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Friday, January 29, 1999
12:37am PST -- And so begins another day... Kick off your morning with the sharp crack of gunfire, the wailing of sirens and the overhead circling of police helicopters in The BIG Picture's review of John Singleton's riveting BOYZ N THE HOOD.

4:09pm PST -- Making up for lost time. Well, we've finally gotten around to reviewing JAMES TAYLOR: LIVE AT THE BEACON THEATER. Now, you're probably thinking "what took you so long?", but the fact of the matter is, the night we watched this fine concert disc, we were in no shape to write a review about it by the conclusion of the concert.

1:22pm PST -- Although we don't usually print our e-mail (we receive in excess of a hundred e-mails a day on average (whew!), we wanted to print this one, because it gives us (yet) another opportunity to clarify our position on the anamorphic widescreen issue:

I have noticed a trend for reviewers to lower the score of a dvd review if the dvd isn't anamorphic or widescreen. I know the benefits of widescreen compared to pan and scan. The problem arises with the hardware 99.9% of the people own. I don't think you wouldn't have the same enthusiasm for a 2:35:1 anamorphic transfer of a film if you had to watch it on a 25-27" t.v.. I own a 36" t.v. and a 52" one. I can deal with 1:85:1 ratio of a film, but 2:35:1 is too small. I honestly prefer pan and scan for action movies, because with the whole screen filled it engrosses you more. I don't care if I can't see the person on the left side of the screen when he/she is listing to someone talk on the right. In a few years when widescreen t.v.'s become available then I will support anamorphic transfers and the 2:35:1 ratio. But give me a break you get mad at a company for not supporting a format that nobody but a select few can enjoy. It's like somebody with a super computer mad at developers for making games that don't take advantage of his system in order to run on everyone else's. I would love to have both P&S and WS on one disk like many dvd's are, but it's not up to me.

Thanks!

--Mike

Our response:

Hi Mike,

I'm happy to address your concerns.

We don't do that. We base our ratings strictly on image and sound quality -- not politics. As proof of this, a few non-anamorphic titles and non-widescreen titles have received our higest rating for image (quality). I know that you didn't mention us, specifically, but I wanted to be sure and make you aware of the facts as they pertain to our site.

I think you might be confusing open matte, full frame with pan and scan. We don't like the latter because it intereferes with the artistic vision and composition of the film as the director intended it. We don't mind the former, because you're still getting the side information, but a little more picture on the top and bottom of the screen.

Mike, I'm not sure who we are supposedly "mad" at. Can you be more specific? And considering that we are a site that was designed with large screen projection owners in mind, our quest to encourage the highest possible transfer quality within the inherent constraints of the DVD format is consistent with our mission statement that appears on our home page. As you point out, not everyone is able to enjoy the full benefits of widescreen anamorphic transfers at present -- but many CAN. And the differences are (not always but) often quite obvious.

Nonetheless, in the coming years, as HDTV moves into the fore and more direct view 16:9 sets become available to consumers, why should those same consumers have to go out and re-purchase improved versions of the films when those films can be produced in a higher resolution format today? We'd rather that the DVD producers "get it right" the first time, to help save consumers the unecessary expense of repurchasing the same titles over again, once the studios are forced by market conditions to remaster them to a higher level of quality.

I hope this better clarifies our position to you.

Best wishes,

Jeff McNeal

1:12pm PST - A lesser ISP would buckle under the crushing weight -- and many have... We'd just like to take a moment to extend special thanks to our Internet Service Provider and server, Millennianet These guys have provided us with exemplary service for over two years now on this and other sites we maintain. The BIG Picture is getting more and more visitors all the time. We have three, very active, forums running and are averaging close to 50,000 visits per day and we expect to surpass the 1.5 million visit mark for the month of January alone, surpassing December's record 1,476,029. Millennianet's response? "Oh, give us a half an hour and we'll just increase your bandwidth, then! Congrtatulations on your success!" This experience is vastly superior to the unfortunate experiences that other large DVD sites have been subjected to in recent memory. If you're living in the San Diego area, may we highly recommend Millennianet for your Internet connection needs? Tell 'em The BIG Picture sent you!

12:03am PST - Kevin Costner's big debut as a corpse... Okay sports fans! The BIG Picture review of THE BIG CHILL is sure to enthrall, entertain and thrill!

10:54am PST - Here's an early look at the cover art for the four Warner Bros. titles for February: THE MUSIC MAN, SINGLES, PRACTICAL MAGIC and WITHOUT LIMITS. Warner Bros. is now sending their press materials in a cool, translucent wax paper bag. This, of course, will come in handy when I want something to carry my glazed donuts in, also.

9:16am PST - Have we told you lately how much we love the satirical Divx Lover site? For a real howl, read today's entry, reprinted below:

"Many of you are wondering why the Divx promotional literature lists the cost of initial 48-hour viewing period of a Divx disc for about $4.49, and the re-viewing period for about $3.25. Well, the truth is the price can change at any time, but history has shown us that when there is only one provider, they will sell the product at a fair price--as demonstrated by the cable company, the electric company, and Microsoft."

8:56am PST - Ptooey!! The Big Apple spits a few seeds sat Divx...Jason Graham and R.J Knuth have forwarded us the link to this great anti-Divx article -- appearing in the New York Times, no less...Ouch.If you support open DVD like 98% of us on the Internet do, this article will help make your day. The best line in the story? When he relates about having his VCR repaired: "All you need is a new belt and a head cleaning," he said. I assumed he was talking about the VCR, so I said O.K". This guy is funny. His e-mail address can be found a the bottom of the article -- why not send him a thank you note? And be sure to tell him that The BIG Picture says WAY TO GO, BRO!

8:52am PST - TBP Congratulates Mark Hertzler of Tiverton, Rhode Island. He's our winner of yesterday's WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S DVD giveaway. Stay close -- more DVDs are on the way...

8:31am PST - Here's the first of two reviews coming your way today: WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE, which chronicles the tragic life of Frankie Lymon and captures courtroom circus that involved the three women claiming to be his widow, fighting each other like cats to claim his millions.

12:16am PST - Two new reviews coming your way later this morning: THE BIG CHILL and WHY DO FOOLS FALL IN LOVE. Be looking for the both of them before you break for lunch today.

12:14am PST - Here's a funny article on MSNBC: How DVDs got my BVDs into a wad. A good story about a neophytes baptism by fire into the strange, wonderful and perplexing land of DVD ownership. A special thanks to TBP reader Scott Jones for the link.

9:12am PST - Pinnacle Micro's latest DVD computer drive, "Flex Cinema" will allow up to 5.2 gigs of rewritable DVD recording and storage.

9:08am PST - Warner Brothers gives you the straight dope on it's February release schedule. Titles planned include THE MUSIC MAN, PRACTICAL MAGIC, WITHOUT LIMITS and SINGLES.

9:06am PST -- If you were a VIP member of The BIG Picture, then you'd already know exactly when our contest banner will be appearing within our WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S review today, within the quarter hour that it will be posted. Good luck to everyone!

12:54am PST -- FREE DVD ALERT: Read Jeff's rollicking review of WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S! Then, be prepared to WIN this little gem of a DVD (okay, diamond in the rough), because we're giving it away today. Sometime this afternoon, we'll be placing our random contest banner within the WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S review... If you're a BIG Picture VIP (in plain English: if you're on our mailing list), you'll know the precise quarter hour window that the banner will be appearing in! We're spilling our guts to our subscribers around 9am PST this morning. Good luck!

10:15pm PST - What's up, doc? Bob turns in another great review for The BIG Picture and the greater collective good of mankind in general. See what Mr. Banka (rhymes wtih Sanka) has to say about BUGSY. Is their something buggy buggy this transfer from Columbia Tristar?

9:43am PST - Education is a formidable force... Every once on awhile, we receive a letter that makes so much sense, we simply publish it in its entirety. Here's an excellent example that I hope the studios will take notice of -- and then do it.

I was reading that very good anti-DIVX article you linked to over at the video games site, and I noticed something that I've seen before, which is the argument by DIVX (and others in the industry): "Why put the film on widescreen? Most consumers won't know what those black bars are."

My idea is that every studio on every DVD with widescreen include on the menus (nothing intrusive, just an option at the bottom of the list) a "why widescreen"/"what is widescreen" type selection. When selected, a very short (maybe a minute total) presentation is shown where someone just quickly explains about picture loss on pan & scan and showing the films in accordance with the artist's intentions. Things like that. Let the viewer know that they aren't actually losing picture information, but in most cases gaining :)

-- Nathaniel Lloyd

9:27am PST -- Whoops! On second thought... Remember that article from yesterday about Intel adding Divx-like privacy-invading features on their next generation of Pentium III chipsets? It looks like three privacy groups put the kabosh on those plans right away and Intel will modify the chips, bowing to the pressure of a mass consumer boycott that was being called on their products. Dan Kissel, the gent who brought us these links, wonders if perhaps we should alert these groups to the charms of Divx? Clicking the logot to the right will take you to the Privacy Organization's website where you can find even more detail on this story.

8:55am PST -- Let the games begin... Someone is already marketing what they claim is a Divx hacking device for $150. We're of course, highly skeptical. It connects to the Divx phone line out and reportedly "erases the memory chip" in the Divx unit everytime it thinks it's calling the mother ship. Buyer beware. We don't know if this thing works or not, but The BIG Picture doesn't condone video piracy. Besides, we've got a much better Divx hack that works with all players and it's absolutely FREE: Support OPEN DVD, renting our buying ONLY open DVD software. It's a hack you can feel 100% confident in. And it's a hack you can look yourself in the mirror with, as well.

1:44pm PST - Here's a fun little tidbit that we picked up on during our visit with Laser Pacific and New Line that we forgot to include in our special report: There's an easter egg on the LOST IN SPACE disc that still hasn't been found. Go to it!

1:36pm PST - One of our readers, John Bozony, thought we might get a kick out of this personal classified ad posted on Excite. We did.

1:19pm PST - New Line isn't the only studio that Laser Pacific is making DVDs for. Read Bob's review of Artisan's sci-fi edgy PI and see what you think.

12:38pm PST - Okay, here it is: The BIG Picture Special Report: "Unlocking the secrets behind New Line and Laser Pacific's commitment to pushing the DVD envelope". It's a very large article with lots of graphics - a slow-loader. But we think you'll find the information contained worthwhile -- at least we sure hope so!

9:35am PST - Here's another anti-divx editorial from Game Over, a video game site. Their numbers are a little off for DVD player penetration (estimated in over 1.2 million households at present), but the overall message is sound: Don't buy Divx.Thanks to R. J. Knuth for the link.

9:26am PST - Big brother looms closer still...If you're one of the many who don't like the privacy invasion of setting up a Divx account, this article will really bother you. It appears that mighty Intel is entering the "security" business with their Pentium III processors that will allow your movements to be tracked on the Internet. Special thanks to Dan Kissel for bringing our attention to this article, which he also cleverly dubbed: Intel-VX?

9:21am PST - DES encryption cracked in under 24 hours. How long before the Divx triple DES is hacked? Better to save yourself the time and energy and simply purchase OPEN DVD players.

8:26am PST - The DVD sPy tells us that a DVD containing all MADONNA videos will hit the shelves in September of this year. Given the singer's brilliant self-promotion skills, it wouldn't surprise us to see this rumor coming to fruition.

8:20am PST - DVD4U.com is offering to replace their first "versadisc", TELLING LIES IN AMERICA" which had a widespread audio sync problem. Remember, when the disc is free, you always get what you pay for.

8:16am PST - Look for our Laser Pacific/New Line Special Report to be posted this afternoon sometime. We'll announce the page and provide the link right here.

8:14am PST - We've got another DVD to give away tomorrow -- WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S. To win, be sure and get on our VIP mailing list (choose 'subscribe' on our menu) because that's how we're going to officially launch the contest.

7:53am PST - Avast ye matey! 7:57am PST - The DVD Debate site in the U.K. has posted an eleven second .AVI file of the animated menu off the bootleg TITANIC disc for any of you who are interested in seeing the handywork of a pirate. We'll pass. Substandard pirated copies just don't float our boats around here. We're not even all that interested in seeing the OFFICIAL version of TITANIC anymore, quite frankly. Our enthusiasm hit an iceburg about a year ago.

WEEKEND UPDATE
Aahhhh. We've finally regained control of your TV set. Earlier today I sent a private e-mail to all of our subscribers explaining why the updates have been so light since Thursday. Are you on our mailing list yet? In short, we were out of town and then on Saturday, our ISP was upgrading our web server and ran into a few snags which knocked us "off the air" for a few hours and prevented us from uploading new information to our site until late Sunday afternoon. Our heartfelt apologies to those that kept coming back for the last couple of days and kept seeing... the same stuff. Believe me, I understand that kind of frustration. As a matter of fact, it was one of the factors that spawned this news page!

Even though the news has been sparse these last few days, rest assured that good things are going on behind the scenes at The BIG Picture. We're working feverishly to bring our special report to you. We considered ourselves very fortunate to be invited by Laser Pacific and New Line to go and see what they do. We're in turn, putting together a special report on our visit that will hopefully, make you feel as though you were there, too. TBP invested in a brand spanking new digital camera just for the occasion (and future ones like it) and took several photos to share. We also had the tape rolling during our luncheon with the key reps from New Line and Laser Pacific, asking the kind of probing questions that you might like the answers to... The report should be posted online within 24 hours. Additionally, we're launching a brand new page at TBP, listing the best of the best -- a single page index of all our five-globe titles for your quick and easy reference. As new titles receive this coveted award, they'll be added to the page. And of course, more great reviews are on the way. So stay close! We're gearing up for a BIG week ahead!

Yes, we even take requests now and again... After watching Ralph Fiennes do his goofy number in THE AVENGERS, we almost forgot that he's a serious actor. Bob's review of THE ENGLISH PATIENT reminds us otherwise.

Okay, so what's it like to be inside one of Hollywood's busiest DVD authoring facilities and multimedia production plants? How long does it take to author a DVD? What's involved in the process? Will there be a Platinum Edition of SEVEN? Where has NEW LINE been hiding NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET? Will future Jackie Chan movies offer an original Cantonese soundtrack? What makes Laser Pacific's DVDs look so awesome and how are they different from the rest of the pack? Why do some anamorphic DVDs look better than others? How can a handful of non-enhanced titles look so good? What does New Line really think about Divx? What about the use of keepcases instead of the snappers? How much does it cost to buy a soda in the Laser Pacific commissary? Find out the answers to these and other burning questions soon in The BIG Picture's first-ever SPECIAL REPORT: Inside Laser Pacific - Unlocking the secrets of DVD Excellence.