Submitted by admin on Tue, 2005-10-25 08:00. ::
Aussies love a new gadget. We're known around the world as a nation of Early Adopters. It's often said that the symbol of this is the mobile phone, which was bought by 80 per cent of us in just 15 years. Or is it the iPod, with a million sales in two years? No, there's a better candidate for the supreme symbol of Who We Are: the Digital Versatile Disc.
This new technology arrived only eight years ago as a toy for geeks (who loved hearing the explosions in surround-sound) and a research tool for film scholars (who loved hearing the directors' commentaries). Now the DVD player is a fixture in three out of four Australian homes and we're all geeks and scholars.
Last week this column received in the mail boxed sets of Desperate Housewives season one (with six hours of extras), Lost season one (with eight hours of extras), Arrested Development season two, Gilmore Girls season four, and Curb Your Enthusiasm season four. We bought them via Amazon, and we hope they'll see us through the long dark night of the silly season, which seems to have already started on Australian television -- unless we get thrown into jail for daring to order from America entertainments that are not supposed to be seen yet by Australians.
** A reason to build a library of cinema classics, such as Mad Max 3 from 1985, The Shawshank Redemption from 1994, and Ace Ventura 2 from 1995.
*** A way of watching TV series without interruption by advertisers or erratic programmers (the top sellers include series three of Charmed and series two of The OC).
****** A reason not to subscribe to pay TV. Movies take a year to reach Showtime, but only six months to reach DVD, hence our eagerness to purchase Be Cool and Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. A year's subscription to the basic Foxtel package costs $600. A decent DVD player costs $300.
So does anybody watch videos any more? Oh yes -- two million of Australia's seven million households are still without DVD players. But the chart of video sales last month (below) is equally revealing of social change. Everything in the top ten is for people under 12. In most Australian homes, apparently, the VCR has moved into the kids' room.
It's funny to reflect on the demise of a device that passed in and out of our lives without most of us ever learning how to program it properly, even though timeshift recording was supposed to be the VCR's primary purpose. But the VCR did teach us one thing in its 20 year life span: there's hardly ever anything worth recording on TV anyway.
To visit The Tribal Mind archive, which includes the top selling DVDs of all time, and the most successful films, CDs and TV shows, click here .
Also a rip off are DVD Player prices in Oz. I live and work in the Balkans and a couple of weeks ago in italy I bought a DVD player in a supermarket for EUR 30 (AUD 45-50). At that price they are (should be a disposable item.
Yeah, considering that DVDs have alot more features than videos. One my of friends still has a video player. Now I am a big fan of movies like Titanic and Mean Girls, but I only got a DVD player recently so i still have heaps of videos. I know that most of what I have can be found on DVD now but that doesn't change the fact that videos are becoming rarer and one day they will probally be fairly vaulable.
b)at the larger screen sizes widescreens tend to be (81cm and up) the difference in picture quality between VHS and DVD is much more noticeable.
Also to all the people saying VHS is "better"... how many times have you had a VCR jam and ruin a tape? Or you play a favourite music VHS tape so many times it starts getting fuzzy or bad spots?
And to Luke who was critical of people saying "I'm watching a DVD"... Where I grew up in sydney everyone used to say "Do you want to watch a video" or "lets hire a video" or "Wanna go to the video store". Don't think anyone ever referred to is as the "movie store"...Plus not all DVDs are movies... I "buy a few DVD's" quite often... not all of them movies...
I don't watch CSI or 24. I was merely making a point. I also watch West wing, but I download it ;) I'm currently downloading season 7 episode 5 as I write this. The only TV show I own on DV is Buffy.
There are so much stuff out there that will never make TV (free-to-air). Instead of getting cable I just pick up one or two movies/a TV show a month and watch around the news and current affairs on SBS/ABC when it's a night in front of the boob-tube. There are some great shows out there that you'll never see on the box or they're to hard to find.
These shows are the McDonald's of TV (especially CSI) there is no substance/layers so your second bite is tasteless. Not with (for example) Futurama, Deadwood or the Sopranos, such shows are even better the second/third viewing, so much texture and subplot. (I'll also throw in The West Wing and I'm sure I'll get a lot outta the second viewing of Lost).
I grew up in Asia so DVD allows me to watch crazy old gong-fu movies, John Woo, Cowboy Bebop and new Asian movies before they are release at the flicks here (Kung-Fu Hustle/Hero were available in Chinatown on DVD (not pirated!) a year before they were released on the big screen) you just have to know what your after, although a kung-fu clunker is gonna be much better that anything with Hillary Duff.
When it come to Flicks, unfortunately some people will buy anything (I do like the Ace Venture movies but Mad Max 3, come-on, the third one, why?), I've seen on countless occasions whilst browsing someone purchasing a bulk number of stinkers (There is a Police Academy Box Set out there for crying out loud). I do think that sometimes people buy movies to be 'cool' or they think this will make them more popular.
I run a small specialist DVD and CD store where many of my customers are people who share many of the frustrations you occasionally write about. Now one of those is the availability of DVDs in the US that aren't released here. You mentioned in today's column a list of TV shows you bought from the States that are undoubtedly Region 1. Most of those will eventually be released here (Lost is due at the end of November) but many great old films probably won't. And anything from the Criterion Collection is definitely verboten.
Yes we as a nation have enthusiastically embraced the DVD but why is it that the US - with its culture of capitalism, with its lonely vote at the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural conference - doesn't want us to buy any DVDs produced over there?
I don't mind them trying to beat the bootleggers on the latest blockbuster but who's going to bother bootlegging the 1950s movie Random Harvest for which I have three customers waiting on the local release (which the local distributor has no immediate plans for)?
The whole region nonsense reminds me of the book and CD trade before the barriers came down. Things used to take for ever to be released in Australia because no-one was allowed to import and sell. When that changed the local rights holder sped releases up.
'The Castle' was available in the US for 18 months before it was released in Australia. I can't imagine any Americans who would even understand it. Maybe it was just for expats to who felt homesick. But why did we have to wait so long for something so decidedly indigenous?
So when a customer enquires about their favourite old movie - or an obscure tv show that never made it to Australian tv - I have to give Amazon the business, rather trying to provide the service that I set my shop up for: to obtain, if humanly possible whatever my customer requests.
Are we really early adopters in Australia? Do we have a system like TiVo for smart recording that the States has had for years ? I'm in Hong Kong and HDD/DVD recorders are everywhere (i've had mine for about 18 months in HK) ...
I have had a DVD player for about 7 years and haven't looked back. I sold my entire VHS collection and re-bought them all on DVD for only a small amount more. All of my home movies I converted from VHS onto DVD.
People still using VHS do not realise what they are missing in regard to better quality image and sound. My only concern with the DVD movie system is the release dates in Australia are behind America. I have friends that have started purchasing movies from oversease web sites that were not released here until months later.
This is a sign that the industry is more than locally bound and if release dates are not made the same as America's the local industry will eventually be in decline as people start shopping via the WEB.
Can someone pls tell me why is it that ppl always say "I am watching a DVD" or "I bought a few DVDs" while earlier (before DVDs were around) they never said "I'm watching a Video-Cassette", they just said "I'm watching a movie".
Rental DVDs are a joke. They barely ever work, and if they do, they're covered in scratches. So what if my picture quality is only OK, at least I can watch the whole movie.
It all depends on the price. EG I was all set to buy the new season of Sopranos this year... until it finally came out at $90. After doing the maths, I realised I could rent all the discs three times for the purchase price. So I rented. On the other hand I bought the Seinfeld box sets at $70 each.
Bring back video? You've got to be joking. If your DVD player has laser problems then it's a dud to begin with. I've had my player for almost 8 years and it's never had any problems. As for the scratched disks, perhaps you should take care with the handling of the disks in the first place.
I have to agree with a previous correspondent about purchasing TV shows. Why would you watch 24 or CSI again? The mystery would be gone the second time around.
To my mind the popularity of the DVD (and the concomitant purchases of endless series of television programs such as Buffy) is all about the increasing inability of those in their teens, 20s and 30s to defer pleasure. Rather than watching the next episode next week it's now, now, now, more, more, more!
DVD hire in most places tends to be around $7-$9 for new releases. Video stores also sell ex-rentals for around $9-$14.95. I figure that if I'm going to have to pay $9 for the hire I might as well purchase it instead.... hence I have a large (and growing) DVD collection at 1/3 of the cost of retail.
DVD movies will always win over cable for me when it comes to modern films because cable rarely show them in the correct widescreen ratio they were filmed in. ie; missing picture information, people's noses sticking out the side of the frame, etc. You may as well be watching them on vhs tape. Cable's good for the old movies that are rare and not filmed in widescreen and I love the documentary channels. But, cable tv that we are served up here in Australia is way inferior to its American counterpart. ie; they have the sci-fi channel, horror movie channel, etc. What we get is seemingly countless so-called "women's" channels, etc., (whatever happened to the original cult channel Arena? It's now a "women's" channel! No offence, ladies) and these are the reasons I don't subscribe to it anymore.
To the English dood - $47 DVD players are available from more places than can be imagined in Oz as well, and they are perfectly functional. I believe the writer meant $300 for a branded all bells and whistles player for those Home Theatre Buffs for whom a $47 DVD player would be an indignity beyond belief, and that will also destroy the 160cm plasma simply by being located next to it.
We got a DVD-VCR late last year when our old VCR conked out. (Samsung for $249 at K-Mart.) We spent most of the 1st 3 months of this year watching the 1st 3 series of 'The West Wing'. Despite what you say about 'daring to order from America entertainments that are not supposed to be seen yet by Australians' (which is true for the more obscure stuff) it can often be the other way round - I know the 4th series of 'West Wing' was on sale here before the US.
And yes, it's a great babysitter (we have a 3 year old) but let's also say a big thank you to ABC Kids for having the best stuff readily available for Australian parents.
Man, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus is the best film ever! Citizen Kane, Godfater, Apocalypse Now...all total crap compared to Barbie! Just give her the Oscar already, it's not even a contest!
One more thing - the DVD player is also about to replace your photo album. All those hundreds of digital photos you take and never look at can be composed on your PC and played on your DVD player. Music, captions, zooming, panning - I have one prepared for every party at my place - and they always steal the show !!
The cheapest DVD player to date is sold by a supermarket for a touch under 20 pounds - about $47. There has to be _some_ compensation for living in this rain-soaked land!
The DVDs are great for the bonus features more than anything else, some people will feel that if you learn the how-to's of how the movies are made then they lose their edge but i find it enhances the aspect of it for me.
This is especially so when watching the extras on things like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars going into George Lucas's vision and how he built the movies to that vision.
I also love watching the blooper reels and outtakes on a good comedy, because usually what is funny on the screen is twice as funny when it is kept off screen. I would say that i spend at least 2 or 3 hours (depending on what is included) watching the special features before sitting down to watch the actual movie.
I'd like to add to what Alison posted on the 25th, regarding navigating to where you left off last time. I'm in China at the moment, and have a Chinese model DVD player (Shinco). If I've viewed a DVD partly and ejected it, the next time I put it back in, the player gives me the option of playing from where I left off the last time or playing from the beginning.
With DVDs, I like the freedom of selecting the languages for both audio and subtitles independently, and where offered in some DVDs, being able to play subtitles in two languages simultaneously. This is especially useful for language learners.
Love the DVD player. Wouldn't bother with a DVD recorder because there's nothing on free-to-air worth recording. I have 3 DVD players, in the lounge room, bedroom and the kids' room. We get DVDs delivered to our house for $10/month from Bigpond, plus I have a sizeable collection, including all available seasons for Sopranos, NYPD Blue, ER, Sex & The City and Six Feet Under. Oh, and the West Wing - including Season 6 which never even got started here and I ordered from the UK. Oh, and I got my first DVD player about 7 years ago.
I prefer DVDs to videos as the box is thinner so you can fit more on the same shelf space. One feature of the humble video that is sadly missed though, you can stop it, eject it, and later start up again right where you left off. I find this very frustrating to achieve on my DVD player, having to wait for what seems like longer and longer for the menu to appear, and then try to navigate to where I was up to.
I wonder what the list of top selling discs bought from overseas would look like - can Amazon tell us? I have a feeling it might reflect last week's column about the disdain TV stations show to viewers.
DVD technology is good. the quality is just superb - and they're so much more reliable than vcds (which only had a small amount of time in the limelight - they were just horrible - scratached easy and had poor video quality as a result. I remember watching VCDs and getting all these green boxes all over the screen every so often).
But as for using DVD players as a babysitter - I went to America recently and parents overuse that concept. They have their kids just sit and watch DVDs all day to calm them down or whatever, and the result is kids who can't run ten metres before puffing out. I'm not exaggerating here. One of my uncles came with a whole bunch of kids to pick me up, and most of them (bar his kids) were like huffing and puffing and almost collapsed as they ran through the terminal to catch up to me. and these kids are the same ones watching DVDs all day. sorry, got a little off topic there.. that's my two cents.
The thing I don't get about the popularity of DVDs is that so many of the discs are _purchased_ rather than rented. I mean, who would actually want to watch "Desperate Housewives" eps more than once? Even "Lost" or "The West Wing" I wouldn't watch more than the occasional ep more than once. Most of the top selling DVDs are just junk you might rent over the long non-ratings summer -- e.g. "Legally Blonde" and "Ace Ventura" -- but _buy_ them? Many people own collections of hundreds of DVDs I suspect they've mostly watched just once. That's _very_ expensive at $30-40 a disc.
The DVD gives a measure of control not afforded by pay tv, free to air television, the local cinema, or the programming instructions that accompanied VCRs! No wonder we've decided to adopt.
DVDs are the best babysitting device invented. I've progressed from using the Wiggles to AC/DC at Donnington as the de facto babysitter at our place.
$600 for the movie channel for a year vs $300 for a DVD player? what kind of addled comparison is that? The dvd doesn't magically play movies using brain-hole-pudding technology :)thats $300 plus $1000 for dvd's.. anyways the argument is moot anyone with cable is going to have a dvd... and if they're particularly bright they'll get a dvd recorder to catch the cream of the movie channel to watch at their own lesisure instead of getting stuck at any one particular time with the tenth rerun in a week of one particular set of movies.
I watched my first rented DVD ever (I hardly rent videos) and saw that it does have ads! I was amazed. I have a dual DVD-VCR which I bought a couple of years back but my DVD collection will never be as large as my video collection it seems.
I seem to have 4-500 (at a stab) videos [amassed over 5 years] and about 100 dvds. Although in the past 2 years in having DVDs my DVDs have increased from 0 to 100 and my video collection has only increased by maybe 50.
I still prefer videos though because I don't have a high definition wide screen tv, I just have a normal TV hooked up to an alright 3 speaker surround sound system.
I'm thinking that everyone who is getting a DVD player is also updating their TV, sound, etc. It seems to be a once in a generation thing rather than something you'd do once every couple of years.
David, you mention building a film library with DVDs which is what I am trying to do with classic films but there are still a lot of older films to be released that I want to have in my collection ie all the Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy comedies, some of Cary Grant's films.
Speaking of a demise of a format that never really got off the ground here was Laserdisc that hooked me in by having NTSC releases shipped to me while they were still in cinemas here in oz. Excellent quality,5.1 surround.The only alternative to gastly video tape!
I still have my orginal Star Wars Triology without the digital enhancments of today's version and it plays beautifully! Of course I have the new version on dvd but I still enjoy the orginal. The new format wars of HD-DVD/Blu-ray will be irrealvent as everything will be hard drive based media centres in your lounge room with your entire collection setup in a menu for your viewing pleasure. Just my prediction. But hey I'm still buying CD's as I love the cover artwork! Viva the digital age!
I think DVDs have succeeded due to their benefits, but mostly their marketing (which the pushers of the Beta tape format forgot to do?). Not to mention the fact that the local video (erm DVD?) shop prefers to stock DVDs because they are smaller. Anyway, let's face it, who really wants to have to rewind the tape or fast forward the previews?
What I love about DVD's are the "Extra Features" that come with them, giving an awesome insight into the movie making process and the amazing sequence of events that allow these projects to get off the ground and be successful. As examples, how about the fantastic Director's audio commentary tracks from "Easy Rider" and "American Beauty", and the insightful behind-the-scenes documentary from "Lantana".
Shawshank Redemption is the single good film on either list. Carl Barron? Legally Blonde? Urgh. If it were MAd MAx 2 it could be understood, but urgh. Australia is a nation of idiots, who vote against their own interest out of fear, and buy DVDs against their own entertainment interest out of brainwahing by advertising.
I notice you put "geeks and film scholars". Film 'scholars'? Get real. "Geeks" would have amply covered this supposed "film scholar" character.
I bought my first DVD player in 2000, mainly because I come from a family of LATE adopters, and didn't want to end up with a few cartons of tapes to complement the enormous supply of vinyl albums my parents have (we didn't get a CD player until 1994). I bought the (then) cheapest model, a TEAC for $400. I rarely notice the difference in quality, except that DVDs you watch to death don't degrade the way tapes do. I also rarely watch "extra features" except for deleted scenes.
You're right. I'm a technophile, and didn't want a DVD until HDD/DVD recorders came down in price. But I bought a DVD player so I didn't look stupid in front of my friends, when they came over to watch a "video". I'm sorry! I gave in to peer pressure!
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