DVDs And Their Discontents
I had a rather interesting conversation in my local Hollywood Video the other day. Expressing frustration at the horrific playing condition of too many of the DVDs at hand, I asked a clerk why more people weren't complaining. His rather surprising reply was that people didn't mind because they were used to their CDs acting up. When I asked him to elaborate he said "Well CDs scratch all the time."
I wonder if that's true. I don't know, because I've only had one CD melt down on me, a copy of K.D. Lang's album "Engenue" that just got worse and worse with each playing. Skipping, track-jumping, freezing - you name it.
Anyway it doesn't matter. This is not a conspiracy theory. Neither NetFlix nor Hollywood nor Blockbuster is going to stay in business if DVDs are consistently unwatchable. But the problem is that, after a day or two (or a week or two, depending on the film), their DVDs do become unwatchable. I thought it was my fault, that my player was too old or somesuch.
That was before I started playing DVDs from my own collection after having problems with those I'd rented. The difference? My DVDs were not watched by idiots who had no idea how to handle a DVD. They worked everytime. The rented DVDs required about twenty minutes of careful cleaning before they would play...that's assuming they would. Many - too many - were unwatchable. They would not even load. The few that did would stop halfway through the movie, make that strange ka-shick noise and just refuse to go any further. It would not be a gross exaggeration to say that this was - and is - infuriating. Unlike the hassle-free experience I always had with rented VHS cassettes, lately I have to cross my fingers when renting a DVD and hope I can actually watch it, or watch all of it.
So what to do? We as consumers need to start protesting DVDs. They are unstable mediums of recorded entertainment. They are too fragile, and too likely to rob us of the entertainment we are seeking. Last but not least, even those that work are, all too often, a colossal pain in the ass, what with the cleaning to make them work. It was never like this with VHS cassettes, even though they would sometimes break. If a tape broke in your VCR you took it to your local (honest) VCR shop and it was cleared right up.
Now? Hollywood Video has instituted a policy whereby you can - at .25 cents a copy - purchase "insurance" that the DVD you have rented will be "covered" if the next renter says there is a problem with it. That is like McDonalds charging .25 cents a burger as insurance that you won't get e coli. It's ludicrous, and it needs to stop.
DVDs are a symptom of our high technology times. Microsoft - among others - puts out bad software and then, in so many carefully chosen words, tells all of us "tough shit." We like what technology can do, even when we're being sold a bill of goods. And that's the problem.
I think that our dilemma can best be summed up in the difference between Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The former has left the lizard-like morality of Silicon Valley far behind. Woz has established educational foundations, and he tries to help people. Steve Jobs is all about Apple Computer, and how well its stock is doing. He drives his employees relentlessly, and seems to have no soul. So who do we want as our mentor? Woz or Jobs? I think that the latters last name gives it all away. Don't you?
I wonder if that's true. I don't know, because I've only had one CD melt down on me, a copy of K.D. Lang's album "Engenue" that just got worse and worse with each playing. Skipping, track-jumping, freezing - you name it.
Anyway it doesn't matter. This is not a conspiracy theory. Neither NetFlix nor Hollywood nor Blockbuster is going to stay in business if DVDs are consistently unwatchable. But the problem is that, after a day or two (or a week or two, depending on the film), their DVDs do become unwatchable. I thought it was my fault, that my player was too old or somesuch.
That was before I started playing DVDs from my own collection after having problems with those I'd rented. The difference? My DVDs were not watched by idiots who had no idea how to handle a DVD. They worked everytime. The rented DVDs required about twenty minutes of careful cleaning before they would play...that's assuming they would. Many - too many - were unwatchable. They would not even load. The few that did would stop halfway through the movie, make that strange ka-shick noise and just refuse to go any further. It would not be a gross exaggeration to say that this was - and is - infuriating. Unlike the hassle-free experience I always had with rented VHS cassettes, lately I have to cross my fingers when renting a DVD and hope I can actually watch it, or watch all of it.
So what to do? We as consumers need to start protesting DVDs. They are unstable mediums of recorded entertainment. They are too fragile, and too likely to rob us of the entertainment we are seeking. Last but not least, even those that work are, all too often, a colossal pain in the ass, what with the cleaning to make them work. It was never like this with VHS cassettes, even though they would sometimes break. If a tape broke in your VCR you took it to your local (honest) VCR shop and it was cleared right up.
Now? Hollywood Video has instituted a policy whereby you can - at .25 cents a copy - purchase "insurance" that the DVD you have rented will be "covered" if the next renter says there is a problem with it. That is like McDonalds charging .25 cents a burger as insurance that you won't get e coli. It's ludicrous, and it needs to stop.
DVDs are a symptom of our high technology times. Microsoft - among others - puts out bad software and then, in so many carefully chosen words, tells all of us "tough shit." We like what technology can do, even when we're being sold a bill of goods. And that's the problem.
I think that our dilemma can best be summed up in the difference between Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs. The former has left the lizard-like morality of Silicon Valley far behind. Woz has established educational foundations, and he tries to help people. Steve Jobs is all about Apple Computer, and how well its stock is doing. He drives his employees relentlessly, and seems to have no soul. So who do we want as our mentor? Woz or Jobs? I think that the latters last name gives it all away. Don't you?
posted by Unknown | 10:53 PM
8 Comments:
Some video shops had the insurance on tapes as well.
Speaking as someone who owns a store when there were all tapes and now all DVD. I have less trouble with DVD damage rate then VHS.
There are factors to understanding how to use a DVD. The biggest thing is that most people do not know that scratching the top of the disc is actually worse then scratching the bottom.
Most huge stores don't take time to teach their employees, let alone teach their customers about how to use and maximize their enjoyment.
I understand your points, and they're well taken. But do you understand mine? If a mild scratch on the front or back of a DVD renders it unwatchable, doesn't that mean that it is a failure as a medium of presentation?
I never, ever had a problem with a rented VHS cassette. And in the summer of '99 I moonlighted at my local Blockbuster. We had almost no complaints about damaged VHS cassettes, although I must admit that when a tape would break inside someone's VCR they would go understandably ballistic. Still, it was very rare.
There must be some solution to this problem. Perhaps DVDs can be made thicker, tougher? A special coating that makes them scratch-proof but still readable by the laser?? I'm not sure what it is, but somebody is going to get very rich if they come up with the solution.
This is anecdotal, of course, but since Hollywood switched exclusively to DVDs I have witnessed many, many more complaints from customers. Until DVDs become as hassle-free as VHS cassettes always were, I think Netflix, Hollywood and Blockbuster are going to end up in bankruptcy.
I actually have never rented or owned a DVD, but after reading your post, I might have reconsider buying the "Six Feet Under" boxed set...
Rob, you're quite right that DVD's should be made sturider. They are. If you're burning your own, there are special "tough" DVD's with bottom coatings that are harder to scratch.
In my experience, the problem has multiple sources. I've "fixed" DVD players by cleaning the lens inside the player; sometimes with those cleaning CD's, sometimes by opening them up and using a Q-tip with glass cleaner. Glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth, like those sold for glasses, also works to clean DVD's. And sadly, far too many players and commercially-pressed DVD's are made cheap and shoddy.
Planned obsolescence is built into DVD's as well. The industry doesn't WANT us to keep the disks or DVD's forever; they want us to buy the next form of media coming up, whether Blu-Ray or lasers refracted through harmonic crystals or whatever. Look at the ads for DVD's on TV; do you want to pay $20 for a movie you didn't want to pay $10 to see in a theatre? And look at the attempts to prosecute stores selling used DVD's and CD's.
If they call people who want to steal content "pirates," the media conglomerates have to accept the consequences; they're like the cruel governors of the Caribbean states that treat their subjects with contempt. Their moral position isn't so noble or pure. (Yeah, I just saw "Captain Blood.")
Rob, if nothing else companies such as Blockbuster, NetFlix, and other DVD renters will be out of business pretty soon. There's no reason the information that makes up a movie has to be stored on a disc when it can be delivered straight to your house.
If you have digital cable, on-demand movies are the way to go.
You don't remember renting VHS cassettes with twisted tape; using the tracking button (or dial) to try to make the program watchable; tricks like fast forwarding the cassette, then rewinding? I remember that and also just giving up sometimes and having to get a refund.
Jeff,
Yes, there were problems with VHS cassettes, but they were mild and rare. I always keep my VCR in tip-top running condition by cleaning the heads once a month. By comparison, DVDs are just...well, horrible. And we're stuck with them.
Two comments:
1. You said: Now? Hollywood Video has instituted a policy whereby you can - at .25 cents a copy - purchase "insurance" that the DVD you have rented will be "covered" if the next renter says there is a problem with it. That is like McDonalds charging .25 cents a burger as insurance that you won't get e coli. It's ludicrous, and it needs to stop.
--Agreed, but a good DVD player will play despite some scratches and a bad won't. We have two players, and some DVDs that the first screws up on will play just find on the second. I'd hate for Hollywood to try to charge me for a scratch by a prior customer that played fine in my machine but got bounced by the next machine.
2. Best Way to clean a DVD is pretend they are eyeglasses. Put the play side at an angle in a stream of water then wipe off with a soft clean cloth (don't use a paper towel). Wipe from the inside to the outside. It takes about 30 seconds.
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