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How
can I find out if my favorite movie is available on DVD-Video?
There are 30,000 DVD titles available as of
December 2004. The best way to see if your favorite movie is
available in the DVD format is check Amazon.com
or Buy.com.
Both have large selections.
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How
soon after a movie's theatrical release will its DVD-Video version be
released?
It mostly depends on the studio, but
generally a movie is released to DVD-Video about five to seven months
after its theatrical release. Some movies are available in
DVD-Video only after 16 weeks (just shy of four months), for example
"The Patriot". It
doesn't mean that the movie had a bad theatrical run. Sometimes,
the studio wants the title ready for the holiday shopping
season. For example, "The Patriot" was a summer movie
released on June 28, 2000, in time for the 4th of July (Independence
Day) holiday in the United States, and became available on DVD October
24, 2000, well in advance for the holiday shopping season.
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How
can I find out when my favorite movies are released on DVD-Video?
If your favorite movie is not currently
available on DVD (make sure you check at Amazon.com
or Buy.com),
there's a couple of possibilities. If it recently made its
theatrical debut within the last nine months (i.e., a current run
movie), then chances are that it is scheduled to come out soon.
If it is an older movie, then it's considered a classic or a catalog
title for the studio. Depending on the studio, they may or may
not have plans to release these classics or catalog titles. Even
when they do, they do it at their own pace. MGM, Fox, and
Paramount currently have plans to release many classics and catalog
titles. In any case, check our Upcoming
Releases and Commentary & Tidbits
pages for announcements of new DVD-Video titles, for either current
run movies or classic and catalog titles.
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Where
can I rent DVD-Videos?
You can rent DVD-Videos
virtually everywhere you used to rent VHS home videos: national chains
(e.g., BlockBuster) and local independent video stores. Even
grocery
stores and supermarkets that rent VHS home videos seem to offer a
decent selection of the latest DVD-Video releases.
In our opinion, the best
place to rent DVDs is online from NetFlix.
NetFlix offers an "Unlimited"
Rental Program: rent an "unlimited" number of DVDs for a
flat monthly fee of $17.99 (plus tax in most states). Yes, there
is a practical limit to how many you can actually rent, given that you
can have up to three (3) DVDs out at any given time. Just load
up your "rental queue" with the titles you want, then as
soon as you return a title, the next available title on your queue
will be shipped automatically. Round-trip postage is pre-paid by
NetFlix, just use the pre-paid return envelope to return the DVDs when
you're done. There are no hidden costs or "late fees" to
worry about. So go ahead and keep that "Special
Edition" DVD for as long as you need to go through all of the
bonus features. What could be more convenient? Best of all,
you can select from over 75,000 unique DVD titles that NetFlix
has in
stock. A local video rental store probably can't come close to
matching this
selection. Watch DVDs at your pace, and watch as many as you
want each month. Just think, if you rent eight (8) titles a
month, your cost would be about $2.50 per title, instead of $3.50 per
night (average cost of local video store rentals). The program
runs month-to-month, so you can quit and re-start at any time. To try
this offer or read more about it, click
here. For a list of available local
video stores, check the DVD Post
web site.
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Is
renting DVD-Videos online a good idea?
We definitely think so, particularly from NetFlix,
for a number of good reasons:
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Value: If you regularly rent
about two movies (or more) a week, you're probably better off
renting DVDs online from a place like NetFlix.
If you rent about eight (8) titles a month, your cost would be
about $2.50 per title from NetFlix,
versus about $3.50 per title per night from a local video rental
store. Online rentals also offer value when you want to keep
a movie a few nights to watch all of the bonus features.
This is particularly true of the many "Special Edition"
DVDs and 2-disc sets. If you hang onto a local rental a few
extra nights, the "late fees" can add up quick.
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Selection: Your local video
rental store probably stocks most of the current, popular
titles. But what if you want to watch a classic, foreign, or
lesser known title? Chances are, online DVD rental sites
have a large selection that few (if any) local video rental store
can match. NetFlix
boasts a selection of 75,000 unique DVD titles as of March 2007.
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Convenience: No more driving
down to the local video rental store. Your online DVD rental
store is as close as your web browser and mailbox.
What if the DVD gets lost or damaged in
transit? Don't worry, just tell NetFlix and they will mark it as
"lost" or "damaged", and you're not responsible
for the loss. Be sure to read about the NetFlix
online "Unlimited"
Rental Program in our answer to the previous
question.
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Why
is it better to collect movies in the DVD-Video format?
There's a number of good reasons for
collecting movies in the DVD-Video format
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Longevity: DVDs far outlast
VHS home videos in terms of shelf life and wear-and-tear. With
proper care, DVDs should provide a lifetime of entertainment, instead
of the 5-10 years of VHS.
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Bonus features: DVD titles
frequently come with extra, value-added bonus material which make
them far better values for both casual movie collectors and movie buffs.
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Superior format: DVD is a far
superior format than VHS or LaserDisc in terms of video and audio
quality. Be sure to read our DVD
Overview page if you're not familiar with advantages of DVD.
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"Day and date" release
with VHS: To date, most DVDs are released "day and
date" with their VHS home video counterparts. That is,
the DVD and the VHS home video are released on the same day.
In fact, in many releases, the VHS version is priced for rental
only, with suggested retail in the $60-$90 range. Months
afterwards, the VHS version is re-released for sell-through at the
$10-$25 price range. So for both casual movie collectors and
movie buffs, DVD is the better format for collecting movies.
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How
can I save money when buying DVDs for my collection?
You can buy DVD-Video at your local
national retailing chain, independent retailer, or online from a number of e-merchants.
National retailers sometimes offer sale prices during the first week
of the title's release. DVDs are almost always released on a
Tuesday. Online retailers frequently offer reduced prices for
pre-ordering DVDs (buying before the release date of the DVD title),
sometimes at up to 44% off the suggested retail price.
Check our list of discounted DVD titles on our Discount
DVD Movies page. If you do
decide to buy online, please click through our links to affiliated e-merchants
when you buy, as we get a small commission on the sale (this helps us cover the cost
of providing this web site). Our affiliates include: Amazon.com,
Barnes&Noble.com,
Buy.com,
DVDPlanet.com,
800.com,
and FamilyWonder.com.
For a complete list of our affiliates, click
here. Note, you don't even have to buy anything related to
DVDs to help support this site. Just start at our site, and
click through one of our links. (Thank you very much for your
support.)
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Are
there any perks for buying DVDs online? Sometimes there are perks for
pre-ordering DVDs online -- some online e-merchants ship the DVD
titles early such that you receive your order few days before the
official release date. Granted this doesn't always happen, but
when it does, it's kind of nice to have a DVD title that is soon to be
released in your hands a few days early. Additionally, if you're
looking for a special title, a special version of the same movie title
(e.g., DTS soundtrack version, special edition version), or a box set,
you may more likely find what you're looking for at an online
e-merchant.
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What
is meant by "anamorphic widescreen"?
A DVD-Video title that features
"anamorphic widescreen" means that the video is encoded in 16:9
aspect ratio widescreen. For movies that are theatrically
presented in widescreen at 1.85:1
or 2.35:1 aspect ratios,
the 16:9 aspect ratio (or widescreen TV) video encoding allows more
efficient use of the vertical resolution of 480 horizontal
lines. That is, less of the vertical resolution is wasted on the
letterbox black bars at the top and bottom of the picture, and more of
it is used to render a more detailed picture.
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What
is meant by "enhanced for widescreen TV"? See our answers
above for "What is meant by 'anamorphic
widescreen'?" "Anamorphic widescreen" is
equivalent to "enhanced for widescreen TV".
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