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I joined AARP a few years ago but I never had time to read the magazine, and didn't really ever use any of the other benefits so I let it lapse. Now that I really am into the dreaded 60s, maybe I should re-instate myself.
HERB ALPERT IS... THE DVD
Right after the documentary "aired" on YouTube, I spotted a DVD listed on eBay. Taking a chance, I placed the order. A couple days later, I got a note from the seller that it was not available, and my money was refunded. A bit bummed, I did a few more searches and found something on Amazon that was a third-party seller but looked legit, placed another order, and it arrived this afternoon.
I'll probably look for a Blu-ray too, once they start surfacing, but this will do in the meantime.
A few notes: The DVD is actually a DVD-R. It's made on demand. I knew that going in, so it didn't matter to me. I don't know if "pressed" media will ever surface. These days that's getting tougher to come buy as program suppliers, be it video or music, would rather stream their product or sell files. But being the luddite I am, I'm still a fan of physical media.
The DVD just starts - there's no menu structure. You put it in the player and up comes the ABRAMORAMA logo and on goes the movie. This fact doesn't give you any choices for "setup", but there are only two choices for audio. The disc defaults to Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. If you use your remote's audio button, you can switch to audio track #2 which is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. I think the surround sounds best on my main system even though it's only coming out as 3.0.
So, for those that missed the stereo with the YouTube stream, it's here on the DVD - and probably the Blu-ray too when that surfaces. For now, the DVD looks and sounds really good. It's better than the YouTube stream which was choppy and occasionally stuttered.
I kind of doubt Herb would cheap it out and go with DVD-R for a release, and a third party offering it before Amazon and others officially offer it seems fishy. They went to a lot of expense with the CD and LP box sets--a DVD-R for the documentary just doesn't sound right to me.
But, there's always the chance that DVD and BluRay sales have pretty much evaporated thanks to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and others who stream directly to the home, and this might only be an on-demand title on DVD-R or BD-R. If it's some third party pirating a stream (which is possible) and burning their own DVD-Rs, they'll be in a lot of hot water over this.
Maybe @badazz can shed some light on it.
I'm still waiting for a source where I can download it and keep it on my server. Anything I've seen so far ties a "purchase" to an app, like Amazon. About I can probably hope for is an official BluRay and rip it myself, and stick yet another video product into storage that I'll never look at again.
That's a good move--striking while the iron is hot. I'm glad to hear the DVD-Rs are the real deal--when I heard that a third party Amazon seller had it before Amazon, that threw up a red flag, as I've seen other items sold that way which turned out to be pirated. I'll look forward to the BluRay version when it's ready. Stay safe!I saw on social media that people wanted DVD's so I decided to move forward with the DVD-R's being that the quality was great and knowing that people wanted them now.
Thanks for the info Harry. Due to its long duration--that would make for a very in-depth documentary--longer than many on PBS. As the saying goes, you would get your money's worth.It's 1:53:05, according to my player.
Well there are definitely 3 sales for the BluRay already..... me, Harry and Neil!
I never had a problem with MOD products - there have been a few old favorite movies that I've ordered that way because it was the only option, but never a problem with any of them. The only "complaint" I ever had was, they usually had pretty minimalist packaging, but I attributed that to the relative obscurity of the product making it not worth spending a lot on developing a fancy package, or maybe a lack of availability of the original graphics and such.
From the perspective of archival longevity, DVD-R's and CD-R's are generally inferior to pressed discs. Depending on the quality of the blank media used, the speed at which the disc is burned, and the conditions under which the purchased disc is stored, there is the possibility that the disc may become unplayable after a number of years, as the organic dye breaks down. Some of the first CD-R's that I burned 20 years ago still play fine, while others became unreadable after only a few years, especially ones that I burned onto cheaper generic blanks.That's been my experience as well. I read a lot of whining about DVD-R's being somehow inferior, but I've had some for a number of years without any issues.
I've had them go bad also. For one of the brands, the painted label side would start to peel up and make the disc unreadable. I didn't burn enough DVD-Rs to have much experience with them, but I remember having to use the correct recordable DVD type (there was both DVD-R and DVD+R, and then setting the booktype of the disc before burning. (Going from my defective/fuzzy memory, I believe we had to use DVD+R discs and set the booktype to DVD-ROM, so that standard DVD players could read them.)Some of the first CD-R's that I burned 20 years ago still play fine, while others became unreadable after only a few years, especially ones that I burned onto cheaper generic blanks.
I agree and I'm thankful for my high capacity laptop which I ripped all my physical CDS And CDRs into as well as backup SD card for my tablet uninterrupted audio and video is a real blessing and that shuffle mode is wonderful because to me its like listening to my own custom radio station minus ads and banter ( unless I want to practice for my radio shows then I can do my own brief banter)That is one comforting thing about having everything on a server--it's a backup for the physical copies. And a redundant, synced backup off-site prevents losing everything should a drive go bad. And the real bonus is that for video content, no more ads or menus--I want to play a movie, I select it from the list and get the movie. Menus on DVDs were perhaps the worst thing ever foisted on the video-buying public.
From November 13 thru December 13, AARP Members can view "HERB ALPERT Is"