Postcard From The Edge
Dear Gary: Thank you for your “Ads On DVD?” (Issue 40; July/August, 2000). Been toying with moving up to DVD from my very extensive Beta (got burned there), VHS and LaserDiscs which grew from my now inactive film (16, 8, S8) collection. Ads on tape can be skipped and carefully erased, but...Hate Them! “Ads On DVDs?” has placed DVDs into “something for the future” category. No self-denial, since my interest is primarily older films. I hate ads. How dare they usurp time I purchased !!! Off the brink!
George J. Cavanaugh, Cooper City, Florida
Story & Special Features Review Editor Laurie Sevano comments:
Well, aren’t you nice! Thank you very much for taking the time to mail us a card with your comments on my article about this very important issue. Judging by the number of responses we have received in regard to this topic—100 percent in opposition to the practice of up-front ads and trailers—it is apparent that our readers and Web guests feel strongly about putting a stop to this practice now! I have been urging everyone who writes us about this to make their opinions known to those who are in a position to do away with this practice... and not to stop until the home entertainment “suits” listen. Several readers have done this very thing. See the letter below from Paul Lawbaugh who copied us on an e-mail he sent to Buena Vista Entertainment in regard to the ads at the front of The Sixth Sense. It’s a great example of what all of us can do. To your comment that this article influenced you to hold off on the purchase of a DVD player and discs, let me say...PLEASE DON’T! DVD is a quality, convenient, and all-around terrific medium with which to enjoy movies (yes, the older ones, too). And, for the most part, fairly priced (with a few studio exceptions, but I’ll save that rant for a future issue of WSR). LaserDisc fans, of course, know the fun of supplemental materials, but for DVD converts who have come directly from the VHS world, the added features are a new and exciting treat for the most part. And the creative menus with which to maneuver the features on the discs are, at their best, creative wonders that enhance your viewing, and at least, functional navigators. Please reconsider your decision; just avoid those discs that employ this shameful marketing tactic—we here at WSR will do our best to let you know of every title that has up-front ads. Just don’t buy or rent those titles...and, remember, tell the studios why!
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com