DualDisc: A Failure Of Format

Amid the current format war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc, it is worth a moment to stop and consider the fate of another format: DualDisc, a CD/DVD hybrid, which seems ill-considered at best and a cheap gimmick at worst.

The DualDisc format was mostly used by the music industry in the last two years as a way to give their consumers an incentive to buy their products. It was, in short, a sales gimmick. The double-sided disc contained one side which was a CD and the other which was a DVD. The biggest problem with it was that the CD side didn't meet the specifications to carry the official "compact disc" label and wasn't even playable in many CD players! Out of five CD players I tried, the CD side of DualDiscs would not work in three of them. One of the players in which it wouldn't work was the CD player in my computer, meaning I could not import the songs to an iPod.

The DVD portion of the DualDisc usually contained the audio from the CD in multi-channel sound and about a half hour or less of related video (the artist in the studio, a music video, etc.). While it is nice for those with multi-channel stereos to be able to listen in 5.1 surround sound, those kinds of stereo systems are not in the majority of homes, at least, not yet. Most people buying a CD will listen in the car, a boom box, or on the computer, none of which accomodate the intricacies of 5.1 DVD sound. Moreover, niche multi-channel products like SA-CD (Super-Audio CD) and DVD-A (DVD-Audio) failed, in part because of the format war between them and in part because the market didn't exist for higher-ticket items that required higher-ticket systems (and the fragile market that did exist couldn't withstand a format war).

The music industry no doubt felt it needed to provide an incentive for people to buy their CDs, especially with sales falling. The music industry constantly points to file-sharing and digital downloads as the reason for falling sales. It is worth noting, however, that academic studies suggest that not only does file-sharing not hurt sales, it actually helps encourage sales. There is something dishonest about pointing to every file downloaded as a "lost sale," as if every person who ever enjoyed a song on the radio would have gone out and bought the record.

One thing is certain: Selling consumers CD/DVD hybrids that wouldn't actually play in a lot of CD players couldn't have helped sales. Memo to the music industry: Fewer disposable pop stars, more artistry; Fewer gimmicks, more substance.

More info: Wikipedia: DualDisc

Music sharing doesn't kill CD sales

DVD Review: Get Smart - The Complete Series

Since the earliest days of TV-on-DVD sets, fans have been collecting their favorite shows, often in elaborate box sets filled with extras. The early ones are still the templates - The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation - but one thing that has always irked fans is that once a series was completed on DVD, studios would often release a box set containing the entire series, often in an even more elaborate box or with even more extras. The West Wing and Friends recently saw the entire series collected in beautiful box sets -- which is useless to fans who supported the release of those show's individual seasons. Many fine shows (like Paramount's Taxi) were released in season sets without any extras at all, and many fans have started collecting a favorite program, only to find the DVDs discontinued (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, and many more).

Fortunately, Time Life and HBO Video have turned this trend on its head with the release of Get Smart: The Complete Series. The 1965-1970 series was long-sought-after by DVD fans (indeed, the show was in the top five of most requested shows on TVShowsonDVD.com for years) and it remained a holy grail of sorts for fans looking for their favorite shows on their favorite shiny discs.

Released in late November, Get Smart is perhaps the crowning achievement in TV-on-DVD. Here are all five seasons of the show, on 25 discs in 5 season sets, all collected in a phone-booth package (reminiscent of the show's classic opening). If you're a fan of the show (and who wouldn't be?), you already know this is one of the very best comedies that television had to offer. It began in the mid-60s, just as America was deep in the Cold War and James Bond was all the cultural rage. The show worked on a variety of levels: it had slapstick humor, political satire and adult innuendo. It remains a cultural landmark; a bedrock of comedy and for a generation, a definition of humor.

Technically, the DVDs are among the most advanced yet. They have motion menus, with introductions to every bit of content by Barbara Feldon, the show's "99." The video quality is outstanding. It's amazing that a 40-year old television program can look as crisp and as clear as this one does. Add in the fact that the episodes are uncut (replacing several minutes to each show that have been lost to syndication over the years), and you will feel like you've never seen the show before, even if you have been a fan for decades.

Time Life recruited some of the best DVD talent around for this collection. Paul Brownstein produced the set, and he has also produced DVDs for The Twilight Zone and The Dick Van Dyke Show, both of which are among the best TV-on-DVD sets. Like those, this one is loaded with content, with extras that many fans never knew existed. One charming piece is an NBC fall preview special with Get Smart star Don Adams hosting -- as Maxwell Smart. Time Life also recruited many Get Smart fans for help with the DVD set, and it shows. This is a hardcore fan's dream come true.

The season sets are said to be planned for individual release in the next year or so, but Time Life offers the whole set now, and they have exclusive rights to the sale of the show for a year. No need to wait - this is the best the show is going to get. More broadly, it shows how television shows should be produced for DVD. For these reasons and more, Get Smart: The Complete Series is the DVD box set of the year.

More info: WouldYouBelieve.com

Time Life DVD

DVD Comment

This blog will be devoted to reviews of current and previous DVD releases. I figured since I have so many of them, I ought to do something creative with them.