Home Media Magazine - January 20-26, 2008 - (Page 12) COMMENTARY www.homemediamagazine.com THE BUZZ BY CHRIS TRIBBEY, SENIOR REPORTER DVD of Theatrical Release Pops Up in Local Dive Y ou’ll find them every so often: restaurants, bars and coffeehouses that show mainstream movies on DVD. The likelihood of most of these places having the required public performance licenses to play the DVDs is slim. They may not even know they need one. Unless they’re charging to get in, it’s likely they’ll never have a letter or a suit from the Motion Picture Association of America show up at the door. But when you’re a bar and grill off Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and you’re showing a $400 million-plus international blockbuster that’s still in theaters, you can bet it’s going to get back to someone who cares. Three-Legged Dog was a little place referred to me by locals. When I walked in, every loud TV was showing the end of Live Free or Die Hard. A stack of DVDs next to the player included both Young Guns movies, We I AM LEGEND. I THOUGHT MAYBE IT WAS AN ADVANCE, OPENING PREVIEW ON SOME WARNER DVD. AFTER 20 MINUTES, IT WAS OBVIOUS: A MOVIE IN THEATERS WAS BEING SHOWN FOR FREE AT SOME NEW ORLEANS DIVE. Are Marshall, Dazed and Confused and a host of other flicks geared mostly at young adult males. Not exactly a five-star spot, the place probably didn’t have the proper paperwork, not that many were watching. After John McClane’s business was done, the bartender popped in another DVD. And at first I thought I was watching previews: a desolate Manhattan, apocalypse, Will Smith. I Am Legend. I thought maybe it was an advance, opening preview on some Warner DVD I hadn’t seen. After 20 minutes it was obvious: A movie in theaters was being shown for free at some Chris Tribbey’s e-mail address is ctribbey@questex.com New Orleans dive. Maybe the bartender could see my interest was more than casual. He only said the DVD came from a friend. It wasn’t a hand-held camera hatchet job, that’s for sure. The result of an unscrupulous employee at a local theater, perhaps? There was no “Property of Warner Home Video” warning every 10 minutes either. A Warner Home Video representative said there’s no way it came out of the studio, adding she was disappointed to hear about the bar’s DVD. The people who should be disappointed are the theater owners in a city still recovering from a natural disaster. And if it’s happening in one place, the chances are good it’s happening elsewhere. READERS’ FORUM I The following letter is in response to Erik Gruenwedel’s article “Comcast Bullish on HD” (HM, Jan. 13-19, 2008), in which Comcast revealed it will introduce technology allowing users to download HD movies in four minutes: O N L IN E PO L L RESUL T S HD Confusion Turns to Anger Thank you for saying what I have been saying since the idiotic launch of two high-def formats. Personally I don’t care for Sony’s endless and pompous proprietary pursuits, but in the end, I just want a single format. My wife was going to buy me an HD DVD add-on player for my Xbox 360, but after she saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End on Blu-ray at Target, she got super confused. Then that confusion turned to anger. “Two formats!?” Let’s hope this war ends quickly and quietly. If so, I am buying a PS3 for games [and its] Blu-ray player. Dustin Orgill Salt Lake City, Utah I The following letter is in response to Thomas K. Arnold’s editorial “High-Def Media Needs Industry Help” (HM, Dec. 9-15, 2007), in which he said the consumer electronics and retail industries need to rally together with studios to support their push of highdefinition discs: I Question How are you surviving the writers strike? I Answers A: Watching the reruns 4% B: Catching up on movies on DVD 29% C: Checking out TV DVD 6% D: Converting to high-definition 38% E: Ignoring TV completely 23% Go to www.homemediamagazine.com and vote on this week’s question. The Future of HD Buried back in this week’s issue of HM is, in my opinion, the future of HD. Comcast is developing the ability to download an HD movie to a user’s hard disk in four minutes. Admittedly, I would much prefer to have the content reside on a hard disc on Comcast’s own server farm, rather than be downloaded to my local hard disc — I would just rent hard disc space from Comcast — but this is a reasonable solution. Hopefully the 1,000 movies Comcast is talking about are just the start. Then with an iPod-style remote control that allows me to quickly pick a movie from my library, I can watch what I want, when I want, either the whole movie or just a specific scene. The next step is probably a link to transfer the movie to my iPod, laptop or other viewer, so I can watch it when/where/how I want. With no physical media, there’s no longer a format war. There are no trips to Blockbuster Video. There are no Netflix queues and mailers to deal with. There’s just digital information passing along a fiber optic network. Yes! Peter Bock West Linn, Ore. I The following letters are in response to Thomas K. Arnold’s editorial “A Plea for a Unified, Blu Future” (HM, Jan. 13-19, 2008), in which he advocated that the industry get behind one high-definition format — Blu-ray Disc — now that Warner Home Video has dropped its support of HD DVD: Studios Are in Control You’re back on track. The undercurrent throughout your article is that the studios are and have always been in control. This isn’t mentioned much. Of course, I never got anyone to agree with my views when DVD first was introduced years ago that the low pricing of DVD at that critical time, set by the studios, was made that way to kill off VHS, a format that was not supposed to last that long. It probably is too late now, but you know what? I’ll bet if the studios did the same thing in reverse, even now, VHS would come back. Now that’s control. Let’s see, when new-release VHS cost was about $75, DVD was about $15. That was a very lopsided 5-to-1 ratio. So today’s $15 new release DVD would dictate a $3 new release on VHS. Hey, studios wanted disposable VHS, well there it sits. Bob Achille Video 7 Shelton, Conn. We Want to Hear From You! Please send letters to: Editor, Home Media Magazine 201 East Sandpointe Ave., Suite 500 Santa Ana, CA 92707 E-mail: HomeMediaMagazine@questex.com Fax: 714.338.6712 Include name, business address (city and state) and telephone number. Letters are subject to editing. It’s About Time Thank you so much for that article. We definitely need the biz to switch to Blu once and for all and end this archaic VHS vs. Betamax-type war nonsense that has been going on since 2006. Thanks again. Mark Wizard Los Angeles Join Us Online: www.homemediamagazine.com Visit our Web site to participate in discussion boards and weekly polls on the latest industry issues. 12 Home Media Magazine January 20–26, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com http://www.homemediamagazine.com
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