DVDAnd here's my favourite DVD links:
DVD - CD looking disks that hold movies and more. They emerged in the late ninties as an alternative to videotapes for home movie watching. They hold more information than any comparible media storage medium that come before them. Whee!When I lived with Amy, we watched a lot of movies. Seeing the technology at Wilner's place, I was impressed with the picture quality and especially the extra features of DVDs.
See, DVDs don't just have movies, they've often got biographies, deleted scenes, and especially Director's Commentary. So you take a great movie, say Fast Times At Ridgemont High, and all of a sudden you can watch the film and at the same time listen to a soundtrack of the Director and ScreenWriter describing the action onscreen, the choices they made and the trivia behind the production of the film. It's a great insight into the process of movie making!
Krusty exposed me to DVDs by inviting me over for "The Rock" on DVD playing over a nice stereo system. We ate large beef ribs while the walls shook each time a gun was fired or even when a shell casing hit the cement. Quite an effect! The whole experience was exhausting - it made watching movies in the home quite intense.
Later, when I arrived at GX, people there were very DVD oriented, especially John and Matt. I bought a JVC XV511bk off Ubid.com with Sam's recommendation. I've been happy with that player (but a few months later I still upgraded to CED).
Also, working at Gamers.com, John Joh, the creative director he was the largest DVD consumer I ever seen. He would order stacks and have them playing near him at night when he wasn't working. If a movie struck his fancy, he would get a copy. Sometimes he'd accidentally order two copies of a movie (poor guy was trying to sell two copies of Runaway Bride for months). He would sell them out of the company newsletter that I put together, so I got first crack at all his sales. I bought a ton of DVDs for a few bucks off the cover price from him - thanks John, for starting my early collection.
You can look at my catalog of DVDs with commentary.
DVD Price Search - comparison DVD shopping.Criterion - they made excellent Laser discs, now they make excellent DVDs. I drop by their page to see which movies they think are worth re-releasing.
Anime on DVD - covers just the Japanese animation releases.
Steve Rhodes recommends DVDFile which looks to have solid reviews and features covering the DVD market.
dvd.ign.com - nice DVD features and some news
OpenDVD.org - DVD politics, more about Linux playback and DeCSS, rather than region-hacking stuff.
justin's links by justin hall: contact