DVD NEWS...

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>>LASER SCANS<<
The Laserdisc and DVD Newsletter
January 1998: Part Two

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DVD News
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NO DVDs FROM FOX: In our last issue, we reported on a Video Business magazine
article that said that a FoxVideo representative had announced at a NAVD
meeting that Fox would bow its first DVDs in early 1998. Other publications
also referred to the Video Business article and rumors flew about the imminent
release of "Star Wars" on DVD. But it isn't true, at least for the near
future. "As previously stated on many occasions, we are not in the DVD
business and have no plans to be," -FoxVideo spokesperson Steve Feldstein.

IMAGE has announced a deal in principle giving the firm distribution rights
for The Criterion Collection on DVD. The first Criterion DVDs are set for
February release (see Laser Scans, 12/97). Image is the largest licensee and
distributor of laserdiscs in the U.S.

DVD SALES UPDATE: As of Dec. 5, manufacturers had SHIPPED 314,104 DVD
players (not the same as SOLD)
to American stores in 1997, according to figures released by CEMA (Consumer
Electronics Manufacturers Assn.), a trade group based in Arlington, Virginia.
We will have CEMA's final 1997 figures in the next issue, but it looks at this
point as though less than 400,000 DVD machines will have shipped, not SOLD,
by year's
end. And the total DVD household population in the U.S. (machines actually
purchased by consumers) will probably be less than 200,000 by Dec. 31. These
numbers are far below predictions made by manufacturers and analysts during
the year, and are especially disappointing considering the two years of hype
and anticipation that preceded DVD's rollout last March. However, DVD-ROM
sales in 1998 may greatly expand the overall market.

MGM unveils "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" with extra footage (1965, w&p-s,
E/F/S, $24.98) , an unrated "Leaving Las Vegas," (1995, w&p-s, E/F/S, $24.98)
"Hoodlum," (1997, all w&p-s, E/F/S, $24.98) a THX "Moonraker" (1979, w&p-s,
E/F/S, $24.98) and "Red Dawn" (1984, w&p-s, E/F/S, $24.98) on Jan. 27.

MIRAMAX bows Billy Bob Thornton's "Sling Blade" on DVD ($29.99) Jan. 6.

PIONEER ARTISTs has "MTV Party To Go, Vol. 1" ($24.98) Feb. 10.

NEW LINE is introducing a DVD branded line, the "New Line Platinum Series,"
which will feature "the highest level of special added-value and interactive
programming available on DVD," according to the company. Each Platinum title
will list for $24.98. The series kicked off officially with recent releases
"Spawn" and "The Lawnmower Man," and will include "The Mask," "The Player,"
"Shine" and "Austin Powers." Six 1998 releases wll join the Platinum line:
"Boogie Nights," "Wag The Dog," "American History X," "Lost In Space,"
"Nightmare On Elm Street" and "Short Cuts."

DISNEY launches "Air Bud," "The Crow" and "Crimson Tide" ($29.99 apiece)
Jan.6.

POLYGRAM has "The Game" with Michael Douglas ($29.95) Feb. 24.

WARNER brings out "Above The Law" (1988, w&p-s, $24.99) and "Hard To Kill"
(1990, w&p-s, $24.99) Jan. 27 and "Cobra" (1986, w&p-s, $24.99) Feb. 24.

LIVE offers Sidney Lumet's "Critical Care" with James Spader and Albert
Brooks, "Capricorn One" and "Universal Soldier" (each w&p-s, $29.98) Feb. 17.
Also on the way: "The Crying Game," "The Piano" and "Wishmaster" (all w&p-s,
$29.98). "Wishmaster" includes commentary by director Robert Kurtzman and
other extras.

COLUMBIA TRISTAR will release "Excess Baggage" with Alicia Silverstone and
Christopher Walken (w&p-s, E/S/F, $24.95) Feb. 3 and "Air Force One," "The
Devil's Own" and "Fools Rush In" Feb. 10 (w&p-s, E/S/F, $24.95 each).

UNIVERSAL offers a collector's edition of "Dante's Peak" (wide, DD,
commentary, extras, $34.98), "The Nutty Professor" (wide, $24.98) and "Death
Becomes Her," "Fierce Creatures," "Kindergarten Cop," "Leave It To Beaver,"
"Liar Liar" and "Timecop" (all pan-scan, $24.98) Jan. 20. The latter six
titles are available in widescreen on laserdisc. In addition, Universal will
bow special editions of "Apollo 13" and "Dragonheart" (wide, extras, $34.98
each), "Casino" (wide, $26.98), the three-episode "Xena Trilogy" ($26.98), and
the $24.98 titles "National Lampoon's Animal House" (pan-scan), "Conan The
Barbarian" (wide), "Happy Gilmore" (pan-scan), "High Plains Drifter" (wide)
and "Kull The Conquerer" (wide) Feb. 24.

JAPAN DVD RENTAL: Toshiba and Matsushita have announced that they will each
invest 296.25 million yen in a unit of the 940-store Tsutaya video chain
(operated by CCC, Culture Convenience Club) to launch a DVD rental service in
Japan. DVD rentals at two CCC outlets were set to begin Dec. 19, with the
operation going nationwide in the spring of 1998 (DVD was first launched in
Japan in Nov. 1996).

DVD WHAT? A recent survey of 1,900 U.S. households by research firm The Yankee
Group suggests that consumer awareness of DVD is still quite low. Only 28.3%
of the households had heard of DVD. Among those who were cognisant of the new
format, 1.8% were "very likely" and 11.1% "somewhat likely" to purchase a DVD
player within the next 12 months (those percentages dropped to 0.5% and 3.1%
when looking at all households). "DVD is competing for the consumer's atention
with a host of other new 'convergence' products that are available now or on
the drawing board," comments Yankee Group program manager James Penhune. "Our
research shows higher levels of awareness for digital TV, for example, which
is not expected to reach the market for at least a year."

VIDEO PIRACY IN ASIA: Hollywood's top lobbyist expected to encounter video
piracy thriving in Asia during his recent tour, but he was a little surprised
to catch the Vietnamese government in the business of distributing
unauthorized works. Motion Picture Assn. of America president Jack Valenti
confronted Vietnamese officials with a pirated copy of Disney's ''101
Dalmatians'' clearly emblazoned with the acronym for Vietnam's official arts
agency. "They really had no rebuttal to that," Valenti was quoted in Variety.
The major U.S. studios lose up to $1.5 billion annually to Asian copyright
pirates, according to Valenti. During his tour, he stopped at one mall where
he was able to purchase three pirated DVDs for a total of $6. Two of three
DVDs he purchased, "Starship Troopers" and "Flubber," had not even been
released yet in Asian theaters, Valenti told Variety.
This reporter believes Valenti may actually have been seeing DVD-compatible
Video CDs (VCDs) in Asia. When I was in Bali in late August, I saw several
restaurants attracting customers with laserdisc and Video CD movies (displayed
on big-screen TVs at night). The newer Video CDs were without exception
pirated copies of Hollywood feature films that were at that moment playing in
U.S. movie theaters.

MACROVISION CORP. has authorized 17 more authoring and replication facilities
to provide Macrovision DVD copy protection to their clients. There are now a
total of 36 Macrovision-authorized DVD facilities in 11 countries. Macrovision
DVD copy protection, which has now been used on over two million DVDs, allows
content owners to protect their DVDs from unauthorized copying. Macrovision
is best known for the videocassette version of its copy protection technology
used by most major Hollywood studios. Since Macrovision's first commercial
use in 1985, over 1.8 billion videocassettes have been encoded with its copy
protection worldwide. In digital video applications Macrovision copy-
protection circuits have been incorporated in all DVD players sold to date,
and in over six million digital set-top decoders as well.

PREMIERE magazine will co-sponsor the DVD VIDEO GROUP booth at the 1998 CES
(Consumer Electronics Show) Jan. 8-11 in Las Vegas.

DOLBY DIGITAL (AC-3) AUDIO is now standard for PAL-standard DVDS and an MPEG-1
track is optical.

DVD INTERNATIONAL (DVDI) has picked up exclusive worldwide distribution rights
to Mill Reef Entertainment's space film "Earthlight" ($29.98). DVDI is owned
by David and Joan Goodman, who founded U.S. Laser Video Distributors in 1984.

====================
DVD Recent Releases
====================
<< Soundtracks: F=French; S=Spanish; E=English; K=Korean; J=Japanese;
G=German. Aspect ratio: w=widescreen; p-s=pan-scan ("full frame"). >>

UNIVERSAL's "The River Wild" (1994, 2.35:1, E/F/S, $24.98), directed by Curtis
Hanson and starring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon and David Straithairn, is an
excellent riverine thriller with stunning whitewater photography. Also out:
"Waterworld" with Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper (1995, 1.85:1, E/F/S,
$24.98), Ron Howard's "Backdraft" with Robert De Niro and Kurt Russell (1991,
2.35:1, E/F/S, $24.98) and "Sudden Death" with Jean-Claude Van Damme (1995, p-
s, $24.98).. Universal also has bowed "Beethoven," "Babe," "The Shadow" and
"The Paper" (all p-s, E/F/S, $24.98.

MPI has launched three Beatles films on DVD: the psychoactive "Magical Mystery
Tour" (1967, E/S/F, $24.99) and Richard Lester's brilliant "A Hard Day's
Night" (1964E/S/F, $24.99) and Lester's followup "Help!" (1965, E/S/F,
$24.99).

PIONEER ARTISTs, meanwhile, has released two music titles. "Beastie Boys:
Sabotage" (1994, 59 mins., $24.98) offers 18 songs. Gary Katz's "Badfinger"
(84 mins., $24.98) looks at the mercurial success and tragic lives of the hit
band signed to Apple Records.

SIMITAR recently released several outstanding DVDs ($19.99 each) that fall
into the animation or "video image music" categories. Godfrey Reggio's "Anima
Mundi" (1992) is a remarkable journey into the natural world, with its vivid
images of animal life accompanied by the music of Philip Glass. "Desert
Vision" (1987) combines the beautiful natural shapes and colors of the
Southwest with a New Age music soundtrack. "The Gate To The Mind's Eye" (1994)
is a mindbending trip through computer-animated fantasy scenes, with music by
Thomas Dolby. "Earthscapes" (1994) explores the North American continent, with
time-lapse photography by David Fortney. "Canyon Dreams" (1987) takes you
through the Grand Canyon, with music by Tangerine Dream.

MGM has many notable catalog titles now available. Just out are the James Bond
films "Dr. No" (1962, w&p-s, THX, E/F/S, $24.98), "From Russia With Love"
(1963, w&p-s, THX, E/F/S, $24.98) and "Goldfinger" (1964, w&p-s, THX, E/F/S,
$24.98), "Hang 'Em High" with Clint Eastwood (1968, w&p-s, E/F/S, $24.98), the
classic Howard Hawks Western "Red River" with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift
(1948, E/F/S, $24.98), the animated Dr. Seuss tales "How The Grinch Stole
Christmas / Horton Hears A Who" (1966, E/F/S, $24.98) and Ridley Scott's
"Thelma & Louise" (1991, commentary, E/F/S, $24.98), which includes an
alternate ending.

VIVID's "Sex Show" (X-rated, all regions, DVD-ROM extras, $29.95) presents the
Paul Thomas movie and adds multiple angles, a "director's chat," "Kobi's
virtual world," footage of the AVN awards show and a mini-poster of the Vivid
Girls. More info: http://www.vividDVD.com or Vivid...@aol.com.

LIVE has Paul Michael Glaser's "The Running Man" with Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Richard Dawson and Maria Conchita Alonso (1987, 1.85:1, $24.98), a futuristic
action tale based on a Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) novel. Also out is
Oliver Stone's Vietnam epic "Platoon" (1986, 1.85:1, THX, extras, $24.98),
which includes commentary by Stone and a bonus documentary; John Landis's
clever and darkly humored "An American Werewolf In London" (1981, 1.85:1,
$24.98); and the superbly-acted "Hoosiers" with Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey
and Dennis Hopper (1986, 1.85:1, $24.98), in which two men struggle with their
pasts and redeem themselves through the coaching of a small-town high-school
basketball team in Indiana.

NEW LINE's crime saga "Last Man Standing" with Bruce Willis (w&p-s, E/F/S,
$24.98) comes replete on DVD with cast bios and filmographies.

COLUMBIA TRISTAR recently bowed Francis Ford Coppola's singular "Bram Stoker's
Dracula" (1992, 1.85:1, E/F/S, $29.95) on DVD, plus Jerry Zucker's curious
"First Knight" with miscast Richard Gere (1995, 1.85:1, E/F/S, $29.95), Renny
Harlin's "Cliffhanger" with Sylvester Stallone (1993, 2.35:1, E/F/S, $29.95)
and John McTiernan's "The Last Action Hero" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and
many stars in cameos (1993, 2.35:1, E/F/S, $29.95).

FOX LORBER has released Jan Nickman's animated space fantasy "Planetary
Traveler," with music by Paul Haslinger. (DVD-ROM extras; Subtitles: J/F/K/G;
$29.98). Explore unknown planets with the Phleig! Fox Lorber also has Jacques
Demy's film operetta "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" with Catherine Deneuve ("Les
Parapluies De Cherbourg," 1964, 1.66:1, $29.98), with music by Michel Legrand,
and Bruce Beresford's "Breaker Morant" (1980, 1.85:1, $29.98).

LUMIVISION's DVD edition of "Africa: The Serengeti" is the first film on DVD
to utilize all eight available audio tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1. The language
tracks included are English, Bavarian, Castilian Spanish, Catalan Spanish,
French, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin Chinese. The English track is narrated
by James Earl Jones. English subtitles and closed captioning are also included
on the same disc. The $29.95 title, which has no regional coding, will play in
both DVD-Video machines and DVD-ROM drives. Originally filmed in the large-
size IMAX format, "Africa: The Serengeti" takes the viewer to East Africa to
view the Great Migration, in which more than two million wildebeests, zebras
and antelope travel five hundred miles across the Serengeti plains.

>>For inclusion in the DVD Recent Releases section, send commercially produced
DVDs or DVD-ROMs (no demos, please) to C. McGowan, 1004 Winchester Ave.,
Alhambra CA 91803-1138.<<
====================
DVD-ROM News
====================
TLC-ROM: Rob Landeros was a multimedia pioneer with Trilobyte Media, which
created the landmark CD-ROM "The 7th Guest." He has since formed Ashland,
Oregon-based Aftermath Media with David Wheeler (who served as a writer-
director of Trilobyte's "The 11th Hour"). They are about to release the DVD-
ROM "Tender Loving Care" (TLC), which stars John Hurt and was shot on 35mm
film. Aftermath describes it as "the world's first truly interactive movie"
and "a motion picture that offers an enhanced entertainment experience through
the use of interactive elements that enable the viewer to affect character and
plot developments with varying consequences and conclusions."
Http://www.aftermathmedia.com.

ENCARTA DVD: The fledgling DVD-ROM format has just been given a much-needed
boost by the release of Microsoft's "Encarta DVD-ROM Reference Suite 98," a
$129.99-list title that brings together the "Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe
Edition," "Encarta Virtual Globe 1998 Edition" and the "Bookshelf 98 Reference
Library" on one disc. The "Encarta" DVD features "3-D World Flights" and full-
screen video playback for hundreds of mini-movies and panoramic, 360-degree
views. The combined reference works contain more than 20 million words of text
in over 50,000 articles.

GROLIER INTERACTIVE, not one to be left behind, has meanwhile announced plans
to release the "Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia 1998, Deluxe Edition" DVD-ROM
(PC & Mac) in the first quarter of 1998. MPEG-2 video and nearly 13 hours of
music will be included.

DELL COMPUTER has selected C-Cube Microsystem's ZiVA DVD decoder for Dell's
new Dimension XPS DS series PCs with Pentium II processors. Unlike software-
based solutions, C-Cube's ZiVA single-chip DVD decoder allows PC
manufacturers and OEMs to offer consumers uncompromised audio/video playback,
maintaining the integrity of the DVD format, according to C-Cube. "Dell's
commitment to the DVD format and selection of our ZiVA solution is a clear
message to the market that complete hardware-based DVD solutions deliver the
DVD performance level that consumers require," says Alex Daly, VP marketing
for C-Cube Microsystems. He adds, "ZiVA's SecureView copy protection
technology guarantees that Dell's DVD based products will play all CSS copy
protected DVD titles."

INDIGITA CORPORATION's iDT2500 multimedia tape drive, which can store up to 6
gigabytes on a standard 4mm tape cartridge, was recognized by PC Week as one
of the best new products in the Best of Comdex competition. The iDT2500 can
record and play back MPEG-2 video flawlessly, says Indigita. With Indigita's
TapeTrax FS file management system the DVDS tape drive becomes a standard
peripheral device under Windows 95/98, enabling the user to drag-and-drop
files from tape to disk and play video directly from tape. Its performance
and high capacity make DVDS perfect for use for direct satellite recording,
distance learning, Web caching, storing video libraries and archiving data
files, says Indigita, based in Orange County, Calif

MINERVA SYSTEMS has announced the Minerva DVD-Professional SL solution for
the creation of DVD-Video titles. Breaking the $100,000 barrier, the DVD-
Professional SL provides all of the necessary tools to encode video and audio
assets, define the title's layout and navigation structure, emulate the work
in progress, and generate a disc image for transfer to a replication facility
or burning a DVD-R.

MICROSOFT has released its DirectShow API SDK, a universal architecture for
capture, control, processing and playback of multimedia streams, including
digital audio and video, and animation data. "By providing a universal
playback architecture, DirectShow enables the industry to move forward in a
compatible way and lowers the risk for developers to innovate a new genre of
features and creative applications," says Leslie Evans, product manager for
DirectX at Microsoft. "In addition, DirectShow provides developers with a
standard interface, a host of software drivers and a broad distribution
platform to ease development and ensure the widest customer reach for
applications and devices."

=======================
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
=======================
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Come find UNIQUE GIFTS from ALL CONTINENTS at our two stores:
WEST LOS ANGELES: Westside Pavilion II, (310) 441-9808.
REDONDO BEACH: Galleria at South Bay, (310) 793-9913.
Join our EMAIL LIST at CltrP...@aol.com for news of events & sales.
_____________________________________________________________________

AXXS NETSTATIONS provide e-mail and Internet access when you're away from home
or office. Check out our terminal at the Renaissance Hotel-LAX (9640 Airport
Blvd., L.A.). And tune into the world's financial news at
http://www.axxstech.com.
_____________________________________________________________________

PASADENA’S LASER, DVD & CD-ROM SUPERSTORE: Located at 714 E. Green St. in
Pasadena, Calif., Laser Library has an awesome selection of 7,000 laserdisc
titles for rent at extremely low rates ($2 per night; $1 each following day; 2
discs/$3 M-W), plus a wide range of DVD and Video CDs. Take your pick: new
movies, classics, foreign films, special editions, TV series, pop music,
opera, adult and more. We sell laserdisc titles at 15-25% off list with cash
and check purchases. Laser Library also has 1,500 rental CD-ROMs (PC & Mac)
and PlayStation, 3DO and Saturn titles. All categories: games, sims,
educational, language, nature, science, sports, reference, adult. Info: (818)
577-7035, laserl...@earthlink.net, http://www.laserlibrary.com.

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