I recently purchased Sleepers and A Time to Kill, both of which were flippers. Are these currently the only versions available? They didn't re-release them later on as one sided discs, did they?

No, they haven't released them again.

But other regions have them as dual-layer discs, some with DTS.

You'll want to be careful about ditching flipper discs for single-sided ones. I'm a fan of doing that as well, but unfortunately what you sometimes end up with is the fullscreen side and not widescreen. Depends on the title, and the box sometimes says widescreen or lists both versions, but it'll be fullscreen only. Sony has been really bad about that lately, as discussed here in the forum a while back. I bought the "Buddy Holly Story/La Bamba" 2-pack, and even though "The Buddy Holly Story" says it's 1:1.85 anamorphic widescreen on the back of both the DVD case and cardboard slipcover, it's actually a fullscreen transfer. I had to buy the flipper disc used in order to get widescreen. Seems odd that they wouldn't just say it's fullscreen on the back since they obviously had to modify the specs since it wasn't a flipper anymore. I could see holding over the old specs ("Side A, Side B", etc.), but to change the specs to widescreen only when it's actually fullscreen only really sucks.

Good luck in your search.

Odd. I thought only Warner Brothers made flippers back in the beginning of DVD. Flipper = half of the movie on one side, second half on the other (e.g. the original Color Purple and Goodfellas).

Well, I was using the term "flipper" to mean a two-sided disc because I assumed the two terms are interchangeable. I didn't realize it had to be a disc you had to flip over like a Laserdisc while watching the movie. If that's the case, I apologize.

Is there a term besides "two-sided disc" or "DVD-18" that describes a disc with widescreen on one side and fullscreen on the back? Or, in the case of Superman and possibly others, the movie on one side and bonus content on the other?

I just call them double sided discs. I also agree with the definition of a "flipper". It has the movie split across sides so you have to flip it in the middle of the movie.

Sony is the biggest (and perhaps only) perpretrator of rereleasing widescreen/fullscreen double sided discs as one or the other (usually full screen).

I don't know, I'd consider the "Lawnmower Man" double-feature DVD to be a re-release, and each side only has the fullscreen transfer. Of course it's labeled as such, though.

Funnily enough, the new "Vacation" double-feature has both widescreen transfers, along with all the bonus features from the original release! I'll still probably buy them individually, because the double-feature is a flip... I mean, a double-sided disc.

DVD-18 (dual layer on each side) is definately not a good term to use as it describes that amout of data on the disc - not just the number of sides. DVD-10 (single layer on each side) and DVD-15 (single layer on 1 side and dual layer on the other) are also Double-Sided.

DS-DL (double-sided, dual layer) is often used to describe DVD-18, with SS-DL, DS-SL, and SS-SL representing the other three combinations.

I only use the term "flipper" to describe a movie that is split across the front and back of a disc although many others use it for all double-sided discs.

Beware of companies that rerelease just one side of a disc, even if that side is the widescreen side, as sometimes different bonus material accompanies the WS and the FS sides of the disc.

Sorry to be so anal, but since we're trying to educate someone here, I should point out that it's actually called a DVD-14. It's a DVD-9 (dual-layered) on one side and a DVD-5 (single layered) on the other side. 9+5=14 --- DVD-9 + DVD-5 = DVD-14.

A DVD-10 disc would be double-sided, single layers or a DVD-5 on each side.

well yeah flippers are what you would call one film that is spread over 2 sides. i own loads of films that have the film on one side and the extras or fullscreen version on the other. 8mm, austin powers, lethal weapon 4, exorsist, t2,

Okay well this is going against the grain a bit, but I feel pretty comfortable sticking with "flipper" meaning any 2-sided disc. After all, you have to flip the disc over to access all the content, so it seems to me that "flipper" is still appropriate. Just because someone's decided to be more selective with that term, I don't think I'm making a major transgression here by not being that anal about it. It's not as if I'm calling a two-disc set "double sided" simply because each disc has one side and there are two discs.

Anyway, it seems that reserving "flipper" for those very few titles that don't even fit on a double-layered side is kind of splitting hairs. Just my opinion, though.

i think most people dislike ALL flippers. you can get a mark or whatever alot easier on flippers. dont know why they bother still making them. it seems calling them 2,3 or 4 disc editions makes them sell better

Oops, I knew that. Thanks for catching it.

Whatever floats your boat. But this isn't some "opinion" held by DVD fans. At least not according to the official DVD FAQ.

I certainly do, but unfortunately the reality is that they're not gonna go away. Thankfully, most movies are released as a 2-disc set these days rather than as a flipper, because SSDL discs are perhaps cheaper and/or more reliable than any flavor of double-sided ones. That still leaves TV season sets, which very often use flippers. I have the second season of "RIDES", and even though it's only TEN episodes, it's on FIVE double-sided discs!!! That's only ONE episode per side! I think they're about an hour long, but do we really need five discs for only ten episodes??? Of course it was only $29.99 for those five discs, but really, that seems excessive to me.

I guess it's just not always practical to use single-sided discs with pretty artwork on each one, although of course that's what I'd prefer.

Yeah, well, that's still one guy making a distinction, and I'm sure that when that was written, true "flipper" discs were much more common. The LOTR trilogy is probably the only title I can even think of right now where that would even be necessary.

You have to flip the disc, so I'm calling them "flippers". In fact, it doesn't even seem to me that he's saying that the term "flipper" can't be used for WS/FS discs, just that he's not talking about that kind of disc.

Anyway, I'd feel differently if I thought it'd cause confusion because of a high number of "true" flippers out there, but I don't think that's the case.