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Arms_Akimbo posted:Yeah it was a code you had to enter on the special features dvd, which otherwise only contained like 35 minutes of content iirc. The only reason I remember this is because my mother, who is in the politest sense "film challenged", was obsessed with this film and once she noticed the hidden codes stayed up an entire night rewatching the film in original order and chronological order and watching all the various special features until I found her bleary eyed the next morning as though on an all night drug binge proudly proclaiming she finally understood the movie.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:15
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I just learned that audio commentary actually started back in the 80s. I bought The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp by Criterion on Blu-Ray and it had commentary that had originally been on the Laserdisc release from the mid 80s. I saw this "Recorded 1986" and did a double take. No one I knew growing up had Laserdisc. The only time I saw it in the wild was in sophmore biology in 2004-2005. Long after it was a dead format.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:22
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Skoll posted:Speaking of VHS, let's have a look at a 17 year old thread on Ars Technica where they ponder if DVD will ever replace VHS: quote:It is conceivable (although not very probable in the near future) that someday, the fundamental media distribution structure will change radically.  quote:HD-DVD will replace DVD in about 5 to 10 years. This is when HDTV penetration should be semi decent. HD-DVD players will be backwards compatible with current DVD discs. So, DVD will likely be the medium of choice for a while, unless some radical new technology comes out of nowhere between now and then. 
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Jul 30, 2017 05:23
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Casimir Radon posted:I just learned that audio commentary actually started back in the 80s. I bought The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp by Criterion on Blu-Ray and it had commentary that had originally been on the Laserdisc release from the mid 80s. I saw this "Recorded 1986" and did a double take. No one I knew growing up had Laserdisc. The only time I saw it in the wild was in sophmore biology in 2004-2005. Long after it was a dead format. As late as 1997 Kevin Smith was infamous for starting his Laserdisc commentary track for Chasing Amy with a hearty "gently caress DVD"
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Jul 30, 2017 05:41
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Barudak posted:The only reason I remember this is because my mother, who is in the politest sense "film challenged", was obsessed with this film and once she noticed the hidden codes stayed up an entire night rewatching the film in original order and chronological order and watching all the various special features until I found her bleary eyed the next morning as though on an all night drug binge proudly proclaiming she finally understood the movie. Your mom kicks rear end.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:42
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Barudak posted:As late as 1997 Kevin Smith was infamous for starting his Laserdisc commentary track for Chasing Amy with a hearty "gently caress DVD" Funny cause I own all his movies on DVD. I think I only had Clerks and Mallrats on VHS.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:44
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Barudak posted:As late as 1997 Kevin Smith was infamous for starting his Laserdisc commentary track for Chasing Amy with a hearty "gently caress DVD" Why did he hate DVD?
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Jul 30, 2017 05:49
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Cojawfee posted:Why did he hate DVD? My understanding is the DVD versions of the time used different masters of his films, with Laserdisc being the Criterion Collection version, so the DVD would have issues like cutting off the tops and bottoms of his movies and other weirdness. Amusingly, that very commentary track was used for the eventual Criterion Collection version on DVD.
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Jul 30, 2017 05:56
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Format wars circa 1987 when Big Black grudgingly released Atomizer on CD
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Jul 30, 2017 06:36
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What were the available formats back then and what were their positions? Records on their gradual way out, CDs on their way in, Tapes still a decade from losing relevancy, and 8-tracks just kinda clinging on?
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Jul 30, 2017 06:58
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Casimir Radon posted:I just learned that audio commentary actually started back in the 80s. I bought The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp by Criterion on Blu-Ray and it had commentary that had originally been on the Laserdisc release from the mid 80s. I saw this "Recorded 1986" and did a double take. No one I knew growing up had Laserdisc. The only time I saw it in the wild was in sophmore biology in 2004-2005. Long after it was a dead format. Laserdisc had all sorts of cool poo poo. Digital 5.1 tracks, 1080i High Def MUSE Laserdisc (well ok 1035i but still), commentary, chapters, special features if you were used to vhs it must have been sorta mindblowing to have a 5.1 surround sound setup at home for some reason this is like the best video of the MUSE laserdisc format. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdrivFiaPBc
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Jul 30, 2017 07:12
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Don't put down Cliffhanger, that movie owned. John Lithgow killed it.
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Jul 30, 2017 07:14
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Jul 30, 2017 07:16
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Skoll posted:Don't put down Cliffhanger, that movie owned. John Lithgow killed it. nah im not what i meant was that youtube video is the best example of the muse system i could find on youtube, i didn't see any direct captures or whatever edit - u all should go look up how much muse laserdisc stuff is selling for these days. Samuel L. ACKSYN has a new favorite as of 07:19 on Jul 30, 2017 |
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Jul 30, 2017 07:17
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Grand Prize Winner posted:What were the available formats back then and what were their positions? Records on their gradual way out, CDs on their way in, Tapes still a decade from losing relevancy, and 8-tracks just kinda clinging on? 8-tracks were mostly clinging on through mail order catalogs and truck stops as incredibly cheap and cheesy compilation tapes of covers of popular songs, but they were basically dead by that point. The last 8-track released was a Fleetwood Mac tape in 1988, iirc. I think the same was mostly true for reel to reel stuff, though on the more expensive side. Digital Audio Tape/DAT launched in 1987, but that was a losing battle with record companies so it never went anywhere.
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Jul 30, 2017 07:43
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Samuel L. ACKSYN posted:Laserdisc had all sorts of cool poo poo. Supposedly, and this is likely audiophile nonsense, the 5.1 tracks on laserdiscs sound better than the later DVD and blu-ray releases. The reasoning is that:
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Jul 30, 2017 08:07
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Grand Prize Winner posted:What were the available formats back then and what were their positions? Records on their gradual way out, CDs on their way in, Tapes still a decade from losing relevancy, and 8-tracks just kinda clinging on? Steve Albini (Big Black founder) hated what he saw as a threat to independent record labels and the potential death of vinyl because CDs were taking over. 8 tracks were long dead - hence the title of the record as a comment about chasing the newest technology This is what I remember from when the CD was released 
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Jul 30, 2017 08:07
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TotalLossBrain posted:That's because it was a four-part made for TV movie series. Each was about 90 minutes long I think. Some Gary Sinise's early work. The movie was average, mainly due to the limitations of TV, but it had a good cast. Gary Sinise, Ozzie Davis, Ruby Dee, Jamie Sheridan, Matt Frewer, Miguel Ferrara. Randaconda has a new favorite as of 08:32 on Jul 30, 2017 |
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Jul 30, 2017 08:29
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Barudak posted:As late as 1997 Kevin Smith was infamous for starting his Laserdisc commentary track for Chasing Amy with a hearty "gently caress DVD" The best Kevin Smith commentary was the guest one he did for Roadhouse.
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Jul 30, 2017 08:30
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Rules of Attraction had the best DVD commentary. There's one where they lock Carrot Top in a room and force him to watch it, and it's his best comedic work by a mile. There's also one by Ron Jeremy.
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Jul 30, 2017 09:38
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Date Movie has a commentary by two critics who spend the entire time ripping it apart.
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Jul 30, 2017 10:05
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Cojawfee posted:Why did he hate DVD? He was also a Laserdisc collector. He lost his collection in a flood before he started filming Clerks.
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Jul 30, 2017 10:06
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And before the ability to put video files of decent resolution onto a hard drive was a thing, laserdisc was one way early video editors could access files fast enough. The Edit Droid was one attempt to make a laserdisc based editing system but the hardware limits of the time scuppered it. Laserdiscs weren't cheap to master so the format wasn't widely adopted beyond smaller projects like commercials.
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Jul 30, 2017 10:20
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For a long time LD was the only way to see a film that wasn't in current release any way other than in pan and scan. Once DVDs came along you frequently got flippy discs with p&s (`full screen') on one side and letterboxed on the other, although early on rental versions were often just pan and scan, and it really wasn't until well into the 2000s that letterboxing became the default/expected format. If you weren't around before ubiquitous widescreen you just don't know how bonkers a lot of films (like the Sergio Leone Westerns) looked pan and scanned, and therefore how loving amazing watching a LD was, even independent of the better resolution and sound quality compared to a broadcast signal or VHS.
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Jul 30, 2017 10:39
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And you had to buy an absolutely enormous TV in order for a letterboxed movie to look good on it. Big rear projection fuckers for your den. A 4:3 screen looks ridiculous at that size nowadays, but that's what a "home theater" setup meant. I still remember seeing the first flat panel plasma big screen TVs on display in Fry's. $15,999
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Jul 30, 2017 10:59
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Randaconda posted:The movie was average, mainly due to the limitations of TV, but it had a good cast. Gary Sinise, Ozzie Davis, Ruby Dee, Jamie Sheridan, Matt Frewer, Miguel Ferrara. You forgot Mr Hand. For shame. M O O N, that spells Ray Walston.
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Jul 30, 2017 11:47
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ChesterJT posted:You forgot Mr Hand. For shame. M O O N, that spells Ray Walston. I did.  Dude from Coach that played Tom was good in it, as well. and Laura Sangiacomo was pretty decent. The only person out and out terrible was Molly Ringwald.
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Jul 30, 2017 12:03
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SubG posted:For a long time LD was the only way to see a film that wasn't in current release any way other than in pan and scan. Once DVDs came along you frequently got flippy discs with p&s (`full screen') on one side and letterboxed on the other, although early on rental versions were often just pan and scan, and it really wasn't until well into the 2000s that letterboxing became the default/expected format. This was the worst. Someone buys you a DVD but it's the loving full screen version. The terminology was poo poo, and made people think every widescreen movie was cutting off the top and bottom. Also bad was having an early we widescreen tv and someone set it to zoom in on 4:3 stuff so it would fill the whole screen. I'm glad all that poo poo is over now.
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Jul 30, 2017 14:22
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Cojawfee posted:Also bad was having an early we widescreen tv and someone set it to zoom in on 4:3 stuff so it would fill the whole screen. I'm glad all that poo poo is over now.
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Jul 30, 2017 16:49
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Data Graham posted:And you had to buy an absolutely enormous TV in order for a letterboxed movie to look good on it. Big rear projection fuckers for your den. A 4:3 screen looks ridiculous at that size nowadays, but that's what a "home theater" setup meant. My grandpa never owned a TV larger than 20" or so, so he insisted on P&S. Of course he usually recorded his movies from terrestrial broadcast so most of them were anyway.
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Jul 30, 2017 16:50
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Randaconda posted:I did. I thought Parker Lewis was poo poo as well. Matt Frewer though 
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Jul 30, 2017 17:27
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Cojawfee posted:This was the worst. Someone buys you a DVD but it's the loving full screen version. The terminology was poo poo, and made people think every widescreen movie was cutting off the top and bottom. It didn't help that there were people out there who were actually trying to agitate against widescreen/letterboxing and even HDTV in general because it was "cheating the customer" by cutting off parts of the screen. Can't believe some of the sites from that whole skirmish are still up: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ussdefiant/rebuttal.html "Lettershlocking" 
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Jul 30, 2017 17:28
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Today I took my ten year old son here: http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/ And it was loving great. They had everything you would have seen in a classroom in the 80s including a ton of BBC micros, an RM Nimbus 186, a bunch of Acorns of different stripes and even a BBC master Domesday Book think that came with a laserdisc reader. They also had a really good selection of consoles from the intellivision up to the Gamecube including an Amiga CD32 running Chaos Engine and a ln Amstrad GX4000 which has the single most unpleasant gamepad it has ever been my misfortune to try out. Also a ton of arcade machines on free play including a couple of Neo Geo ones with multiple games to select. If you're in the UK and within moderate driving distance I heartily recommend it.
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Jul 30, 2017 17:30
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Im a proud owner of the fullscreen version of Spider-Man 2 on DVD tyvm
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Jul 30, 2017 17:35
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Proof:
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Jul 30, 2017 17:40
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Last Chance posted:Proof: I have the original Die Hard DVD collection, before the last two abortions were made and I think they're "full screen specials" too.
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Jul 30, 2017 17:45
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Data Graham posted:It didn't help that there were people out there who were actually trying to agitate against widescreen/letterboxing and even HDTV in general because it was "cheating the customer" by cutting off parts of the screen. Back in the VHS days there were a very few movies released in letterbox, mostly sci-fi flicks like the Star Wars trilogy. And on a few occasions at the video rental store, I'd have to try to patiently explain to a customer that no, the black bars didn't mean the tape was broken, that movie screens were a different shape than TV screens, that letterbox was actually the UNcut version of the movie. Some of them just never understood.
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Jul 30, 2017 18:15
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TotalLossBrain posted:I thought Parker Lewis was poo poo as well. MY LIFE FOR YOU! Yeah, Frewer was good. Forgot about Parker Lewis, yeah, he was pretty bad, as well.
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Jul 30, 2017 18:19
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Powered Descent posted:Back in the VHS days there were a very few movies released in letterbox, mostly sci-fi flicks like the Star Wars trilogy. And on a few occasions at the video rental store, I'd have to try to patiently explain to a customer that no, the black bars didn't mean the tape was broken, that movie screens were a different shape than TV screens, that letterbox was actually the UNcut version of the movie. Some of them just never understood. People in general are stupid and set in their beliefs.
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Jul 30, 2017 18:20
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When I was a kid I always wondered why on television the people shown during the opening credit sequence of some movies were all thin. Of course the screen was squashed so you could see all the text. I just thought "westerns have thin people in the beginning but normal people for the rest of the movie  ".(For some reason it was always westerns that had big wide credits.)
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Jul 30, 2017 18:37
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