Duality

I’ve been a DVD enthusiast since 1998. I’ve frequented many different DVD oriented websites over the years. Last spring I decided I was taking a break from The Digital Bits and Home Theater Forum. The Bits does seem to favor Blu-ray over HD DVD a bit too much. I apologize for the pun. Other than that, their site is riddled with grammatical errors and outdated information. Yes, this is nitpicking but their poor use of English makes reading their data difficult. I expect more from a “professional” operation. The DVD cover art has, at times, gone for months without an update and I have found myself giving them at least a dozen page hits a day looking for information in vain. The HTF is a site that I’ve stayed away from for most of the past decade. The membership rules and requirements are, in my opinion, dictatorial and even as a lurker I found them oppressive – too many great threads closed because an admin had personal issues with posts.

Oh well, I was motivated to create this post by someone who posted in the Comic Con thread. I’m glad I got this off my chest. I’m still enjoying DVDs and I’m not giving The Bits or HTF a single page hit until after Labor Day. Thank God for DVDTalk!

The Valeyard

I rarely visit HTF (maybe twice a month) and I nearly forgot The Digital Bits existed until last week. I get all my news here.

This is, without a doubt, the best & friendliest DVD Forum on the web.

The Eliminator

Yep I've steered clear of both of those for a couple of years now, for pretty much the same reasons.

Boba Fett

Both those sites blow big time. I used to be a huge fan of the Bits, but it seems things have been going downhill there for quite some time.

islandclaws

I've never been a lurker of HTF, but The Bits has gone pretty far downhill. It's not good for anything except reading up on 2 week old info, if that. They are always willing to jump on the bandwagon with rumors-a-plenty, but when it comes to announcing street dates they wait until about a week before it hits once they get "their personal" confirmation, which is pretty lame considering every other site posts dates once they are well known.

This site is all I need. It gives me what I want.

Joel Goodsen

DVDtalk is now the first site I use for DVD news, along with www.dvdactive.com

I used to use HTF alot but maybe its just me, but it seems really quiet, almost as if no one hardly posts on there anymore.

PopcornTreeCt

I'm DVDTalk exclusive. If there's new DVD news someone will post it here.

speedy1961

Here, here!

jjcool

Used to use bits almost exclusively. Really liked their upcoming dvd art section, when it was updated. Now I am here almost exclusively. Still check in at the bits every once in awhile. Never been to home theater forum though

Music

I used to visit HTF, but got tired of my account being deactivated because I wasn't active enough there.

So sorry DVD Talk kicks your ass that I only go there when I'm bored out of my mind, or a search might take me there.

DB is another site that I only went to when someone linked to there, usually about a new release or coverart.... didn't even have it in my bookmarks until now... which I guess says a lot since I bookmark almost anything....

DVD Josh

I've been here since four months of opening. Believe me it's ALWAYS been like that. This forum does an excellent job of moderation and weeding out problem members. I don't know too many forum with as many 8 year members as this one.

My lord, has it been 8 years already....

Mikael79

I used to read The Digital Bits almost every day, but I've slowed it down to a crawl recently. I don't really like how he's shoving Blu-Ray down reader's throats, because I just get the sense that there is something behind his agenda, other than personal preference. I don't care which format wins, as long as one eventually does, but I don't like being fed ads for Blu-Ray in what should be editorial content.

canaryfarmer

Go Team DVDTalk! This and DVDActive are my main sources of information these days as well. I never understood why it took so long for the Bits to post new release information. Every time they (finally) do, I can only say to myself, "Self, I knew that already a long time ago. Now, let's go get us a chalupa!"

tylergfoster

I hit up three sites daily plus this forum but DVDactive is the only one that actually updates.

RevKarl

This is starting to sound like a "Why the Boston Red Sox suck?" thread in a NYYankees.com forum...

sauce07

Digital Bits is going downhill, used to visit it every other day, but now maybe once a month. It seems many of the DVD websites have slowed down over the years, I remember going to dvdfile.com for a while cause i liked their reviews and they updated with all the most recent news everyday but something happened a couple of years ago and since then they update rarely and the reviews have gone downhill.

chileorgullo

still strong
www.dvdtalk.com
www.dvdactive.com
http://dvd.ign.com
www.davisdvd.com

recently going downhill
www.tvshowsondvd.com

r.i.p
www.dvdangle.com

DeputyDave

If either of those sites occasionally have good info... well someone will post it here within seconds. The only time I NEED to go outside DVDTAlk is for my horror DVD news.

DarkEye

I use DVD Times for my DVD news, they're definitely my favorite for that kind of stuff.

As for forums, I will vote for this one, as it is friendly and has a lot of choices.

pmreed

Josh, your comment led me to check when I joined DVDtalk. Jeeze, I can't believe it....May 1999. Man, weren't those the wild and wooly days of DVDs?

Phil

thursdaynighter

I used to go to the Bits all the time but I really like to check for DVD updates a few times a day and our site here provides just that. This is the one place I can count on for anything DVD.

DivxGuy

Here, here!

JiM T

While I don't go for all the Hi-def content on the Bits lately, I still very much appreciate the site's personal approac, even when he knows he's going to piss off some readers. News isn't the quickest there, but it's still reliable. HTF I do find myself looking at less and less, but when it comes to real hardcore classic film buffs, there still seems to be more of them over there. This site has always been VERY consistant for solid reviews, news, bargain upates, and more, and I find myself coming here before any of those other places a lot. But I don't think of HTF ans competetion for this site. The sensibility over there seems to be more upscale techie, and, uh, seasoned. Nothing wrong with that...

Now someone listed davisdvd as "still strong" - gotta disagree with that. No updates since July 15, and very anemic prior to that, this summer. Wonder what gives.

BlueCC

This forum is great. The main site is less great.

The Digital Bits looks so messy that I have been there less than 10 times.

musick

yep