Site News: Well, here it comes - the new look of the DOA! The new layout has been tested with IE 5.X, Netscape 6.X, and Netscape 4.X - I'll be moving the pages over to the new format over the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

Site News: A major reworking of the site is in progress, which will brighten up the look and feel.

DVD News: In a story a few days old, Jackie Brown is apparently slated for Open DVD in September, at long last, and I have updated the Exclusives page accordingly.

DVD News: Bedknobs And Broomsticks, the Disney classic, is now available on DVD, allowing me to remove it from the Exclusives page. Alas, it looks like it will be the last Exclusive we'll be getting from Disney for a while; that leaves several dozen titles that will be available for home viewing only on VHS (or maybe laserdisc) once the Divx billing system shuts down on June 30.

DVD News: Yet another three titles digitally exclusive to Divx are coming to Open DVD in June: Bachelor Party; That Thing You Do!; and the long-awaited Two Girls And A Guy. This time Fox is the releasing studio, virtually guaranteeing that these discs will be full-fledged collector editions. Look for them on June 5th!

DVD News: Three more titles digitally exclusive to Divx are coming to Open DVD in June. One is the legendary Billy Wilder comedy and AFI Top 100 classic, The Apartment. Another is The Misfits, the last film for the late Clark Gable and the last film to be completed for the late Marilyn Monroe. Completing our trio is The Madness Of King George, which previously was available in R1 in Canada, and which is now making its debut on U.S. R1 DVD at long last.

Editorial: On the subject of MGM, lately I've seen a lot of sentiment against that studio, regarding its policy of releasing a lot of bare-bones DVDs instead of a few special editions. I'd like to add my thoughts to the fray, which is that the main purpose of DVD (or any home video system, for that matter), is to deliver movies, and that commentaries, mini-documentaries, or whatever are secondary.

My home video purchases are mostly restricted to catalog titles; I seldom buy new releases. In the past, I've been very frustrated at the slow progress of the major studios in releasing their catalog titles to the premiere home video format, which restricts my choice for such material to used laserdisc or VHS (and by implication, no 5.1 or DTS and no progressive scan). In the last few months, MGM has become a notable exception to this concentrate-on-new-releases policy, releasing all sorts of goodies to DVD, in many cases with anamorphic transfers, and at very attractive prices.

MGM's DVDs, while often far from reference quality, are still vastly superior to VHS or used laserdisc, and at least they are available for rental, which laserdiscs are not. In the cases where the transfers are anamorphic, I get glorious progressive widescreen playback, and even when they are not, they often feature 5.1 sound, which is still major plus over laserdisc (I don't have a demodulator).

Sometimes I can't help but wonder if the people who complain so much about MGM's DVD release policy hold stock in VHS duplication facilities or eBay (my primary source of used laserdiscs and laserdisc hardware). Also, I find it ironic that the same people have complained bitterly about Divx-exclusive titles, and now do the same when MGM releases those same titles, with the added plus of OAR, to DVD.

Thank you MGM - your efforts are appreciated by many of us!