Posted by Genial Duck at 12-253-148-20.client.attbi.com on May 04, 2002 at 09:46:10:
In Reply to: What was Kevin Smith's beef with DVD? posted by Justin Harris on May 04, 2002 at 05:07:48:
Laserdisc fans were kind of snobby, serious cinephiles and audiophiles for the most part, many of whom saw DVD as a kind of a mainstream fad marketed to people who wouldn't know high quality video and sound if it bit them in the asses. They also had sizeable financial investments in their LD collections (and LD equipment) and an emotional investment from years of pimping a format which, just before it's demise, had beome a very solid alternative to the shitty VHS tapes EVERYONE ELSE was watching.
Anyway, when DVD finally arrived, many Laserdisc fans were eager to prove the quality was substandard compared to Laser and they probably even had a point seeing as many of the first DVD's were horribly done. However, it didn't take long to see, like or not, DVD was where it was at and even the most ardent LD supporters soon jumped on the DVD bandwagon. Not that I know Kevin Smith fits into any of the above categories, but it's possible.
Funny thing is, I bet if you combed cyberspace enough you could still find some disgruntled Laserdisc die hards screaming "fuck DVD".
: This is an old topic that I hope has been answered that way you can all answer it for me. I was just sitting there, watching Chasing Amy's DVD commentary again (for probably the third time) and I just actually thought about it. Why didn't Kevin Smith like DVD?
: The reason I just "thought about it" was because I actually saw a LaserDisc. I thought the difference between DVD and LaserDisc was the fact that it held less memory and the picture/sound was bad. But I couldn't believe it was the fact that they're the size of Vinyl Records (without the appeal that Vinyl Records have).
: So after seeing what LaserDiscs were, I'm just wondering. Why in God's name would anyone say 'Fuck DVD!' to DVD.
: Of course, Kevin Smith sticks close to the theory that someone, not him said it, probably Affleck or Mewes. But if you can answer this question for me, that'd be great.
: justinHARRiS