Friday, December 11, 1998
4:17pm PST - Back to business as usual - for the moment, anyway... We've got a new review for you to take into the weekend with your holiday shopping dollars. Read Bob's revealing review of SIX DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS.
3:51pm PST WINNER-WINNER-WINNER!! And amazingly, it's another subject of Minnesota Governor-elect, Jessie "The Body" Ventura! Congratulations to Brian Eberling of Crystal, Minnesota(!?) for coaxing The BIG Picture prize banner out of its' elusive hiding spot on our "12 MONKEYS" review (bb77.shtml). That means THREE (3) chances left for people outside the state of Minnesota to win TWELVE DVD's, baby!
2:00pm PST - Like a monkey on your back... You just can't seem to get our contest off your mind, you say? Here's another clue: "30 days has September, April June and November -- all the rest have 31." Take that number, reverse it, subtract by one, multiply the sum by six, add five, throw the acronym for Best Buy in front of the final number and you're on your way to the TWELVE DVDs' of CHRISTMAS.
1:00pm PST - We need more ornaments for our tree! Here are some general tips for finding our special contest banner: The banner is on one specific page, however its' appearance on that page is random and will only occur once... There are two banners per page. The contest banner could appear at either position -- top or bottom of the page. Check them BOTH before moving on. Here's a better hint to help you score THE TWELVE DVDs' OF CHRISTMAS: "One step away from unlucky 13, could mean the 12 DVD's... see what we mean?" Hints on the hour until we have a winner!
10:50am PST - Our special contest banner worth the entire set of THE TWELVE DVD's of CHRISTMAS is still undiscovered. We'll provide a hint at 1:00pm PST if no one has discovered the banner by then. Good luck!
10:47am PST - Hollywood Online explores the content differences between the CRASH and DAMAGE laserdiscs and DVD's, failing to take into account image quality, preferring instead to concentrate on extras.
10:43am PST - Too little, too late... <yawn> who cares? Panasonic is preparing to finally roll out their Divx player this weekend, fulfilling a commitment made to Circuit City a over a year ago. Despite a blitz of Internet propaganda as part of their $60 million dollar media campaign, there seems to be little interest from consumers over the pay-per-view DVD rival.
Thursday, December 10, 1998
11:45pm PST - We've found something else to like about Warner's outstanding EXORCIST 25th Anniversary Special Edition. The DVD menu is anamorphic too -- which means that if you have a widescreen display set to "full" mode, the menu, for once, will look perfectly in sync with the feature presentation.
the 12:32pm PST - John Larsen over at the DVD Dish tells us that "Columbia-TriStar will release "John carpenter's Vampires" and "The Governess" day and date with their video counterparts in February. "John Carpenter's Vampires" arrives on February 9 in 2.35:1 widescreen, 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, and priced at $24.98. "The Governess" arrives on February 16 in 2.35:1 widescreen, and priced at $29.99. On the same day Columbia-TriStar will release Terry Gilliam's "The Fisher King" in 1.85:1 widescreen, priced at $29.99. No word on whether or not Gilliam's audio commentary will be included. It looks like Columbia-TriStar is pricing their cult-ism items like "Godzilla," "Zorro" and "Vampires" at $24.98, while sticking with the $29.98 price point for their art house and catalong titles." Thanks for the update, John! Be sure to check out DVD Dish for other breaking title announcements. One of the things we like about John's site is that the Dish reports confirmed, accurate information as we strive to at TBP. Rumors are fun, but substantive news, we feel, is inifinitely more satisfying.
12:00pm PST - Even if you're not participating in the TWELVE DVD'S OF CHRISTMAS carol-writing contest going on right now in our forum, do yourself a favor and go read some of the entries -- they're wickedly clever and VERY entertaining. That's the beauty of a contest like this. Great entertainment value for everyone.
Speaking of our forum and entertainment value, one of our readers sent us a copy of his e-mail, challenging someone who has just launched a pro-divx site (coincidentally from Richmond, Virginia - home of Circuit City HQ, we hasten to add), to a civilized debate on The BIG Picture DVD and Home Theater Forum. The challenge has apparently been accepted. Oh brother. Here we go. Guess we should have left that "Divx Free Zone" graphic on the page a little longer. We'd better keep the broom and dustpan handy. We have a feeling there's going to be a lot of cleaning up to do.
Wednesday, December 9, 1998
11:17pm PST - Here's an article on The Dominion regarding DVD. There's no date on the article that I could find, however, it incorrectly states that Dreamworks is not yet doing open DVD. WE BEG TO DIFFER. This isn't the first time that we've seen Dreamworks getting bad PR -- someone over there needs to get the word out. We're certainly doing our part!
6:57pm PST - IMDB (Internet Movie Database) just gave us what we've always wanted! A handy DVD Browser that lets you slice, dice and look at available DVD's any way you want to! By region, by studio, by anamorphic widescreen, etc. This is going to be a great reference. We've already got it bookmarked.
6:12pm PST - BIG thanks to our Special Field Correspondent Dana for forwarding the following tasty tidbits while we do more important things like laugh our heads off at the entries in the Carol-writing Contest for the "TWELVE DVDs' OF CHRISTMAS" and make ornaments out of the faces of our winners. Stuff like that. Oh! And now for the news... Europe is expected to warm up to DVD in a big way by the year 2000, with France currently leading the way in player sales. In another informative blurb, upside.com knocks Divx upside the head with some salty language and a very direct approach. Here's another nice article aimed at digital age novices who might prefer to have their technology news spoon-fed to them. Don't forget to wear your bib. The same publication has a jaunty little article comparing VHS to DVD. Come on, people! There is no comparision!And yet another article from the same publication from a writer who believes that DVD has failed to deliver on its promise and predicts the potentially rapid demise of the format.
11:10am PST - We have it on good authority (our own) that the second set of 12 DVD's in The Twelve DVD's of Christmas will be awarded before 6pm this Friday to some lucky reader that spots the special contest banner on one of our review pages...
11:06am PST - A BIG PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: Check out the Internet's first in-depth look at New Line's upcoming BLADE Platinum Series DVD. TBP predicts that this title will handily surpass all expectations -- both yours and New Line's. More news to come.
Tuesday, December 8, 1998
11:07am PST - New Line sent us an advance copy of BLADE to screen and review, which we'll be doing tonight and tomorrow, respectively. Watch for the full scoop. This looks to be another loaded disc (ala LOST IN SPACE) with tons of extras for both your standalone DVD player and PC DVD-ROM.
10:57am PST - Even though we've been hogging all the space with our own news lately, we're certainly not the only ones with our suggested DVD picks for the holidays -- but I don't think too many (if any) others are giving away their favorites! Here's a nice article from the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, VA, sent to us by the author, Bill Kelley. Check it out this fun and informative article.
It sure has been interesting to observe all the DVD price wars going on all over the Internet! 50% off the top 100 DVD's! No, wait!! Three DVD's for a dollar!! Hang on! There's more!! Ha ha. It's been a season of red and green for on-line retailers. Green as in cash from consumers, red as in ink. What we're witnessing is the big guys trying to shake the little guys out of existence. But we know of at least one smaller, savvy DVD retailer that's been taking advantage of these promotions, too... Snapping up discs from his competitors at prices FAR below his distributor's costs. Guess who's getting the last laugh?
Wow! So far, we've only seen TWO entries vying for the complete set of "The 12 DVD's of Christmas" (worth over $300!) in Phase Three of our promotion! Talk about GREAT odds of winning! We expect to see more entries before the deadline, but it looks like THIS might be the best way to improve your odds of winning some excellent DVDs'! But if creative writing and/or public humiliation isn't your bag - there's still three more ways to win! The good news is that word of this promotion hasn't spread to other websites (at least, so far), increasing YOUR chances to bag "The Twelve DVD's of Christmas"! Good luck!
Monday, December 7, 1998
10:30pm PST - We're receiving word that after months of hype and delays, Versadisc is finally supposed to start sending out there commerce-heavy "free movie" discs in just three days. Like the villagers taken in once too many times by the little boy who cried wolf, we're taking a wait and see attitude on this one... "Telling Lies In America" starring Kevin Bacon is purportedly their first "feature" and after we pulled a few teeth two months ago, we learned that the flick will be in Pan & Scan. Yippee.
Hold the e-mail! We've got an official winner of the first of FIVE sets of twelve DVD's that we're giving away. Congrats to GARY O. LARSON of Rochester, Minnesota! To see the twelve and for more contest information, click here. We'll be posting our list of honorable mentions shortly. In the meantime, we've still got FOUR libraries of TWELVE DVD SETS to give away, in honor of The Twelve DVDs' of Christmas!
He's making his list, and checking it twice... Special note for all drawing contest entrants: If you can't remember whether or not you have previously registered on our contest page before today, you should register again for The Twelve DVD's of Christmas drawing. This way you can confirm that you're registered. Don't worry... if your name is entered, our software will let you know if you're already on Santa's e-mail list. Ho Ho Ho!!!
Welcome to The BIG Picture's first annual "12 DVD's of CHRISTMAS". In the spirit of the season, The BIG Picture has been working behind the scenes to provide you with twelve of the essential DVD's that should be a part of your growing collection this holiday season. Announcing what our twelve picks are would be fun -- but we've got better plans than that. Click here, or on any of our special "12 DVD's of Christmas" graphics for full details.
WEEKEND UPDATE
BIG FUN FROM THE BIG PICTURE... Congratulations to Jacques Durosier from Holliswood, New York for finding our review contest banner this weekend! He won himself the CRASH DVD. Tomorrow morning at 9am, be sure to check back for our biggest news of the Holiday Season as The BIG Picture announces "The 12 DVD's of Christmas". Along with the announcement will come your chance to participate in several fun, holiday (and DVD) oriented activities. Get ready to deck the walls, baby! This is going to be GOOD.
First a correction, then a few comments about the Alliance version of PULP FICTION. The Buena Vista version is in 5.1 also, though the packaging suggests otherwise. Nonetheless, PULP FICTION has a very tame 5.1 presence. There's just not alot happening in those rear speakers! In almost every respect, the transfer is identical -- except that the Alliance picture is just a hair softer, owing perhaps to the lower bit rate when authoring the DVD. Buena Vista's bit rate appeared to hover around 6-7 Mbps, whereas Alliance's version was typically around 3-4Mbps. There's more to squeeze in on the Alliance version, like those trailers and the deleted scenes, introduced by Quentin Tarentino. His comments bely the origin of this transfer -- it was originally made for laserdisc. The deleted scenes are interesting to watch -- and so is the director, who is very animated and obviously enjoys talking about his movie. He also appeared blurry, well past the point of distraction. The bottom line? This is an interesting package because of the extras, but don't go looking for improved image and sound. That's one bonus that won't be found on the Canadian disc.
CANADIAN VERSION OF PULP FICTION NOT ANAMORPHIC...
True to their word, our friends at The Digital Video Depot in Ontario, Canada sent us a copy of the new Alliance version of PULP FICTION and we're sorry to say that the disc is NOT enhanced for Widescreen. At a glance, it appears that the transfer might be on par with the Buena Pulp... Right off the bat, we noted that the opening text definition of "pulp" that appears at the beginning of the film is much smaller than the text used by Disney. Our guess is that the Alliance version is more true to the original theatrical release and that Buena Vista may have enlarged the text for easier reading on smaller, home screens. We also noted that the Canadian version claims a DD 5.1 mix, versus the stereo version released here in the states. We'll have a complete comparision rundown between the Alliance disc and the Buena Vista version that was issued earlier this year as soon as we get a chance to watch it -- probably tonight. We're expecting the video quality of the Alliance version (with the same chapter breaks, even) to be about the same as the Buena Vista version (bummer), but perhaps we'll be pleasantly surprised. However the image and sound evaluations turn out to be (unless there are some unexpected surprises), the Alliance disc represents a much better value with multiple International theatrical trailers (how cool is that!) and several deleted scenes introduced by Quentin Tarentino. So... if you already bought PULP FICTION, is this new version worth the extra cake? Maybe. If you haven't? Probably. The Buena Vista version is bare bones with no special features to speak of. Stay close to The BIG Picture and we'll give you the straight dope...
The BIG Picture's "12 DVD's OF CHRISTMAS" will be announced on Monday! Your friends at TBP have a very special surprise for you connected with this announcement, so be sure to check this page for all the exciting details!
