I wanted to know if the new roller coaster DVD is any good?
What new coaster DVD?
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Hamburgers are only Hamburgers when people choose to call them Hamburgers.
If you are refering to America's Greatest Roller Coaster Thrills: The Ultimate Scream Machines, yeah it's pretty good. Although I haven't seen the DVD, I have seen the video. It's the same video, except there is more on the DVD. I have the DVD, but my DVD player on my computer went out.
I have America's Greatest Thrills:The Ultimate Scream Machines and I personally(Some people may disagree with me) think that the video was poorly put together. I though it was worth the money, but it could of been a lot better. Such things as the new coaster videos being outdated. I still think it's a good way to get over winter.
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2 for 1 in 2001:SFGAm all the way!!
2002:CPs year 2 rule!
I heard that the DVD has something like 20 coasters compiled from all of the videos, and you get to select 3 views of each.
Check it out on Amazon.com--they have the DVD's and reviews for them.
The DVD is great.
The 3 views are basically
1 View from Rider in Front seat
2 View of rider in front seat
3 Compilation of other views and a few ground shotson some.
The only thing that i did not like about this DVD was that on Dueling Dragons they only have 3 views for both coasters. The rider POV is of Fire and the view of the front seat rider is of ICE. With the compilation of both. Gwazi is also this way even though they are almost mirrored versions of each other.
All of the POV's are great. Some of the views of the front seat riders are fun to watch the reaction of the riders. Especially SROS.
I am assuming the VHS version just has the compilation shot wich is the main view on the DVD and if watched all the way through makes a pretty good show.
Also the DVD has extra features That i do not know if are included on the VHS version.
-BuzzSaw Falls with a segment on liquid coasters
-Dolby Digital 5.1 wich would be great if the coaster were dubbed so you could just crank up the sounds of the coaster. The screams on some get kind of annoying.
-Interactive Menus this allows you to select the coasters by region and type.
-Commentary Track of director and Director of photography
-Several interviews
-Several Park stories and historys
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#1 Steel-Incredible Hulk
#1 Wood--Timber Wolf
*** This post was edited by T-Wolf on 1/31/2001. ***
That whole series of DVD's is terrible. I might be a harsh critic with my professional background, but even still, they discs are poorly authored, and in the case of the one I have, poorly mastered as well.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
Well I'll admit it could get a lot better but the one in question is the best that i have seen. And allows you to do more than any other produced.
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#1 Steel-Incredible Hulk
#1 Wood--Timber Wolf
Wher can you get the DVD??? I would really appreaciate it if somebody told me where to get it!!! THANKS!!!
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Six Flags Great America #1 Park!!! AOL Im ScreenName : RollrCoastr00
You can get the DVD's at your local Suncoast, but I agree with Jeff the quality of the DVDs are terrible. The menus look terrible, and I have yet to get it to work right with my DVD player which has handled every other movie great.
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Randy Hutchinson
You build it, I'll ride it...eventually
Yeah, it's headed for my round file.
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WARNING: May be habit forming
I have the DVD & I have a few of the others in the collection.
Personally, I think the latest is the greatestby FAR!!! Why? It takes full advantage of the DVD format by providing extra footage, interviews, and a bonus coaster, not to mention the 3 angles. It's got a nice menu system to jump from one coaster to another, which is a big plus as well.
Jeff, you are a very harsh critic, actually. These videos are better than the specials that they have every year on the Travel Channel or A&E. It focuses souly on the rollercoaster.
Also of note, this video is not a collaberation of all the older videos. There are only 1 or 2 coasters that are re-used from older videos, but it's also been re-filmed (ie: Magnum XL-200 was in the first America's Greatest Thrills). Most of the coasters were brand new as of their filming (ie: 1999)
The previous attempts were ok, but they were basically lifted directly from the VHS version.
The thing that I did NOT like was the footage of Superman: Ride of Steel. Why? The angle is so bad, you basically only see the track. Only when you come upon a hill is when you can actually see what's in front of you.
Finally... one thing that they could have improved upon is their choice of people for the 2nd camera angle when it faces the front of the train. Some of them are just so... well, they could have done better!!
One last note...
You can easily pick up the video at your local Media Play or even Best Buy. I've seen it at both locations (I got mine at Amazon.com since they were the first to carry it!).
Dawg Byte said:
"Jeff, you are a very harsh critic, actually. These videos are better than the specials that they have every year on the Travel Channel or A&E. It focuses souly on the rollercoaster."
I couldn't disagree more. First off, it looks to me like much of the video used was not digitally obtained. Actually, I know that for a fact because I have dubs of the Magnum and Cedar Point masters which were way before Cedar Point's Dan Feicht ever had digital video equipment, if he had his own at all. Check out how clean the MF POV is from a digital master (the unlinked clips should be up late tonight)...
http://www.guidetothepoint.com/thepoint/gallery/default.asp?section=mf The graphics are a mess of amateur stuff that aren't even the same from track to track. Changing camera angles are unsynchronized (it's easy to "stretch" or compress length these days). The bit rate drops to nothing in places (poor mastering). Only one side of Dueling Dragon is shown. The Medusa video is the twice-normal speed promo film.
Nice try, but the next one should be done by a real production house that can do real DVD authoring.
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com
*** This post was edited by Jeff on 2/1/2001. ***
I just wanted to point out like dawg bite that it is the best of any DVD that relates to Roller Coasters. Like I said before it has its flaws but i think it is well worth $22 dollars I paid for it. And yes Jeff I also would want someone else to author a new one if it were to come out but if the same company came out with a new one i would probably buy it.
Jeff, Do you know of any other coaster DVDs that are better?
I would also like to add that The best coaster in a DVD would have to go to Hulk in the Haunting. That sounds amazing on 5.1 when it shoots right over their heads. Granted it is probably edited in but still great.
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#1 Steel-Incredible Hulk
#1 Wood--Timber Wolf
*** This post was edited by T-Wolf on 2/1/2001. ***
Just because there isn't a better DVD doesn't mean this one doesn't stink.
Understand that I can't accept mediocrity given my background. Less crap, more quality!
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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com