Don't let this group die! Question, when did you first see DVD technology?

I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
you thought.

I first saw Stargate at a Media Play in Kentucky, this was shortly
before DVD was officially scheduled to hit my market, but they were
selling a few players and a few movies anyway. Stargate was a crappy
movie but I was still drooling. Watching a 2.35:1 movie letterboxed on
a 27" tv, with all that detail and smoothness, was eye-popping after
nothing but VHS for years (LD was out of my price league). A Gameboy
game has a better resolution than a letterboxed VHS tape.

I think the only things they were selling were those early IMAX discs.

--

"If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in
Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned
out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

--C.S. Lewis

Grand Inquisitor

Grand Inquisitor wrote:
> I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
> asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
> you thought.

I first saw it in my own house upon purchasing my first Panasonic player in
1998. The first disc I watched was L.A. Confidential (my first purchase),
and I was blown away. My collection is now passing 400...

Mike

Mike Kohary

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004, Mike Kohary wrote:

> Grand Inquisitor wrote:
> > I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
> > asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
> > you thought.
>
> I first saw it in my own house upon purchasing my first Panasonic player in
> 1998. The first disc I watched was L.A. Confidential (my first purchase),
> and I was blown away. My collection is now passing 400...

I was working at an electronics/home theatre store when the first DVDs and
DVD players arrived in 1997 or '98 (we were one of the first stores to
carry them). I remember being unimpressed by the picture quality at first,
all those pixels and artifacts on a movie like Outbreak, and the sound
didn't measure up against the uncompressed sound of a good laserdisc
setup. I even had both laserdisc and DVD copies of some of those
Lumivision discs, and stuck with the lasers in most cases.

The technology sure has changed since then, although laserdiscs still
continued to trump DVDs in the soundtrack department for some time after
that.

swac

Stephen Cooke

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 21:28:41 GMT, Grand Inquisitor
<> wrote:

>I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
>asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
>you thought.
>
>I first saw Stargate at a Media Play in Kentucky, this was shortly
>before DVD was officially scheduled to hit my market, but they were
>selling a few players and a few movies anyway. Stargate was a crappy
>movie but I was still drooling. Watching a 2.35:1 movie letterboxed on
>a 27" tv, with all that detail and smoothness, was eye-popping after
>nothing but VHS for years (LD was out of my price league). A Gameboy
>game has a better resolution than a letterboxed VHS tape.
>
>I think the only things they were selling were those early IMAX discs.

I saw it with my first DVD player in September of 2000. I cannot
remember the first movie watched, it was whatever was just out on DVD
at the time. My first purchase was "For the Love of the Game." I
know, but I grew up a Tiger's fan. We were watching it on a 27"
analog TV and even letterboxed it was so much clearer then VHS. I was
hooked. Just yesterday I hit number 1900 on the DVD profiler list. I
do like my library.

--
The Day PP was speechless, April 20, 2004.

"This may actually be the strangest idea ever in abp. I think you got
me, WC--I'm speechless. A guy in a female road runner suit... that's
just not right."

Wild Coyote
wild_coyote<AT>whoppermail.com

Wild Coyote

Mike Kohary wrote:
>>I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
>>asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
>>you thought.
>
>
> I first saw it in my own house upon purchasing my first Panasonic player in
> 1998. The first disc I watched was L.A. Confidential (my first purchase),
> and I was blown away. My collection is now passing 400...
>
> Mike

You bought your first player and discs sight-unseen?

--

"If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in
Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned
out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

--C.S. Lewis

Grand Inquisitor

Derek Janssen wrote:
> "...because I was that desperate to play the 'This group is going to
> Heck in a handbasket!--The End is Near!" card when it looked like the
> current flamewar thread was losing steam and being forgotten..."
>

Huh? I thought it would be interesting to know what people's first DVDs
were. I don't know what you're talking about.

> I remember Siskel & Ebert showing America how much better Tom Cruise
> looked dancing up the wall in "Interview with the Vampire" than on
> laserdisc--
> And, like most people at the time, thinking "Uh...it's STILL laserdisc.
> Real people own VCR's."
>

I once met a guy who told me that Laserdisc bombed not long after it was
released, he said it did worse than Betamax (which *also* shows
ignorance about Betamax). He still wouldn't believe me when I told him
it had much success as a niche format. I heard Rolls Royce only sold
about ten thousand cars last year, they must be tanking....

> These were, after all, the days of that "Third Rock From the Sun"
> episode.
>
> Derek Janssen ("Uh, guys...It's 'Leprechaun II"!)

"And it has commentary from the director!"
"The director of LEPRECHAUN II!!!"

--

"If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in
Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned
out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

--C.S. Lewis

Grand Inquisitor

Wild Coyote wrote:
> I saw it with my first DVD player in September of 2000.

Boy, that's kind of late. Never even saw a store demo?

I didn't get my first player until 2001 though, I'm so ashamed...but on
the bright side, my first DVDs were Barry Lyndon and The Searchers. Man
I was jazzed, that had to be one of the happiest days in my life. A
whole movie, on that little disc, with picture way better than VHS. I
was in heaven.

> I cannot
> remember the first movie watched, it was whatever was just out on DVD
> at the time. My first purchase was "For the Love of the Game." I
> know, but I grew up a Tiger's fan. We were watching it on a 27"
> analog TV and even letterboxed it was so much clearer then VHS. I was
> hooked. Just yesterday I hit number 1900 on the DVD profiler list. I
> do like my library.

Man, I wish I had a collection half that size. Count your blessings (oh
wait, you already did).

--

"If you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in
Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have reasoned
out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?"

--C.S. Lewis

Grand Inquisitor

Stephen Cooke wrote:

>>>I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s),

"...because I was that desperate to play the 'This group is going to
Heck in a handbasket!--The End is Near!" card when it looked like the
current flamewar thread was losing steam and being forgotten..."

>>>and now I'm
>>>asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
>>>you thought.
>>
>>I first saw it in my own house upon purchasing my first Panasonic player in
>>1998. The first disc I watched was L.A. Confidential (my first purchase),
>>and I was blown away. My collection is now passing 400...
>
> I was working at an electronics/home theatre store when the first DVDs and
> DVD players arrived in 1997 or '98 (we were one of the first stores to
> carry them). I remember being unimpressed by the picture quality at first,
> all those pixels and artifacts on a movie like Outbreak, and the sound
> didn't measure up against the uncompressed sound of a good laserdisc
> setup. I even had both laserdisc and DVD copies of some of those
> Lumivision discs, and stuck with the lasers in most cases.

I remember Siskel & Ebert showing America how much better Tom Cruise
looked dancing up the wall in "Interview with the Vampire" than on
laserdisc--
And, like most people at the time, thinking "Uh...it's STILL laserdisc.
Real people own VCR's."

These were, after all, the days of that "Third Rock From the Sun"
episode.

Derek Janssen ("Uh, guys...It's 'Leprechaun II"!)

Derek Janssen

"Grand Inquisitor" <> wrote in message
news:dO0Dc.159116$...
> I once asked people on this group to list their first DVD(s), now I'm
> asking when the first time you saw DVD technology in action, and what
> you thought.
It was at Best Buy before they actually had any DVD players
available for sale. They had a wide screen TV with surround
sound playing the movie Twister.

Sold me on the home theater concept right away.

Mark Jones

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004, Grand Inquisitor wrote:

> I once met a guy who told me that Laserdisc bombed not long after it was
> released, he said it did worse than Betamax (which *also* shows
> ignorance about Betamax). He still wouldn't believe me when I told him
> it had much success as a niche format. I heard Rolls Royce only sold
> about ten thousand cars last year, they must be tanking....

Laserdisc *did* bomb when it was first introduced. Because of the
confusion between RCA's Selectavision system (which used a stylus to guide
the playback head, and was error prone from the get-go) and Laserdisc,
people were willing to accept lesser picture quality (but not *that* much
lesser, if you look at those late-'70s laserdisc pressings) for the
ability to record on videotape.

But, laserdisc proved to be useful as a training device, in institutions
like schools and museums, and most importantly, the Pentagon, which kept
the format afloat until the consumer electronic market (most notably the
high end home theatre movement) could catch up with the technology. As a
result, the format had a good 10-12 years, before DVD quickly put the
kibosh on it.

swac
Doubt my '78 bowling instruction laserdisc will show up on DVD any time
soon...

Stephen Cooke