Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Musings on Movies, TV, DVD, PVR and CD

This is topic Musings on Movies, TV, DVD, PVR and CD in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 10-31-2002, 12:10 PM:

I don’t like watching movies on television. Therefore I don’t buy DVDs. I do have 7 or 8 of them. We even have 3 DVDs that have never been opened.

I do like television on TV. I enjoy the odd TV drama, The Simpson’s, The discovery Channel, PBS and a few too many cooking shows on the Food Network. I have a PVR and like to capture a show to watch it later. I am not a collector so after I watch it I usually erase it. I am however keeping the entire season of West Wing on disc. I will erase it later.

That is not to say that if I trip across a particularly enjoyable film playing on television that I won’t stop to take some in. Movies that invariably get me to stop are Dogma, Thelma and Louise, The Shawshank Redemption and the odd Bond film.

But mostly I get to see old films that have been re-released on film. This fall I have seen Baraka and Lawrence of Arabia. But I find that I need a good 10 years between viewings. For instance, we had a brand new print of O Brother Where Art Thou in our theatre last week and I found it was too soon to watch it again. Now that is a great film with great sound but I just saw it last year. So I didn’t watch it.

So for me, DVDs aren’t such a great invention. I don’t feel the need to own a copy of a film. I am perfectly happy tripping across a film sometime in the future.

But the PVR now that is an invention.

Also, and I don’t know if this is a function of age or the state of music today, I have stopped listening to CDs. I find myself listening to crappy radio reception, on bad speakers, in the car. Again, I don’t feel the need to own music. I am perfectly happy stumbling across it in every day life. So I wonder if satellite radio with an MP3/PVR function might be cool for me. If I hear a song that I like, I punch the save button on the steering wheel. But if I don’t listen to a song for months, it just drops off the disc.

It seems to me that most people are collectors. I am the anti-collector.

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 10-31-2002, 01:49 PM:

PVRs are about 15 years too late- there's no point to having one now that TV is unwatchable (thanks to the onscreen logos.)

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-31-2002, 03:11 PM:

As Ian knows, I don't actually own a TV set at the moment, nor do I have any burning desire to get one. That didn't stop Neilsen Media Research (the TV ratings people) from trying to get me to become a "Neilsen family," however.

As for collecting stuff: I'm not really a "collector" per se (more like a packrat, actually), although I do collect stuff, including film (16mm and 35mm) and recorded music (CD, LP, 7", cassette, 1/4" 2-track tape, radio carts, etc.). This is not because I have some burning desire to "own" stuff, but rather because I'm not convinced that repertory cinemas will always have access to good prints of my favorite films and that radio stations will have enough variety in their programming to play everything that suits my musical tastes. I would have significantly more cash and storage space if my desire for "entertainment" could be satisfied without having to own so much stuff.

Posted by Dave Williams (Member # 299) on 10-31-2002, 06:48 PM:

I vehemently disagree that TV is unwatchable because of station logos. Yes they can get annoying, especially in the case of TNN, which is not a passive logo but a solid one with the bottom of the screen constantly spewing out info that has nothing to do with the show at hand. Also they squeeze the image and make it nausiating to watch.

Most networks do not run with the passive logo all the time, while some do not use it at all. Even those that do use it, do not make the show unwatchable, unless you really cannot pay attention all that well. I myself, while multitasking, find myself riveted by the show I am watching, not distracted by the passive logo, my cat trying to play catch the string with me, or my girlfriend dancing naked in front of me. If I am watching the Simpsons, 24, or the Sopranos, or even John Doe or Firefly, get the HELL out of my way because I WILL get homicidal if interrupted.

Dave