Video Asylum

Posted by Joe Murphy Jr (A) on November 23, 2002 at 15:21:48

In Reply to: Is the dvd industry nuts? To non-US inmates... posted by klaus on November 23, 2002 at 12:30:39:

Here are my bitches on the subject:

Where do R2 and other regions get off with getting DVD releases of US-made movies (for example, Terminator and Predator2) before the R1 release?

Why do other regions get DTS releases and R1 just gets a Dolby Digital version? Stargate was released "overseas" in DTS. The Monsters Inc DVD has a DTS-ES soundtrack in R3 and R4. These regions scrapped (righfully so) the 4:3 version of the movie.

By the way, why are there any 4:3 DVD releases of any post-1950s theatrical movie anyway? From then on, there were few (if any) 4:3/1.33 movies even made. As of the 1996 DVD birth, for those that don't have a 16x9 TV/monitor... too bad. They can use the zoom/stretch mode in the DVD player or watch the black bars. Why hold us back because they don't like progress. Instead of giving in to these people, the industry should educate them as to "why" there are black bars on their set. Check out the back of the "Hannibal" DVD for a step in the right direction. Do you really think DVD would have failed if it never included 4:3 material? No way! The worst that would have happened would be the earlier dust-gathering of 4:3 sets in wharehouses. And why are 4:3 sets still being manufactured anyway? Because there are ignorant people that are purchasing them! What's going to happen in a few years when 16:9 HDTV is widespread?

It's 2006. "Gee Doris, look at dem dar black bars. Just like on sum dem new fangled DVDs." His smiling common-law wife, proudly revealing her two remaining teeth, manages a comment. "Henry, pull ya britchiz up. Ya been sneekinup bahin dem cavs gain, havincha?".

And on the hardware side, why do many of the Japanese manufaturers keep their top Hi-End models at home and ship the US their 2nd best? For example, the US gets mostly CD changers while other countries get single, often better quality, units.

And what's the holdback on gold and champagne colored hardware. Seen the Denon DVD9000 and AVR A-1 on Denon's Japanese site? The US gets black. Oh boy! Couldn't we even get a choice?

By and large, the US spends more on electronics and movie purchases than any other region/country in the world. The US also produces the most movie content in the world. Why don't we at least get a choice of the best products and the first releases?