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30th Sept. 1999 |
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Lunchtime updates
Roadshow's Matrix DVD has now got the Lot
Though I was told the other day that Our region 4 Version of the Matrix wasn't
getting the DVD-ROM content due to legal problems, it now seems that has all been worked
out as our version is NOW FULLY EQUIPPED with them...woo-hooMORE Austin 2 DVD extras
Roadshow have added ANOTHER music Video to their upcoming Austin 2 DVD (see below)...this one is the "Mel
B" music clip...you could say it's rather Sporting of them to include this...or
should that be Scary :-) |
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29th Sept. 1999 |
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SUPERSPEED WAY Races into OZ
DVD Australia, The
Dark horse of the Australian DVD market look to have another big winner on their hands
when they release the SUPER SPEEDWAY DVD this October (set to retail for
$34.95).... I've been dying to spill the news of its coming for ages and was told today
that it's finally happening, so expect to see this totally THX approved kick arse
DVD mid-late October.
FOX GO 16:9
the latest newsletter from Ezy
DVD states that they were informed by 20th Century FOX Australia, that the
remaining 1999 DVD titles will in fact be 16:9 Enhanced, (which is what I
was told earlier by FOX, but at that time could not be confirmed)
While Mary, Speed, Die Hard 1 & 2, etc, will carry an aussie retail of $39.95 , $5
MORE than everyone elses for a DVD movie, it'll be a little easier to look past this
higher price range..((at least for me. I still can't forgive them for Titanic
though...sorry)Columbia Universal October
DVD Slicks PART II
The second half of the CTS/Universal slicks are now up......While the release
date for all these DVDs was down as 12th October, it's now looking more like the 19th, due
to the little incident in Tiawan (which has also effected the availablity of FOX's
TITANIC,..they ain't got none at the moment)
Latest
DVD Slicks
Urbancinefile's DVD Report
An interesting read if you're into that thing called DVD.......Mentioned in the article is
that FOX have sold 10,000 region 4 copies of "that boat movie" in only 4 weeks
:-)
DVD : Seeing is Believing
DVD User Group
Found this site while looking for the Bigpond article Above...there's a news
groups to join and some other info..check it out..though it looks to be under construction
(plus there is no "other" listing for DVD player type in the survey, so unless
you have a player brand listed, you'll have to lie or wait til it's fixed)
DVD User Group
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28th Sept. 1999 |
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Roadshow's DVDs past the test
Many of you will be pleased (and shocked:-) to learn that Roadshow have
finally approved their Lost in Space DVD..
Other DVDs to have also passed Quality Assurance are the Pulp Fiction re-issue, Analysis
This & 54.
LIS and Pulp are being released immediately, whereas Analysis This is coming Oct
6th(as per schedule...don't faint now peoples :-), and 54 sometime during in October.More on the Matrix
Received some more dirt on Roadshow's The Matrix DVD...it turns out that the
region 4 version WILL NOT contain the DVD-ROM content, only ALL the DVD-Video based
content (so the white rabbit makes it, woo-hoo)...the reason, legal ones of course....the
DVD-ROM content refers and links to a lot of WARNER properly and thus Roadshow do not have
the rights to it...still it's gonna be a kick arse DVD whichever way you look at it
Columbia Universal October DVD Slicks
Half the slicks for October are up...will scan the rest for tomorrow night
(note there are NO Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio tracks on Future sport as per the info I
received the other day. The english track is Dolby Stereo, with the rest listed as
being Dolby Surround..must have been a typo), other entires for CTS have been corrected
also
Latest
DVD Slicks |
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27th Sept. 1999 |
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Warner October Delays
The 6th October releases have been delayed til 18th October, so Message
in a Bottle has floated past its day and date with rental (but it's only a chick
flick so who cares ..really :-) , AND not only is JFK the Theatrical version, BUT not even
Widescreen, only a 4:3 version....nooooooooooooooWarner/MGM
DVD release Details
Buena
Vista DVD release Details
A double dosing from Warner
Warner are coming out with guns blazing this November...They've scheduled 2
lots of DVD releases, the 2nd November, and the 23rd November (obviously to get a few more
titles out before Christmas), and some of the "disappearing" DVDs are back for
December release
Here are the November and December releases, through Warner, for Warner, MGM and Buena
Vista
2nd November
Bladerunner (DC) / The Bodyguard (delayed from Sept) / Carrie / Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang /
Cobra / Free Willy / Get Shorty / Hackers / The Magic Sword / My Fair Lady / Rob Roy /
Thomas Crown Affair(orig) / True Crime (day and Date with rental) /
Alladin King Of Theives /
Belle Enchanted Christmas / Goofy Movie / Homeward Bound 1 & 2 / Lion King 2 /
Mightly Joe Young / Operation Dumbo Drop / The Santa Clause / That Darn Cat /
3 Men and a Little Lady / The Waterboy / When a Man Loves a Woman / White Fang
23rd November
At First Sight (day and date with rental) / The Birdcage / The Exorcist
/ Fiddler on the Roof /
Final Analysis / A Fish Called Wanda / Frantic / HEAT / Jack Frost / LETHAL
WEAPON /
The Little Princess / Secret Garden / West Side Story / Colour of Money / Dangerous Minds
/
Huck Finn / Preacher's Wife / Swiss Family / Traesure Island / Winnie the Pooh
6th December
Fire Down Below / On Deadly Ground / Out for Justice / Under Seige 1 & 2
/
Alice in Wonderland / Mary Poppins / Pete's Dragon / Sword in the Stone
PS the password's changed again |
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24th Sept. 1999 |
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Get FREE DVD Case Covers from Digital DVD Shop
The Digital
DVD Shop recently started selling our DVD Case Covers, and
for a strictly limited time Digital DVD Shop are offering a FREE DVD Case Cover with every
Warner DVD title you buy from them, (you just need to tick the box that say "yes i
want a FREE DVD case Cover please", and if you also tick the Other box on the main
order form that says "please fit The DVD Case cover/s at no extra Cost." they'll
do that too....sweeet.PS my Elm street box set has
been shipped.....woo hoo!!!!
PPS Steven, the VIRUS DVD is on it's way |
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22nd Sept. 1999 |
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Austin 2 DVD specs
Wondering what goodies Roadshow will be putting on their christmas DVD
release of Austin Powers : The Spy Who Shagged Me
well here's the confirmed list 4 Trailers (count em 4)
Director's Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Behind the scenes featurette
Beautiful Stranger Music Video (Madonna)
American Woman Music Video (Lenny Kravitz)
English Subtitles
PS DVD
Australia have just added another SIXTY TWO DVDS to their lineup |
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21st Sept. 1999 |
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Updated Columbia/ Universal DVD Specs
CTS faxed me the new and improved "DVD Film Facts" form today for
their October releases....it just expands upon the DVD Specs a little more, though they
are still not including which films are 16:9 Enhanced or plain 'ol letterbox (which has
been the case with a few Universal DVDs now)...
FYI China Syndrome has a Whopping TWENTY subtitles to choose from, while
the other DVDs have only a mere 18 or 19 (are they kidding me!!!)Click
here for ALL upcoming DVD releases
PS Did anyone catch Flying High on TV the
other night (imagine what sort of a gag real they could have on that DVD) |
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20th Sept. 1999 |
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Y/C to RGB Converter
I dropped by Cash Connverters (Aspley - Bris-vegas) on Saturday and as I
walked past the "stereo receiver" section my eye caught the letters RGB....I
quickly looked back and there on the shelf was a little black RGB converter box.....so I
pick it up spun it around to find a SCART connector on the back (the input) as well as two
black leads coming out of the box...one was the power lead the other was the SCART
Output..... for the SCART input there was a switch above it to select from AUTO, Composite
or Y/C (used for S-Video)...it was selling for $59..
So if anyone is interested in converting their S-Video output and happen to have a TV that
takes RGB via SCART may want to take a looksee at this little beauty (anyone who owns the
Pioneer DV505 / 515 probably knows that the SCART output is only S-Video and NOT RGB like
on it's bigger brother 717, and if your telly can take RGB it may not be a bad way to go
at all)...or if your felling adventurous you could make an S-Video 5 Din plug to SCART
lead to connect to the little black box.....it's one effective way to get RGB if your DVD
player doesn't output it.....now all we need is a consumer RGB to component (or vice
versa) box doohicky thingy.VIRUS region 1 DVD for Sale -*SOLD*
If anyone in OZ is wanting to buy this DVD (Dolby Digital
5.1 version) I have a copy for Sale in excellent condition going for $25 (plus COD)...
please e-mail me if you
are interested..
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16th Sept. 1999 |
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Third Time's A Charm
For the past few months Roadshow have really shown their new found commitment
to DVD.....FOUR of their Earlier DVDs have, or are being remastered to fix compatibiltiy
issues, add extra goodies (like in the recent Austin Powers re-release), etc and the latest of their Movies
to receive the most deserved overhaul is Die Hard: With a Vengeance...
It's seems as though MichaelDVD's
Cyrstal Ball got a damn good spit & polish yesterday as his spirit guide informed him
of this news.
Roadshow have a NEW master [Vison only]. The previously used 5.1 soundtrack still
has a good bill of health. This New Vision only Master is FREE of the hideous
shimmering (from Release 1.0), as well as the wobble and drastic contast ranges of Release
2.0.
Release 3.0 will also have new menus with audio behind them, and to get the best possible
picture this DVD will ultilise 2 layers (so is an RSDL release)...No release date has been
set yet, but it'll be well worth the wait.
So if the half confirmed rumour of Twentieth
Century Fox releasing 16:9 Enhanced versions of Die Hard 1 & 2 is
really true, does this mean that ALL Three Region 4 Die Hard DVDs will be the pick of the
bunch??..coolPS Anyone who likes late night TV will
want to tune in next Wednesday night on Channel 9 (at around 11:30) for Whose Line
is it anyway, Drew Carey hosts this side splittingly funny improv based show
(with the tall lanky fella also from The Drew Carey Show). A friend tells me its based on
a british show (currently screening on Foxtel)...whichever way...it's a crack up and I
couldn't go to bed til it'd finished |
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15th Sept. 1999 |
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The ULTIMATE DVD Demo Disc
Wondering what cool DVD you can use to show of your Home Theatre System??
Well in a few weeks it looks as though DVD
Australia will have what you're looking for.....
Coming soon is the Platinum Edition of the very popular Ultimate DVD Demo
Disc and here's just some of the features that have been added :-- "What a blast" - building demolitions (in multi-channel
sound)
- Multi-angle features
- Sound tests in PCM, Dolby Digtal and DTS
- movie trailers
- demos of Pan & Scan, Letterboxing and 16:9 images
- a FREE DVD Lens Cleaner (limited time)
- selling for around $30 australian.... (the USA price is suppose to be $US30)
- AND a heap more features.....problem is they keep adding MORE to this disc...
I should know more in a few days so stay tuned
DVD Australia are also looking at offering a heap more DTS
DVDs..... |
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14th Sept. 1999 |
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Austin Powers Special Ed'n - REVIEW
Aaaaalrighty then..I've finished my review of Austin Powers : Special Edition
and is without a doubt the BEST of all three DVD versions I've seen...
Austin Powers Special Ed'n
I received Roadshow's first "official DVD preview disc" today (it's an
actual test disc so there's no pretty picture on it)...so I'll get a review up for it as
soon as possible.....Some interesting news on this DVD though is that unlike the original
release this one has, of course, the extra goodies(lie a commentary track) AND has
been taken from a new transfer AND it's in the original theatrical widescreen aspect ratio
(whereas the original was 1:78:1 only)..it turns out the reason for this was that
Capella are the international distributors for this movie (not New Line who are USA only)
and at the time the only version available for DVD was eth full frame 1:78:1 version....as
soon as Roadshow heard there was a 2.35:1 version out there for PAL DVD they grabbed
it.....There was also only ever 1 commentary track for this DVD (found on the USA version)
and so the one we have is the same.... So until I
complete my THIRD Austin Powers DVD review , have a look at the scanned DVD slick for Austin Powers : Special Ed'n |
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13th Sept. 1999 |
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Disappearing Disney DVDs
Further to the Disney Titles being delayed til October, it seems they have now
been delayed indefinitely........So don't expect to see the following region 4 titles
anytime soon : Aladdin King of Thieves, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mary Poppins, Might
Joe Young....My source (who wishes to remain anonymous :-) was of the impression it has
something to do with the upcoming releases of Region 1 Disney
Animations....hmmmmmm.....interesting to see what happens with the region 2 versions that
have been out a few months..CTS/Universal
titles out this week
Delayed from a 6th September release, I am told they will all be out during
this week......
PS Mike
D's now has a NEW web address...and what's this I hear that CTS Australia
are looking into DTS??? |
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11th Sept. 1999 |
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Roadshow's The Matrix DVD Promo Part II
Here's a look at the Promo sheet for the Roadshow's upcoming DVD release of the
Matrix (it's about 80k) (thanks again Darryl)Promo Sheet |
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10th Sept. 1999 |
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A few Disney titles bumped to October
For no particular (given) reason the following titles have been pushed back a
month (specifically) from the Disney Catalogue
Aladdin King of Thieves, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Mary Poppins, Might Joe Young..Halloween: Spec Ed'n (Region 1) Review
DVDFile have reviewed
the greatly anticipated DVD horror flick Halloween:Special Ed'n..the great think about
this DVD release is that Anchor
Bay have essentially pulled out all the stops and released this in THREE formats..the
first is P&S, 2nd is a 16:9 Enhanced theatrical version, and the 3rd is the theatrical
version with an extra 14 minutes made specifically for TV (to stretch out the running
time)...This Special Edition comes on 2 DVDs and even gets the THX seal of
approval...funny how they've gone from the largely reported appalling first attempt at a
Halloween DVD to this reportedly superb effort...(see below for previous editorials for
additional info and links) |
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9th Sept. 1999 |
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9FOX go 16:9 Down Under??9
9We've all know that Beuna Vista release NON Enhanced DVDs in the USA, yet
Warner who distribute DVDs outside the USA for them release a large majority in the 16:9
Format.....and it seems the same is going to occur with FOX international's DVDs.......in
a conversation today with FOX I asked will your DVDs be 16:9 Enhanced...the
straight answer was an immediate YES....BUT this could not be officially confirmed (and
they'll only really know once the discs have been duplicated)....hmmmmmph......
If it is indeed true that There's Something about Mary and generally everything after this
will be released 16:9 Enhanced, one has to laugh as ALL FOX DVDs are
authored in the USA!!!!! regardless of whether they are for the PAL regions or NTSC
regions....the PAL discs are only Duplicated in Taiwan.... As with Warner/MGM DVDs being
made outside of OZ, getting these important details is hard, as the lines of communication
are often down (just look how many Warner DVDs have info saying they come with a running
commentary only to find out they have naught...doh) MGM are even worse with movies being
4:3 matted Pan and Scan and coming out as 2.35:1 16:9 Enhanced.....
Before FOX International started releasing DVDs they were taking note of ALL DVD
suggestions from Consumers/stores/DVD web site, the lot, and the Number 1 wish for DVD was
of course the inclusion of 16:9 Enhancement(which I'm guessing came mostly from consumers
and web sites)......so fingers crossed that this has been taken seriously by FOX and that
FOX will deliver some of their fine DVDs in all their 16:9 Glory (pity about Titanic
though..okay okay I'll stop bitch'n about it..jeez:-)99The one that almost got away9
9Jeez...those people over at Roadshow are a bunch of sneaky buggers.....turns
out that another DVD is on the way, due out 6th October.
Being such a popular movie I was surprised it wasn't mentioned earlier about it coming to
DVD (unless it was only me that totally missed the boat on this one)...but the smash hit,
and bloody funny Analyse This is coming our way in a few weeks
folks!!!...I'm still chasing up the specifics, but granted it will at the very least be
16:9 Enhanced, and have a Dolby Digital 5.1 track..... Warner released this DVD in the USA
and I have heard it is a truly excellent transfer, so I'd expect ours to be right up there
with it (seeing as Roadshow's video masters generally come from the USA transfers but in
PAL)9
It' seems the publicity machine over at
Roadshow is also working overtime.....A Promo was recently sent out to retailers detailing
the upcoming 23rd November DVD release of The Matrix in OZ....mentioned on this
sheet is that it's Day and Date with the VHS rental, it has IDENTICAL FEATURES to the
recent USA release, as well as some of the specs being commentaries, featurettes, hidden
features, etc.
HOPEFULLY the release of this title will catch a few peoples eyes and bring them over to
the dark side...no no...DVD'ers are not eeeeevil (as in the frew-its of the
deeevyl)..sorry..(you don't update for a few days and you get carried away..it happens)
(thanks go to Darryl for faxing me the promo sheet)
PS goto www.pentium.com.au
for specs on the Mossimo DVD player (they've also got a new model coming out soon)
Netscape sucks as it turns my nice light grey backgrounds to a light green dag-nap-it |
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6th Sept. 1999 |
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It's Multichannel for Muriel
Baby
Not only will the Roadshow region 4 version of Muriel's Wedding be taken from a newly made
16:9 Enhanced transfer, but the audio is also to undergo an improvement
as originally hoped....It will be released in Dolby Digital 5.1....The
5.1 Audio track is being remastered from the original multi-track elements.......ABBA fans
of region 4 rejoice!!!!!!!!!!New
URL for GoreZone
for your latest required dose of horror, drop by the new GoreZone
PS the official release date for Roadshow's
The Matrix DVD will be 23rd November and some of the yet to be released CTS and Universal
DVDs have been previewed by Mike
D's and DVD Bits |
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3rd Sept. 1999 |
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Roadshow dig into their back
catalogue
Up until now, a large majority of Roadshow's DVDs have been recently releases
(Rounders, Blade, Wild Things), and they are now looking at releasing a few slightly older
ones, a few titles mentioned where the likes of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and
Ace Ventura 1 and 2......
Of the latest and greatest releases, expect to see the new re-do of the Wedding Singer (my
fingers are crossed BIG TIME that the reeeealy bad audio syncing has been fixed), and
coming soon is the Austin Powers - Spec Ed with a lot of the groovy region 1 features.
The Matrix is still apparently on schedule -woo hoo, and anyone interested in killer shark
flicks, will be pleased to know that DEEP BLUE SEA is due on DVD this March (like the
Matrix it was another joint venture with Warner, though the DVD details are unknown at
this stage)Overseas
Reviews and Such
Mr Bracke over at DVDfile
has an early review of A Nightmare on Elm Street..(why must they torture me so).
DVD Review have wrapped up
their excellent Dairy on Anchor
Bay's Halloween Spec Ed, and also have an early review of the Matrix DVD
PS I hired out Titanic on
DVD the other night (still refuse to buy it though), and found a few things that kinda
pissed me off with the functions or lack there of. Unlike virtually every other DVD I have
played...I couldn't manually select chapters via numeric key presses & time
searching was disabled, so if you want to goto a certain chapter you have to continually
press the forward button, OR goto the menu (which I admit starts off very nicely...and I'm
glad you only get the full motion menu at initial startup)....YET you could change audio
tracks on the fly, which I found on some overseas FOX DVDs to be disabled...
PLUS I was unable to use the LAST MEMO feature which is a necessity on the Pioneer 717 as
pressing STOP resets the counter to the start of the movie and using LAST MEMO allows you
to return to the selected point in the movie....(I'm just being overly critical on the
whole Titanic thing, but with these being such basic functions it's an inconvenience for
such regularly used features)
Have a great weekend of movies |
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2nd Sept. 1999 |
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Titanic at a Bargain Basement
price!!!
Richard sent me another interesting e-mail today, this time about
Titanic.....He was lucky enough that the Big W store in Warringah Mall had priced the
Titanic DVD incorrectly...it seems this Big W store wasn't told the price and so took it
upon themselves to sell it for the same price as their other DVDs, being $33.92 (which is
even lower than the shop cost of Titanic)...Obviously a few keen DVD'ers also picked up on
this boo-boo before Richard as he grab the very last copy at the store.....(wonder if any
of the buyers had a woollies discount card....cha-ching)ps the password has changed again |
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1st Sept. 1999 |
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What, FREE copies of TITANIC on
DVD??
For a strictly limited time, The Video Shift are offering a FREE COPY of Titanic
on DVD when you purchase from them Titanic - The ultimate Deluxe Box Set.
This Box Set sells for $129.00 and includes a Widescreen VHS copy
of Titanic, the Making of Titanic VHS with award winning song My Heart Will Go On
, The Full-length Script signed, Original Production Notes, 35mm
Film Cells & 8 Collector cards.
Only 5000 box sets were released in Australia...no idea how long this deal will last, so
if you keen for it..get in quick!!! |
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