The DVD Shrink

Christmas DVD’s, What To Buy, What To Avoid

admin — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:51:36 +0000

It is holiday time! So get ready for our list of the best Christmas DVD’s you should consider adding to your collection this year. The thing about Christmas DVD’s is that some of them are all souped up and packed with features and fun stuff, while others, though great films, have nothing to offer outside of the movie itself. Here are our BUY’s and AVOID’s for this holiday season.

The Christmas Classics Gift Set BUY

Love this one, it has DVD’s of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, The Little Drummer Boy & Cricket on the Hearth. All the classics together and for under 30$! You gotta buy this one.

It’s a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) AVOID

This classic is still one of the best Christmas movies ever. The 60th anniversary edition DVD is only a year old and is certainly worth picking up to replace your old VHS copy. Be careful though, if you already have a DVD of this, the only difference is that the new version is from Paramount DVD and they’ve added new cover art. So we are gonna tag this one as one to avoid.

The Santa Clause 3 BUY

The third installment in this holiday trilogy is new to DVD this season, be sure to pick it up to finish your collection or start it this holiday season. The addition of Martin Short in this trilogy as Jack Frost add some great new humor. Also some great special features on this DVD to get excited about. Buy this one this season.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Special Edition) AVOID

Another Christmas classic here, one of the funniest Christmas movies ever in our opinion. It is too bad this DVD is really not very special though. Released in 2003, in the days when “Special Edition” meant an extra viewing of the trailer, this DVD is really just worth it for the movie itself. Plus, its still pretty cheap. But avoid if you have better options.

A Christmas Story (Two-Disc Special Edition) BUY

Another classic, but this one gets some great treatment on its special edition. Maybe the most watched Christmas film of our generation (outside of Wonderful Life), this 2 disc DVD has some great commentary of the film from Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) and director Bob Clark. There is also a new documentary, a feature about Red Ryder Guns, and two 30-minute radio segments of author Jean Shepherd reading his original stories. Thumbs up on the movie and the DVD for this one.

The Muppet Christmas Carol - Kermit’s 50th Anniversary Edition AVOID

Yet another psudeo special, or rather, Anniversary Edition that is dissapointing. Re-released on DVD in 2005, this excellent holiday movie’s DVD just is not up to snuff. Die hard fans havecomplained about the exclusion of the song, “When Love Is Gone” from the widescreen edition, but for me, its more about the lack of anything additional to check out on this DVD. So although the DVD version beats out previous efforts of this classic holiday film, that is about where it stops.

Miracle on 34th Street (Special Edition) BUY

Here is one of the few on our list that combine a truly classic old film with an updated and loaded DVD. Miracle on 34th Street is a classic, and this special edition DVD is as well. Included are the original black & white version shown in theaters and the circa 1980s colorized version of the same feature film, and also hidden away on the second disc is the curiously titled “20th Century Fox Hour of the Stars: The Miracle on 34th Street,” which turns out to be a 46 minute 1950s remake for televisio! Truly a winner here, buy this baby!

There are many more, but we hope this list gets you started, and started with some valuable information!

Ocean’s 13, Princess Bride 20th Anniversary Among New DVD Releases

admin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:33:25 +0000

As the holidays get closer and closer, the DVD onslaught it sure to be turned up a notch or two in the coming weeks. This week, we see the release of Oceans 13, the third (and hopefully last) installment in the now heist happy triliogy, as well as a 20th Anniversary Edition of The Princess Bride. Here are some other notable releases for the week of November 12th…..

Live Free Or Die Hard 2 Disc Unrated Edition or Unrated Special Edition

Santa Claus 3

Inside The Actors Studio - Johnny Depp

Johnny Cash Christmas 1977

Latest Harry Potter DVD release will have a couple surprises in store for consumers

Todd — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:30:22 +0000

When you rush out to the store to purchase your copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this December, you will be getting more than you bargained for.

WarnerHome Video has announced that the DVD will contain two additional versions of the movie. One version will be for viewing on a PC and the other for viewing on digital media players. This might be the first time a DVD has come with a built in way to move content to different devices around the home.

Of course there is a small catch. Warner hasn’t exactly said how this will be accomplished. It would be nice if you could just pop the disc in your PC and get the particular file from the DVD. More realistically they will be using one of the Windows Media formats which will make it difficult, if not impossible, for users running Linux or Mac. This also means that you won’t be able to view it on the most popular portable media player, the Apple iPod.

This is all speculation of course and I really hope they do the right thing and make it easy for consumers to finally do what they want with media they purchased. The track record speaks for itself however and I am less than optimistic.

This is important however. It means that even though this might not work as we as consumers hope, studios are finally realizing that people don’t always want to watch content with their DVD players. It’s a step in the right direction.

Warner also talked about allowing consumers to download and burn DVDs themselves. They would, of course, be controlled by digital rights management that would make it painful to do so but at least there is a major studio getting on board with this. Perhaps things will iron themselves out over time and this will be second nature for consumers. Dare I say, perhaps it will integrate seamlessly with out digital lives. That would be awesome to say the least.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits stores on December 11th 2007.

New High-Definition releases for October 9th, 2007

Todd — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:02:27 +0000

BluRay Releases

HD-DVD Releases

New DVD releases for October 9th, 2007

Todd — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:58:15 +0000

New Releases

TV Box Sets

Special Editions/Other Releases

Control your DVD player like a WII

Todd — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 01:15:57 +0000

I just stumbled across this little news blurb on Google news. Seems someone has developed a chip that will allow you to control DVD playback by waving your hand in the air. By pointing your thumb in the air you can fast forward, skip back, etc.

The blurb gives very little information so understand I have no idea if this is true or not. If it isn’t true I apologize. If it is true I also apologize.

Source

HD-DVD to launch an online shopping feature

Todd — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 13:19:55 +0000

Evan Almighty, releasing on October 9th, will be the first title to take advantage of this feature.

It will include a small web browser which will allow a user to connect to Universal Studio’s online store. Once there, the user can purchase products that are in some way related to the movie.

I understand that HD-DVD is trying to get a leg up on BluRay by taking advantage of the online capabilities of the disc, but I really don’t know how users are going to react to this. All information has to be entered using the remote control. According to the article, this is a very slow and painful process.

It’s uncertain whether consumers will appreciate the shopping opportunity, especially since the transaction has to be completed using the remote. Judging by a demonstration of the technology, entering credit-card information and a home address using the remote and an onscreen keyboard is a slow process. It can be shortened by creating an account in advance on a home computer, then logging into it through the player.

In truth, HD-DVD isn’t necessarily counting on this to woo consumers. Rather, they want to woo studio support by coming up with ways to allow the consumer to spend more money after watching the movie. This could be vitally important as studios appear to be picking sides in this battle.

Personally, something like this doesn’t excite me too much. I already have about 20 different ways to spend money on entertainment in my own home. I really can’t see myself rushing off to buy recycled toilet paper (yes that is one of the products) after watching Evan Almighty.

Source

Now this is a pretty good idea

Todd — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:45:50 +0000

I have been blogging quite a bit over the past couple days about DVD purchasing kiosks, but what about a DVD rental kiosk?

Now that I think about it, my local Wegmans has one of these things. Basically it’s simple, you rent the movie online and pick it up at a local kiosk, usually placed in grocery stores it seems. When you are finished, you just return it to the kiosk. You can also rent right at the kiosk itself.

The one company I am looking at now is Redbox. I like this model so much more than purchasing a dvd at a kiosk with all kinds of crazy digital rights management. According to the site, it looks to be a flat fee of $1 per night with no late charges.

The kiosk is for newer releases only it seems which makes sense considering they need to have the stock in the kiosk itself. They claim to have all the releases the day they hit stores.

I’d definitely hit one of these over a Blockbuster if it were close and I knew I was going to be watching the movie that night. Can’t beat a buck for a movie.

New High Definition Releases for October 2nd, 2007

Todd — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:30:57 +0000

BluRay Releases

HD-DVD Releases

New DVD releases for October 2nd, 2007

Todd — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 18:29:03 +0000

New Releases

TV Box Sets

Special Editions/Other Releases