Elevation Tour Live - Video/DVD certification

[mike63]

The Elevation Tour DVD/Video has (finally) been certified in the US - as 2x Platinum.

Mike

 

[doctorwho]

Thanks Mike! I've been routinely checking for new certifications, but didn't see any the last time I looked.

It doesn't surprise me to see this video at 2x Platinum. First, this represents the VHS and DVD versions combined. I believe first week DVD sales (at Blockbuster only) were 20,000 copies! After the holiday season was over last year, the combined video sales were between 1,600-5,000 copies a week. If that averages to 3K copies a week and we multiply by ~40 weeks, we already have 120,000 copies sold. Add in last year's holiday sales and it's easy to see how this video sold 200,000 copies in the U.S.

I also believe this is U2's best selling video ever in the U.S.!

Congrats to U2!

 

[STING2]

I wonder how the Best of 1990-2000 DVD and VHS will do? Why isn't much of the extra stuff included on the VHS version? How come none of the stores in my area carried the VHS version but have the DVD? Until recordable DVD players come down in price, I'm not going to be switching away from VHS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone ever bought a VCR that could not record. I'm a bit puzzled by this rush to embrace the DVD before it can do the same things a VCR can at relativly the same price.

 

[doctorwho]

I wonder how the Best of 1990-2000 DVD and VHS will do? Why isn't much of the extra stuff included on the VHS version? How come none of the stores in my area carried the VHS version but have the DVD? Until recordable DVD players come down in price, I'm not going to be switching away from VHS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone ever bought a VCR that could not record. I'm a bit puzzled by this rush to embrace the DVD before it can do the same things a VCR can at relativly the same price.

Hmmm... I'm not sure where you live STING2, but I've seen DVD players for ast little as $69. Also, there are "play only" videocassette machines - designed specifically to just play and not record. As for recordable DVD players, those are still a bit expensive, but I think even some of those have dropped to around $400.

My point is that if you wanted a DVD player only, you could find one at a very low price, which might be perfect until the recordable players become more affordable.

As for me, I bought a DVD player a few years ago and have upgraded since. I bought them for family as well. Once you get a DVD player, you'll understand why DVD's are SO much better than VHS tapes. The quality of picture and sound, the ease of use, the extra features, plus some "hidden" items, make DVD's the way to go. I haven't bought a VHS movie since I got my DVD player.

(P.S. I've seen VCR's as little as $50! I doubt recordable DVD players will be that low for some time. )

 

[STING2]

I guess DVD players, the ones that don't record and are 69$ are great, if you watch movies, especially a lot of movies. Things is, I never rent movies to watch on the VCR. I record things on TV and of course do a lot of copying of concert bootlegs. For me, buying a DVD player would be just to watch some of the extra things on U2 DVDs. I think I'd prefer to wait for the DVD player/recorders to drop in price to VCR level was about a 15 years ago comparitively(adjusting for inflation). Right now, I don't think I want to pay 70$ for a DVD player that does not record just so I can watch the Best Of 1990-2000 DVD with the 2 hours of extra material. It would make me feel like I'm paying 90$ for the 20$ U2 DVD. I wish those recordable DVDs would come down in price soon. For right now, I'll have to go over to one my U2 friends places to watch their Best Of DVD to see the extra stuff.

 

[Glaucus]

I wonder how the Best of 1990-2000 DVD and VHS will do? Why isn't much of the extra stuff included on the VHS version? How come none of the stores in my area carried the VHS version but have the DVD? Until recordable DVD players come down in price, I'm not going to be switching away from VHS. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think anyone ever bought a VCR that could not record. I'm a bit puzzled by this rush to embrace the DVD before it can do the same things a VCR can at relativly the same price.

Huh?!? You mean you actually still use VHS?!? If you care even a little about image or sound quality DVD is the only way to go. Personally, I refuse to sit down and watch anything on VHS tape, even if it's S-VHS. Even the new digital-VCR tapes don't interest me, although they can record and playback HDTV.

Fact the DVD and the VHS machine have two different roles. The VHS machine should really be only used for recording crappy TV shows for later viewing, however, I would NEVER buy a movie in VHS format. For that stick strictly with DVD as you get so much more with it.

If you need more convincing head over to HomeTheaterForum and ask around about VHS vs DVD. I'm sure you'll find lots of argumens for DVD and hardly any at all for VHS.

- Mike

 

[Glaucus]

I wish those recordable DVDs would come down in price soon.

I'm afraid you'll end up waiting a really long time. I can't see DVD recorders ever coming down in price to the point where they are considered affordable. The technology simply doesn't lend itself to recording. Besides, the movie companies aren't that keen on a mass produced, cheap DVD recorder as they fear their movies will be pirated too easily.

If you're serious about what you watch and what you hear then your best option is to buy a DVD player, a nice HDTV, a DTS 5.1 digital receiver and a 5.1 speaker setup. Once you have that and watch a movie you'll never want to go back. Of course it's not cheap but I think it's more then worth it. If you do it right you could have better sound quality at home then any THX certified theater. Of course if you don't care about crappy sound and crappy image quality then stick with what you've got. I don't think people buy DVD players for the extra features, that's just gravy, the thing about DVD is that it takes you to a whole new level in quality that VHS could never ever compete with. The choise is yours.

- Mike

 

[STING2]

Mike,

Certainly if one has the equipment to go along with the DVD player, sound speakers, right TV, etc. , DVD is a huge asset. But I don't think they make much difference if all you have is a standard TV from 6 years ago with just the standard built in sound.

Thats besides the point though. First, I almost never rent or buy movies. I use my VCR to copy U2 CONCERTS from other bootleg video or U2 things that are on TV. I also record informative political, science, and international news programs on TV. These are all things that I can't do with a NON-recordable DVD player. These are primarily the things I use my VCR's for and a NON-recordable DVD player can do NONE of them.

I don't think it would make much sense to buy a NON-recordable DVD player to just watch some of the extra stuff on a single U2 DVD. Its like your paying 90$ for the U2 DVD instead of 20$. I may be able to get a lot of that extra stuff by trading bootleg U2 video and concerts as well.

 

[STING2]

Mike,

Welcome to the forum by the way!

 

[Glaucus]

I don't think it would make much sense to buy a NON-recordable DVD player to just watch some of the extra stuff on a single U2 DVD. Its like your paying 90$ for the U2 DVD instead of 20$. I may be able to get a lot of that extra stuff by trading bootleg U2 video and concerts as well.

Okay, but just to get to your original post about why there weren't any VHS tapes... Most likely because most people who buy movies (and other videos) have mostly switched over to DVD. So I guess those who don't buy enough movies to justify buying a DVD and decide to stick with their VHS machine will lose out a bit.

Still, even with your setup you could consider one of those cheap DVD players. I mean, this is just the beginning, eventually VHS will be phased out and the next U2 video release might be DVD only. Well, in a way that has already happened; the bonus DVD on the 2CD Best Of for example.

There's also things like TiVo for recording TV and you can use most modern computers as a digital VCR (all you need is a video capture card). Then you can edit out the commercials, add any effects or titles you like and using a normal CD burner you can burn a VideoCD which isn't as good as DVD but way better then VHS and can still play it on many (but not all, in fact, only a few) modern DVD players. So yeah, a DVD player can't record, but with the help of your trusty computer you can still place recorded video (off TV or camcorer) onto a normal CD-ROM and watch it on your TV via DVD player. So you have some options to consider.

- Mike

 

[STING2]

When I become richer, I may get a recordable DVD player for $600 if it starts to be that nothing is released on VHS anymore. Those days are not here yet, but if they do come, more people will demand recordable DVDs which should drop the price some I think. I have a dozen U2 concerts on VHS, most of them better than what U2 has released commercially.

I still find it strange though that people have gone after DVD players that can't record. Back in the early 80s, I did not know anyone that bought a VCR that could not record.

If U2 had wanted to, they could have put the extra stuff on the DVD on the VHS tape as well. It does not make any sense to discriminate against VHS users. A VHS tape can easily hold 2 1/2 hours of music without a reduction in quality.

 

[Glaucus]

When I become richer, I may get a recordable DVD player for $600 if it starts to be that nothing is released on VHS anymore. Those days are not here yet, but if they do come, more people will demand recordable DVDs which should drop the price some I think.

When I become richer I too might get a DVD burner. Don't forget about the newly released digital VCRs! I saw one the other day at a store and it had amazing picture and sound (full HDTV with 5.1 audio). Of course it cost around $1600. I think if those go down in price it would make things very interesting.

I have a dozen U2 concerts on VHS, most of them better than what U2 has released commercially.

Hmmm... I wouldn't mind getting my hands on those! I would like to transfer U2 concert vids into digital format and make them available. The first thing I would love to transfer would be something like the Outside Broadcast ZooTV special. Do you have that in S-VHS format? I have it in standard VHS, Mono, on really crappy tape and it's faded badly. I would love to get a good copy and digitize it and maybe make a VideoCD out of it. If you have a copy let me know. Take care.

- Mike

 

[STING2]

I imagine I have just the standard VHS copy of the ZOO TV Outside Broadcast from Sydney. I bought it in April of 1994 and it still looks brand new even though I have watched it a lot. I keep most of my video's in the cases and then put them in a large sealed VHS case. That makes a huge difference compared to just leaving a video unprotected in the corner of a room. I had not watched one of those videos of a Redskins Super Bowl for a while and to my shock discovered that the picture was gone and the sound was going when I played it. VHS tapes can last, but you have to take care of them.

When I said a lot of the video bootlegs I head were better than the commercially released U2 videos, I meant more in terms of U2s performance and the setlist rather than the actual quality of the sound and video. But I'll take a slightly degraded quality video of an amazing show any day over a show thats in the more average or typical catagory as far as performance and setlist.

Take the U2 Red Rocks show which was an amazing show that also was released commericially on video( minus 6 songs, I'm searching for a boot of the entire show). There are actually two other WAR tour shows that I have on Video (Pro Shot) that are just as good(performance and setlist wise) and offer
songs and performance not seen on the Red Rocks video. These are the US Festival 83' show U2 played at and another Festival in Germany. Interestingly, the Under A Blood Red Sky CD uses 5 of its 8 songs not from Red Rocks but from the German Festival show. I agree with their decision to use the German performance over the Red Rocks performance for 5 of the songs on Under A Blood Red Sky, but clearly they remixed the sound a little from the German show and added some crowd noise in some places. U2 had not hit it big in Germany yet back in August 1983.

 

[Glaucus]

I imagine I have just the standard VHS copy of the ZOO TV Outside Broadcast from Sydney. I bought it in April of 1994 and it still looks brand new even though I have watched it a lot. I keep most of my video's in the cases and then put them in a large sealed VHS case. That makes a huge difference compared to just leaving a video unprotected in the corner of a room. I had not watched one of those videos of a Redskins Super Bowl for a while and to my shock discovered that the picture was gone and the sound was going when I played it. VHS tapes can last, but you have to take care of them.

Hmmm... Perhaps I have the wrong name for what I'm looking for. When I said Outside broadcast I was thinking of the TV special by Kevin Godley in Houston Texas and Yankee Stadium in '92. This is the one with Timothy Leary and Edge playing some kind of desert tank war game; "you always remember your first kill". Remember that one? It's where the video for Until The End Of The World is from on the best of video just released. I recorded the special off MuchMusic ages ago on a crappy mono VHS machine and the quality is rather poor (by my standards).

I also wouldn't mind any other specials like the MTV awards (I think it was) where U2 play Even Better Then The Real thing with Garth from Wayne's World playing via sat. link. Ever seen that? Wouldn't mind a copy of that either.

Let me know if you have any of these. Take care.

- Mike

 

[Vox02]

Which songs from ZooTV-Ouyside Briadcast ( the TV special aired in Nov 1992, directed by Kevin Godley ) are from YANKEE STADIUM and which are from HOUSTON???

Thanks!!

Vox

 

[STING2]

Mike,

I know what your talking about but the Quality of the video is probably about the same as what you have. I do have both the FOX TV special from 1992 and the Garth thing from 1992 as well. I also have a Saratoga NY Stadium show, the entire thing. Good sound most of the time, but its filmed by a single camera on a tripod from around the lighting tower. For close ups it the camera homes in on the Giant TV screens. Its very good for a non-professionally, single camera, shot video. I also have an Oakland show from the first leg of the ZOO TV tour as well, single Camera from the left side of the stage.