Thank You
Dear Gary: I would first like to thank all of the Widescreen Review employees for the tremendous D-Theater Movie Festival that I was lucky enough to attend in July. Speaking of lucky, I owe you and Monster Cable a special thank you because I was fortunate enough to win the MonsterPower HTPS 7000 ReferenceSource, while at the event. It, undoubtedly, will be a terrific addition to my home theatre! I was anxious to read about the initial D-Theater Movie Festival held in June to see if the comments from the attendees at those sessions closely resembled the discussions we had in our group a month later. Predictably, the audiences at the first event had many of the same opinions and questions regarding this revolutionary format that we did in July. Upon further reflection, it occurred to me that the short-term success of this format might not hinge on the jaw-dropping picture and crystal clear sound that the JVC HM-DH30000U is capable of delivering. Instead, the immediate future of this format might encounter one of the ongoing hurdles that HDTV itself has yet to clear. That is, a lack of compelling content. The initial releases in the D-Theater realm are adequate, don’t get me wrong, but wouldn’t it be even better if some of the real “heavy hitters” stepped up to the plate to support this format sooner rather than later. An announcement from Skywalker Ranch, as an example, that the original Star Wars Trilogy would be available to the early adopters would give the D-Theater format the type of kick-start that would appeal to both hardcore enthusiasts and budding home theatre aficionados who might not, otherwise, consider purchasing a D-VHS machine in its infancy. After all, how many THX systems did the WOW! LaserDisc sell during the 90’s? George Lucas’ ongoing dissertations regarding the importance of video and audio excellence, as it relates to the director’s “vision,” would clearly be advanced by this new format. In essence, we would all be getting what we want. The early adopters get titles that differentiate DVD from D-Theater, and Lucas gets a pristine presentation of his master works. The 20th Century Fox Studio is already supporting the format, so why not go full throttle? Thanks, for all you have done over the years to advance the home theatre experience to where it is today. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.
Brian Bovenizer, Carlsbad, California
Editor-In-Chief Gary Reber Comments:
I agree with your comments and I am personally working behind the scenes to encourage influential filmmakers to support the “HD-plus” D-Theater prerecorded format. In fact, in September I traveled to Wellington, New Zealand to meet with the Lord Of The Rings filmmakers. During our meetings I encouraged them to release Lord Of The Rings on the D-Theater format. They were excited and are now giving it serious consideration. You’ll be able to read about my visit and learn lots from an On Screen conversation I had with Barrie Osborne, the lead producer of The Lord Of The Rings in Issue 67, December.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ mailto:editorgary@widescreenreview.com