Umm, there were plenty of discs available before J6P found DVDs. The only thing that the additional awareness brought was anamorphic releases of Zoolander and Happy Gilmore.

Wow you can actually SMELL the superiority complexes in this thread. Way to go guys!

Not exactly.

What J6P brought to DVD was increased selection, decreased prices, and a huge viable format. A format where Blue Underground can release some obscure film that only a handful of people have ever heard of -- and still get shelf space at Best Buy and get carried as a selection at Columbia House.

What would have happened if they hadn't embraced DVD? See Laserdisc for an example... fewer releases, MUCH higher prices, difficult to find at retail stores, and a format that would collapse as soon as the Next Big Thing arrived.

$19.99 Tron DVD
$129.99 Tron laserdisc

$24.99 Night of the Living Dead Elite DVD
$89.99 Night of the Living Dead Elite Laserdisc

I'm not happy to return to those days. I thank the powers that be that people flock to Wal-Mart to buy the latest DVD of Zoolander or whatever.

x100!

I love DVD, don't get me wrong, but am I the only one who likes the fact that a VHS cassette stays on the same spot when you stop watching for the day, and it's really easy to continue watching the next day?

My DVD player does not do that, unless if I keep it powered up which I do not like.

I think both media still have a place next to each other in this world.

If anything needs to die its the J6P phrase.

If I leave a DVD in my player, and turn it off, I only have to hit "play" while it's loading once I turn it back on - and it picks up right where it left off. (Philips 747)

Same here (Sony)

I agree, how totally fucking ignorant you would have to be to demean somebody who does not have the same opinions you do ON AN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUM. Sheesh.

Mine does this too, it's some Sony player.. not sure which one.

I have to disagree on the pricing. 4-5 years ago when internet bargining was in it's hey day I was seeing prices that I could only hope for today.

Hell even retail at BB the opening week price on most major releases was $14.99. That crept up to $15.99 and now it $16.99-$17.99

Well, that has to do with Internet prices, not DVDs in particular. Yes, online prices were insanely cheap in the mid-late 1990s. And a shitload of companies went out of business because of it. You can't offer $10 off $10 coupons and stay in business for too long. But the overall MSRPs were still more expensive than they are now.

Overall retail prices of DVDs has dropped over time. You may not be getting 3 DVDs for $1 like 800.com was offering. But you can still get discs for dirt-cheap, relatively speaking.

Well, what you present is actually a need that is not being met in DVD. Maybe somebody needs to develop a DVD player where this could be an added feature? Book mark up to ten DVDs for later viewing, and when you put that DVD back in the player, the player recognizes it and knows it's in the data buffer for your book mark and resumes play right where you left off. Hell, if we can put a man on a moon, somebody must be able to come up with a few more computer chips that would allow DVD players to do that.

And if any of you invent it, cut me in on the royalty for the idea.

Such an insane deal that it's still being quoted 4 years later.

The good old days.

And some prices go down. DVDs I paid thirty dollars for years ago sell now for 9.99 or less. Sometimes it doesn't take that long for prices to go down, either. Wait just a few months these days and you can find several new titles for ten bucks or less at places like Wal Mart and Target. I am getting to the point where I am going to stop buying DVDs they day they come out unless I really, really want it and can get it for a cheap price. I bought Bubba Ho Tep for 17.99 brand new shortly after it came out and it was 7.49 at amazon.com recently. That's just one example of many I have, but there is no need to throw money away just to have a title right away unless you just have to have it for some reason. And I have enough unwatched DVDs where that's no longer an issue for me.

edit: and you use Best Buy as your example? That's a poor example because ever since they introduced their rewards card, their prices have gone up across the board. Yeah, you may get coupons every now and then if you are a rewards memeber but I will save my money on a rewards card and find my DVDs elsewhere. I have a friend who is a rewards member and saved five dollars on a box set recently, but I found it online for nearly 20.00 less than Best Buy was selling it for, so what is the point of Best Buy anymore? Even if you are a rewards member.

My Pioneer DVD player from 1998 does this. A lot of DVD players have a bookmark feature.

I've never seen one with one, or I just don't know how to use it if I have one that does it! I had a Toshiba DVD player before and now have a Malata.

Actually, it's a poor example to use any particular retailer prices. Different retailers price things differently for different reasons.

800.com need to attract customers --> 3 DVDs for $1 --> "Yeah! DVDs are cheap!"
Virgin Megastores doesn't care about discounts --> DVDs are full MSRP --> "Ah, crap! DVDs are expensive!"
I find a bunch of DVDs at a flea market --> 10 DVDs for $10 --> "Wow! DVDs are practically being given away!"

The only benchmark should be MSRP, not random, individual retailer discounts. MSRP on DVDs has gone down over time.

calhoun07...

My first Panasonic player that I bought back in 1998 would automatically resume play on a DVD if you left it in the player and hit Play next time. My newer Panasonic players allow up to five bookmarks (called Position Memory), and you can take the DVDs out! Check this website to see if your player DOES have that functionality:

http://www.videohelp.com/

Both of which my 12 year old son likes to watch and I didn't have to buy on VHS. Were it not for additional awareness DVD could have conceivably gone the way of the laserdisc or DAT, and it's a fair bet that you wouldn't see sales on some very good titles going for 2 for $15 at places like Best Buy.

I think that the emergence of TIVO and DVRs in general have done more to hasten the demise of VCRs lately than DVDs.

DVDs did a lot of damage in terms of low-cost, high-quality, sell-through movies, but they didn't offer any recording capabilities. You can watch FIGHT CLUB 8 billion times in pristine digital glory, but your $100 player ain't gonna record "Golden Girls" (Collector's Series!). The VCR still had some viability, but TIVO/DVRs pretty much are eating up that potentiality at life. Groin, and

I agree with you here. Except your last sentence is bit confusing. "Groin and..." what???

"... a haircut: two bits!"

sorry, but that wasn't due to J6P's embracing of DVD technology. Before Blue Underground, Anchor Bay was churning out obscure cult titles. NOTLD at $25 was nearly 4 years ago.... well before J6P accepted DVD.

The entrance of DVD into the mainstream has indeed caused a significant drop in prices. Without J6P there would never be a $5 bin at Walmart... nor $1 DVDs at Target. So for that I thank them.

As long as we also acknowledge that the acceptance of DVD has also pushed in a "dumbing down" of DVD titles... more and more are being released in pan-and-scan.

My Malata 996 has a bookmark feature. I press stop and turn the power off with the remote; when I power it up it resumes automatically. On certain discs I can remove the it from the tray and when I put it back in it will remember the spot I'm in.