Gray's Anatomy

[SmilinJackRoss]

I never fully understood the TV series in DVD box set phenomenon. I can accept older shows that just don't get airtime on TV... and I guess I can see comedies where you can just pop in your favorite self-contained episode here or there when the mood strikes you... But full blown serial dramas? Are there people out there that are that devoid of things to do to fill their day that they will rewatch entire seasons of a show that aired last year?!?

For me, I am completely unable to schedule my life around a television show, and will always miss an episode if I try.  If I'm going to put the time into watching a serial drama, I don't want to miss any of it, or watch it out of order.  TV on DVD is the perfect solution for people like me.  I have watched The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica, and others all off of DVD.

There's also people who have watching parties.

And you can never underestmate people's penchant to collect stuff like this, even if they probably wont ever watch it.  It would be interesting to see a statistic of what percentage of DVDs purchased go unwatched.  I'd bet it's higher than you'd think.

[Nunyerbiz]

Yea... good point as usual Sir Smilin' Ross.... I guess I underestimated the "don't regularly watch during the broadcast run" crowd...

My wife and I are so reliant on our Tivo / DVRs that we never schedule our lives around TV either... just knock out a month worth of episodes for a show or two on a lazy Sunday and ignore TV for another 3-4 weeks. I guess the same could be done with DVD box sets at $40 a pop.

[SmilinJackRoss]

I've been told that if I get Tivo, I'll never be able to live without it.  I believe that entirely, and so I'm trying to go without it as long as I can.  But the gadget freak in me will eventually turns it's eyes towards a DVR, and then there will be no going back.

[Nunyerbiz]

While my wife is a much more devout TV viewer than I am... we're both pretty much addicted to the things... but they haven't turned us into TV zombies. We're running a total of five tuners spread across three devices. While I would say they have increased our overall TV viewing, it's not that terribly dramatic. At least for me, alot of the stuff I record is "take it or leave it" type shows. It really hasn't added that much to the "must see" stuff. Like I said, we'll just wind up devoting three or four nights a month to catching up on the shows we really like... and we always have some "filler" program like Mythbusters or Adult Swim stuff or Simpsons reruns or whatnot to fill the gaps if we're bored. We use them more as "TV on demand" as opposed to getting hooked on everything out there.

[Trumpy]

This is a pretty stupid show.

That being said, I think Bridget did a pretty good job.

[Minnesota]

    It took me a long time to convince myself to try Netflix but I'm completely sold on it.  My closest return center is only 90 miles away so the turnaround on new vids is only 3 days and I've seen no sign of the slowdown that others have reported if they over-do their "unlimited" number of rentals.  Only 1 of about 40 videos was obscure enough that it was only available from a Carolina return center and took a couple extra days.

I'm recent convert as well (at around 40- 50 movies) my biggest complaint with Netflix is the high amount of scratched DVDs but when I compare it to RedBox they are about the same in that regard. The infamous Netflix "throttling" can at times get annoying but in the end it isn't as bad as some make it out to be. After back to back weeks of slow shipping I forced myself to upgrade to the 4 at a time plan... Although I will probably be a long term customer, I still find that my opinion of the company fluctuates. Basically my opinion will be much more complete after a year or so of service.

[Nunyerbiz]

I agree with the 'Sota.... Only "throttling" issues I've seen in 2.5 years of being a Netflix customer is when my queue is top heavy with new releases. They do tend to funnel those towards the new subscribers... my mother immediately recieved "Pursuit of Happyness" as one of her first three movies after we bought her a gift membership for her birthday. It had been languishing in our queue as "short wait" for a good couple of weeks. That can be a little annoying, but we've learned to not rely on Netflix for the "OMG we gotta see this the day it comes out" type of DVDs. We either buy the thing or bite the bullet at a conventional rental place. Most of the movies we want are stuff thats a few months old that we finally decided to watch... and they have always been lightning fast in those instances. (We are also around 90-100 miles from the closest return center)

[PlayMSTie]

    It took me a long time to convince myself to try Netflix but I'm completely sold on it.  My closest return center is only 90 miles away so the turnaround on new vids is only 3 days and I've seen no sign of the slowdown that others have reported if they over-do their "unlimited" number of rentals.  Only 1 of about 40 videos was obscure enough that it was only available from a Carolina return center and took a couple extra days.

I'm recent convert as well (at around 40- 50 movies) my biggest complaint with Netflix is the high amount of scratched DVDs but when I compare it to RedBox they are about the same in that regard.

I was having trouble with some of the DVDs as well, but I found that a new DVD cleaning kit I'd just bought took care of the problem with one of them. Hopefully it'll be enough to take care of similar problems with others.

[Minnesota]

^^^ yeah, it might be time to invest in a dvd cleaning kit, any recommendations?

[SmilinJackRoss]

^^^ yeah, it might be time to invest in a dvd cleaning kit, any recommendations?

Don't get anything that uses abrasives or claims to smooth out scratches, netflix wont like that.  There's products out there called "DVD Doctor" or something like that, and it basically buffs off a layer of the plastic.  Supposedly it takes out surface scratches, but it leaves the DVD looking like someone took a belt-sander to it.  Use these products only as a last resort, and certainly not on a rental disc.

Having worked at a video store for a number of years in college, I can tell you that the quality of the DVD player has as much to do with it as the disc being scratched.  People would return a disc complaining that it wouldn't play, and when we checked it in our store DVD player, it worked fine.  Sometimes, the smallest little scrattch or speck of dust will cause it to get hung up on some cheaper players.  Plenty of my Netflix dvds come with scuffs and fingerprints, but I've only had one disc in 1 & 1/2 years of service that wouldn't play.  But I have a pretty good DVD player.

I'm rambling, but my recommendation is if it wont come off with water and a lint free towel, don't mess with it, just return it.

[PlayMSTie]

I feel a little subversive continuing the conversation after that.  But I really have had very good results with the kit I bought. It's Scotch brand and it has cleaners for both DVDs and the DVD player. I don't know where we put the original packaging so I don't know if it says anything about abrasives or scratches, but I think it's just a plain old cleaner.

But if you're nervous about it, you could always use just the player cleaner, and see if that takes care of it without cleaning the DVD as well.

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

I find that using a solution of baby seal eyes,white rhino tusks,and panda claws really gets the scratches out. 

[SmilinJackRoss]

I feel a little subversive continuing the conversation after that.  But I really have had very good results with the kit I bought. It's Scotch brand and it has cleaners for both DVDs and the DVD player. I don't know where we put the original packaging so I don't know if it says anything about abrasives or scratches, but I think it's just a plain old cleaner.

But if you're nervous about it, you could always use just the player cleaner, and see if that takes care of it without cleaning the DVD as well.

I'm sure your kit is harmless, but I've seen DVDs and CDs get ruined by other cleaning solutions, so I just steer clear.  Water and a t-shirt is all I have ever needed to clean a disc, and a dry lens cleaner for my player is the only kind I'll use.

[gammer]

I thought Bridget did a great job!
My full take and free preview now posted

[robertraur]

I was skeptical about buying an entire season just for the riff (my parents own Lost, so I didn't have to worry about that).  But I found out my sister is a fan of the show and did not own the first season.  Her birthday is July 6th, and while this may sound a bit cheap on my part, I am going to give her the first season after I am done with it.

But just to be on the safe side, I'll be getting her something else as well.