So, tell me, how do you like our new features? Does the “Film Vault” work out for you? Do you think we have everything covered in there? What about the re-designed release announcements and all the additional information you can get out of it? Has it turned out the way you wished it would, or are there still edges we should polish and work on in your opinion? Many of you sent us comments how glad they are that they finally can print out the release schedules without having cropped results. What is you greatest benefit for the re-design of those pages?

While some of you have used email and our feedback pages to tell us how they feel about the innovations, we would still like to urge all of you to let us know what you think. As I had mentioned numerous times before, we are creating these pages for you and we want to make sure to tailor the pages to exactly your needs. So, please use our feedback forum to give us your opinion, or simply send us an email on the issue. We would love to hear from you and as it was the case with the large amount of commentary track additions to our Film Vault last week, we would like to be able to fill in more missing information in the database. If you find another disc with a commentary track that we are not listing correctly, please let us know. If you detect a layer switch point in a RSDL disc that we do not list yet, please send it to us that we can insert it in our database. With this concerted effort, we will soon have the most complete database on the Internet regarding DVD releases and the most detailed information, specifically aimed at the needs of DVD enthusiasts. If you want to help us in our effort, why don’t you take your one or two favorite discs and check all the details regarding these discs in our Film Vault and let us know if we are missing some information.

If you want to submit information to us regarding the database, please send an email to info@dvdreview.com. Please make sure however to send us your information as complete and accurate as possible. The description text we are using in the database is usually the text you can find on the back of the packaging. The more complete the information is, the easier it is for us to insert and update it in the database without errors.

Regarding the Film Vault also two questions came up quite a few times. “What are THX certified discs?” and “Why are there so few THX certified discs?”.

THX is a rather prestigious quality seal of approval. THX outlines a number of quality standards that have to be met by THX licensees in order to use the THX logo. These THX certifications are available for movie theater equipment, home theater equipment and video releases. It has originally been designed by George Lucas  yes, that’s the man behind Star Wars and Indiana Jones  for movie theaters to make sure his films are presented in the best possible way. People started getting aware of the high quality of film presentations in those theaters, which in turn created brand recognition of the THX logo and its association with quality.

Since the standards set for movie theaters do not apply for home theaters, soon after, THX created a set of standards for equipment outside movie theaters so that once again, people can rely on the THX certification to know they hold a quality product in their hands. They later diversified into outlining video and audio transfer standards, which resulted in THX certified VHS tapes, Laserdiscs and DVDs. It is important to understand however that THX certified products are not necessarily superior to uncertified ones. It is not a matter that every product, as soon as it meets certain quality aspects, automatically receives a THX seal of approval. The product has to be submitted to THX and if it meets their standards, the THX logo can be licensed for use in association with this specific product. In plain terms, this means that every company putting out THX certified products has to pay THX a certain amount of money to evaluate the product, and then pay royalties for every unit sold using the THX logo. Whether this is worth the while or not, lies within each company’s own judgement. On Laserdisc many companies relied on the THX logo to successfully communicate their efforts to the buying audience. The THX logo was strongly associated with superior quality video and audio transfers. On DVD however, hardly any publisher is using the THX certification these days. There might be a number reasons for that, one of the most imminent is clearly the money saved by not licensing the THX logo. Especially since early on, THX disgruntled quite a few people with the DVD related set of standards. Titles, such as Republic’s “Highlander” DVD were THX certified releases, and yet they look worse than anything you might have seen before. THX clearly had problems defining accurate standards specifically designed to meet DVD’s new demands at the time. In the meanwhile companies like Universal and Columbia released titles that were so stunning in their video and audio presentation without carrying the THX seal, that many people started wondering and rethinking their stance towards the once glorious certification. People recognized that although THX promised a certain level of quality, many other releases easily exceeded this level of quality - much to the pleasure of DVD publishers, who could finally stop throwing money at Lucas’ cash cow.

While THX might have finally gotten around defining solid standards for DVD video releases, they have lost a big edge by now and most importantly they have lost a big part of their reputation in only one short year. I am quite convinced that the THX certification will again become more important in the years to come however. As more titles are being released, publishers will need something to distinguish their products from others and the THX seal of approval might just be the way to do this.

Finally, I have a recommendation for you. If you or one of your friends or family intents to buy a new DVD player this Christmas, make sure to take a look at this article. Steve Tannehill over at the “DVD Resource Page” has created a very detailed, comprehensive and exhaustive article about “What to look for in a DVD player”. It might at least give you an idea what is out there and what features might or might not be interesting to you.

That’s it for today. Take care everyone and enjoy your DVD.

 December 1, 1998

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