The Heartbreaking Act of Selling DVDs (5: Unedited)

Although students have two weeks before they have to start worrying about rent, they may be eying their DVD collections trying to figure out what can go to pay bills. As an employee of a record store that buys and sells used DVDs, I’ve picked up a few tips to significantly increase the amount of money paid out per disc.

It should be noted that similar to CDs, selling DVDs is never a huge cash cow- you’re technically losing money on a product you paid a much higher price for. Because of this, you should always consider selling DVDs as a last resort.

Try to keep something in mind while you struggle to pull movies and box sets off your shelf; someone is going to buy this and want to watch it. Consider everything about the physical product itself: Is the packaging messed up because I used my teeth to get those stickers off? Was the cover insert ruined when I left it in the sun for a year and spilled coffee on it? Did I loose, tape to my wall, or throw away the inserts and included booklet? Did my cat interpret the bottom of the disc to be his new scratch toy?

It’s really hard to believe the condition of some of the DVDs, or beach Frisbees, people try to sell. Always remember that a store intends to resell the disc, not just pay you money for it and throw it away. If everything is intact and looks like it was watched once before going on a shelf, you’ll usually score an extra dollar or two per title.

If there are very small hairline scratches on the bottom of the disc, and it’s playable, stores will usually accept them. However, they’ll be less reluctant if you take a moment to use a CD cleaner or buffer. They’re cheap and work surprisingly well, and can also be useful for the occasion your CD or movie skips from frequent use.

Lastly, if you bought the movie used, take off the old price tag. For some reason, on what is probably a subconscious level, store managers don’t like the idea of buying a third or fourth generation used product.

Within the inner-Houston area are a few brick and mortar shops that buy used DVDs. Movie Exchange at 6508 Westheimer offers the best price at an average of $7 for new releases, which are considered titles to have come out within the past month. This price isn’t a guarantee, just an approximation based on how many titles they have, condition, etc.

Inside the 610 loop is Soundwaves at 3509 Montrose, Half Price Books at 1011 Westhiemer, and Hollywood Video at 1201 Westheimer. Although all three are incorporated chains, these specific locations are known to pay out a little better than most others. Soundwaves and Hollywood Video average $3-$5 for recent releases in good condition, while Half Price Books is notorious for offering as little as 50 cents to a few dollars. In all fairness, Half Price does buy titles the other three locations would turn away, which explains the 6 copies of Alfie on the shelf.

These prices are based on new releases in good condition, and can fluctuate dramatically due to how many a store already has in stock, how rare or valuable the title is, how many discs it has, if it’s a special edition, or if it’s an anthologized television show. Because pawn shops are eerily sketchy and pay practically nothing, I highly recommend against hawking your movies at one.

If you feel like you’re not being paid enough, arguing with the clerk for a better price never works; just walk out and try somewhere else.

Much like purchasing on the internet, someone looking to sell their used DVDs can increase their return by selling on eBay.com or Amazon.com. However, most people don’t have the time or patience to enter the product information, wait for someone to buy it, package it up and ship it out. It takes a long time, and many see the few extra dollars only as an addition to their inconvenience.

As an easier alternative, the MySpace.com and Facebook.com bulletin boards have become a popular and more accessible means of selling used media. Sellers are dealing with their friends or extended social network, and therefore reduce the risk of shipping, complications in payment, and questionable trustworthiness. Usually, your friends trust that you take good care of your property and are willing to pay around $7 or $10, even for older titles.

Hopefully the sight of your empty bookshelf isn’t as upsetting as it is for me, someone who only sells movies when he gets the newer (and always more expensive) special edition.

Whales, Dolphins, DVDs, Oh My! (4: Unedited)

Hard to spell and even harder to understand, Wholphin is a new DVD series featuring short films that have gone mostly unwatched, or unnoticed, by the general public. The name itself is a derivative of the words “whale” and “dolphin,” and aside from the DVD, a very real and very strange offspring between the two mammals.

The Wholphin DVD started as a side project of McSweeney’s from conversations between the scientist and media-buff Brent Hoff, and Dave Eggers, a published author and Editor in Chief of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. About to release its third installment of the series, Wholphin is already enjoying a growing popularity for its exclusive content and originality in presentation.

Executive Producer Brent Hoff explains, “For the Wholphin DVDs, I want them to really kind of be wholphin-esque; things that aren’t really out there as much.” Malek Khorshid, an Iranian cartoon featured in the first issue, was made in the 1970s as a result of governmental programs trying to establish Iran in the rapidly developing league of western animation, only to be closed down shortly thereafter. This cartoon, probably unseen by most Iranians, is the sort of totally obscure and absurdly beautiful films Wholphin tries best to showcase.

Wholphin’s second issue acted as a world premier for The Mysterious Geographical Explorations of Jasper Morello, an absorbing animated tale of silhouetted explorers and lovers, written and directed by Anthony Lucas. These uncommon and hard to find short films are only two of the dozen or so films in each issue.

When asked why such a bizarre name was chosen, Hoff explained, “It was a little bit like, ‘This is not a good name.’ It’s esoteric, you can’t pronounce it, it doesn’t fall under the realm of, you know, this-is-the-perfect-name. It’s really kind of a stretch… but it just kind of, for me, fits the premise.”

Because there are only two known captive wholphins in the world, the theoretical idea of “rare and unseen” is especially fitting. Being a subscriber to Wholphin is like having a superior independent film festival, featuring nearly impossible to find shorts delivered to your mailbox, without reading and hearing “noir” and “avant-garde.”

Unlike the Spike and Mike DVD animation festivals or music video DVDs included with Paste and Vice magazines, Wholphin is more closely structured like a book of collected fiction. The films don’t share an overall theme or message, differ drastically in content and production, and sometimes start by themselves if you take too long with the menu. Hoff wants Wholphin to “make our innovations on the DVD itself…and find out the different things you can do with them.”

Future issues of Wholphin will further the experimental nature of what can be done with DVDs. One issue has a quiz on the included booklet, and asks that the viewer answer them with their DVD remote. The staff also hopes to have its fourth issue based on 3D films, glasses included, by asking various film-makers to create 3D shorts.

Keeping pace with almost anything put out by the McSweeney’s publishing group, Wholphin’s packaging is aesthetically pleasing and well-made. The staff decided against the common grey DVD case, and instead made No. 2 to look like small hardback book. Issue No. 1 has slightly simpler packaging, but maintains a consistent modernistic theme of muted rectangles and bold sans-serif font. The included booklets of both issues are equally attractive.

Concerning submissions and the selection process for what actually goes on the DVDs, Hoff said, “I try and put a higher standard of like, “You won’t be able to see this anywhere else” for the stuff that goes on the DVD.” Many of the films are “blind submissions,” and others are actively sought out. Issue No. 3 will have a short film that was the thesis project of Alexander Payne, director of Election (1999), which was actively sought out by Wholphin staff.

Hoff’s only complaint is that they never have enough room to fit all of the shorts they like, exactly the reason the second issue came with an extra disc completely dedicated to the first part of the film The Power of Nightmares.

Some of the discs’ content, including many of the films that start as menus, are produced and directed by the Wholphin staff itself. A crying competition, a short about a man trying to get his shoes down from a telephone line, and a fishing how-to that will most likely go unused; the Wholphin staff likes the idea of making their own films to set themselves apart from imitators or the competition, even if there isn’t any for a few more years.

Although subscription-based, Wholphin hopes to become available on Netflix.com and other online rental sources, if only to make the films more available to a wider audience. However, Hoff warns people that without the packaging and liner notes, viewers may not get the most out of the issues.

Wholphin is available at wholphindvd.com and a few local brick-and-mortar stores. Brent Hoff will be in Houston this Friday at Domy Books (1709 Westheimer) and Saturday and Sunday at Aurora Picture Show (800 Aurora St.) showing select films from issues one, two, and three, respectively.

LOST In Observation (3: Unedited)

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42; if you recognize these numbers, then you most likely also recognize your helpless addiction to ABC’s hit show LOST.

When the off-course Oceanic Flight 815 encounters unexpected turbulence on its way to California from Australia, the plane suddenly tears apart and crashes onto an unknown island. A large amount of the surviving passengers, approximately thirteen of which become the show’s main ensemble, clamor to the island’s shore for safety and to remove usable elements from the fuselage.

After settling down, the survivors incorrectly assume the island is uninhabited and encounter frequent unexplainable sounds and movement in the jungle. Through enlightening episodes of character back-story, betrayal, deceit, friendship, mystery, and the hope of being rescued half-forgotten, the end of the first season abruptly climaxes with the discovery, and opening, of a bizarre buried hatch.

Today marks the release of the complete second season, titled LOST Season 2- The Extended Experience, which picks up exactly where the first season abandoned you and takes the viewer headfirst into the hatch. Today's release of the set gives you plenty of time to watch all 24 confusing, enlightening, curious, and even profound episodes in order to be caught up in time for the October 4th airing of the third season.

For reasons unknown to your humble reviewer, this collection of episodes is strangely titled The Extended Experience. Although the set boasts an impressive seven discs, owners of the first set will be quick to note that The Complete First Season had the same amount. Also strange is the fact that season two contains one less episode than the first.

The experience that is alledgedly extended is the seventh dics of the set, which much like the first set, contains all of the special features for the season. The seventh disc contains an array of extras; never before seen character flashbacks, information concerning "the hatch," a dissection of mysteries, theories, and conspiracies, and of course bloopers and deleted scenes. Fans may also appreciate bonus material similar to the first season, like the featurettes about character connections, making ofs, interviews, etc.

The box itself is designed with the theme of the hatch in mind. A dirty brown surface with the mysterious numbers inscribed near the bottom alludes to the presence of “the hatch”, holding similarity to the previous season's cool brushed steel outer sleeve, which was referencial the the plane and fuselage. The all-caps title is the same size as the first season’s, but instead of the interesting shredded white-to-teal gradient texturing on the letters, all of the text on the cover of season two’s box is a rough and gritty brown with a black outer-glow.

Because both season’s outer sleeves are made from a clear plastic, a 1” thick horizontal center stripe reveals the cast of the show, printed on the paper of the box itself. The first box set made excellent use of this space with an attractive high contrast black and white image of the ensemble in front of a cloudy teal sky. The second season’s box instead features an awkward full-color composite image of the modified ensemble, all looking strangely up and to the left.

The box set's construction is exactly the same as the first's, so the two seasons together on a shelf yield a pleasing consistency, unlike the multiple box series of South Park or The Simpsons.

It's interesting to note that unlike the portraits of the cast printed on the first season's discs, the second season's discs feature pictures of symbollic items from the show. Viewers will recognize most of these items (the virgin mary, Eko's cane, etc.) as important references, though some are arbitrarily placed on discs not containing the episodes that feature the items.

For the technically inclined, the six discs of episodes all maintain a widescreen 1.85:1 ratio and are switchable between 5.1 and 2.0 surround. Only a few of the special features also have these specifications. The episode image quality is excellent and gives the pause, rewind, watch-in-slow-motion viewer the opportunity to look for clues (an almost crucial task) with sharper image detail than ever available on the TV broadcast.

As with most tv-to-dvd box sets, the pleasure of watching a full show without a single trace of commercials almost makes it worth the purchase alone. Because each episode runs approximately 50 minutes, and there are 24 episodes, the justifiable price of the set gets you 20 hours of entertainment, not including the special features, commentary, and included booklet.

LOST: Season 2 – The Extended Experience has a list price of $59.99, but BestBuy, Target, and Borders sell it for under $38.99. Or, if you trust ebay.com users, you can score it half-off for almost $30.

Owning the second volume of LOST is well worth the money, despite a few lame marketing devices and shrug-your-shoulders packaging. As a season that was criticized for having a few too many filler episodes and spending a lot of time on a character who ended up leaving the show, Season 2 does uncover more mysteries and argueable phenomenae, and answers many of Season 1's questions. However, staying true to LOST style, it raises a whole new batch of questions and leaves you wanting more.

Back That Thang Up! (2: Unedited)

We assume that when Prometheus brought fire to mankind from the gods he intended us to use it for warmth and light. However, with the whole fire thing under control and he being the rebellious Titan that he is, I don't think he'd mind if we used a concentrated amount to back-up and burn a few DVDs as well.

Before we get into this wonderfully enlightening how-to, it should be understood that it is against federal law, and Zeus, to make unlicensed reproductions of copyrighted materials (pretty much everything ever), including DVDs and their contents. Punishments can range from monetary fines to being chained to a mountain while an eagle eats your liver every day.

Your favorite columnist and daily newspaper do not solicit or encourage law-breaking, so the following article is for educational use only.

If you purchased your computer within the past few years, it's very likely that your PC or Mac came with a built in DVD burner. If not, they can be found at Fry's, Best buy, and even Wal-Mart for under a surprising $80.

Like most blank media, DVD±Rs can be bought very inexpensively in bulk quantities. Blank discs come in two formats, + and -, but most new burners can write to either disc. The difference between the two is slight and mostly inconsequential (hence the ± symbol), so it's not worth extrapolating here.

It is important, however, to mention the Dual Layer disc. A standard DVD±R has about 4.7 gigabytes of storage space, while a Dual Layer disc has nearly double that capacity, because it obviously uses two layers of the disc instead of one. You know that short pause in the middle of a boring 3 hour epic? You didn't lose consciousness, that's just the laser switching layers on the disc. Again, most burners have the ability to write Dual Layer, you'll just need to use the proper discs.

To first import a DVD to your computer, you'll also need about 6-12 gigabytes of free hard drive space, and the very efficient and very free program DVD Shrink from www.dvdshrink.org/where.html.

After downloading, installing, and agreeing not to break the law, pop in your DVD of choice and click the button "Open Disc." After selecting the DVD drive, the program takes about 20 seconds to map out the entire contents of the disc. When it finishes, you can select or deselect audio and subtitle tracks, as well as adjust the level of compression for importing with the slider bar up top. You should really try to get it as close to 100% as possible, but if you're using standard DVD±R discs, you'll have to limit yourself to the 4.7 gig ceiling.

After you're done fiddling around, if at all, click the "Backup!" button and tell the program where to target the "ISO Image File". Once you hit "Okay," walk away from the computer and give the program about 25-35 minutes to import the DVD. It's a pretty sensitive and processor-hogging task, so go eat a Hot Pocket and read the rest of this newspaper.

When you hear the pleasant little chirp, the program's finished its dirty work and can be closed. You won't be able to watch the .ISO file on your computer unless you use another program that takes more explaining than I have space for. If you're curious about it, send me an email and I can explain that as well.

Next, you'll want to put one of those blank DVD±Rs in your burner and open whatever bundled burning application came with the drive. If you haven't one, free demos and purchasable copies of the aptly-named Nero can be found through Google. Most programs are similar and easy to follow; select the .ISO file, select the blank disc, click "Burn." This process is also about 20 minutes long, depending on the write speed of your burner, and also very sensitive. It's sensible to exit your other programs and leave your computer alone during this task, too. Once it's done burning, get out a marker and you're done!

Before you run off to buy blank DVD±Rs, we'd like to remind you that it is also illegal to rent movies for $3 and copy them, or to subscribe to netflix.com and get movies constantly and inexpensively delivered to you and sent back the next day.

Now that you have the ability to legitimately copy your cousin's wedding video for Grandma, we trust that Zeus won't need to send woe and punishment in the form of your brother's wife. If Pandora does become your sister-in-law, at least it won't be for DVD back-up and copying, right?

Disc-ussion (1: Unedited)

As students move into their new dorms or apartments, many may consider the cardboard box with their DVD collection to be the most important and valuable box they own. There are vast amounts of entertainment on those discs; favorite movies, anthologized television shows, educational documentaries, porn.

Many people find a bizarre fascination in not only watching the feature film or episodes, but in proudly displaying their bookshelves full of DVDs-- even more so than book or music collections.To encourage this hobby of collecting and showcasing are websites like dvdaficionado.com, photo accounts from flickr.com, and cataloging applications like Delicious Library.

To skip the commercials and get to the making-of section for this article, the point of this weekly column will essentially be to transcribe my (usually ignored) verbal ramblings about an unhealthy and debt-inducing obsession; reviewing the aesthetics of the packaging, the special features, included media (pamphlets, books, etc.), video and audio quality, commentary, and price of DVD box sets and new releases.

The column will mostly avoid critiquing the episodes or movie itself, save a few sentences. However, it will attempt to also address the common misconceptions (did you know that the acronym of DVD is actually Digital Versatile Disc?), new technologies, region and format discrepancies, how-to information for back-up and burning, the best methods for cleaning, mail-order vs. in-store rental services, and suggestions for where to buy and sell used DVDs at a good price.

So, really, this column will address all things DVD.

It will also do its best to transcend the ambiguous one-paragraph reviews, found in most local publications and national magazines, which you read and find out halfway through that you forgot what it was talking about.

Disc-ussion by Austin Havican will attempt to utilize every resource and waking hour, even though his cat really needs to be fed, to understand all aspects of a product or process, and affectionately deliver to you something informative and desperately unfunny.

Luckily, a few major and minor production, packaging, and distribution companies have agreed to interviews and FAQ-type articles in an effort to provide further insight and clarification to the many unknowns of the DVD industry.

Also, readers should feel encouraged to contact their humble reviewer with any questions, tips, information, or worship they have. It only seems fair to address what readers want to know or want to share, so consider the email address discussion.dc@gmail.com to be a more accurate, and much more attractively youthful resource than Ask Jeeves.

So, if you want to know what the latest awful blockbuster was about, check another review. However, if you’re more inclined to tech specs and is-it-really-worth-my-money types of questions, eject your common DVD article and watch this one every Tuesday.

Just make sure you don’t fast-forward or you’ll miss the nudity (not guaranteed).