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Well, there's also another good review of the disk over at The Digital Bits. Been up there about a week or so now.

The Digital Bits has an interview with the people responsible for mastering the Ep. I DVD (as well as George Lucas), and they stated that the transfer was done from film (and not direct from digital) because they wanted the tonal qualities the film transfer gave them. Apparently Lucas et al. aren't as much behind the all-digital concept as they're saying...

If you're looking for another review that doesn't involve Force.net drool, here's one from The Digital Bits which has a lot of the same information, but some different criticisms.

Shown here

Vermifax

The studios are making noises about changing this and instituting a rental-pricing tier, and the rental shops are fighting it tooth and nail. It'll probably happen sooner or later, though.
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ISTM I read an article (on The Digital Bits, I think) that said the DVD was going to include two versions of the film: the release version, plus a second version that's identical except for having *no special effects* (i.e., all blue screen). Maybe that's the kind of thing only a film student would care to see, but I'm kind of disappointed that this won't be part of the package. I would pay extra to have both versions to compare side by side. In fact, if there is anything to the rumour, I hope Lucas announces it before October 16 so I can decide whether to hold off for that version.

I wonder if this made a difference.

This is disinformation at best.

Not necessarily. The rumors I've been hearing on one or another of my usual DVD news/rumor sites say that the upcoming DVD release will be a special edition with a commentary track, the 24 seconds of extra footage (which I suspect is the same extra footage found on the old Criterion laserdisc), and other spiffy new features.

And this would be a Region 1 disc.

Incidentally, according to The Digital Bits (go to their archives page and do a text-find on "Bakshi"), the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings will be coming to DVD this year.
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Incidentally, according to The Digital Bits (go to their archives page and do a text-find on "Bakshi"), the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings will be coming to DVD this year.
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The Digital Bits info & review

That link goes to a discussion/explanation of why the DVD isn't anamorphic, isn't 5.1 DD, and has a lesser set of special features. The link to their review is also there, in the first paragraph.
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D. Fischer

There's an interesting backstory to this DVD, about why it doesn't have the director's cut, anamorphic widescreen, decent special features, or Dolby Digital 5.1, as was originally advertised. You can read more about it here. The short version is the consumer got screwed by inter-studio bickering and inane licensing issues. Oh, and if you liked the series, save your money, because they'll be doing a special edition DVD soon.

On a brighter note, the region 2 version might have all the bells and whistles included. Yet another reason to get that region-free player.

There's more information here.
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Here is a link to a good article with info on why the DVD turned out the way it did: The Dune Debate There is input from Artisan (the producer of the DVD set) and New Amsterdam (the company that produced the mini-series).

See the DVD FAQ. The shiny stuff on CD-R's isn't so reflective at the frequency that DVD lasers use.

According to http://www.thedigitalbits.com/ Artisan has confirmed the DVD (anamorphic) is in the works. It may or may not be the uncut version. Let's hope that version addresses things like how Paul and Jessica suddenly end up in the desert. Or perhaps they can digitally remaster it to make the acting good. It may be out as early as March. As much as I think this miniseries is shaping up to be muddled and poorly executed, I'll probably buy the DVD. I'm always looking for a new DVD and well, it's Dune.

For more info, read this Digital Bits story - go down to the 10/19 post and below.
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There's a really great guide to anamorphic DVDs and their relationship to HDTV sets available online. It goes quite a bit into the emerging HDTV sets, as well as detailing why you should buy DVDs only if they are anamorphic (e.g. enhanced for 16:9 TVs), especially if you ever plan on watching them on a HDTV set (which do have a 16:9 aspect ratio).

The Digital Bits Ultimate Guide to Anamorphic Widescreen DVD (for Dummies!)

Actually it depends on the DVD. If you think it's impossible to make a bad-looking DVD you're nuts. Yes, DVDs have the potential to always be better than LDs, but the reality depends heavily on how well they are mastered.

In some cases, even the DVD fanboy websites will grudgingly admit that some discs just don't look as good as the laserdiscs. Braveheart is one recent example. The Sound of Music is another (sorry, no link, just check rec.arts.movies.tech for discussion on it).

In terms of picture quality, DVDs can be better than laserdiscs, but aren't necessarily.

Actually it depends on the DVD. If you think it's impossible to make a bad-looking DVD you're nuts. Yes, DVDs have the potential to always be better than LDs, but the reality depends heavily on how well they are mastered.

In some cases, even the DVD fanboy websites will grudgingly admit that some discs just don't look as good as the laserdiscs. Braveheart is one recent example. The Sound of Music is another (sorry, no link, just check rec.arts.movies.tech for discussion on it).

In terms of picture quality, DVDs can be better than laserdiscs, but aren't necessarily.

According to the CEMA shipping numbers(attainable here), there are over 7 million DVD players in the United States and now VHS companies are getting desperate, attempting to utilize the inability of the DVD Forum to decide on one Rewritable format. What makes this less worth Philip's time and money, is that this MPEG2 DVHS tape will still suffer from signal degredation as all wound magnetic film does, although the fact that the recording is digital will hide this for some time. Furthermore, since it's compressed video, the loss in quality will become severe. At least you can fool with this piece of past obsolete junk, until they release the final format for DVD recording... ...and remember to hit rewind when you are done recording.

The Digital Bits, which is a DVD news site (and therefore IMHO a more likely source for DVD news than AICN), claims to have actual Lucasfilm inside information (rather than just a "we don't have a release date" comment from an un-named source). These guys are part of the "Star Wars on DVD" campaign and have managed to get contacts with LFL as part of that.

In particular, their Rumor Mill page says that there won't be any Star Wars DVDs in 2000; they're currently hearing 1Q 2001 for Phantom Menace and "very tentative plans" for the original trilogy for the 2001 holiday season.

You will note that this doesn't actually conflict with AICN's latest--there's no real release date yet--though it certainly conflicts with what "some guy at Suncoast" said in the original AICN article.

(As for his credibility, if a mall store employee told me the sun would be rising in the east tomorrow, I'd be checking the other horizon. :-)

The Digital Bits, which is a DVD news site (and therefore IMHO a more likely source for DVD news than AICN), claims to have actual Lucasfilm inside information (rather than just a "we don't have a release date" comment from an un-named source). These guys are part of the "Star Wars on DVD" campaign and have managed to get contacts with LFL as part of that.

In particular, their Rumor Mill page says that there won't be any Star Wars DVDs in 2000; they're currently hearing 1Q 2001 for Phantom Menace and "very tentative plans" for the original trilogy for the 2001 holiday season.

You will note that this doesn't actually conflict with AICN's latest--there's no real release date yet--though it certainly conflicts with what "some guy at Suncoast" said in the original AICN article.

(As for his credibility, if a mall store employee told me the sun would be rising in the east tomorrow, I'd be checking the other horizon. :-)

Having said that, I am all for Lucas to release a dvd of TPM. I have been waiting for one to come out since I saw TPM in the theatres. Let's hope this rumor is true (even if the Sept 12 date is wrong).

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DVDs are already obsolete. The HDTV standard which is being implemented right now blows them away in a few short years

Anamorphic = enhanced for widescreen TVs = enhanced for 16:9 TVs

meaning, made to look _REAL_ good on HDTVs

meaning, gonna comply with HDTV standards just fine

not meaning, gonna be obsolete in a couple of years

Not only should people only buy DVDs, but they also should only buy Anamorphic DVDs. It's too bad not all studios release their DVDs with an anamorphic transfer. But, when HDTV does get more marketshare, I'm sure they will....

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There are links to sites selling the LD here. The price, I believe, is somwhere in the $110 range. It's a Japanese import LD.

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The site The Digital Bits is usually a good source of information about when movies will come out on DVD. They've been tracking various rumors about the Star Wars series and have mentioned a few times that Lucas is going to wait for all the movies to be released before distrbuting them on DVD. Look down the page in the "My Two Cents" section. Also on that site has an interesting write up on bootlegged DVDs here.

The site The Digital Bits is usually a good source of information about when movies will come out on DVD. They've been tracking various rumors about the Star Wars series and have mentioned a few times that Lucas is going to wait for all the movies to be released before distrbuting them on DVD. Look down the page in the "My Two Cents" section. Also on that site has an interesting write up on bootlegged DVDs here.

It will be interesting to see what the industry can do to fix "lost" activation keys. And that probably depends on if all discovered keys are in software or hardware players...

Check out The Digital Bits. They covered this a few days ago, and they're an excellent source for DVD information.