Wednesday, June 26, 2002
I came home in quite an upbeat mood tonight. I'd had some wins at work today, Al had returned my Playstation games before heading off on his holiday to the US and Cathy had lent me the Lord of the Rings DVD she'd picked up in Vietnam, and not having a player herself, she'd asked me to check it out. All I had planned for the night was to write up some selection criteria for a job I don't particularly want but am expected to apply for anyway.
Like the ring itself, the DVD seemed to work charms. I tried to leave it next to the TV until tomorrow night, but its call was too strong. I had to see if it would work; I turned on the tv, player and sound system. I switched the input selectors. I loaded the disc. I held my breath.
Success!
I'd seen dodgy films on VCD before, the kind obviously filmed with a handycam and then digitised. I definately wasn't expecting the very authentic looking Dolby Digital short / logo (what do you call that bit anyway?) before the menu appeared. Hmm, a menu is all well & good, if you can read the selections. I pressed play & hoped that it would behave like any other disc & just play the film. I held my breath again.
Success! or so I thought...
Aside from part of the openning sequence on the history of the ring being truncated, the disc was scrathed up just enough to only play the first couple of chapters and refused to continue after the hobbits arrive at the Prancing Pony. The picture was out of focus, the volume fluctuated and there was no way it was in surround, let alone Dolby Digital. I know people who get quite excited when they pick up cheap-ass DVD's on their asian holidays, but if this is the standard of all of 'em I wouldn't bother at all - the frustration and disappointment isn't worth it. Oh well, I guess August 6 isn't that far away...
Speaking of anticipation...
The first poster for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released at the start of June, as was the first trailer (reportedly playing in theatres exclusively with Scooby Doo, but that could be just in the States - hmm, am I so eager as to spend good money just to see a trailer? Dare I stoop so low? Must be strong, must be strong...). How many sleeps are there until November 28?
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