Examples, please? I realize that there are a few select cases of pan-and-scan release (Universal's inexplicable catalog releases of Colossus: The Forbin Project and Iceman being recent examples.)

But, by and large, have ANY major (or minor) films been released in versions other than OAR? We're still getting 99% of titles in OAR, which is significantly better than we were even getting on laserdisc, not to mention VHS. I keep seeing this claim -- that films are being released in pan & scan 'more and more' -- but I've yet to see any real evidence of it in my home theater.

PowerDVD lets you resume from where you left off, even if you remove the disc and put it in again later. It doesn't have to be the last disc you watched either.

I think calhoun07 would have a point if he mentioned that with VHS, you can stop a tape in the middle of something, take it out, and put it in a DIFFERENT player and resume where you left off (although I don't think this is that big of a deal myself).

As for releasing titles pan and scan only, it's mostly a Columbia/Sony thing: look no further than their hideous practice of removing the WS sides of some of their titles and replacing them with FF-only versions that use the same UPC code as the original dual-sided releases. They've also released some catalog titles FF-only, including a "Special Edition" of the 2.35:1 film Annie (I know it was released with a screwed-up, overly compressed WS transfer, but that disc is OOP). Every major studio except Paramount and maybe New Line has released a FF-only title at one time or another, but they have mostly been catalog titles with limited followings, and new "family" films that many of us would admittedly have little interest in, such as Snow Dogs and Big Fat Liar.

With DVD Being a NON Linear format, and being able to select a chapter at will, more or less negates this as being a comparable issue

As you guys know, I have a huge collection of DVD and VHS movies. The problem is that the vast majority of movies have still not been released on DVD. I have thousands that haven't been released. Until this is done, the format is still viable.
Also there are other things you have to consider. The cost of a DVD recorder while still dropping is still significantly higher than a VHS recorder. Most people are taping shows to watch. Do you really care what the quality of the latest soap opera recording is? No, and for these people the VHS format is fine.
Remember the Beta machines? I still know a few people that own and use them and they sold far fewer of those compared to the current VHS machine.
Austin

Hmm you make vaild points.. but I dont agree.
I bought a vhs player like 6 months ago a sony machine and it was £120 ($90 or so) it has a ton of problems with audio recorded from any other vcr (on blank tapes) and the recording quality is not good enough for me. My DVD recorder was £190 ($140 ish?) and the quality and compatible difference is huge.

To me if it's the latest episode of the simpsons, a wrestling pay per view.. or anything else I want to watch quality IS important. And vhs is obselete compared to a dvd recorder.

If your someone who likes to archive seasons of your fav shows dvd is deffo the way to do it.

I understand your point, but here in the US the price of VHS machines runs around $50. The price of dvd recorders is significantly higher.
Besides that still doesn't address the huge amount of material that has not been released on DVD
Austin

Yes. Because the studios were doing just that before J6P started buying DVDs.

First year sales alone made DVD players the best selling consumer electronic device up until then. The first year sales were greater than the first year sales of all past electronics devices put together, including portable tape players (Walkmans, etc.), VCRs, and CD players.

Sorry, I don't have a link to this info, but it's really old news.

Yes, J6P's acceptance of DVD has brought an increased amount of releases. Let's look at what else is has brought:

More Pan & Scan Only Releases (Many family films)
Dual Releases, (Stores sell out of Widescreen copies, Only Full Screen copies left)
Crappy Bonus Features (Music Video's, children's games, etc.)

I don't really mind the crappy bonus features, as long as they don't reduce the picture quality to fit them on the disc, which sometimes they do. But I hate the Pan & Scan releases and the Dual Releases.