killed in action; Miller and his squadron are to track down the remaining Ryan and keep him from harm's way.

As you have probably already heard, the battle sequences in Saving Private Ryan are the most graphic war scenes ever filmed. I can't help but wonder what it was really like (meaning that I suspect it was much, much worse in reality). One thing is certain: with ear-numbing digital sound and the proper level of subwoofers, this is about as close as this civilian ever hopes to come to battle action.

The sound really was superb. During the battle sequences, there were times when all channels were active with different sounds as that subwoofer track just kept on going and going. Do seek out the best possible THX-certified sound system if you choose to see this movie. And be forewarned: the movie is 170 minutes long. Don't have that Super Big Gulp while you are standing in line to see the movie. And yes, I had to stand in line all around the movie theater to see Saving Private Ryan. I even had to buy a returned ticket just to get a place in line (some college-age student just could not stand in line that long with no guarantee of good seats, so as I was almost turned away from a sold-out show, her tickets became available...and I even got to pay her student rate. Kids.)

So, if you can handle gripping war violence and some of the most intense action sequences ever filmed, or if you are like me and just have an affection for movies directed by Steven Spielberg, go see Saving Private Ryan.

24 July 1998:

Today's update will also be brief.

Contributed Reviews have been posted for the Pioneer DV-09, as well as a follow-up for the Yamaha DSP-A1 and the rebuttal review for the Pioneer DVL-909.

Fox has announced several Region 2 DVD releases, including:

• The Abyss (non-director's cut)
• Chain Reaction
• Courage Under Fire
• Edward Scissorhands
• Broken Arrow
• The X-Files (Squeeze/Tooms)

Fox, you try my patience. Make your choice.

23 July 1998:

Today was a much-needed day of rest. I hope to back in the swing of things tomorrow.

22 July 1998:

Pet peeve of the day: companies that are taking preorders for Titanic on DVD, quoting a price and including a street date. No one outside of Paramount knows when Titanic is going to be released on DVD! No one knows how much it will cost. Saying otherwise is deceptive, at best (although as long as you are not charged until it ships, one could argue that no harm was done).

When Titanic has a street date and price assigned, you will read it here, and that's a promise.

I am hearing murmurings that Blockbuster is scaling back on its plans to have DVD rentals in 1,000 of their stores nationwide. But no worries. In addition to national mail-order rentals from companies like NetFlix, Trent Fordham is still tracking his list of DVD Rental Locations, now online on a site he calls The DVD Post (I was pleased to see a rental location within walking distance of my parent's house...it's good to see Tulsa on the map!)

A little follow-up to yesterday: there is no known release date for Ghostbusters yet, although clips from it were shown in that old demo chapter that showed up on a lot of the early Columbia/TriStar releases. Of course, that demo was also showing From Here to Eternity and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and we don't have release dates for those either. But I'll bet you that the menu designs are done!

21 July 1998:

Samples and such...I received a stack of new DVD's today, and here are comments on the lot: the new MGM release of How The West Was Won is a disappointment. Instead of going with a new transfer, MGM has given yet another 2.35x1, non 16x9 transfer almost identical to the previous laserdisc release, which loses a large portion of the approximately 2.8x1 frame. The sound is the same matrixed surround track of previous issues, presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. No effort was made to remix the original Cinerama 7-channel soundtrack into DD 5.1. Although the colors are improved in this DVD version, I was expecting so much more. Maybe I was expecting too much.

Camelot: Special Edition looks and sounds fabulous in the samples I have taken of it. It has been remastered in 16x9 enhanced, 2.35x1 widescreen and DD 5.1, and even includes an isolated score track also in DD 5.1. Supplements include two featurettes and five trailers. I've only seen the stage version of Camelot which appeared some years ago on HBO. I am looking forward to finding the three-hour time slot to see the movie all the way through!

Wag the Dog wins the prize for most entertaining story to come out of Hollywood in a long time. Based on a book which had the premise that the Gulf War was staged to help George Bush in the polls, Wag the Dog puts spin-meister Robert De Niro together with Hollywood producer Dustin Hoffman to create a false war to divert the country's attention from a White House sex scandal. New Line's latest special edition DVD presents both a 16x9 enhanced 1.85x1 widescreen version of the film and a full frame version. The sound in Dolby Digital 5.1. Picture and sound quality are excellent. Supplements include a commentary with Barry Levinson and Dustin Hoffman, a 25-minute documentary, a trailer, an interview with William Macy on David Mamet, along with lengthy text supplements. Highest recommendation.

A review for the excellent Criterion edition of The Silence of the Lambs has been posted. I am told that the DVD transfer of this movie is faithful to the original D1 master prepared in consultation with cinematographer Tak Fujimoto.

The folks at EMA Multimedia, whose DVD Designs have graced such titles as Air Force One, Austin Powers, Ghostbusters and Men in Black (before Spielberg pulled his movies from DVD) are conducting the 1st Annual DVD Awards, celebrating excellence in everything from creative menu design to best features to best compression. You can vote for your favorites in a number of categories through the end of August; awards will be given in September. In support of this effort, The DVD Resource Page will sport a button through which you can access the DVD Awards site and vote!

I got almost as many comments in email on this as I did requests for information on Leon: Integral Version: Kevin Smith, who vocally denounced DVD in his commentary for the Chasing Amy laserdisc, has a website dedicated to his films. On this website, Mr. Smith has broken the news that he is working on a DVD special edition of his movie Mallrats.

If you have the Universal DVD of Uncle Buck and have experienced a synchronization problem with sound and video, please drop me a line at glitch@dvdresource.com stating the time where you encountered the problem and your DVD player. I am trying to establish a pattern for submission of a problem report to Universal Home Video.

20 July 1998:

You know that DVD is doing well when you can play "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" with only the movies that are released on DVD. That's the supposition in my latest column for NetFlix.

My goal this week is to establish and start working off a list of things to do for this site. There's that open letter to Fox, review guidelines, and several submitted reviews staged for posting. There are also some reviews I want to write myself, and some areas need a little dusting off, like the release listing by street date and the glitch list. Work is getting busy again, so it's time to structure things around here to keep it current and vital.

Two items are noteworthy today...later this week, stores should be getting Image Of An Assassination: The Zapruder Film in stock for next week's release. The clips I have seen so far on television have been very impressive, especially when the image between the sprocket holes is captured on video for the very first time. And this week, Saving Private Ryan opens in theaters. Steven Spielberg's latest film is said to include the most violent depiction of war ever filmed, starting with the opening half hour and D-Day. This movie is a must-see.

Well, in the words of the Seven Dwarfs, I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go!

19 July 1998:

A review for Do The Right Thing is posted, along with one for the Region 2 Papillon.

The second time is a charm. After a computer lock-up which claimed my first review, a second review of Leon: Integral Version R2 DVD is posted.

Hmmm...R2-DVD. R2-D2. Do you supposed a region 2 version of The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition will ever be available?

The review for U.S. Marshals is up.

18 July 1998:

Well, I just installed Photoshop 5.0. As you can tell by the graphic design of these pages, I am not a Photoshop whiz, but it never hurts to have the latest software!

Last night I watched Papillon (Amuse Video, ASBY-1001, Region 2) and I must say that it was an incredible experience, having only seen the edited and cropped-for-television version as a teenager many years ago. I'll post a technical review later this weekend, along with one for Leon. Both discs have some imperfections (for example, Leon has no menus and only nine chapter stops). But both discs also have a lot to offer, especially when you consider that Papillon has long since been out-of-print on U.S. home video, and Leon has never been released in its uncut form here.

If you have strong feelings about region coding, please feel free to share them in the General Discussion of the DVD Resource Forum. I have gotten some criticism for publicly stating that I watch Region 2 movies in Region 1. I'll just put it this way: if the studios show me the movies I want to see in Region 1, I will not have to buy them from other regions.

Have a great Saturday, everyone. Stay cool!

17 July 1998:

Updates this weekend will be mostly behind-the-scenes, although I do have a stack of new movies to watch and will try to review as many of them as possible.

In preparation for a two-week hiatus, Laserviews posted a lengthy update of street dates, dealer preorder dates, and new release announcements.

Laserviews posted the announcements from the current Image catalog yesterday, and announced street date changes for half the discs on my to-buy list, including Matinee, Nunsense, and Seven Samurai.

If I may toot horns a little bit, I must say how impressed I have been with the level of discussion on the newly-designed DVD Resource Forum, with over 2,400 messages posted in just under two weeks. The General Discussion has a humorous thread on DVD Addiction (actually, it's so true, it's frightening. You know, in addition to region locking and Macrovision, the studios must also be putting subliminal messages on DVD's that tell us to buy them! And I do apologize to those who volunteered to be moderators for the Forum...I will sort through your responses this weekend, I promise!)

Some news items of interest:

A new IDC survey has shown strong consumer interest in DVD players and Digital Televisions. TechWeb's Andy Patrizio provides an interesting analysis of this report, including some negative comments on Divx.

Pioneer announced that the second-generation Pioneer DVD-ROM drives are now available as branded products for consumer purchase. Of course, they won't be able to play the Divx discs that Pioneer just signed up to replicate.

Reuters is reporting that IBM and NEC are working on an electronic watermarking standard for DVD. The nice thing about watermarks is that they aid in copyright protection but are transparent, meaning that you won't need a special DVD player to accommodate them.

Of course, Divx is an incompatible, non-transparent technology. I wonder if this fact, compounded with lackluster sales in the two Divx test markets have led to recent instances of insider trading? If I read it right, Richard Sharp has exercised (or plans to exercise) some thirty percent of his stock holdings in Circuit City. Hmmm...

Quantel has been specializing in digital imaging for years, and has now given professionals (and the occasional lucky DVD Guy) a chance to see their latest work on DVD. Showing off the results of products like Domino, Editbox, and Graphic Paintbox 2 Quantel has prepared a new DVD demo disc intended for professionals who are involved with DVD premastering or who own content that they would like to transfer to DVD.

The disc, titled Looking Good on DVD, is dual-layered, and recorded at an average bit-rate of 9Mbps (of a possible 10Mbps). This extra high bit-rate provides a very high-quality image, evidenced in some major-artist music videos, clips from a couple of movies, and numerous commercials. There is even a cool behind-the-scenes look at DVD production at one of the major U.S. facilities. Again, you need to be an industry professional to get this demo disc, but even this rank amateur can tell that incredible picture quality is possible with the right equipment and mastering techniques. I hope that you and I, fellow DVD consumers, will see more of this ultra-high-quality video on future DVD releases!

16 July 1998:

I have revised the Resources page with all the links I have on code free/region free DVD's and DVD players.

I'm laughing my ass off...c|net has just published an article titled Divx: new convenience or digital disaster? by Matt Rosoff. Irwin Allen would be proud!

Region coding is the method by which DVD's are restricted from playback on DVD players from other geographical regions. For example, a Region 2 DVD purchased in Japan will not play on a Region 1 DVD player bought in the United States. There are several reasons this is desirable to movie studios, the biggest of which is keeping home videos out of countries where a theatrical release is pending. (It may take months or even years for a movie to play theatrically around the world, well after some countries already have the movie on home video).

I can understand this approach, and I fully support it. But sometimes, a movie studio will make a mistake in releasing a catalog title on DVD, with no sign of correction. Case in point: the movie Timecop was released in the United States as a scanned and cropped Universal DVD. But JVC in Japan released the movie in its full 2.35x1 widescreen image. Warner has released several early movies in full-frame or open matte only editions, when widescreen and 16x9 enhanced versions are available elsewhere.

What's a movie fan to do? Watch half of Van Damme in the pan&scan U.S. DVD? And after spending $$$$ on a 16x9 television, aren't you going to want the 16x9 enhanced DVD in order to preserve the full possible resolution? Well, unless you have a code-free or region-selectable DVD player, you are out-of-luck.

A code-free DVD player will allow you to play DVD's from any region. A region-selectable DVD player will allow you to dynamically pick the region you wish to associate with your player.

There are several sources for these players, either ready-made or in kit form where you can perform the modification yourself. In some cases, a DVD player is inherently code-free; you just have to know the secret to set it (for example, a certain high-end DVD player from early 1997 had a little internal switch you could set to make the player code-free. Nifty, yes?)

Well, I now have a region-selectable DVD player. Given that the certain high-end company changed its player design after that internal switch was revealed, I am reluctant to massively promote the exact method by which I rendered my player region-free. But it only required a screwdriver and basic soldering skills.

Last night, I purchased my first Region 2 DVD. As with the other DVD releases I mentioned, this is a version of a movie that is not available domestically, except in a truncated form. I am speaking, of course, of Luc Besson's Leon: Integral Version. Domestically, this is only available as The Professional, in an edition that is almost 23 minutes shorter than the director's cut.

I'll post a full review as soon as possible...but from what I have seen of this disc so far, I am very pleased.

15 July 1998:

Fox announcements or not, one thing is certain. A lot of you want to see their movies on DVD. But as long as the other companies are supporting the format with great content and prices, I guess I can get over it.

Now Spielberg is another story. I held the new box set laserdisc of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my hands tonight, and once again I looked at the $80 price tag and could not justify the purchase. Columbia/TriStar could easily put the movie on one side of a DVD and the new 140-minute documentary on the other side of a DVD, and offer a DVD special edition at their traditional $30 price. I have to think that will happen.

I heard a tempting bit of news regarding a certain television miniseries that is going to appear on DVD shortly...as soon as I get the go-ahead to post it, I will share it with you!

While I am not the most connected man in DVD-land, I do have my sources...

The story you are hearing is true. Fox has committed to DVD but their VSDA announcement was pulled at the last minute. It could be a week, it could be a month or more, but Fox will be announcing DVD support.

So what can we do to ease the process along?

Well, first I will tell you what not to do. Don't send email to Fox. Don't fax Fox. Don't call Fox. Don't write angry letters to Fox. That will not do any good now. What I would recommend (and what some of you have recommended in private email) is to have a single open letter written to Fox providing them constructive feedback. What I would offer to do is to provide such a letter and a mechanism for you to submit your virtual signature (your name and email address) for inclusion with the letter. I would then mail it off to Fox. (Please don't email me yet to indicate your "signing" this letter!)

One letter with a thousand signatures would be so much better than a thousand letters with one signature. I will put my writing cap on (and look for that cgi to register your name) and get back to you this week!

So, as of this writing, the only DVD holdout studio is Dreamworks. I wonder how long that will last?

So is anyone in the market for a domain name? I see that someone in the U.K. has purchased and is now auctioning www.dvdresources.com and www.dvd-resources.com. But before you decide to open a competitive website for those that can not type well, you will need to come up with a cool $25,000. Hold me back!

On a lighter note, our friends at Laserviews have been busy posting new release announcements for a multitude of titles.

Some of the announced titles include:

• City of Angels (Special Edition...the Nicholas Cage/Meg Ryan movie, not the musical)
• My Giant
• Carrie
• Logan's Run (Special Edition)

14 July 1998:

Laserviews posted today's street date confirmations and changes.

USA Today is reporting that Gone With The Wind will be released on DVD in October (thanks, Patrick Picking).

From the Confide Line comes reports on work being done behind-the-scenes...Panasonic, who is responsible for mastering and replication of many of the best DVD's on the market today, is working right now on Paramount DVD's. I also received an unsubstantiated report of executive-level private meetings held at VSDA...apparently, some video store execs are being told to expect Fox DVD participation by the end of the year, but not to expect Paramount to have Titanic ready for DVD release. (Then again, I have heard reports to the contrary on Titanic, so at this point I don't know what to believe.)

Have fun shopping on Street Date Tuesday!

13 July 1998:

I am moving the Fox DVD discussion to a Featured Topic on the DVD Resource Forum. I am then going to point the people at Fox towards this discussion so that they can see what y'all have on your mind. At this point, I think this is the most constructive thing we can do to encourage Fox to announce DVD support. Boycotts don't work, they filter our email, and letter writing has been done ad nauseum.

The last of Digital Bit's VSDA reports are online.

Here's an interesting trend I noticed on the DVD Insider web site. Since May, when taking the Top VHS Rentals into account, 6 to 8 of those titles have been available on DVD. For the week ending July 5, only The Rainmaker and Amistad are not available or have not been announced for release on DVD (Wag the Dog is incorrectly identified as not having a release date). One of the key factors for DVD acceptance is parity with VHS. I would say that even without Fox and Dreamworks in the mix, DVD is doing quite well! But we knew that already, right?

Have a great week, everyone!

12 July 1998:

Reviews for Jason and the Argonauts and Meet Wally Sparks have been posted.

11 July 1998:

Welcome to Saturday, and the review of the wonderful comedy The Freshman, along with a review of the surprisingly good espionage thriller, The Assignment.

In summary, here's the rundown of major DVD-related announcements made at VSDA this year:

Okay, pardon my little joke. Actually Warner's new pricing structure is a good thing, and there are plenty of new DVD's coming our way, but the news we craved, the announcements from Fox, Paramount, Dreamworks, Disney, and others failed to materialize.

I think of all those, Fox concerns me the most. We know Paramount is going to do DVD's, we just don't know what titles yet. Okay, patience is a virtue. Dreamworks is not a player yet as far a home video is concerned, although that could change as this summer's releases make it out of theaters. Disney is Disney. Their support of DVD is not as vigorous as other companies, but at least they are releasing some good movies.

So that leaves us with Twentieth Century Fox. They have one of the most coveted film libraries, but won't support DVD ostensibly because it is still a niche market. Well, Laserdisc held nothing BUT a niche market, and now it is dying. And Fox supports laserdisc. And Fox has at least signed up for Divx, although that decision surely has something to do with the payoff they are receiving.

I heard from a well-placed source that the Disney company was paid millions of dollars by the DVD Forum to participate in DVD, and that Fox wanted a better deal. Is the payoff in potential DVD sales not enough for Fox? Do they not realize that their movies would help solidify an emerging market, and indeed help drive player sales up to the level that they apparently deem is acceptable? Does anyone here NOT think that every DVD owner would buy The Star Wars Trilogy if it came out on DVD?

I am running out of constructive things to say here. I love movies. Some of my favorite movies are Fox films. And I can't see those movies on the best home video format on the market today. I've got several hundred dollars worth of DVD purchases mapped out already for Fox films, ranging from the Star Wars Trilogy, to the Alien series, to Cameron movies, to Patton, to Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, to classic science fiction like The Day the Earth Stood Still. And yet time stands still as Fox inexplicably sits on the sidelines.

Some people have had enough of this nonsense and are calling for a boycott of Fox. I am not sure this is a good idea; in fact, it seems pretty silly. But I do think it may be time to turn up the heat in a letter-writing campaign. If you have other ideas, I welcome your feedback. Think about this for the weekend, and I will post a follow-up on Monday.

10 July 1998:

Thanks to everyone who has wished The DVD Resource Page a happy birthday. This page was "born" a year ago today, making it the first website dedicated to all forms of DVD Resources, including reviews, special features, resources, and more. I want to thank everyone for helping to make this site a success, and I look forward to the coming year and beyond! I do have some exciting plans in store for the future, so stay tuned!

I have posted reviews for Sphere and Gattaca. I'll be catching up on a backlog of contributed reviews this weekend.

VSDA news is, well, boring. It sounds like we are going to be status quo regarding the state of all those areas that interested us: Fox, Paramount release dates, Spielberg, and so on.

From The Digital Bits comes the confirmation that Warner has announced DVD price reductions. There will be three tiers of pricing, at $14.98, $19.98, and $24.98 (with minimum advertised prices of $9.95, $14.95, and $19.95). DVD's for $10, groovy! (Hey, Warner, did you forget to fax your press releases to non-conference attendees?)

There is also a lot of buzz in email about the extent of Blockbuster's rollout for DVD rentals. It sounds like the national rollout is well underway in several additional markets.

Here's hoping that the rest of VSDA is not a bust...at least as far as DVD-related announcements are concerned!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

9 July 1998:

VSDA news? Yawn. For the latest, be sure to check out Bill Hunt's coverage on Digital Bits. As of this writing, there is still no Wednesday update, but we would have seen major announcements already over the press-release channels. I'm not holding my breath anymore for Fox or Paramount announcements, but that does not mean that they won't happen...

Meanwhile, Laserviews is not gone yet. The webmaster is back from holiday and a lengthy update of upcoming releases has been posted, including an upped street date on the Zapruder film DVD and word of an August release of the famous Michael Nesmith video "Elephant Parts"...Lucy and Ramona and their brother Sunset Sam will never look better!

I just finished watching The Boxer on DVD. I was surprisingly moved by the story and, interestingly enough, the music. There's good news and bad news with this DVD. The bad news is that the DVD case has the wrong audio format and aspect ratio printed on it. Rather than DD 5.0 at 1.66x1 aspect ratio as printed, the disc is actually DD 5.1 and around a 1.78x1 aspect. Don't be distracted by the improper labeling. The good news (well, on top of the real presentation format) is that the disc's supplements have finally been included as a part of the printed description on the DVD packaging. No more little stickers that get thrown away! Good job, Universal! Now if you would just author your DVD's so that we could switch audio soundtracks on the fly...

Hey, studios, how about some of that EXCITEMENT we crave at VSDA?

Yawn.

Let's see. Warren Lieberfarb announced yesterday that Warner has enjoyed $110 million in revenue from DVD.

Nimbus says they have pressed 3.5 million DVD's and DVD-ROM's in the last year.

And Apple has introduced a DVD player for the G3 PowerBook. (Note to Apple: thanks for the link. Now get a CLUE and don't forget the people that pulled you out of rock bottom. Your DVD solutions for G3-class machines have totally ignored the people that bought into Macintosh as late as a year ago. Do you actually expect me to buy a new computer just to get a DVD drive for it? Don't Think Different. Think Again.)

I received The Boxer, This is Spinal Tap, and Sphere yesterday. I watched Gattaca and Sphere. Gattaca wins the prize for most unexpected surprise: unadvertised special edition content, including still photos, a trailer, a featurette, and several deleted scenes presented as supplements. It's got a great story, too.

Sphere, of course, marks Warner's entry into the under $20 DVD market. It has a commentary track by Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson, trailers and TV spots galore (including several hidden in the "Reel Recommendations" menu), the usual text-based cast and background menus, and a 15-minute documentary on special effects. With a retail price right at $20, the street price will range from $16 on up. The DVD picture and sound quality is what you would expect. The 5.1 sound mix is especially good. And the story...well, when I see Michael Crichton's name associated with something, I have high expectations. I should have lowered them for this movie. It's a great DVD, though, and I hope that Warner continues to release more movies at this nice price (or less!)

8 July 1998:

Okay, I know yesterday's top-ten list was a trip to Fantasy Island. What do I really think will happen at VSDA? I don't know, but starting today we will all find out!

One of my all-time favorite movies is Who Framed Roger Rabbit. For those of you still buying the occasional laserdisc, you may be interested in the new "special edition" LD release, which features a Dolby Digital mix and a commentary track with director Robert Zemeckis, producers Frank Marshall and Steve Starkey, writers Peter S. Seaman and Jeffrey Price, and special effects supervisor Ken Ralston. It's an entertaining mix. Unfortunately, this title has a double-whammy going against it for near-term DVD release: one, it is technically Disney animation, and two it is an Amblin/Steven Spielberg production. The good news is that it retails for a mere US$30. The bad news is that it is still dated laserdisc technology, with a less-than-perfect picture...the chroma noise in Jessica Rabbit's hair is so distracting.

I sure hope Disney and Spielberg pull their heads out soon. And before someone takes aim at my purchasing a laserdisc, keep in mind that I only purchase 1-2 laserdiscs every 2-3 months. I used to purchase several laserdiscs every week, just as I do DVD's now.

Let's hope VSDA has some excitement today!

7 July 1998:

Remember that my updates to these pages are typically in the evenings and early mornings. If you want to keep up with the latest daytime VSDA happenings and (hopefully) studio announcements, tune in to the VSDA News and Rumors Featured Topic on the New DVD Resource Forum.

With VSDA a day away, it is so tempting to play with rumors and innuendo to make it look like I predicted the whole thing. Well, Stevie don't play that. I really have no clue what is going to go down in Las Vegas. I have high hopes, and those I will share with you in these:

Top Ten Good Things I Want To Happen At VSDA

10. Richard Sharpe will discontinue Divx and
    beg forgiveness from all the early DVD
    adopters he so alienated
 9. Steven Spielberg will personally call me
    and offer the first Dolby Digital production
    DVD copies of Men In Black, Jurassic Park, 
    Close Encounters of the Third Kind,
    and Raiders of the Lost Ark along with
    an invite to the premiere of Saving Private Ryan. 
 8. Fox will unveil that warehouse full of Independence
    Day DVD's.
 7. Disney will drop the 7-year moratorium cycle
    and commit to releasing DVD's of Fantasia, 
    The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas,
    Toy Story, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Snow
    White, and so on...
 6. DTS will announce "Just Kidding!"
 5. Paramount will reveal that all the talk
    of day and date DVD with VHS is true, starting
    September 1 with Titanic.
 4. Every studio will announce across-the-board
    price reductions so that DVD's will street
    starting at $10.
 3. Every studio will commit to 16x9 enhanced
    transfers of all their widescreen DVD's.
 2. Fox, MGM, and Warner will announce that by 
    Christmas, this Marnie Nixon musical quadruple 
    feature will be possible on DVD: The King and I, 
    West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and
    The Sound of Music.
 1. Touchstone/Disney will announce that 
    Armageddon will be available on DVD just
    in time for the holidays.

6 July 1998:

Hot late breaking news! Disney has entered into an international distribution agreement with Warner, according to this press release. Read it very carefully to see a mention of future international Disney releases, including classics such as Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland! What's good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander...let us all hope to see these titles and more announced soon for U.S. release!

The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) Convention is this week. I have set up a featured discussion on the New DVD Resource Forum, and of course, will cover relevant developments here.

Speaking of the New DVD Resource Forum, I appreciate the feedback and your response to the new software package. I have eliminated one of the frames, added a no-frames option, and even toned down the rules a bit. I would ask, however, that everyone consider using your real name in your registration since your email address will not be displayed (and you are, therefore, pretty much anonymous).

A brief follow-up to my mention of Blockbuster renting DVD's in three markets. The significance here is that the DVD's will be rented in ALL STORES in the market, not just a select few. I recognize that Blockbuster rents DVD's in select stores across the country, and has for some time.

And now, for the people who have written to me to complain about my comments on Armageddon, I have a couple of things to say: the movie met my criteria for entertainment; it delivered exactly what I was looking for; it looked and sounded spectacular; it was fun; it was a chance to disengage the brain and munch on popcorn. Yes, your results may vary. Yes, there are better movies. But don't you ever go out to see a movie just to have a good time? You know, I also liked Howard the Duck so much that I sat through it twice. Does that make me a bad reviewer? I guess I'm just a little surprised at how polarized the discussion has been on Armageddon. It is, after all only a movie!

Off the soapbox, I also saw Out of Sight and found it to be interesting. I think George Clooney has finally found a movie role that will make his departure from E.R. this next season viable. My only complaint about the movie was the freeze-frame style used in the cinematography. That got really old.

Next up in the summer movie season...Lethal Weapon 4 and Small Soldiers... and maybe if I want to go slumming, BASEketball (the trailer is laugh-out-loud funny.)

Thank goodness the DVD releases have slowed down a bit to allow forays into the movie theater!

5 July 1998:

Now here's something interesting...did you notice how the September Disney releases have not been announced yet, whereas the October releases have? Word I've got is that there may be a major announcement planned at VSDA by Disney...and it may involve the release of a classic animation DVD in September. Pinch me!

4 July 1998:

I believe I have fixed the email glitch with the new forum. Sorry for the inconvenience...for the 20 or so people that have already registered, please do so again and your password should be mailed out to you this time (I hope).

A new DVD Resource Forum is available for your use. Please take a moment to check it out, and do let me know if you have any difficulties with it. Although I believe everything is set up correctly, there is still a chance of a few kinks. (I am working on making the old forum messages available. This may take some time, however.)

The latest anonymous tip I have received says that the U2 Popmart Tour DVD will be released this October 13! It features 22 songs and is taken from the Mexico City concert, and it will feature multi-angle content! And from the Paramount rumor mill comes word that a special edition of U2: Rattle and Hum, complete with additional footage over and above the theatrical and previous home video release, will be unveiled around Christmas! (Thanks, Anonymous!)

To those of you in the States, happy Fourth of July! To everyone else, happy Saturday!

It gave me a perverse thrill to go to a nearby laserdisc store yesterday where they had the new special edition LD of Independence Day on sale. I touched it. I caressed it. I held it in my hands. Then I put it back. This two-disc laserdisc set sells for the insane price of $100. No thanks. I don't buy $100 laserdiscs anymore.

I just watched the Criterion DVD edition of John Woo's Hard Boiled. Wow. I don't believe I have seen so many people get shot in a movie in my life.

Okay, I'm looking for a few good insiders. If you have connections with Fox or Paramount, and have knowledge that you are willing to share for selective and anonymous publication, I would like to hear from you now. These VSDA rumors are getting on my nerves. The suspense is killing me, and I think the same can be said for most DVD fans. If you have legit inside information, drop me a line at confide@dvdresource.com. Again, your postings to this address will be taken in confidence. Thanks.

3 July 1998:

Two thumbs up (and one hanky) for Armageddon. It is the best summer movie I have seen in years. If you are a fan of the action/adventure genre, or you crave astonishing, whiz-bang special effects and ear-blistering multi-channel sound, then go stand in line and see this flick. It's a rollercoaster ride (actually, a Space Shuttle ride). I really liked the performances all around, but especially those of Liv Tyler and Billy Bob Thornton. Don't let mixed reviews deter you from seeing this fun summer movie. If you want more substance, go see Saving Private Ryan. And Disney, I am already wanting Armageddon on DVD, so start working on it NOW!

I am very behind in my email and in posting reviews (and review guidelines). I hope to get a little caught up this Fourth of July weekend, although I am also going to take some time off to relax.

For those of you who, like me, have a long weekend, I hope it is a safe and enjoyable one.

And now I think I am going to put together a diverse patriotic DVD film festival. So far, I've got Glory, Born on the Fourth of July, The Great Escape and The People vs. Larry Flynt. If you have any other suggestions as to what might constitute a patriotic movie on DVD, declare them!

Here are some of them:

• Air Force One
• Apollo 13
• The Best Years Of Our Lives
• The Green Berets
• Memphis Belle
• Platoon
• The Postman
• Red Dawn
• The Right Stuff
• Starship Troopers (I think this is a different kind of patriotism, but hey...)

• Air Force One
• All The President's Men
• Dave
• In The Line of Fire

And now for something completely different...I'm going to shut off the computer and see Armageddon!

An anonymous source has confirmed that Blockbuster Video stores in Richmond, San Francisco, and Salinas/Monterey are going to be receiving around 100 DVD titles for rent and sale, including current Warner and New Line releases. Most stores in these markets have received the discs already, and have been instructed to store them in the back room until the formal rollout later this month. (Thanks, Anonymous!)

Mike McKiernan passed on an email from Disney regarding their upcoming releases. Interestingly enough, there is no word of what (if anything) is coming in September. The word I have gotten is that the October releases will be formally announced at VSDA: To be released on July 21st:

• An American Werewolf In Paris
• Mr. Magoo
• Scream 2
• Swingers

• Judge Dredd
• Phantoms
• Titanica

• Beauty And The Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
• Deep Rising
• Kundun
• The Santa Clause

2 July 1998:

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is going to be released on DVD???

Come on, Disney, don't bore us with this made-for-video crap. SHOW US THE CLASSIC ANIMATION ON DVD!

(Disney is poised to announce this "animated" title, as well as The Santa Clause, Deep Rising, and Kundun for release on October 13. And you saw it here first!)

10. Divx
 9. Video companies that don't announce DVD support
 8. Major magazines that think I should let them 
    reprint this site for free
 7. Video companies that announce DVD support then 
    don't announce any titles
 6. DTS and their whole marketing scheme
 5. Disney and their total lack of 16x9 enhancements
 4. Spielberg for not stepping up to the plate
 3. MGM for putting James Bond movies on moratorium
 2. SPAM (abusive email, not the processed food...well, 
    the processed food, too)
 1. People who spoil movies by giving away plot points

10. People who offer and accept constructive criticism
 9. Whitey and Miss Kitty
 8. 1,000,000 hits and still going strong
 7. Vacation from the day job
 6. Eighty-foot screens and THX-certified digital 
    sound systems with stadium-style seating
 5. Sondheim musicals
 4. Special Edition DVD's at low prices
 3. Seeing Paul McCartney perform Beatles songs 
    live in concert (Texas Stadium, Dallas, 1990)
 2. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
 1. Seeing The Star Spangled Banner

1 July 1998:

I'm running late, so today's update is going to be brief...Laserviews has posted DVD News with word of new releases of Merlin by Artisan and Dead Alive by Trimark (among others). It turns out that Artisan also has rights to one of my favorites, the television miniseries of Lonesome Dove. Here's hoping that we will see that one on DVD one of these days!

I have heard now that the Laserviews release information will be merged with the website at Image Entertainment, although there is no timetable for that.

I got feedback from several folks on European DVD's from Warner. Yes, the European release of The Bodyguard is indeed widescreen and 16x9 enhanced, unlike the domestic United States release. Furthermore, most of these releases are widescreen-only, not both widescreen and pan&scan. (That works for me personally, but I fear that we still have a long way to go over here before widescreen movies are universally accepted.)

Happy July, everyone! Don't tell me about Armageddon yet until I have a chance to see it!