Friday, July 9, 1998
After no contact for several days, our DVD sPy has returned, this time checking in from Northern California with the following communique: "I've been going into the San Mateo Circuit City over lunch frequently, just to see how DIVX display has changed over time. Noted that a week or so ago they had signs on the stands of upcoming DIVX titles that were supposed to be available "mid-June". These signs were there until right around the last week of June. Then they all disappeared and no titles were in their place, just empty shelf space next to the crowded display of DVD's. The already present shelves of DIVX titles above them have looked relatively untouched and I don't think I've seen any person browsing through them at all since I've been wandering in there." Any CC employees care to corroborate the sPy's story?
Moments later, another operative in the field, (code name: ELVIS) just back from Viva Las Vegas, had this to say regarding the paragraph below... "Several sources confirmed that Paramount is going out full guns for the 4th quarter, so your source with the 25 titles is probably correct. Whether they are announced at the show or not is a different issue. Paramount reps were suppposed to show up for several DVD events, but never made it. My people tell me that they... basically... can't see past the release of Titanic. Also, the folks at Viacom are just a bit miffed about the entire DIVX contract. Fox, however, isn't announcing, because they haven't made a decision..." Thanks, Elvis. We're all shook up.
We hold these truths to be self-evident: I don't like starting or spreading rumors. I also know that many of our viewers like to hear whatever information is available - even if it can't be substantiated. Hence my dilemma. Well, I'm going to go against my principles just this once to pass on a tidbit of information from my local video retailer that has a helluva selection of DVD for rent and is as interested in the success of DVD as we are. He called me awhile ago, asking "has Paramount released their title list at the VSDA yet?" He figured that we'd be one of the first places to find out. I expressed my skepticism than any title annoucements would be forthcoming, but this is what he told me. His distributor told him that her Paramount rep leaked that 25 Paramount titles, along with dates and prices, would be revealed at the VSDA and that the distributor would have to wait until then to find out more. When pressed for titles, the Paramount rep smiled and gave her the old "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." routine. So maybe -- just maybe there's hope yet. But puh-LEEZ don't flame me if nothing happens. I'm just telling you the story to weigh for yourself. I'd give it more weight if I could talk to the distributor myself -- but my local video guy has no reason to make a story like this up. I know him well and can vouch for his credibility, but that's as far as it goes. Draw your own conclusions.
Musicland's June sales up 5.8%. A quote from the Chairman and CEO. "We're pleased with our June results and the strength of CDs and Digital Video Discs (DVD). Sales exceeded our expectations..."
VSDA closes ranks around DVD, with the statement: Video rentals seen as key to success of DVD medium.
Computer Retail Week features a fluff piece for Circuit City's Divx over the 4th of July weekend.
"Smiles everyone, smiles!" At a VSDA luncheon, Warner's Warren (as in Lieberfarb) expressed his contentment with DVD's progress but made it clear that while he believes digital cable and DVD can coexist -- there isn't room for DVD and Divx. The gauntlet has been thrown. Worry 'em & war-on-'em Warren! (try saying that fast three times -- betcha can't do it!) Lash-out and lance 'em, Lieberfarb!
Thursday, July 9, 1998
Looks like the webmaster at Laserviews is back from vacation. Lots of confirmations, street date changes and new DVD announcment from the B-grade producers, but no new title announcements from the major studios. And the sun sets once again in the West with no exciting news for DVD enthusiasts from Fox or Paramount. Ph-ph-ph-ittttt.
Image is going to release the benefit concert for Montserrat on DVD, featuring the music of Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Sting, Elton John and others that performed in Royal London's Albert Hall last September. No word yet whether it'll be in DD 5.1 -- but it sure as heck ought to be.
SPECIAL ALERT TO ALL THE STUDIOS RELEASING POOR OR MARGINAL QUALITY PAP disguised as DVD!! (see our latest editorial and if you're still not sure who you are, check our exclusive DVD opinion poll page). Miracle of miracles! Sony is demonstrating their DVD authoring technology at an upcoming conference. Every studio head worth his or her salt should be represented at this conference by a skilled technician with pad and paper in hand. What a beautiful world this would be if all DVD's lived up to the consistent standards of quality that Sony (Columbia Tri-Star) has set!
Bob Banka has done it again: His latest review, the first volume of the CHAPLIN MUTUALS, is now available, sponsored by our friends at Digital Eyes. On a personal note, I can't tell you how wonderful it's been to discover these gems for the first time in my life, but to also see the laughter and enjoyment these two-reel comedies bring to my entire family -- especially -- and surprisingly -- to my 14-year old son, who can seldom be talked into watching anything made before Star Wars, let alone something in black and white -- and silent. I'd also like to point out a page that may not mean much to many of you -- unless you see these films, perhaps -- but as one of my favorite, recurring actors in these short films next to Chaplin himself, Eric Campbell deserves a pothumous pat on his gigantic head for generating some of our deepest belly laughs around here. As Chaplin's foil in nearly all of these shorts, this guy really stole the show. And it's nice to see that someone gave him his due, some 80 years later.That someone is Diane McIntyre, founder of the excellent web-site The Silents Majority.
I really enjoyed readng Bill Hunt's first report from the evening before the VSDA in Las Vegas. Nice that he included photo's too. I have to hand it to the guy -- he really knows how to schmooze. However, yesterday's report link (with what I'm sure is filled with very interesting news about Bill's first full day at VSDA) yielded a disappointing FILE NOT FOUND error. Speaking of things not found, I noticed that there's no link to The BIG Picture on The Digital Bits Link page. How about it, Bill?
Lauding Lieberfarb: Seems like Warner Brothers was the only studio that had any news worth sharing yesterday at the VSDA. $110 million in DVD sales revenues. Way to go, Warren!
Meanwhile, in sunny San Diego, California, our latest opinion poll tracking indicates that a whopping 49% of you think that 20th Century Fox is most to blame for hurting the growth of DVD, yet 37% (the majority) feel that there's a pretty good chance that Fox will announce some kind of open DVD support.. The funny thing will be how quickly all will be forgiven IF Fox pledges support at the convention. If they don't, I respectuflly suggest you get their phone number and address from our Big Links page and tell 'em how you feel.
Wednesday, July 8, 1998
Here's an interesting article from the San Francisco Chronical that ran on June 24th - Private Screenings: There's More Than One Way to set up a Home Theater. I found it interesting that no mention was made of Divx whatsoever (remember, SFO is a Divx test market). All was well and good until I scrolled down the page and read the section called "To DVD or Not To DVD". It contained a very enthusiastic comment from a retailer and this little gem that caused the hair on my neck ti bristle: "Ken Zelin, co-owner of the House of Music in San Francisco, thinks DVD is a doomed source. ``I wouldn't let any of my customers buy a DVD player,'' he says. ``Manufacturers are already offering rebates on their systems, and there are not very many titles available.'' Other major drawbacks, he says, are that you can't record on the discs, and they won't play if scratched. ``I know I'm in the minority, but I think it's going to flop." What I'd like to ask Ken is: What are you recommending to your customers for a home theater video source? Then, I'd like to ask Ken's co-owner: When are you going to buy this clown out and start providing your customers with some real service? Maybe some of our San Francisco readers can pay a visit to the House of Music and ask those questions for me. Isn't that the place on Van Ness near Geary?
USA Today has an article about VSDA (how timely!) and the organization's feelings about DVD...All I can say is -- it's about time. I personally posted a note on the VSDA member forum about six months ago imploring the organization to embrace DVD's in anticipation of the Divx threat. But hey, better late than never, right? Let's hope so...
So... just how many DVD units have been sold so far? According to Nimbus (nimbus-bo-bimbus, banana-fanna-fo-fimbus) CD International -- 3.5 million, overall. Makes me wonder how many Divx discs have sold so far... In another related story, our good friends at (fe-fi-fo-mimbus) Nimbus have announced automated DVD packaging that's designed to put DVD product on the shelves quicker, helping to solve (at least in part) the annoying street date delays. The new Kyoto Amaray DVD disc packaging machine should be locked, loaded and ready to go by Labor Day. You mean to tell me that up until now, they've had to package these things by hand? Huh?? Special thanks to reader Dave Collier for reminding us that the 3.5mil figure is not a total overall figure, but rather Nimbus' own numbers -- others are producing discs, after all!
Creative Technologies breaks the $200 price barrier with PC DVD-ROM drives for $199 (with rebate). The specs are impressive -- you can even connect your PC to a DD 5.1 with the card. But again, we can't imagine our friends huddled around our 17" PC monitor with a bag of popcorn and a soda for two hours. Still, for under two bills, it's worth the upgrade just so we can have another excuse to goof off while we should be working...
After reading the above article, Mark Yates from England fired us this note: You don't have to "huddle round your 17" monitor. I have mine hooked up to my 25" TV - and it looks fantastic, it uses a 10 bit video DAC - has DD out and doesn't pause on RS-DL discs.
Short of having a remote control it's an excellent DVD player! It's also region free - thanks to a hack on the Internet. Thanks for keeping us humble, Mark. TBP feels that ANY device that sells DVD movies is a worthy investment and the Creative Technologies hardware/software combo sounds like just the ticket for a lot of people.
DVD movies no longer upset the Apple cart -- High-Quality DVD Movies Coming to a PowerBook G3 Screen Near You.
Image Entertainment To Release Cult Classics From Redemption On DVD. That means you can look forward to Italian-produced cult horror classics from the late sixties and early seventies like: ``Cold Eyes of Fear,'' ``The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine,'' ``Devil's Nightmare'' and ``The Reincarnation of Isabel''. You can look forward to them.
Well, this is it, the first day of the Video Software Dealer's Association (VSDA) convention in Las Vegas. The three burning questions of the weekend are: Is Paramount going to finally announce some titles and dates? Is Fox going to finally acknowledge the hundreds of thousands (and soon to be millions) of people wanting their product on DVD? Is Disney going to finally announce that some of their animation classics are coming to DVD? We'll let you know as soon as we do. Stay close.
Tuesday, July 7, 1998
If you've been with us from the beginning, you know that we like to do things in a BIG way at The BIG Picture. Our newest feature, The BIG Picture DVD Poll Page is off to a tremendous start. We're adding new topics all the time and our latest poll additions are "DVD's Pet Peeves" and "DVD Startup Preferences".
According to our latest poll results, Disney is ranking dead-last in terms of DVD quality of the five major studios listed, with just one out of 300 votes. Funny, when I was growing up as a kid, I always felt like Disney excelled in the details of whatever they did -- and perceived them to be the best in their class. MGM is close behind with only 4% of the votes. Your votes prove that even media giants like these can't rest on their laurels and coast to the accolades of the masses. I hope someone at these studios are paying attention. They cleary need to do a better job, overall.
After nearly a year of patiently waiting for The Shawshank Redemption to arrive on DVD (I sent my $2.50 in to DVD Direct last September), The BIG Picture has received word that the release has been cancelled due to undisclosed legal reasons and that refund checks are being mailed out to those that requested this title as their "buy 4 get one free" choice from Warner. On a personal note, I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed I am. If any of our United Kingdom cousins reading this feel the least bit of pity -- I'd sure love to find my way towards a copy of the new widescreen version of this film that you successfully lobbied for on DVD in England. Hmmm... I smell a new editorial or poll about DVD "pet peeves" coming your way real soon.
Zens Hot Home Theater News has posted what they claim is the first screen shot of the Titanic DVD Title screen and that "they are trying" for a day and date DVD release with VHS.
However -- and this is a big however, Ryan Mannion zapped us an e-mail saying: "TITANIC screen shot: definite fake. Why? I created it back in May during the fake-screenshot frenzy in alt.video.dvd." Ryan -- I hope this leads to a job for you in some post-production house earning thousands of dollars a month. Nice fake. Thanks for the tip-(of the iceburg) off.
The DVD boycott isn't working... People still need PC's and appliances. Circuit City reports record June earnings. We're sure that Richard Sharp is also bolstered by the surprising news that he is not considered to be DVD's public enemy number one -- at least not according to our latest polls...
If you think that we've been getting a steady stream of DVD titles up until now, get ready for a software explosion in the next 12 months. You'll also be seeing more small businesses popping up offering "high-quality VHS or 8mm to DVD transfers" of your favorite home movies. At least, those are my predictions after reading the press release: Wired, Inc. Introduces ARGON, the Industry's Least Expensive MPEG2/DVD Realtime Encoder.
Monday, July 6, 1998
Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video have teamed up with big plans for the rest of the world regarding DVD.
Okay, it's Java -- and it's kinda slow -- but it's a start. The BIG Picture has added a search engine to our main page, that will allow you to look up a DVD title to check our ratings or go straight to Bob's review! If anyone has a suggestion for a better search engine for us to try out, by all means, please send me a note.
Our new DVD Polls page is revealing some very interesting statistics! We've just added a couple of new polls, so be sure to check in and cast your votes! By the way, you can only vote on each topic once -- but check back whenver you like to see the changing results. Since everyone can only vote once, the results should provide an accurate cross-section of DVD owner opinions! We know that some major studios and those responsible for authoring DVD's are frequent visitors to The BIG Picture -- and we hope that those responsible for DVD decisions take note of the insights these polls reveal. Time will tell.
The New York Times says DVD Leads Race for Movie Discs, for Now. And even though he had nothing to do with DVD, The BIG Picture mourns the passing of our favorite cowboy star, Roy Rogers, who died today at 88. My family took a stroll through the Roy Rogers Museum in Apple Valley last summer when our Nissan Quest got vapor lock on the way back through the desert from Las Vegas. Where else could you see a stuffed german shepherd, a stuffed horse (Trigger looked buff!) and a plethora of other oddities like an albino skunk and all that great cowboy memorabilia!
Roy Rogers "King of the Cowboys"
November 5, 1911 - July 6, 1998
"Happy Trails To You, until we meet again."
Want to know who DVD's single biggest enemy is? You might be surprised! Or how many DVD's the average visitor to these pages own? How about you? What are the most important features DVD shoppers look for when making their purchasing decisions? And what about the great Laserdisc debate? Is laserdisc really on its way out? We're keeping a running tally beginning today! Find out the answers to these burning questions and many more and help shape the results on the latest feature of The BIG Picture -- The BIG Picture DVD Poll Page!
In the old west, there was a myth goin' 'round that got a lot of gunslingers killed. The myth was: "If you were the quickest, you were the best." Now I ask you -- what do you think is more important in a gunfight -- or say... a DVD review? Speed or accuracy? Bob Banka may not be the first out of the chute with his reviews every time, but if he were a gunslinger, there'd be a lot of blood on the streets -- his aim is true and deadly. Now that I'm finished with this enlightening metaphor, it gives me great pleasure to announce Bob's latest review -- THE BOXER, sponsored by our friends at NetFlix.
WEEKEND UPDATE
VBN reports that Century Fox Home Entertainment is promising $150 million in marketing support for a diverse slate of video product and related merchandise this fall. No mention was made of DVD, of course, but it's an interesting article, nonetheless. Part of the Fox VHS campaign involves the five-movie series of Planet of The Apes in a $49 boxed set. Sure would love to have at least the first of that series on DVD...
Last month, the BIG Picture received over half a million hits -- at least 14% of them were comprised of visits from over 67 countries that could be identified -- there may be many more.
If you're like most, you're probably hoping to find some news about Paramount and Fox announcements at the upcoming Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) convention next week. As you can imagine, being the "first" to announce Fox support of open DVD is like the Holy Grail of DVD-related web sites. Some sites are literally begging for information from the studios involved. Others are reporting rumors that change on a daily basis claiming Fox will not announce DVD support, then stating that there may be "limited" open DVD support, whatever that means. At TBP, we haven't heard a peep from a reputable source yet -- and unless we do, we're not going to beg or speculate. What's the point? If a studio-insider wants to spill the beans and be the big man on campus, he or she already knows they can share their information on the DVD sPy page... And making up rumors... well... that's just not our thing. All we can do is hope that 20th Century Fox comes to their senses -- and that Paramount makes good on their earlier announcement and starts releasing title and date information. One thing is for certain -- when the news breaks, you can count on The BIG Picture to let you know about it in a timely fashion.
If you're like most, you're probably hoping to find some news about Paramount and Fox announcements at the upcoming Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) convention next week. As you can imagine, being the "first" to announce Fox support of open DVD is like the Holy Grail of DVD-related web sites. Some sites are literally begging for information from the studios involved. Others are reporting rumors that change on a daily basis claiming Fox will not announce DVD support, then stating that there may be "limited" open DVD support, whatever that means. At TBP, we haven't heard a peep from a reputable source yet -- and unless we do, we're not going to beg or speculate. What's the point? If a studio-insider wants to spill the beans and be the big man on campus, he or she already knows they can share their information on the DVD sPy page