Popularity...it's a good thing!

[KennyG]

It wasn't long ago many people were afraid that the growing popularity of DVD would ruin the format...we'd get crappy transfers and pan & scam would become the norm...after all "Joe 6-pak" doesn't care, right?
I think we can safely say that AOR is here to stay, and the transfers just keep getting better and better (ok maybe not MGM's)
However the best thing about DVD's popularity is...pricing
Today I went to my favorite DVD store to pick up a couple recent releases, I had $100 to spend. I was able to pick up Cleopatra, Red Planet, 6th Day, Frenzy, and Zardoz at under a "C" note!!!
Back in the days of Laser Disc you were very lucky to pick up 2 or 3 titles and come in under $100.
I love it...Kenny

[Lexman]

yeah, mainstream sure has it's advantages Kenny! I admit, DVD has surpassed even my own expectations of where it would be at this stage. That's a good thing.

Even better is the fact we get the opportunity to buy the DVD most of the time, when the video tape is just being released to the general public for rental only. Truthfully BB probably loves it too, because they can buy the DVDs even cheaper than we can, and the video tapes used to cost them like 50-100 bucks or so is what I used to hear. I have no idea if that's accurate. I know it wasn't quite like when they are released to the masses.

Lex

[Ken McDaniel]

Unfortunately here in Oklahoma I must be stuck in the Pan & Scan woods. My local rental place (Hastings) is only carrying the Pan & Scan version of Remember the Titans. Damn, it's so depressing. Why didn't Disney just double side the disc?




Ken

[KennyG]

Do they carry ownly pan&scam ratio on all their movies? Soon the country will be divided into AOR regions, and P&S regions...I can safely say we are a AOR region

[Ken McDaniel]

I think it's a disturbing trend that if the option is available to go pan & scan they will. I had a discussion with the manager and they have the numbers to back it up. If they stick 50 copies out (25 OAR, 25 P&S), the J6P will overwhelmingly pick the P&S verson almost 10 to 1. I know that is also the fact in OKC, Dallas, Houston, and Killeen. I'm afraid the studios are beginning to pick up on this.




Ken

[KennyG]

If J6P's TV goes from 4:3 to 16:9 guess which aspect ratio he rents?
I say we gotta push HDTV!!!

[Bob Santos]

Yep.. JSP is a problem.
I have had countless conversations with Joe about
Pan&scan vs. widescreen.
They usually always understand after it is explained to them, and learn to prefer the better format.
Heck my 67 year old Dad prefers letterbox movies on his 27" TV. Allthough he cant seem to remember the name letterbox. LOL he calls it postage stamp close enough for Daddy six pack..
Back to the topic at hand... Yes I think popularity is a great thing. I can remember when I bought my DVD player back in the end of 1997 there something like 50 movies availabe. Now there are no worries.

[Bing Fung]

I had read at one time that DVD would go though a price increase due to Rental pricing. Seems this did not happen at all.

This is a good thing. Still makes me wonder why some DVD's are priced at $35+ and most are at $26 CDN.




Bing

[KennyG]

Bing brings up the one thing that might be the downfall of popularity...rental pricing.
I suppose it's still possible that will happen, at this time we may be in an "experimental" stage.
Blockbuster and Hollywood video are renting DVD, and of coarse we all know the same discs they are renting also start selling through on the same date. If their rents keep climbing at a steady rate, perhaps DVD will never have the same rental/sales structure VHS has.
It's amazing, Gladiator has just come out on VHS, and the Patriot isn't even out yet.

[JonMarsh]

It's the delay in release for sell through that worries/bothers me, because there's been more than a few rumblings that Blockbuster wants this, to optimize rental income before you can go out and buy it on the net or at CostCo or Best Buy; that's how they make out like bandits on VHS, and believe me, they're not bashful about throwing their weight around with the studios from time to time (even withholding movies from rental release) when they want to put pressure on a studio to get what they want.

Regards,

Jon




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