Were you ever really excitied to buy a DVD, and then . . .

[OneofRyan]

when you got it home, you realized that it pretty much was not worth your time? Case in point - A Few Good Men Special Edition.

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Captain I'm picking up a website -
http://www.geocities.com/ryanofone/The_Game_Grid.html

[Triple HHH]

Yeah, I was excited about the new Cast Away release. When I got it home, I got bored of it really fast. (Commentary and supplements weren't all that hot). I was thinking to myself, "Well, there goes another $20 bucks."(plus 8.25% tax)

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"Ow, it damn well hurts!"
"It's supposed to hurt."
"What's the trick then?"
"The trick is not MINDING that it hurts."

[Triple HHH]

For some reason my post got stamped on three times??

I tried deleting it, but only the forum leaders can. Sorry about that guys, dunno why it does that.

[1138]

Nor prob. It'll get fixed eventually.

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1138 - DVD File Forum Greeter/Moderator
Professor of archeology, expert on the occult, and how does one say it? Obtainer of rare antiquities.

[Rouge 2]

Don't get me started on the Muppet Movie fellas. It's my favorite movie and, well, you all know how the DVD turned out!

Death to Columbia/Tri home video!

[saraswati]

Nope, never happened. of course, this is probably for 2 reasons.

a) i'm poor, and every time i shell out $20 or so for a DVD, i have to plan for it and make sure i'm getting my money's worth.

b) i buy my discs more on the basis of whether i like the movie and would want to own it or not. and it usually doesn't bother me if the disk doesn't have a lot of extras, because i bought the movie because i like it on its own terms, not because it's vital that i own the latest cool DVD.

of course, there are a few discs i've been dissapointed in, and it would thrill me to no end if they rereleased some of my currently-bare boned favorites with a ton of extras. but i don't find myself getting burned very often.

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deep in the heat of the bush...

[Miggy]

Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition!!!! After a year, I still feel the burn.

Miggy, the Thief

[SeanL]

I've never gotten burned or felt ripped off.
When I get a dvd, it's because I want it for the movie first and foremost. If it has good extras...fine, if it doesn't, ohh well, I wanted it for the movie in the first place.



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Sean

I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, when he said, "I drank what?"

[Rouge 2]

That's all well and good but suppose that the movie has no extras and looks and sounds bad. I'd rather have excellent transfers than any extras.

One of the reasons I don't hate Paramount also known as Patheticmount is that a good deal of their transfers look and sound great, they just make sure even less well known, yet excellent films, like the Parllax View look and sound very good. I don't like it when a studio (Columbia) doesn't even remaster the prints

[indiephantom]

I've purchased DVD's that left me feeling less than happy. Usually, I will just sell them off later. I enjoy DVD's too much to have any real regrets. I just hate truly getting ripped off by a poor transfer from a "no name" company like Hollywood Classics. They use EP quality VHS for masters. I hope whoever is responsible for them rots in heaven.

I agree that Paramount is solid for giving great transfers. That's the most important thing for me.

[RBB]

I feel the same way. I just hope that they focus on the transfers and sound mixes first and foremost. The fact that I may have to switch the Godfather II discs doesn't bother me at all, as long as it is really due it being necessary for quality.

I love extras, as well, but I try to not let it affect my buying decision as much as the actual film does.

As far as being disappointed, I don't think I have been that disappointed with something I've bought, as far as content goes. I have rented many discs where I thought the extras they were touting on the box were a lot less than promised. And commentaries can be VERY lame, so I don't even listen to them unless I really appreciate the work.

I have, however, bought something only to look at it 6 months later and think "why did I buy this, I'll never watch this".


[This message has been edited by RBB (edited 07-09-2001).]

[Marq]

In the Line of Fire: (good extras, movie wasn't as great as I recalled)

Unbreakable is okaaaaaay, but somewhat disappointing in the extras area. Good movie though. I liked it more thanthe Sixth Sense.

[IRISH TENOR]

Escape From New York - ooh... its cheap! Bah the transfer is too.

An travel dvd of Italy set the classical music. Only had minor bits of Venice & Florence. Should have been longer.

[Taxi]

Mr. Holland's Opus

Terrible transfer of one of my favorites.

(Runner up: Pitch Black. This movie just plain sucked, and everybody said it was so good. Vin Diesel was good, but the rest was too forgettable.)

[UserNameUndecided]

I hate admitting this, it's so embarrassing, but I spent $40 on a bootleg "all regions" version of Crouching Tiger back in March. I bought it on Ebay, and knew perfectly well that their was a chance that it would not work on my player (it didn't), but I decided to risk it. To add to the idiocy of my impulse buy, a couple days after I had won the auction, I found the same thing on some vcd online store for about $17!

It did work on my sisters player, that she got for her room only about a month later, but I haven't even felt like watching it!

Oh well, I am obviously embarrassed by this. $40 for a crappy disc that I knew would be released stateside officially in about 2 months!
I did though, learn a valuable lesson. I now spend at least a week deciding whether the price of a disc is truly worth it before purchasing it.

So...do I win a prize or anything?

Actually, I'm so cheap that I get disappointed with rentals when they suck.

I rented "The Saint," which is one of my favorite movies, and was looking forward to the director's commentary.

Damn, he sounded like he was reading an essay on the movie written by a 6th grader.

Oh well.

[Logan 5]

I can name two huge burns right off:

• the original DVD release of "The Crow" (poor image transfer)
• the original DTS DVD release of "Jurassic Park" (poor audio transfer)

Fortunately both of these have since been re-released.

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RENEW OR RUN.

[Logan 5]

I have, however, bought something only to look at it 6 months later and think "why did I buy this, I'll never watch this". -RBB

Hey RBB ... you're definitely not alone there ... check out the thread: "tell me why i should keep Requiem"

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RENEW OR RUN.

[Shmoooooo]

By far the worst disk I ever bought ... 1941, I had never seen the movie, but had read some reviews that thought it was ahead of it's time and would be more appreciated today. That topped off with the fact that it starred John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd (I'm a HUGE Blues Brothers nut), and it was directed by Steven Speilberg, well I thought, how could I go wrong ... famous last words. Not only was the movie one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but the transfer was almost as bad ... and to top it off I spent $40 Cdn. buying the goddamn movie. What a jip.

[Poidog]

To be very general, about 75% of my 700+ DVDs.

Although I like most of my titles, that 75% won't be watched again for a long time, if ever. Even with friends coming over (a rare occurence), they won't be watching all of them.

Even when I want to watch something again, I have a hard time taking it off the shelf. It's because it's still fresh in my mind. When I watch a movie, I want to have sort of forgotten it, but there are too many that I can't forget. Even awesome movies like T2 can't be watched over and over because it gets boring knowing what's going to happen, even if the sound and picture quality are top-notch.

That's why all these big-title announcements are not exciting to me. It's like that "Holy Grail" thread ... you anticipate a big title, get it, slobber over all of it, then put it away and not watch it again for a long time, if ever. This is just me.

All of these purchases were due to the "gotta have them" syndrome and being an early adopter of DVD. With the bills piling up and other family responsibilities, this spending habit has got to stop!

Is there a DVD Anonymous Support Group anywhere???

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Aloha & Mahalo,
Poidog

I think hands down the most disappointing dvd I've bought has to be Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It has jsut about the worst transfer I've ever seen. It's actually almost unwatchable!

[saraswati]

mscheuerman -- holy grail is about to be rereleased with a new transfer and redone sound. i saw it in the theater (they gave it a very limited theatrical rerelease), and it looks way better. you can tell the difference between characters, you can see the colors, the sound isn't tinny. it's great! sell or trade your shitty copy before the new version gets out...



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deep in the heat of the bush...

Paramount upsets me because of the lack of extras. Also, I rented Hunt for Red October to see what it was like before I purchased it. I thought the transfer was pretty lousy.

I enjoyed Cast Away but would have rather heard the director's voiceover, not the sound guy telling me what brand of crackers he used to get a certain sound. :-)

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Bob

[Krypto the Super Dog]

Clerks the animated series

I have watched all of kevin smiths movies and own them on dvd. I had seen the dantes trial episode and thought it was hilarious. I eagerly anticipated the DVD of all the episodes. I bought it and watched all the episodes twice (with commentary and without). I soon realized that the episode I had seen on tv was the funniest one and eventhough this was the uncensored edition it was obvious from the commentary how much of the good stuff that could have been was hacked and slashed out by the powers at ABC. I was expecting great things and was disapointed severly. Plus I spent about 40 bucks(CAN) on the disk.

[haveapez]

Tonight my girlfriend's mom just bought the old Dune movie and Last of the Mohichans(sp?) for 35 bucks a pop and neither of them have much in the way of extras. Both have good transfers... but I was hoping for a little more. Oh well, I guess I would've found them cheaper and wouldn't have felt the burn... but I guess the bottom line is I'm happy she got the movies.

[Vigo Sprax]

I impulse bought Ronin, it was at a time where I hadn't bought a title for a while and felt like well- I deserved one! While I remember it fondly from theatres its just not something I'm gonna watch for anther 10+ years and the extras were kinda poor. Ontop of that, the first day of owning it the snap broke so it won't stay shut.

Comedies are best for rewatchability, then action movies, I'll almost never buy drama.

[toonces]

To reduce my utter disappointment from a DVD purchase, I always rely on our editorial friends at dvdfile.com. I value their reviews on the DVD's video, audios and extras ....and generally I base my purchase decision on this information.

Keep up the good work, thanks!

[Marty Milton]

When discounts and coupons were flowing freely I used to purchase movies that I only had a "borderline" interest in. Bicentennial Man was one that I wouldn't have purchased without coupons and a 40% pre-order discount. I have become very choosy about the movies I purchase now.

[boc4ever]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind...obviously Spielberg's vision isn't what the audience expected...

[bchase25]

I find that if i don't run out and buy a dvd the week it comes out I can then be a little more objective about buying dvds. For instance I was all set to buy Snatch when it came out(2 discs, extras, really like Lock Stock). But I waited and now I'm thinking I don't really want it. I may watch it once and really didn't like the movie that much so the extras wouldn't be that interesting. I'd be better off getting something older that I haven't seen(for instance tora tora tora) because atleast with that I'll probably watch it a couple times and be interested in the extras on my first viewing.
I too bought CastAway and haven't even watched it yet. I'm not really excited about it too much after that release day excitement wore off. I should of bought Traffic with little or no extras, atleast I really enjoyed the movie.
My trick is not to buy anything(i really try) during the week of release. Except for the movies I know I want for the long haul(Crouching Tiger, Requiem). And I always read the dvdfile review first!

[katin-crawford]

Well I saw Close Encounters when it first came out - saw the various versions in the theater numerous times but I have not seen it since the last version that came out in 1980 or so. I love the movie - but after I watched the DVD I thought, "Now just when am I going to watch this again?".

How many times do I say that to myself when I buy a DVD, "Great! Just like I remembered it, but I doubt I'll ever watch the DVD again anytime soon."

Let's see:

Bad Lieutenant (sold it)

Lain (all 4 DVDs, Japanese Anime - how else was I going to see this series? Really good trip-out Japanese Anime but who is going to watch this more than one time completely through? Sold them for good prices at least)

City of Lost Children. Once again here is a movie that I wasn't going to be able to see any other way. It took me 3 times to finally see it all the way through - but the third time I loved it. Of course I probably won't watch it again until I'm in a really head splitting mood.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I thought this was my favorite Sinbad movie, but instead it was Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (no, it's not a parody of Rocky III - heh heh). I loved all the Sinbad movies but this one was my least favorite. Oh well. Still has an awesome documentary that was worth of the price of admission.

Braveheart. I love this movie - bought it the first day it came out - but I still haven't found time to sit down and watch it. Perhaps my house's central air needs to be cleaned out.

See I'm lucky - I have a more all consuming habit than DVD's - classical music CD's. I am a classical music nut - oh did I mention I am a science fiction and fantasy book nut as well. Those are my two all-consuming passions - with movies trickling in behind. Still besides my all-time favorite movies on DVD the only DVD's I'll buy are ones that are movies that I've always wanted to see or heard about that I can't see any other way (i.e. art house movies or obscure movies that lasted one or two weeks in one or two movie theaters in the Los Angeles area and were never heard from again).

Of course once you've watched Gladiator and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon over 30 times each on DVD and then look to your other DVD's that you've watched at least 10-20 times each (I have over 100 DVD's) you kind of want to go out and buy something out of the ordinary that you usually wouldn't buy because George "I am God, and only I decide when my movies come out on DVD" Lucas hasn't released the original Star Wars Trilogy or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sometimes you score with one of your favorite movies of all-time that you would have never heard of otherwise: The Element of Crime, The Third Man, and Titus. And sometimes you blow your money on movies that are good but that you'll probably never watch again like Perfect Blue, Run Lola Run, and Dark Crystal.

Enough babbling for one day.

the worst dvd special edition has to be halloween h20. they lied about the specs on the cover jacket & the retail price was a whopping $39.95 for a no thrill dvd. this has to be one of the biggest all time scams.

[Soggy Bagel's Revenge!]

JAWS. I bought it, watched it once, watched the documentary once, and haven't viewed it ever again.

Thanx,
Brook

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Go to the missing title art gallery for fun comics, creative writing, and original short films!

or, visit Cheap Thrills ...or more? for lots of horror cinema fun!

[OneofRyan]

I wish I could see the regular verson of Close Encounters. Some of the scenes that were cut were very interesting. And, I personally liked the scene inside the mothership. Beautiful.

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My website - www.geocities.com/ryanofone/The_Game_Grid.html

[Shmoooooo]

the scene inside the space ship (which BTW is included in the extra's disk) was NOT part of the "regular version" of CE3K, it was shot for the re-release ... I would be willing to bet my entire DVD collection that you'll NEVER see a Speilberg approved DVD with that ending tacked onto the movie, as he hates it and regrets ever shooting it.

[Logan 5]

yes ... he definitely thought it was best left to the audience's imagination! It was the studio that was so adamant about adding those interior shots.

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RENEW OR RUN.

[Jedi Justin]

Although I thought the quality of the Close Encounters DVD was absolutely atrocious (read my review dvdivas.net), I did enjoy the documentary. I thought "The Game" was a horribly artifacted and grainy transfer, with none of the features of the box set. But I would have to say that any film put on DVD with only a mono track, particularly a 1.0 mono track, is a bad disc. If you're going to put a film on DVD, then clean it up or forget it.

[bobbyjt]

Haha, I have the same syndrome, I am a college student but managed to purchase 325+ DVDs. My addiction began with the enticement of those darn online coupons early in the birth of DVDs. Recently, I try to solve this DVD addiction by purchasing VHS tapes (250+ and growing) that I didn't feel like forking over for the DVD price. In the meanwhile, my stomach is growling and churning since each time I open the refrigerator, I see my Brita water container, a jar of mayonaise, and some fast food sauces. So there you have it, I made a pack with the DVD Devil...my lunch money for alittle DVD action.

Originally posted by Poidog:
To be very general, about 75% of my 700+ DVDs.

Although I like most of my titles, that 75% won't be watched again for a long time, if ever. Even with friends coming over (a rare occurence), they won't be watching all of them.


All of these purchases were due to the "gotta have them" syndrome and being an early adopter of DVD. With the bills piling up and other family responsibilities, this spending habit has got to stop!

Is there a DVD Anonymous Support Group anywhere???

[This message has been edited by bobbyjt (edited 07-12-2001).]

[broca]

When I first got my player I would buy about 3-5 DVDs every 2 weeks (coinciding with a paycheck). Now, I'm finding that the thrill of the format is gone. Yes, I still love all the extras you can get with some of the titles, but overall, I would say my honeymoon is over. I'm now in what I would like to call the "Blockbuster" mode. If a DVD release will be available readily at the local video store, chances are I won't buy it. More obscure releases or re-release Special Editions won't be found at the video stores and if it's for a movie I want, then I'll buy it.

My collection consists mostly of comedies (which are infinitely watchable), European horror films, and music DVDs. Throw in all of the Prisoner sets and there you have it.

I too was disappointed with the Clerks 2-disc cartoon set, but how else was I to see those remaining episodes that never aired?

[Shmoooooo]

Why is it that everyone is so down on Mono sound??? I mean I understand that a DTS 6.1 track is going to blow away anything that was ever done on Mono ... but if Mono was what the director originally wanted, then wouldn't going to a 5.1 track be similar to watching the movie in an aspect ratio that the director didn't originally want??

I mean sure, I like 5.1 and granted when I watch Beatles: Yellow Submarine, I watch the 5.1 track not the original mono ... but, on the other hand I didn't complain when I bought Animal House and found out that was in Mono. Sometimes when someone alters a mono track into a 5.1 track they destroy the track ... sometimes the elements are not there so that they can do it properly. If we become audio snob's to such an extent then we will miss out on many of the great movies of yesteryear that were recorded in mono, and might not be able to be remixed into a good 5.1 or even stereo. Sometimes we just have to accept that some disks we but aren't going to be great reference disks ... sometimes we should just buy the disk 'cause it's a great movie that's on it. I think too many people forget about how important the movie is on the disk ... sound and picture quality are not everything. Granted the studio shouldn't make crappy transfers ... but sometimes the film elements don't allow for an A+ picture with an incredible earth-sharttering DTS track.

Phew ... and I just intended to write a three line response when I started this post, guess I got a little carried away with this rant ... oh well.