My Collection of LaserDiscs and DVD's

The movies are listed in alphabetical order. Here's what the comments mean:

• Widescreen: The title is presented in it's original aspect ratio. Also known as letterboxing. You typically get black bars at the top and bottom of the screen as a result. Widescreen Enhanced means that it is enhanced to work with the new 16:9 widescreen sets, also known as anamporphic widescreen.
• Fullscreen: Another name for Pan-n-Scan. The opposite of widescreen. However, not all movies that are fullscreen have been Pan-n-Scan'd. Movies made before 1954 were shot in Academy Ratio which is 1.37:1 which is pretty close to the 1.33:1 ratio of TV screens. When the studios saw their audience being lured away by this new TV invention they struck back with Widescreen movies filmed in such formats as Todd-AO, Cinemascope, and Panavision. Panavision is the surrviving format.
• CAV: There are two formats for LD. CAV is Constant Angular Velocity and gives 30 minutes per side. It also allows for perfect still pictures. CLV is Constant Linear Velocity and gives 60 minutes per side, but you give up being able to do still pictures.
• THX: THX for LD's is a certification program that gurantees the disc is as defect free as possible and has the best picture and sound possible. The THX home page is full of information on not only the LD certification program but about THX for the home as well as the theater.
• Supplements: In addition to the movie, you will get stuff that tells you about how the movie was made, including the shooting script, storyboards, interviews with actors, trailers, set designs, etc. It may also contain a Second Audio Track with director's commentary. These editions cost more on LD, are typically in CAV mode for LD (at least for the supplements), but are well worth the cost for enthusiasts of the movie. It seems, however, that most DVD's are being released with a bevy of supplements, usually pulled from the LD's edition if there was an LD edition of the movie beforehand.
• Making Of: A short (and in some cases long) documentary has been included on the making of the movie. Usually comes with Collector's Editions or Special Editions of the movie. Sometimes these are the same "making of" featurettes that are shown on cable TV prior to the release of the movie, and some are produced specifically for the Collector's or Special Edition of the movie.
• Collector's Edition: A fancy name for Supplements.
• Special Edition/Director's Cut: This indicates that this version of the film is a special cut of the film. It's what the director originally had in mind before the studio bosses demanded cuts for things like time, or content. Sometimes only a little was cut, sometimes a whole lot was cut. In either case, the addition of the extra footage usually adds to the film and gives you more.
• Voyager Co./Criterion Collection : The Voyager Company is a small little firm that does a variety of things, the most well-known division of that is The Criterion Collection which was a driving force in initially getting movies letterboxed on LaserDisc and of adding supplements to those editions. LD enthusiasts happily embraced this practice which seems have been enthusiastically embraced by DVD. The Voyager Company typically does documentaries and collections of artists' work (whether it be video, film, still-pictures, or audio) on LD. The Criterion Collection focuses mainly on films.
• Second Audio Track: LaserDiscs have two different stereo Audio tracks. there is the traditional Analog stereo tracks and with the advent of digital audio, a Digital Audio Tracks, and you can switch between the two. Some LD's are produced with multiple audio tracks. On the digiral tracks you would typically have the regular movie soundtrack, but on the Analog tracks you might have director's commentary, or the orignal language version of the film for international films. DVD has even more possibilities, including multiple languages.
• Dolby AC-3/DolbyDigital/DD : This was a new method of delivering Dolby Surround Sound on LDs, specifically adding stereo to the rear channel, and a dedicted channel for driving a sub-woofer. It did this by replacing the right analog sound track on the LD with a signal that is fed to a processor that decodes all the sounds into their respective channels. Required a player that could read the AC-3/DD signal, and an amplifier/reciever that can decode AC-3. This was introduced in 1995. DVD's have had this capability from the get-go.
• DTS: Another digital surround sound format. Proponents say that it has a higher bitrate than DolbyDigital, and thus is more sonically pure and a better reproduction of the soundtrack. I personally don't have the "golden" ears nor the equipment to determine this, but I made sure to get a player and receiver that support this.
• IMAX: This is a special film format that takes 70mm film and runs it horizontally. It requires a different camera and projector. You end up with an frame-size that is 10x larger than 35mm and 3x larger than traditional 70mm (due to the way it is ran through the projector). IMAX and related formats require a specially designed theater, usually found at Amusement Parks and museums (Great America in Santa Clara, and The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, for example). The screen is typically 70 to 80 feet tall, and about 100 feet wide. They also feature 6-track Dolby Surround Sound which with the huge screen size and image clarity really pulls you into the picture. Documentaries are the typical fare, but ocassionaly they do some fiction or feature length stuff. The impact of the image on the LD isn't as awe-inspiring as the actual IMAX experience, but provides a nice taste of what it is like. And the space films are really nice to have.

And the lists are...

In this corner we have the LaserDiscs

2001: A Space Odyssey (Widescreen)
A Video Standard (Test/Setup disc, CAV)
Abyss, The (Widescreen, Special Edition, Making of, Collector's Edition, THX)
Addams Family, The (Widescreen)
Aladdin (Widescreen, CAV, THX)
Alien (Widescreen, Collector's Edition, CAV)
Aliens (Widescreen, Director's Cut, Collector's Edition, CAV)
Arachnophobia (Widescreen)
Backdraft (Widescreen)
Beauty and the Beast: A Work In Progress (Widescreen, Supplements, CAV)
Beauty and the Beast (Widescreen, Making of, CAV)
Big Trouble In Little China (Widescreen)
Big Picture, The
Birds In Paradise
Blade Runner (Widescreen, Original Release, Criterion Collection)
Blazing Saddles! (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3, 2nd Audio Track)
Blue Planet (IMAX, CAV)
Clear and Present Danger (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3, THX)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Widescreen, Criterion Collection Collector's Edition, CAV)
Deep Impact (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3)
Die Hard (Widescreen, THX)
Die Hard 2:Die Harder (Widescreen)
Die Hard 2:Die Harder (Widescreen, THX)
Die Hard 3:Die Hard With a Vengence (Widescreen, THX)
Dream Is Alive, The (IMAX, CAV)
Empire Strikes Back, The (Widescreen)
Fires of Kuwait (IMAX, CAV)
For All Mankind (Voyager Co.)
Fugitive, The (Widescreen)
George of the Jungle (Widescreen)
Goldeneye (Widescreen, Collectors Edition, THX)
Ghostbusters (Widescreen)
Hackers (Widescreen)
Hail Columbia! (IMAX, CAV)
Heavy Metal (Widescreen, THX)
Hercules (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3)
Highlander (Widescreen, Director's Cut, Supplements, THX, Dolby AC-3, 2nd Audio Track)
Hudson Hawk
Hunt For Red October, The (Widescreen)
Independance Day (ID4) (Widescreen, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Widescreen)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Widescreen)
Judge Dredd (Widescreen, THX)
Jurassic Park (Widescreen, THX)
Kate Bush: The Whole Story
L.A. Story
Little Women (Widescreen)
Logan's Run (Widescreen)
Lost Boys, The (Widescreen)
Making of Jurrassic Park, The
Mars Attacks! (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3))
Mask, The (Widescreen, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Men In Black (MiB) (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3, 2nd Audio Track)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Widescreen, Criterion Collection, 2nd Audio Track)
Muppet Christmas Carol, The (Widescreen)
Net, The (Widescreen)
Nightmare Before Christmas, The (Widescreen, Collector's edition, First edition, CAV, THX, 2nd Audio Track)
Olliver! (Widescreen)
Patriot Games (Widescreen)
Pink Floyd In Concert: The Delicate Sound of Thunder
Pink Floyd's The Wall (Widescreen)
Pink Floyd: P.U.L.S.E
Raiders of the Lost Ark (Widescreen)
Return of the Jedi, The (Widescreen)
Robocop (Widescreen, Criterion Collection, 2nd Audio Track, Unrated version, Supplements, CAV, THX)
Rock, The (Widescreen, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Rocketeer, The (Widescreen)
Rush: Through the Camera Eye
Sense and Sensibility (Widescreen)
Sports Illustrated 25th Anniversary Swimsuit Video (I swear, I didn't buy this! A friend gave it to me! His wife wanted it out of the house.)
Stand, The (TV miniseries)
Stargate (Widescreen, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Star Wars (Widescreen)
Star Wars, The Definitive Collection (Widescreen, Collector's Edition, CAV, THX, 2nd Audio Track)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (Widescreen, Extra footage)
Terminator (Widescreen)
Terminator 2 (Widescreen, Limited Boxed Set, Making Of, CAV)
Terminator 2 (Widescreen, Special Edition, Supplements, THX, 2nd Audio Track)
Thing, The John Carpenter's (Widescreen)
Toy Story (Widescreen, Deluxe Laserdisc Edition, Making Of, Supplements, CAV, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Toys (Widescreen, Supplements)
Tron (Widescreen, Disney Archive Collector's Edition, CAV, THX, 2nd Audio Track)
True Lies (Widescreen, THX, Dolby AC-3)
Video Essentials (Test/Setup disc, CAV, Dolby AC-3)
Wallace and Grommit Collection
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Widescreen, CAV)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
For All Mankind (Voyager Co.)
Wizard Of Speed And Time, The
X Files, The (Widescreen, Dolby AC-3)
Zbigniew Rybczynski (Voyager Co., CAV/CLV)

And over here we have the DVD newcomer

AI: Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, DTS)
Almost Famous (untitled) (Widescreen Enhanced, Theatrical Cut (DD, DTS), Director's Cut (DD), Supplements, Commentary Track, Audio CD)
Avia (Test/Setup disc, DD)
Bladerunner (Director's Cut) (Widescreen, Fullscreen, Supplements, DD)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Complete Season 1 (Supplements, Commentary Track, DD)
Carousel (Widescreen, DD)
Castaway (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, DTS, Commentary Track)
Chicken Run (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD, DTS)
Cirque Du Soleil: Quidam (Widescreen, DD)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Mandarin and English Soundtracks, DD)
Cruel Intentions (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD)
Dogma (Widescreen Enhanced, Fullscreen, Supplements, DD)
Dudley Do Right (Widescreen, Fullscreen, Supplements, DD, DTS)
Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD)
Emperor's New Groove (Widescreen Enhanced, Deluxe Edition, Commentary Track, DD)
Galaxy Quest (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Thermian 2nd audio track)
Gladiator (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD, DTS)
Green Mile, The (Widescreen, Supplements, DD)
Inspector Gadget (Widescreen, Supplements, DD)
King & I, The (Widescreen, DD)
Lethal Weapon 4 (Widescreen, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Lost in Space (Widescreen, Supplements, DD, Commentary Tracks)
Man on the Moon (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, DTS)
Matrix, The (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 (DD, Supplements)
Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 (DD, Supplements)
Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 (DD, Supplements)
Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 4 (DD, Supplements)
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (DD, Supplements)
Moulin Rouge (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD, DTS)
Mummy, The (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Music Man, The (Widescreen, Supplements, DD)
Mystery Men! (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, DTS)
Oklahoma! (Widescreen, DD)
Prince of Egypt, The (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Princess Bride, The (Widescreen, Fullscreen, DD)
Shakespeare In Love (Widescreen Enhanced, DD)
Shrek (Widescreen enhanced (DD, DTS), Fullscreen (DD), Supplements, Commentary Track)
Silence of the Lambs, The (Widescreen, Supplements, DD, Criterion Collection, Commentary Track)
Simpsons, The (The Complete First Season) (Supplements, DD)
Six Days, Seven Nights (Widescreen, DD)
Sixth Sense, The (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD)
Sleepy Hollow (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track )
South Pacific (Widescreen, DD)
Stargate (Widescreen, Fullscreen, Supplements, DD)
State Fair (Academy Ratio/Fullscreen), DD)
Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Stepmom (Widescreen, Fullscreen, Supplements, DD)
Tarzan (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD)
Toy Story 1 & 2, The Ultimate Toy Box (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, THX, Commentary Track, DD)
World Is Not Enough, The (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)
Willow (Widescreen Enhanced, Supplements, Commentary Track, DD)
Wizard of Oz, The (Academy Ratio/Fullscreen, Supplements, DD
X-men (Widescreen enchanced, Supplements, DD)
Yellow Submarine (Widescreen, Supplements, DD, Commentary Track)