DVD Library

[jimadept]

Big Fish was an incredible film, but it's not exactly what I'd call mainstream family entertainment. I definitely agree on Groundhog Day though, that film bears watching time and time again.

If you like Bill Murray, 'The Man who Knew Too Little' is a little gem which hardly got noticed when it was released. It's an homage to 60s comedy spy capers and BM's performance is reminiscent of Peter Sellers at his best.

And 'What about Bob' is BM at his manic (depressive) best. Richard Dreyfuss is perfectly cast as the psychiatrist on holiday (!) with his family in a rented cabin (!!!) but who is unable to escape the attentions of one of his clients.

Other great comedy films which bear repeated viewings:
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (another forgotten gem, one of those films where you're still spotting new things even after 30 viewings)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
The Blues Brothers
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Cool Runnings
Life of Brian
This is Spinal Tap
The Big Lebowski
Meet the Parents

Other good holiday-related movies:
Cape Fear
The Evil Dead (ok I'll stop being silly now)
National Lampoon's Vacation films (well the first two were amusing - look kids, Tower of London, Big Ben...)
Roman Holiday of course, you can't beat the classics

Finally various family members stayed in our flat last summer, and all the teens wanted to watch were episodes of Friends! They were sneaking out in the middle of the night to watch them, so that they could be sure they saw all the episodes before they went home! Easy viewing, short episodes, perfect holiday fare.

I bought a DVD burner yesterday and am taking my first baby steps in copying (thanks to Alan for pointing me in the right direction for downloads and instructions). My standalone DVD player couldn't recognise a rewritable DVD though, so fingers crossed it recognises write-only discs...

cheers, Jim

[tansy]

Any of you seen Drop Dead Fred....it is my big cheer up movie.

We have at Utah Beach the full set of WW2 movies from John Wayne saving the day to the full set of Band of Brothers - the first 3 parts had major significance round here...weird seeing your local town being blown up!

But then to lighten it all Harry Potter, Bridget Jones, 4 weddings, Shrek...etc

I am going to make a confession here...I hated, loathed and detested Lord of The Rings....sorry but there it is!

[paolo]

Other great comedy films which bear repeated viewings:

I nominate for this category:

So I Married an Axe Murderer

Not a well-known film but I must have seen it 10 times. It stars the guy who went on to be Austin Powers, whose name I forget. Very funny. Anyone else seen it?

[Alan Knighting]

Jim,

It is true that not all CD or DVD players include firmware which enables them to play all CD or DVD formats.

Your standalone player may not recognise a DVD-RW or a DVD+RW but will recognise a DVD-R or DVD+R. Your next step is to burn one of the latter and try it.

If you are having problems with the DVD player in your PC it is almost certainly with the player software you are using. I have found that PowerDVD supports all CD & DVD formats. You will find full details on the following Website.

www.gocyberlink.com/multi/products/prod ... p?ProdId=1

Alan

[Sue Dyer]

Other great comedy films which bear repeated viewings:

I nominate for this category:

So I Married an Axe Murderer

Not a well-known film but I must have seen it 10 times. It stars the guy who went on to be Austin Powers, whose name I forget. Very funny. Anyone else seen it?

Mike Myers That film is sooooo funny. I keep meaning to put it on my pressie list. I have a couple of sound files from it - the "Heid" bit about the brothers large head (very cruel and very funny) Love the "There's a piper doon" at the wedding and MM (who also plays the characters dad) singing in broad scottish accent "If ya think I'm sexy, if ya want ma boody"... Ah, if you need cheered up watch that film now!!

I've never had any desire to meet any film celeb but MM looks like he's be good company for a night in the bars.

[jimadept]

The first read-only didn't work, I guess it must have been a dud though, because the second one (burned from the same ripped source files) works fine. I'm away!

Jim

[jimadept]

Small update:

Turned out the burning problem was due to using Princo blanks, which I have discovered are useless. Have replaced them with Verbatim and have hardly had a problem since.

I've stocked the flat with a combination of bought DVDs which I'm not bothered about and some burned VCDs and DVDs.

The guests seem to be happy - we have our third guests in this week and they were all oohs and aahs when they arrived. They are French and said if they rented somewhere in France they would pay more for less space and would not get anything like the facilities we have on offer, which was nice to hear.

Jim

[Alan Knighting]

Jim,

Stick with a know brand like Verbatim or Sony or Memorex and you will be OK. Use Princo or The Acme DVD Co Inc or any other trendie label and you are up the creek without a paddle.

Stick with the same principles when buying food, drink and motor cars, et al. and you'll not go far wrong.

Alan

[Sue Dyer]

Well said Alan. As my Geordie mam used to say: "Buy cheap, buy twice"

Only Sony CDr's will work on my Sony Vaio laptop and desktop... hmm, wonder why that is??!!!! Anyone in the UK, Boots have boxes of them on a "Buy one Get one Free" deal and you also get points on your advantage card!

[Patia]

Hello Sarah,

We've had a DVD library at our Villa since Spring last year and added one to our new apartment this year too. We have around 50 - 60 titles at each property and find they are very much appreciated by our guests.

We haven't lost a single DVD yet (touch wood) and find it is particularly useful to have them in Spain since we are in a location where the Satellite TV 'drops out' on a fairly regular basis, so the DVDs make up for that a little.

We are lucky since my husband travels quite a lot on business and has been able to buy the originals abroad quite cheaply and then make a copy for each property. You do have to be careful that your DVD player can play them though if you buy in another country.

They are particularly useful for off-season lets when perhaps the weather isn't quite so good - I would definitely say it's worth doing.

Patia

[Mad Mick]

We purchased our apartment in Portugal this year. Firstly I purchased a DVD recorder some years ago, best thing I ever bought, so I can record some of the old films on DVD. Mostly though I take over DVD's that come from newspapers and also CD's for the music centre. Also when I'm shopping with the missus I have a look around for bargain DVD's and Videos. As we are just renting to friends and family the theft aspect aint a problem. I hope

[paolo]

Welcome to the forum, Mad Mick!

You could put together quite a DVD library with those newspaper giveaways couldn't you? I seem to remember someone saying that is just what she has done.

[vrooje]

What are these newspaper giveaways people keep talking about?

As far as I know, newspapers in the U.S. don't send out DVDs! Am I missing out by not living in Europe?

[Alan Knighting]

Brooke,

It's in the UK rather than Europe but, Yes! newspapers give away DVD's. They are almost invaluable and the very best ones can even be used as coasters. The most practical purpose they can be put to is hanging in your fruit trees to keep the birds away. I once heard a story that someone actually played one, but that's probably not true.

Alan

[paolo]

Alan,

You are making me laugh today, which I can do with.

Brooke, the latest gimmick in the UK newspaper wars is to give away DVDs of not-very-good films. It must work well because they keep doing it. People really seem to be excited by the idea of a DVD, as if it is hi-tech, sexy and exclusive. What is on it seems to be of secondary importance.