Reviewers Recommend Dani Daniels: The Iconic Collection - review by Captain Jack Starring: Toni Ribas, Manuel Ferrara, Ramon Nomar, James Deen, Karlie Montana, Zoey Holloway, Skin Diamond, Dani Daniels, Maddy O'Reilly, Sovereign Syre. Read review
I was just thinking about this and I really feel sorry for some of those individuals out there who still haven't upgraded to a DVD player as yet. sure a lot of people have financial constraints, but putting off buying a number of VHS tapes for awhile and you'll save up that money.
don't get me wrong I still have my VHS player myself and a number of nostalgic films on them both adult and not. besides there are a lot of adult films that still have not gone the way of DVD. I'm not too concerned with those dumb bastards who threw out their original copies of Star Wars because they heard that the DVD transfer would be better
I mean look at how many director's cut films there are out these days. as many of you know I buy almost exclusively from Evil Angel, and all the films of theirs that I have are that way. I went to an adult bookstore and saw "the Fashionistas" on 2 VHS tapes and almost hit the floor. I mean who does that anymore? pretty soon "Evil Vault" will be out and the VHS version is nowhere near the DVD version. I mean if worse comes to worse I'll start taking donations for you.
demicomix.com Carnal Comics - True Stories of Adult Film Stars 105 Posts 6/04
Posted - Aug 30 2004 : 5:38PM
I work at a video store and there are still a lot of people that don't own DVD players yet. Videos are still rented out and many of these are later sold off as previously-viewed videos. New videos are no longer being sold. The Wherehouse branch nearest to where I work has completely gotten rid of videos. I think that videos are being phased out more quickly in areas whrere there is a lot of people that are upper middle class and rich. I find that when it comes to customers, senior citizens have a higher tendency to prefer video. The main complaint that I hear about DVD's is that they get scratched more easily. I don't know what people do to them that makes them get so scratched. When I get done playing a DVD, I put it back in the DVD case. There are people that believe that DVD players are more complicated to use. I also hear complaints about the widescreen format. There are people who find the black bars on the top and bottom to be distracting. They also think that the picture can get to be too small. I prefer DVD's because of the much better picture quality and the extra features. I can also store more movies in less space.
I have a combo player. I'm one of the few in the world who is PERFECTLY happy with VHS. I only bought the combo because we're pretty much forced to since VHS tapes are being phased out.
I've had more problems with DVDs so far. I've had two recently where it would freeze; I had to keep pressing play to get it going. The second time it happened wasn't too bad, but the first was so bad I returned it and rented the VHS tape: Perfect play.
IMO, VHS picture quaility is great! Nice and clear to me unless the tape is well used.
So far, I have not been impressed by any DVDs "extra features."
I am happy with VHS too. The only advantage of DVD for me is that the discs are more durable and take less space. I don't care that much about superior video quality.. or whatever. I bought the cheapest DVD player there was.
I can't believe how people are spoiled nowadays.
"OMG!!! there is halo here. Crap!!! I want my money back" "OMG!!! There is 1 pixel color variation in shadow. Crap quality! I want my money back."
Yeah, I've had problems of one kind or another with probably half of the dvds I've seen. Compatibility issues, freeze-ups, pixelation, etc. Some of them could be my settop player, but then my dvd rom has a lot of the same problems.
I do like the ability to jump around on the discs, but I think they have a ways to go yet. When I put in a tape, at least I never have to worry if it's gonna play or not.
That said, I probably should move this to the Techie Forum :)
When I told the manager of my local store that Private was going to discontinue making VHS copies of their new movies, he was pissed. He said that he still does a much bigger rental business on VHS than he does on DVD.
Wow. I can't even believe this debate exists in 2004. I suppose if you really don't care about picture quality, and don't want to watch any extras, don't want to rent online, and don't even want to ever skip directly to a scene, then VHS is fine, but that's a lot not to care about.
As for playback problems, between regular movies and porn I probably rent 15+ movies a month, and in six years I've had trouble with a grand total of two discs. Seriously, if you have constant trouble, I have to believe the problem is something other than the format, whether it's equipment issues or some kind of human error (as in disc handling).
That said, I do still use my VCR, and I realize that not everyone is a toy-obsessed geek like me. And I understand that people with large collections of tapes have reasons to resist moving on. Believe me, inertia is very persuasive to me in other areas of my life.
I know that it is amazingly easy to setup a DVD player but for a lot of older people it is simply impossible to understand how to hook up both vhs and dvd(the horror). I think that is the bigger reason for the vhs crowd not the price tag of sub 70 dollars US.
I like DVD because of the size and features(try storing 200tapes). Haven't rented or purchased a single vhs since I upgraded.
my point was on how do people view special editions with VHS tapes. I pointed directly to the next gigantic release from Evil Angel "Evil Vault" the VHS tape for that film will be no where near as big as the DVD. that was my point. in a case such as this you are surely missing out.
p.s. I use my VCR as well and have all of my favorite films on VHS. including the original Star Wars films
I use a four-year-old Pioneer 301-disc changer (I believe the model number is F727). My first player was one of the first-year Toshibas, and for a while I used my Panasonic portable (LV50) as my primary player. Never had trouble with any of them.
I've never had a DVD drive in my computer, so I don't know what that's like. I feel like I've heard a lot about software trouble with those.
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Spew Deactivated User
Bend over for the rod and staff of Jesus! 334 Posts 7/04
Posted - Aug 30 2004 : 8:34PM
nowadays you can get a good standalone DVD player @ around $60.
And for DVD-ROM is about the same, hell, you can get it free on most new computers
We still have plenty of VHS-only customers, and allthough tapes take up a lot more storageroom than DVD's, as long as there are enough customers who want them, we will keep selling them.
Personally I still buy the odd VHS tape once in a while, for a lot of movies I couldn't care less about the extra's. I think I haven't even watched the extra's on half my DVD's.
You can't go wrong with this one for $27.99 after rebates (there's an additional $8 rebate available, but you need to spend $500 to qualify). Progresive scan and multi-region (there's a sequence of buttons to press after entering the setup menu to make the player "region 0".
The only negative is the lack of a front panel display.
If you really want the front panel display, this one is available for $42.99 after a $10 rebate.
I've heard nothing but good things about either of these players and I've used eCost a bunch of times with no problems.
I'll second Bill's Ecost suggestion, it's a great place to get cheap electronics, especially if it's something you're willing to take a chance on a refurb with. They've also got good customer-service for a warehouse, which makes it worth it to take a chance on the reconditioned stuff. I wanted to finally set up a multichannel system for video and my computer and wasn't going to replace my integrated amp or buy more dynaudios and they've got every mid-fi brand save for NAD you'd want. I ended up getting stuff that works flawlessly for about half the price on the street. If you generally know what you want, it's amazing for everything but speakers and they're less competive for computer stuff. But they've got a great selection of onkyo, denon, and sennheiser which are as good as things get in terms of affordable and practical stuff.
Personally, I've had better success with refurbished stuff than I have with equipment directly from the factory. 100% of items that have been refurbished have been tested by the person who worked on them. Only a very small percentage of items that come out of a factory are ever tested.
I have yet to have a problem with any refurbished equipment that I have ever bought.
The price is actually deceiving. When you take into account how much you will now spend on PAL DVD's imported from Europe, this $28 DVD player can get very expensive
Bill, everything I've seen at e-cost is indeed factory refurbished and certified. I agree with you on the reliability of it, you have to assume the stuff being sent back out actually has more man-hours and higher quality-control than new stuff, if for no other reason than to it's embarassing if it looks like you simply can't supply a quality product.
That's not correct. Much of what eCost sells is factory fresh. Both of the Yamakawa DVD players that I linked to are both brand new (I know that for certain, I bought one of each). Anything that is refurbished at eCost will specifically say so.
dumblonde, When you get this player, the procedure for changing the region code (Region 0 = Code-free) is:
Power On the player Be sure there is no disk in the player Press the SETUP key on the remote control Go to the General Preference Group Setup (press right key 3 times) Press the keys "1379" slowly one after the Other. A new window (Overlay) will show the current region code Select the desired region code with the up or down key ( ZERO =CODE FREE) Press PLAY to confirm your selection Press SETUP key to exit.
LOL, I think we were on different pages, I should have emphasized the FACTORY part of the sentence or reworded it since I was somewhere off on a "definition of refurbished goods" tangent. It was meant to be a positive statement about e-cost instead of "they don't sell new products(obviously they do)". Tons of online retailers(newegg come to mind) define refurbished merchandise as an in-house check of their returns sent back out to a new customer, which is less desirable than the stuff ecost sells that's been back to the manufacturer. So you're right, I'm right(but need to read/write at a little more sane pace)
OK. So you're saying that all of the refurbished merchandise that they sell is factory refurbished and certified, not just reboxed returns. Then yes, I agree with you on that point.
Bill I ended up picking up one too as I've wanted a PAL capable DVD player as watching my PAL titles on my computer is getting old. Thanks for the heads up on that great price.
Bill, does that DVD player have coaxil out for video? I can't tell... I have on old TV that just has coaxil in, and I'd like to not have to buy a rf modulator...
No. And, unlike some other players that can be made region free, there doesn't appear to be a way to make this DVD player Macrovision free. If you can find a player where you can disable Macrovision, you can route it through a VCR and let the VCR do the conversion to RF for you.
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nietzsche Deactivated User
5470 Posts 8/03
Posted - Sep 2 2004 : 7:46PM
I think of how I paid $300 for my toshiba dvd about 5 years ago and I'm sorry I didn't wait.
Anyone want to buy a touchy Toshiba dvd player, loaded with features you'll never use? I got my new $28.00 Yamakawa hooked up and it plays everything I throw in it without a problem, including pal!
I take back everything I said, VHS officially sucks.
I can't tell you how glad I am to hear that, db. As a DVD evangelist since the early days who was constantly bugging friends and family to make the switch, I hate the idea that people are having subpar DVD experiences.
I guess it's way, way too late to do anything about it, but I wish you could have made a return or otherwise fixed your previous situation. I mean, it would seem there was something defective about that Toshiba, huh?
I think the warranty on the Toshiba was only 90 days. The only problem I had at first was incompatibilty with a couple studios, which Toshiba agreed was their fault and I could have sent it back to Georgia to be fixed but I never did, and those particular issues went away on their own. Go figure.
I never had a problem with mainstream movies, and my dvdrom also had trouble so I guess I just attributed it to sub-par product and/or bugs with the technology.
Anyway, I'll keep you posted if I have any problems with this one, but so far so good :)
From my experience every dvd player I've had will work fine hooked up to a VCR as long as you don't press the record button on the vcr while viewing the dvd. And if the disc has no copy protection it won't matter, but most mainstream DVDs do.
I was gonna ask you if that player was macro free too. Oh well. I've only seen them on ebay really.
Damn this thread. I had gone this long with no out-of-region or PAL DVDs, but I just ordered $120 worth of region 2 japanese pop music discs I had previously resigned myself to never being able to watch. So now I have to go order one of those Yamakawas. Just what I need... a fourth DVD player (including my Xbox) in one apartment.
Out of curiosity, what kind of PAL DVDs are you guys acquiring? What should I be looking for?
The aspect of the 'dvd experience' I hate loathe and despise is the bit at the beginning of most discs that you can't ffwd through because the controls are locked whilst you are forced to read who exactly is the 'keeper of the records' or watch an advert or some other such bullshit. I wonder if there are any players that allow you to access a secret code to circumvent all this crap??
That's VCR dependent, not DVD player dependent. On some VCR's, the circuitry that macrovision manipulates is turned on whenever the VCR is turned on and in other VCR's it is only turned on when the VCR is recording.
Of the VCR is the former, running the DVD player through the VCR will always be a problem (except if the DVD is not Macrovision protected). If the latter, then the VCR can be used as an RF modulator, as long as you don't attempt to record.
I don't know about newer VCR's, but most older VCR's usually have that circuitry turned on all of the time.
YES!!! You need a big-ass TV to get the full benefit of Widescreen. When I went over to DVD, I bought the biggest TV I could afford (56" screen diagonal), but I was lucky enough to (a) have the space to put it in the living room and (b) get a good finance deal on it which made it affordable.
Not everyone is so fortunate, and I have great sympathy for those who are now being forced to peer into a small letterbox between black bars on a tiny TV set.
I've always said that Widescreen is just a big marketing con and is extremely over-rated as a home-viewing format (cinema is a different matter). Okay you get a wider picture, but the trade-off is those fucking black bars. With Widescreen, the movie-buying public is being railroaded into changing over to something they don't necessarily want and certainly don't need.
But as for DVD vs. VHS? That's a no-brainer. DVD obviously wins hands-down in every department ... except (as SNP has said above) for the crap at the beginning of many discs that you can't skip.
There's nothing worst then being forced to watch the FBI warning and the phonesex ads on DVD's. In some cases I have to go through like 3 or 4 minutes of phonesex ads before the movie starts. That's really a pain in the ass!
It's been six or seven years since I've rented on VHS, but even back then the movie didn't start until several minutes worth of tape physically spooled past. Not just ads and trailers, but dead tape as well. Yes, you can FF it, but that still requires time and attention -- longer than the 30 seconds before you get to the menu on the older RLD discs. Surely that's still the case, isn't it?
Then consider the number of discs that you can zip straight to the menu on (all Evil Angels, for instance, and RLDs now), and I suspect there's no advantage for VHS in that regard either.
you need to use the s-video (better) or component (best)connections to see an improved picture out of DVD. otherwise the improved picture is downgraded to normal VHS quality using the composite connection, so you wouldn't see an improvement.
The other benefit to DVD is the improved sound. It's cleaner than VHS and 5.1 surround sound if you have the right cables, receiver and speakers for it. ($$$)
I believe you can have more video on a disc without reducing the quality as well.
While I'm not a fan of it, interactive titles would not be possible without DVD.
in porn the extras are either non-existent, promos for other movies or throw away extra scenes.
For regular movies you get some trailers and featurettes if you're a big fan of the movie. But in general no one puts much effort into making them and it's not reason enough to buy a DVD.
My favourite DVD-only feature is Follow the White Rabbit in the Matrix. When the white rabbit appears on screen you can watch a short segment on how they shot the current scene.
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Spew Deactivated User
Bend over for the rod and staff of Jesus! 334 Posts 7/04
Posted - Sep 10 2004 : 7:09PM
The only problem is that DVD is just average at best if you don't have all the proper equipment. And that can cost thousands of bucks if you want it done right with some decent quality. I started watching/renting VHS tapes because they're cheaper. And theres only so much quality the human eye can see, and unless you have a super DVD player and TV, the difference is shit at best
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nietzsche Deactivated User
5470 Posts 8/03
Posted - Sep 10 2004 : 7:20PM
The only thing I like more about VHS is that you can put it in where you left off and keep watching. This is good because I only watch a movie for one or two minutes at a time.
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Spew Deactivated User
Bend over for the rod and staff of Jesus! 334 Posts 7/04
Posted - Sep 10 2004 : 7:33PM
1-2 mins? Is that how quickly you cum or something?
That's just flat-out wrong. Using the composite connection, the horizontal resolution (the number of pixels that make up one of the horizontal scan lines) of DVD is double the number of pixels of VHS (480 vs. 240). Until you get to a progressive scan player, all the S-Video or Component connections do is carry the color signals seperately from the Black & White signal. These connections certainly provide an improvement over Composite, but do not create nearly as big an improvement over Composite as DVD using composite has over VHS.
Dani Daniels: The Iconic Collection - review by Captain Jack
Posted - Aug 30 2004 : 8:44AM
