early adopters, what were your first DVDs

What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought? What made you an
early adopter? Where did you first see the technology in action? Were
you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD Forever!"
For those of you who weren't early adopters, what release made you
buckle down and say "all right, no more VHS, I'm gonna buy a DVD
player"? For me it was the CC edition of The Third Man. I stopped
buying VHS tapes when I saw that come out, and when I realized all my
friends had DVD players (via their PS2s) I knew I was desperately out of
touch with home theater technology.
--
"Get rid of the Range Rover. You are not responsible for patrolling
Australia's Dingo Barrier Fence, nor do you work the Savannah, capturing
and tagging wildebeests."
--Michael J. Nelson

Grand Inquisitor
http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=Oost

Grand Inquisitor

"Grand Inquisitor" <> wrote in message
news:wd_db.38332$...
> What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?

I was in a test city (does anyone remember that?) and could only buy
Polygram and Sony discs. I bought Jerry Maguire and Fargo. Then I bought
Unforgiven, Exorcist, Batman, and the Wild Bunch from Ken Cranes (I think)
which was the only way I could get Warner discs.

What made you an
> early adopter?

I was heavy into LD and was won over buy discreet 5.1 audio. Almost all the
DVDs coming out had 5.1 sound. Also, the size of the media amazed me
(coming from LD).

> Where did you first see the technology in action?

At a laserdisc rental store that was long gone. Also, Best Buy had an
excellent demo going.

> Were you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD
Forever!"

Immediately. I couldn't believe how much better it looked than LD. It
handled colors so much better (including blacks).

> Grand Inquisitor
> http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=Oost
>

Zimmy

"Zimmy" <> wrote in message
news:bl9rkd$9rsh2$...

> Immediately. I couldn't believe how much better it looked than LD. It
> handled colors so much better (including blacks).

Well, I said that when I first saw LD in action (mainly in Karaoke joints).
How time has changed!

Goldfinger

Grand Inquisitor wrote:

> What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?

"A Boy and His Dog" (which is getting a new 16:9 enhanced release) and
"Blade Runner".

> What made you an
> early adopter?

I had an opportunity to buy a 56" 16:9 RPTV with component inputs and a
top of the line DVD player with component outputs for less than $3500,
delivered. That was in April of 1997.

> Where did you first see the technology in action?

In my home. I was probably one of the very first consumers to watch a
16:9 enhanced DVD on a 16:9 display via component inputs in the comfort
of my own home. Did anyone else manage this before the first week of
May, 1997?

> Were
> you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD Forever!"

The opening sequence of "Blade Runner" got a completely involuntary
"WOW" out of me. That was very unlike my first LD ("Hunt for Red
October") which was so bad I almost returned my LD player.

> For those of you who weren't early adopters, what release made you
> buckle down and say "all right, no more VHS, I'm gonna buy a DVD
> player"?

I still buy the odd VHS tape of something that I want to see that isn't
available on any better format.

Matthew

--
<http://www.mlmartin.com/bbq/>

Thermodynamics For Dummies: You can't win.
You can't break even.
You can't get out of the game.

Matthew L. Martin

"Goldfinger" <> wrote in message
news:bA_db.5188569$...
>
> "Zimmy" <> wrote in message
> news:bl9rkd$9rsh2$...
>
> > Immediately. I couldn't believe how much better it looked than LD. It
> > handled colors so much better (including blacks).
>
> Well, I said that when I first saw LD in action (mainly in Karaoke
joints).
> How time has changed!

I was absolutely convinced that I would be immediately able to see and hear
the effects of lossy compression on the sound and image. I was prepared to
resist and hang onto Laserdisc forever.

That lasted about five minutes into a demo at a local independent AV
retailer.

I don't remember what was first. This was late '97, the dawn of the etailing
frenzy that brought us Reel.com, 800.com, DVD's for a dollar, coupons for
everything, stacking coupons with price-matching, and all that other
insanity that had a lot of us averaging less than $5 per new-release
purchase for the next year or two.

RichC

Rich Clark

Grand Inquisitor wrote:

> What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?

"Tenchi Muyo in Love"
For us other 40% of early adopters, we could care less that "Interview
with the Vampire" looked better than the LD, we just didn't want to buy
any more anime on degradable VHS that needed fast-forwarding and rewinding.

> What made you an early adopter?

Define "early"--
Ie., before or after the DIVx Death Pronouncement of June 1999, widely
considered to be the "birthday" of mainstream DVD?
(Mine was right on the month, so, y'know, could go either way.)

But if you want an answer, the possibility of grabbing up a
reconditioned DIVx at scavenger prices at Circuit City a week later, and
then finding out even *they* weren't worth it, so might as well go the
whole Best Buy mile.

> Where did you first see the technology in action?

Siskel & Ebert, like everybody else.

> Were you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD Forever!"

Think I was still in the "Third Rock from the Sun" category, but I'd
been jealous of LD's from way back.
(Yes, even those RCA Selectavisions looked cool at the time...)

> For those of you who weren't early adopters, what release made you
> buckle down and say "all right, no more VHS, I'm gonna buy a DVD
> player"?

AnimEigo's "Urusei Yatsura"--For the shelf space alone, never mind
click-access and permanence.
If you'd never collected anime from the VHS fansub days, you will never
understand why We anime fans were the technology's backbone supporters
underneath the Rest of You during the early days...You OWE us.

Derek Janssen

Derek Janssen

"Grand Inquisitor" <> wrote in message
news:wd_db.38332$...

> What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?

The very first DVD that I bought was the first release of "The Wizard of Oz"
and then got a $399 Sony DVP-3000 (a floor sample) from a NJ "Nobody Beats
The Wiz" ( no pun intended). I went home, hooked it up and compared to my
THX laserdisc copy of TWOZ and never looked back.

> What made you an early adopter?

I love movies, and if you like movies you're always looking for better ways
of enjoying them. I thought that laser was it. Wrong!

>Where did you first see the technology in action?

Harvey Radio in NYC.

> Were you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD
Forever!"

You mean after I saw DVD hooked up on my home system? Nope. My only concern,
and the concern of early DVD adopters was the threat of Circuit City and
some studios (Disney) with DVIX. You all remember those, don't you?


I don't remember which was my first Laser, I just got there late, almost at
the end.

César.

César N. Díaz

Grand Inquisitor wrote:

> What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?

I bought Dark City, Star Trek First Contact, and Zero Effect the same day I
bought my first DVD player.

> What made you an early adopter?

Widescreen presentation, and the extras.

> Where did you first see the technology in action?

Fry's Electronics in Sunnyvale, CA.

> Were you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD
> Forever!"

While I was won over right away, I waited a couple of months until I found a
player at a sale price.

While I wanted to, I never got into laser disks. When I was in the Navy I
didn't have room to keep one on the ship. And then as a starving student in
college I had the room for one, but I couldn't couldn't afford it.

ALV

Andrew Venor

Super Speedway - Africa the Serengehti (IMAX)
Glory
From the Earth to the Moon

"Matthew L. Martin" <> wrote in message
news: s.com...
> Grand Inquisitor wrote:
>
> > What were the first DVDs you early adopters bought?
>
> "A Boy and His Dog" (which is getting a new 16:9 enhanced release) and
> "Blade Runner".
>
> > What made you an
> > early adopter?
>
> I had an opportunity to buy a 56" 16:9 RPTV with component inputs and a
> top of the line DVD player with component outputs for less than $3500,
> delivered. That was in April of 1997.
>
> > Where did you first see the technology in action?
>
> In my home. I was probably one of the very first consumers to watch a
> 16:9 enhanced DVD on a 16:9 display via component inputs in the comfort
> of my own home. Did anyone else manage this before the first week of
> May, 1997?
>
> > Were
> > you immediately won over or did you poo-poo it and declare "LD Forever!"
>
> The opening sequence of "Blade Runner" got a completely involuntary
> "WOW" out of me. That was very unlike my first LD ("Hunt for Red
> October") which was so bad I almost returned my LD player.
>
> > For those of you who weren't early adopters, what release made you
> > buckle down and say "all right, no more VHS, I'm gonna buy a DVD
> > player"?
>
> I still buy the odd VHS tape of something that I want to see that isn't
> available on any better format.
>
> Matthew
>
> --
> <http://www.mlmartin.com/bbq/>
>
> Thermodynamics For Dummies: You can't win.
> You can't break even.
> You can't get out of the game.
>

luminos

Grand Inquisitor <> wrote in news:wd_db.38332$uJ2.24036
@fe3.columbus.rr.com:

> What made you an
> early adopter?

The fact that DVDs don't wear out... and I don't need to rewind tapes
anymore!

I never bought any VHS tapes, because I knew sooner or later the tapes
would break ; )

--
Lucas Tam ()
Please delete "REMOVE" from the e-mail address when replying.
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Lucas Tam