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1999 Titanic DVD Question

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1999 Titanic DVD Question

Old 04-12-08, 01:38 AM
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1999 Titanic DVD Question

I have never bought the 1999 DVD only the 2005 3-Disc collector’s edition.

My question is does the movie run all the way through on the 1999 DVD or does it stop half-way through and you have to flip the disc over to the other side?

I wanted to know before I bought it because I wanted to buy it in the hopes it would play all the way through. It really pulls me out of the movie with I have to get up and change disc’s. I just wanted to check before I spent the money on a movie I already own.
Old 04-12-08, 03:25 AM
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The 1999 release of Titanic, the first DVD I ever bought, is on one single-sided disc, and plays from beginning to end. No need to change anything.

The layer transition is in the same place the film is split, on both the collector's edition DVD and the VHS tapes.

The 1999 release, while non-anamorphic, does feature a nice enough picture and FANTASTIC 5.1 surround sound.

The only extra is the original theatrical trailer, like the film it's non-anamorphic widescreen and in 5.1 surround. The menu is very simple, and has a nice opening animation. 30 chapters.
Old 04-12-08, 03:34 AM
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GREAT!!! I’m going to either pick this up from the store or order it tomorrow. I really hate having to change discs.

When I got the 3-Disc Collectors Edition I was so happy that I wouldn’t have to get up like with the VHS tapes. But of course I was surprised to find out they spilt the movie in half once again.

Thank you so much for helping me out. But I wonder why they didn’t just put the movie on 1 disc with the collector’s edition. I’m sure it would have fit.
Old 04-12-08, 03:45 AM
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Originally Posted by gdstudent

Thank you so much for helping me out. But I wonder why they didn’t just put the movie on 1 disc with the collector’s edition. I’m sure it would have fit.
No problem.
The reason for the split was because they wanted to keep the video and audio quality the best it could be with all the extras included, such as a DTS audio track, 3 commentaries and all those little behind the scenes video segments you can watch as you view the film.

There was no way to squeeze all that content onto a single dual-layer disc without ruining the quality.
Old 04-12-08, 03:52 AM
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Oh yeah I forgot about all the commentaries. I haven’t listened to any of them yet. Watching this movie is like an all day event so it will take a while to get through all that lol.

But thanks again for all your help. It just sucks that I didn’t buy it sooner. I just figured if the collector’s edition was spilt then the 1999 version would have been too but I was wrong.
Old 04-12-08, 12:20 PM
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I personally rather like it when longer movies are spread out over 2 discs. Aside from the A/V quality, it allows for a home-made intermission. I can stand up, stretch, use the bathroom, and get a snack if I want.
Old 04-12-08, 12:54 PM
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Originally Posted by GoldenJCJ
I personally rather like it when longer movies are spread out over 2 discs. Aside from the A/V quality, it allows for a home-made intermission. I can stand up, stretch, use the bathroom, and get a snack if I want.
Yep. Plus I wouldn't buy a movie knowing it's non-anamorphic... especially for a movie like Titanic. Maybe this isn't a concern to the OP.
Old 04-12-08, 05:15 PM
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Originally Posted by TomOpus
Yep. Plus I wouldn't buy a movie knowing it's non-anamorphic... especially for a movie like Titanic. Maybe this isn't a concern to the OP.
The OP has the 3-disc set already, but wants the opportunity to just watch the whole thing continuously. The Non-anamorphic release is still sold everywhere, and it's still good for what it is. For years, that's all that was available anyway.
Old 04-12-08, 07:49 PM
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Pretty much all of the DVD's I've seen with an entire 3-hour (or more) film on one DVD-9 suffer from a lot of compression artifacting. Not obvious, but you can tell when there's a high level of movement in a shot. I've seen a few DVDs that allow a 90 min. program to take up nearly all of a DVD-9. As a result, it's about as flawless as a 480p DVD can get.

Titanic, since it's bare-bones and non-anamorphic, should look fine on a 20" 4x3 CRT screen. If you're watching it on a large 16x9 screen, expect a soft and blocky image that doesn't look so hot.

No idea why disc breaks are a big deal for long movies.

Last edited by PatrickMcCart; 04-12-08 at 09:39 PM.
Old 04-12-08, 07:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Nick Martin
The OP has the 3-disc set already, but wants the opportunity to just watch the whole thing continuously. The Non-anamorphic release is still sold everywhere, and it's still good for what it is. For years, that's all that was available anyway.
I realized that. As Patrick mentioned, if he/she has a 16x9 TV it'll look like crap since it's non-anamorphic. The OP was worried about a 30-second break taking them out of the movie. IMO, a crappy-looking movie takes me out of it for the whole movie
Old 04-12-08, 08:02 PM
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I guess I just have a soft spot for this disc, being the one disc I bought a DVD player for back in September of 1999. I bought the disc on release day, before I bought the player itself later in the evening. Had the crappiest of crappy TVs back then, and no stereo system to speak of (I enjoyed the DVD's sound through the front headphone jack) and it inspired me to gradually obtain bits and pieces of equipment over time. Good memories...

That disc has one major advantage over any of the collector's edition DVDs of Titanic, in that it has a much nicer looking Cameron-less cover

EDIT:

I popped this disc on and sampled some scenes scaled to anamorphic, and while the colors are a bit flat compared to the newer DVDs, it didn't look bad at all. It's certainly no slouch like the theatrical Star Wars discs are. Then again, what is? (Not really asking, because there's probably no non-anamorphic DVD that looks as bad as those do.)

Last edited by Nick Martin; 04-12-08 at 11:41 PM.

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