AfterDawn: News

Want fries with that DVD?

World's largest fast-food chain, McDonald's, has announced that it will start offering rental DVDs through its restaurants in metropolitan area of Denver.

The DVD rentals are made through a vending machine that charges customer's credit card for the rental. Each rental will cost $1 a day plus local sales tax. The machines will be available in all McDonald's restaurants throughout the Denver area and each one will be open 24 hours a day. Each machine will contain appx. 350 movies and new titles will be added to machines on weekly basis. Some of the machines have already been installed and others will be rolled out during the June. McDonald's has 104 restaurants in the area.



Even though this is an obvious threat to world's largest movie rental chain, Blockbuster, company doesn't seem to be worried. "We're about as concerned as they would be if we announced we were selling hamburgers in our stores," said Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Blockbuster.

Source: Denver Post

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 25 May 2004 13:37

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• 22 comments

• GrayArea

  McMovies!
  
  I like the typical "big boxoffice" movie about as much as I like McDonald's "food" so no worries here. 350 titles and a buck a day rental fee should have Blockbuster thinking though...

  25.5.2004 14:04 #1

• brian100

  You could rent 4 or 5, then construct a handy little fast food table. It would stop all the "bits" falling out onto the car seat.
  

  On Initial Viewing My Backup Looked Terrible,
  But With One Eye Closed It Aint Half Bad!!

  25.5.2004 23:08 #2

• ABMone

  Hell yeah. Mcdonald's putting Denver on the map.
  
  First the Nuggets make the playoffs and now this.Im Lovin' It
  
  Where have i heard that before?

  25.5.2004 23:39 #3

• A_Klingon

  A lowly dollar a pop? Gotta luvvit! Best price yet.
  
  I hope the titles aren't pure schlok, though. One dollar's worth of garbage is still garbage.
  
  No mention in the article about how one is suppose to return the discs though. (A 'Return Slot' in the same vending machine, perhaps?) I can just imagine the fine print in the 'quickie contract' they will make you agree to prior to getting any discs. Since hey have your credit card number, you most certainly *will* be billed a dollar a day, and if they deem you may have damaged any disc(s), you're apt to be responsible for the full retail cost of the disc.
  
  Stillll..... I like this idea better than those stoopid, overpriced self-disentegrating discs from Disney.
  
  What do you wanna bet people will only rent the discs long enough (hours) to make a quick rip for later backup?
  
  How is Hollywood viewing all this? This is a scheme that just *begs* people to make illegal backups.
  
  (My god, what _will_ they dream up next?) :-)

  26.5.2004 05:01 #4

• dRD

  A_Klingon: In the UK Blockbuster has similar (if I understood correctly) "vending machines" in petrol stations, etc and yes, they have a return slot where to drop the disc. And of course they keep your CC details in store just in case you decide not to return the disc.

  26.5.2004 09:36 #5

• A_Klingon

  Hello dRD !!
  
  Yep - it's amazing - when DVDs first came out they were touted as being just about the highest-tech thing we had seen to date. (And they probably were).
  
  In the intervening years, both the discs and the machines have (sort of) sunk to the most average of consumer "commodities". (Toasters, steam kettles, disposable cigarette lighters).
  
  But greed is the overall catalyst that keeps this medium (DVD) afloat. Everyone is trying to wring out as many dollars as humanly possible from a medium that, believe it or not, is becoming older by the day.
  
  I love DVDs of course, but already, intense work is being done on future HD (High Definition) formats - the next "Big Thing". And it will then be a "Free-For-All' all over again.
  
  In the meantime, why not order the 'Full Meal Deal' with your Big Mac, and for just .79c (plus applicable taxes) you can have a movee to go along with your side of fries?
  
  Since you mention that in the UK they have these vending machines, I guess Hollywood must have been guaranteed a rock-solid kickback from the credit-card companies, and are (sort of) "looking away" from the fact that a LOT of those discs are getting backed up.
  
  Still, a buck is a buck - pretty cheap for a rental IF you don't lose the thing under your coach for a week!
  
  BTW (MANY) thanks for (in one way or another) responding to a PM of recent vintage. Have received a separate independant reply. You are the very *best*, Petteri.
  
  -- Mike --

  26.5.2004 11:03 #6

• dRD

  Mike: I actually think it is the consumers who have driven the DVD world nuts, as somehow in late 1990s we just realized that "gosh, we can actually watch movies at home as well" when DVDs, big screen TVs and decent audio equip arrived to average households.
  
  And as always, I apologize for not replying to my PMs in any timely matter whatsoever, I'm probably the worst person ever to try to have a email/PM/whatever type of conversation over the Net with :-)

  26.5.2004 14:41 #7

• Oriphus

  Klingy: I have used the Blockbuster so called automated bins. They did a trial near where i live for a while. The system they used here was to enter your card and pin number into the machine, choose your movie from a very limited selection and then you have a day to bring it back. They charge you monthly for the DVD rentals. I dont know what the method is they have now, i didnt like it.
  
  On the point about Consumers renting and copying, i really dont think that is as much a problem as people believe. When a DVD movie is rented, i believe (though i could be wrong) a part of the price paid goes back to the studios that created the disc. There are obviously people who rent in bulk and copy, thats why legal sites such as htt://www.mailboxmovies.com exist. Its clever on their part as they are legitamit businesses, but when supplying a user with 5 DVD's a time, and get all 5 back the next day and sending out another 5, then that user is obviously doing one thing with those DVD's.
  
  On the current situation of DVD, i think its virtually peaking. Everyone virtually (well within reason) has a DVD player. Some of my local Video sotres, like Video City, no longer stock VHS, only DVD movies. This is because the market trend, as published by the USA half a year ago or so, is showing a huge increase in DVD rentals and a huge decling in VHS rentals.
  
  With the new HDTV systems and displays that can output an image at XGA, WXGA or SXGA+ and projector systems that can project 100"+ screens, we will soon see the sad death of DVD and the new birth of HD DVD, which i am highly aticipating. Take a standard Joe Average DVD. Whats the average bit rate a second for it. Something like 3MBs or something? Thats just not good enough for HDTV. I have an 80" WXGA screen and i need to use a semi-line doubler (progressive scanning unit) to get a decent image. What we, the HDTV viewing public demand is bitrates of 10MB/s atleast. We have the technology for Amazing Home Cinema, but the component letting us down everytime is the limitations of the DVD.
  
  Whichever Blue Laser, or even Ultraviolet if it materialises, system that becomes a standardised format that see's the release of Blockbuster movies on it, will be a Godsend to me. I hope to realistictly be using HD DVD within 3-5 years.
  
  Back to McDonalds, great idea and very cheap, but there are cheaper options out there for those that look. Rental for £25 a month, could get you as many as 45-60 DVD's in a month....trust me ;-)
  

  For your DVD needs http://www.dvd-and-media.com
  http://www.dvd-backup.tk
  For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm
  

  26.5.2004 15:54 #8

• Nephilim

  As if McDonalds doesn't get you fat enough, instead of exercising sfterwards you lie down and watch a movie while all the fat you just ate coagulates!
  

  
  JMLS-166S/Plextor PX-708A/Plextor Premium

  26.5.2004 17:03 #9

• aXidburn

  haha...i can see some1 in the near future filing a law suit agaisnt McDonalds saying eating their food and watching their movies made them fat..

  26.5.2004 20:12 #10

• A_Klingon

  Member Alert- Major off-topic philosophical meanderings to follow:
  
  dRD: I actually think it is the consumers who have driven the DVD world nuts...
  
  While it's true we embraced the format from the very outset ("most rapidly accepted medium in the history of home entertainment formats"), I believe it's the Hollywood industry that cooly calculated the future hysteria based on the unprecendented profits they had made from the VHS tape phenomena. Even Hollywood was taken aback by their overflowing coffers when they starting renting/selling VHS, ironically, the format which they had ealier predicted was "going to destroy the industry".
  
  Buy yes, consumers then added fuel to the fire when they (you/me/we) started snapping up DVDs at a fevered pace, (and at full retail too), thus giving Hollywood further permission to dig forever deeper into our pockets, and carrying the hysteria to ever greater heights. Thus was born various concepts designed to separate you from as much of your money as humanly possible. Hey! They were (are) on to a good thing, so why not 'sock it to the consumer' as hard as possible?
  
  The concepts: Turning short movies into 2-disc "collectors sets" with the addition of (mostly) useless outtakes, alternate endings (one is enough for me thank you), alternate angles, actors' bios, storyboards, trailers, deleted scenes, commentaries, games, dvd-rom content, etc., most of which they would never have gotten away with on vhs. With each new addition, came more $$$, easily reproduceable with their cookie-cutter disc-molding machines. It costs virtually nothing to manufacture a retail dvd.
  
  With all the "extras" it was like stamping out (printing up) $20 bills instead of $10 bills.
  
  Nowadays, when producing new films, it is standard practice to have full secondary film crews filming the primary film crews, so that they will have enough material ("content") to fill up that ever-impotant second disc. All new movies are made with that second disc firmly in mind. Heck, most people just want the movie.
  
  Prime Example Of How The Hysteria Is Maintained: I know you love LOTR. So do I. But there is far, far, more 'content', disc-wise, than there ever was in the movies themselves. There are 2, 3, and 4-disc boxed sets of the same film (do you not have the 4-disc set of 'The Fellowship'?) Separate Full screen, and Widescreen versions. And so on.
  
  Now, it's approaching madness - Vending machines and self-destroying 'EZ-D' discs from Disney are probably only the beginning as Hollywood dreams up the last schemes it can before we all move into the HD age.
  
  dRD: somehow in the late 1990s we just realized that "gosh" we can actually watch movies at home as well..."
  
  Not really, Petteri. We discovered that much in the 80's with VHS and Betamax. What we intially discovered in the late 90's was the increased convenience and video clarity that DVD provided over VHS. We could not have predicted at that time how greedy Hollywood would ultimately become, and to what lengths they would go to get into our bank and credit card accounts.
  
  Well! We're seeing it now !!
  
  dRD: ...I apologize for not replying to my PMs in any timely manner whatsoever.
  
  Not to worry. As 'da Boss' I shudder to think of how many PMs you receive in any given day. Myself, I would develop an aversion to them pretty dang quickly. <gg> But I would not ever send frivolous 'chit-chat' type PMs. (Life is too short) I reserve them for what I feel are only very important communications that (sort of) require more-than-normal attention.
  
  Adding to the problem, is that one doesn't really know if a PM has been successfully sent or received (or read) unless and until it has been responded to. (When a PM is sent, it doesn't automatically appear in a member's PM listing.)
  
  Nephilim: ...instead of exercising afterwards you lie down and watch a movie while all the fat you just ate coagulates!
  
  Agreed ! :-) (But like a lot of people, I too am a hopeless coach-potato.)
  
  Better the McDonald's grease stay in US rather than on the rental discs in the form of greasy fingerprints - you *may* be charged an extra .50c for "dirty returns" !

  27.5.2004 01:09 #11

• A_Klingon

  Oriphus:
  
  Terrific reply!
  
  Sorry, I haven't forgotten you...... this one requires a bit of thought though..... I will return.

  27.5.2004 01:26 #12

• A_Klingon

  Hello again.
  
  Re. Oriphus' post:
  
  On the point about Consumers renting and copying, I really don't think that is as much a problem as people believe.
  
  I think it's probably far more common than people believe.
  
  Can't say for sure, but I expect there are more people backing up rentals than are backing up what they already own. (Truly).
  
  It's to be expected. Folks are becoming more computer-savvy every day. And in the last year alone, we have seen more inexpensive, as well as totally free, software that makes backing up dvds easier than ever, than you can shake a stick at. I think that is one of the core reasons why we see the occassional moderately-priced dvd here and there than we ever saw in the beginning. (Here in Canada, at a local Walmart, they have a floor bin of new dvds going for $6.89 I believe). Not the greatest titles in the world mind you, but I believe these discs are designed to compete with the cost of 'rolling your own'. (say, $4.00 for a rental, + $2.00 for a blank disc).
  
  Hollywood is aware of all the copying software, and are making a few (half-arsed) attempts to lower their prices (but their greed always gets in the way) - hopefully to dissuade people from backing-up rentals, and buying the pristine "real thing" instead.
  
  But they will not succeed because with all the multi-disc (yet single-movie) dvds they are flogging, 90% of new releases are still very very expensive. For example, the 2-disc 'Finding Nemo' set can be easily reduced to a single movie, single-layer $2.00 blank disc, and still look exactly like the original. For those whose consciences are equal to the 'I don't give a s---' conscience of Hollywood, it's a no-brainer.
  
  Backing-up software, for better or for worse, has put _hugely-needed_ power back into the hands of consumers, otherwise Hollywood would have gone beserk with their greed. In their wildest dreams, I doubt very much they could ever have foreseen the day when the CSS scrambling system could be reduced to 7 lines of code scribbled on a paper napkin. And today, Region-coding is a Joke, totally defeatable with a single mouse-click. Ditto macrovision. It's not even necessary to buy a "universal" or modified dvd player anymore to play discs from different regions.
  
  Re. the dvd-slot vending machines:
  
  ...but when supplying a user with 5 DVDs a time, and get all 5 back the next day and sending out another 5, then that user is obviously doing one thing with those DVDs.
  
  Yep. But it doesn't matter. Hollywood has taken that into account, but also realizes that if one is intent on backing up rentals, they're going to do ir regardless of _how_ the discs are rented -- from the video store, the vending machine, the self-destructing EZ-D discs, or whatever.
  
  You know, Oriphus, ironically, contrary to ALL popular opinion, backing up rental discs may just be one of the *best* things the Hollywood motion-picture industry has going for it, despite their constant bitching and whining! How's That For An Opposing Viewpoint !
  
  What do you wanna bet that there are MORE video rentals being made than ever before, *because* of backing-up software? There are many many people renting more movies today than they would _ever_ have rented if they had not been afforded the opportunity to copy them (either legally or otherwise). There are more people renting movies than would ever have bought them at retail. Who could afford to? Sometimes, those same rentals are made over and over again by the same people too. Moral ethics aside, the Video Rental business is Booming like never before. (I will leave it up to you to determine why.)
  
  Everything I just said above is purely an opinion and speculation on my part.
  
  On the current situation of DVD, I think it is virtually peaking.
  
  I agree. And that's a good word too, "peaking". For all the reasons you have stated, and more.
  
  Re: the onset of the HD Revolution:
  
  ...we will soon see the sad death of DVD...
  
  Not for a long, long time, I don't think. For one thing, DVDs are making Hollywood money faster than they can count it. For another, present-day DVDs will not be rendered obsolete by the upcoming HD discs. (They just won't be as desireable).
  
  But they will still be 100% compatible. And a lot of people won't be able to afford (at least at first) expensive Hi-Def monitors. On "lesser" (more normal) sets, I don't know how much of a difference they will make or how noticeable those differences will be to an average consumer. (I don't know what an 'average' consumer is anyway).
  
  Take a standard Joe Average DVD. What's the average bit rate a second for it? Something like 3MBs or something?
  
  Probably. My copy of 'Road To Perdition' is outputting 6.4 Mbps, average. I know HI-DEF will be much greater.
  
  I have an 80" WXGA screen....
  
  [Pant.....pant...... drool....Sob !] You are giving me _severe_ feelings of ultra-inadequacy, Oriphus !
  
  I would be fibbing if I said I wasn't looking forward to the new HD discs. I'm _not_ looking forward to all the new DRM restrictions they will contain. Don't ever count on successfully backing any of them up for a few years. Be prepared to spend a fortune on titles, too. Retail will reign supreme for a long, long time, just as it was with DVD. Hollywood will be deleriously joyful for a while.
  
  Back to McDonalds....
  
  WheW! Oh yeah! I had almost forgotton! (Who is McDonalds?) <gg>
  
  ...great idea and very cheap, but there are cheaper options out there for those that look.
  
  But few as convenient for one-off quickie rentals.
  
  Rental for 25 [pounds] a month, could get you as many as 45-60 DVDs in a month...
  
  I believe you, but that requires a credit-card contract doesn't it? And you still have to wait for mail delivery. (??)
  
  Thanks for all the insights, Oriphus. (What a *horrible* offender I am for not sticking to topic! -- Sorry).
  
  -- Klingy --
  

  27.5.2004 03:35 #13

• Oriphus

  Great Reply Klingy...:-)
  
  Sticking to topics is one of my down-falls as well ;-)
  Quote:You know, Oriphus, ironically, contrary to ALL popular opinion, backing up rental discs may just be one of the *best* things the Hollywood motion-picture industry has going for it, despite their constant bitching and whining! How's That For An Opposing Viewpoint ! Thats something i firmly believe as well and i point i was hitting on. Im not sure, but i believe that the Hollywood Movie Makers, make a percentage everytime one of their movies is rented on a disc. What many people are doing, who would never really have rented many DVD Movies in the past, is that they are renting a lot more movies, copying them and leaving them back....This i feel, as you do too, is a great boost to Hollywood since they are now targeting a market of more computer orientated people who may not have rented much in the past. Its effectively a new market niche...
  
  Most of us are guilty of some point in time downloading a movie from one of the many p2p sites or Bit Torrents. I think the DeCSS engines have effectively made downloading lower quality DivX/Xvid Mpeg4 movies an irelevancy. Why would we bother to download a movie, when we can make a high quality DVD Back-up fo the movie with less hassle.
  Quote:Re: the onset of the HD Revolution: The average movies MBps is realitively poor for HD users. Its not just the pciture quality that is effected, its the sound quality as well. I love Home Cinema and firmly believe that my system is equal or better for me, than any Cinema System i've been to. Cinema's generally have a contrast ratio of around 1000:1, since im getting 1300:1 on an 80" screen with a Dolby Digital EX 6.1 Surround system, all in a nice small room, means im right in the middle of it.
  
  With the new HD DVD formats, the MBps will increse meaning higher quality sound closer to uncompressed audio or even DVD-A quality and higher quality imagery.
  
  Dolby digital have announced their HD DVD audio streaming will be above 650KBps and the DTS will be over 1.5MBps on HD DVD. Thats about 90MBps a minute, 5400MB an hour. So for a two hour movie, will we be seeing 10GB of Audio? Its possible i suppose. Take the Dolby Digital on HD DVD. It will be about 39MB a minute, 2,300MB an hour and around 4,700MB for a two hour movie. Thats a similar size to the standard DVD Movie/Audio today. Im really looking forward to this ill tell you....
  
  Blu Ray is a sort of standard of Blue Laser i like to look at, though im aware of some other Blue Lasers systems which hold higer capacities and faster transfer rates. it has a MBps average rate of between 10 and 12 MBps. That is a vast improvement, but there is much room for improvement over it as well. Master Studio D5 tapes are recorded at around 270MBps, and are down converted for various formats so the quality is there to be had, if we can find a way of getting it.
  
  Im very interested in the new Toshiba format. The reason i said that DVD could be on its way out was because of this format. It is not a Blue LAser system, it called HD DVD (though this term is used loosely with all high capacity red and blue laser prototypes and systems) and will be similar to the current DVD formats. Have a read on it if you havent already, as i recall a news topic on it on afterdawn:
  
  http://www.audioholics.com/ces/ces2004/CES_2004_day3.html
  Quote:Rental for 25 [pounds] a month, could get you as many as 45-60 DVDs in a month...Yes, you need to have a credit card agreement with them as they charge it monthly. Some companies allow you to have direct debit or Paypal charging. You do have to wait on the postal service, but it works like this:
  
  5 Movies at a time dispatched First Class to you on a Monday morning. They arrive on Tuesday morning, you get all 5 copied very easily, at some point before 7pm, onto your computer. Send the DVD's back in the pre-paid envelope they came in on the Tuesday. They arrive with the DVD rental store on the Wednesday, where they dispatch another 5 movies. You get them on the Thursday , have them copied and posted and they receive them friday. They send out another 5 on friday, you receive them saturday, get them copied before 2pm, as the post closes early, and then send them back. The Rental company receives them on Monday morning and the process starts again. Thats 15 DVD's a week, which converts to around 60 a month. However, they dont always run as smoothly as that and sometimes you may only get about 40 movies a month. However, thats still less than 50 pence a DVD. Its very good value in my opinion if you are into making loads of copies of movies.
  
  ONe last thing, i always believe in buying a DVD, and not renting it, if a movie is likely to be a particularly good one. If i rent a movie and really like it, ill buy it as i believe most people should. There is a lot of money put into good films with huge budgets, if those films start to make less money, the next movies will have lower budgets and the spiral may continue. We want to keep Hollywood producing excellent movies :-)
  
  One other quick, compeltely non-related point is on Downloading music. I admit that have downloaded varius artist songs. but im an honest person. I dont just download songs to save me buying them. i download the songs and parts of albums to decide whether or not i like the artist and the music, then i go out and buy it on CD or DVD-A if available. Recent studies have shown that music being widely available on the net cna actually boost sales. Who does these studies, i aint got a clue lol - but its all good in my opinion.
  
  We the consumer should dictate what they, the producer, makes or sells. Lets try and keep it that way.
  
  
  Ok - really sorry for the off topic ;-) - Back on topic now - wow McDonalds are renting DVD's - cool ;-)
  
  Chris
  _

  For your DVD needs http://www.dvd-and-media.com
  http://www.dvd-backup.tk
  For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm
  

  27.5.2004 08:58 #14

• A_Klingon

  I'm not sure but I believe that the Hollywood Movie Makers make a prcentage every time one of their movies is rented on disc.
  
  I firmly believe this too, especially with the National chains. I believe, for example, that Blockbuster is "heavily married" to the industry in general; I expect they have iron-clad agreements between them, as do the vending machine people.
  
  It might be different, of course, with the local, 'Mom and Pop' convenience stores around the corner who rent a small collection of dvds to garner customers, as well as the odd petrol station here and there, but the larger chains are more or less like an extension of the industry itself.
  
  Why would we bother to download a movie, when we can make a high-quality DVD backup of the movie with less hassle?
  
  No argument here. And probably in less time too. Downloading movies is always an 'iffy' proposition at best - like as not, the quality is going to be terrible. In my case (as with many others), it's an impossibility anyway because I only have a dial-up connection. Downloading movies is really only for those in the broadband domain.
  
  Thank you very much for all the detailed info on high-Definition. You are set up Big Time for the best yet-to-come. No wonder you are looking forward to HD. I would be too. (I am anyway).
  
  In a wide sense, Chris, you're just a little bit in the minority, but that's only because far more people do not have what you do, if you know what I mean.
  
  For any degree of deep market penetration, certainly the kind we have seen with DVD, home theater equipment, especially monitors, are going to have to come down in price. Hopefully, mass-manufacturing will help to lower the price as HD catches the public eye(s). (Pun intended). :-)
  
  Also, if the Hollywood industry intends for HD to go over in any big way, they are going to have to try to not shoot themselves in the foot, and keep HD software titles reasonably priced.
  
  The average consumer, now used to buying $50 dvd players at Walmart and Best Buy, will not take kindly to $50-$90 HD titles. (Remember the 12" Laser Vision discs?)
  
  ============
  
  Oh oh! I think I'm having a Big Mac Attack!
  
  Oh Oh! Where's the Hamburger-ler-er when you need him? TALK to me, Ronald ! :-)
  
  -- Later --

  27.5.2004 13:01 #15

• Oriphus

  I hope im set-up for the future. I spent a lot of money getting my system (just over £3000 sterling) and now i have balls all money left for anything lol.
  
  I agree that at the minute, avaerage Joe will not buy, nor will really know much about HD DVD and HD TV, but hopefully we will see in the future, prices coming down for all related items. It will happen, but at first it will be expensive. I for one will not be forking out $50-$100 for a HD DVD disc movie. I will wait to reasonable prices, somewhere around the current price of DVD-A albums, which are still far too epxensive as you know. In the meantime, Progressive Scanning and Line Doublers are doing wonders for me :-D
  
  No problem on the info on HD DVD, it really is quite facinating, ive been watching it closely. Ah...i explained something to Klingy - i feel so proud since it is usually him explaining DVD-A, SACD and other High Def Audio formats to me lol, along with good old Wilkes.
  
  Cheers ;-)
  Chris
  

  For your DVD needs http://www.dvd-and-media.com
  http://www.dvd-backup.tk
  For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm
  

  27.5.2004 15:59 #16

• A_Klingon

  THREE THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING ?
  
  Ouch, frigging ouch !
  
  At that rate, I'm surprised you can afford to watch anything other than vhs tapes. <g>
  
  Re. (real) DVD-Audio:
  
  It's kind of strange too, and unfortunate.
  
  Wilkes sent me a PM a while back, that he had already sent me a package of DVD-A's that he had personally mastered at his Opus Studios. To say the least, these would be a collector's prize, unique unto themselves.
  
  Trouble is, he sent the original package something like 2+ months ago! (The discs never arrived).
  
  He told me that he would resend the package over again. That was weeks ago. (Still no discs).
  
  I think we have postal thieves among us, Chris. The SOBs. :-(
  
  (Maybe I should PM him my snail-mail address again, just in case he got it wrong).
  
  French Fries, anyone?

  28.5.2004 01:44 #17

• Oriphus

  Those Bastard postal thieves. That would be a real nice package when you do receive it and i can guess at the quality to of it as well, since it is real DVD-A as you say. Hopefully he will re-send them to you.
  
  Yeah £3000 Sterling, its a nightmare now. I saved up a lot of it though while working as a sales man (i was good at that) but i've run out since im still at uni so ive applied for a new part time job, will find out next week.
  
  Er...id like French Fries. Actually, id prefer a Bacon Double Cheese Burger :D
  

  For your DVD needs http://www.dvd-and-media.com
  http://www.dvd-backup.tk
  For User Guides/Downloads: http://www.chrismccann.co.uk/user_guides.htm
  

  28.5.2004 05:05 #18

• A_Klingon

  If the discs do arrive, I will ask Wilkes for his permission to (discreetly) run you off a copy. I'm sure he will recall you as a frequent contributor to our 'audio chats'. Hopefully I'll be able to duplicate them, either as data discs, or using a disc image.
  
  (I too have a job interview next Monday - gotta have some way to pay for all those Hollywood rentals).
  
  Er..... I'd like french fries. Actually, I'd prefer a bacon-double-cheeseburger.
  
  No problem Chris:
  
  For a limited time only! Look inside specially-marked DVD boxes at your favourite DVD Retailer! Three million coupons randomly available for Big Macs, Filet of Fish, McRibs, McFries, McColas, McCoffees and McJaggers available to be won! Hurry! Get yours today!
  
  Certain conditions apply. Not available in all areas. Must be 18 years of age or older to play. Taxes extra. Void where prohibited by law. Must correctly answer a skill-testing question. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Coupons have a face value of .0001c. <that one came from dRD! <gg>. At participating McDonald's only. Cheese and bacon avail. at extra cost. One coupon per day per person per visit.
  
  (You know, it's funny.....) I was a night-time cab driver for four years. At 3:00 in the morning I got a call to pick up a fellow at one of the Poshest Motels (Motor-Inns) in Halifax. It was in a very rinky-dink (upbeat) part of town. (Expen$ive).
  
  This guy, wearing a suit and tie, was having a major Big Mac attack; he just *had* to have some McDonald's food from one of the 24-hour drive-throughs.
  
  Never mind that this guy could afford Prime Rib steak or a broiled lobster dinner, or visit any of the fanciest restaurants in town. Never mind that the nearest McDonald's was WAY across town, or that he would have to wait (who knows?) how long to get his order (with the taxi-meter running!), because it was Friday night and the local bars and nightclubs had all just closed for the evening, and the drive-thrus would be _packed_ with people ahead of us; ...... he just HAD to have McDonalds ! Nothing else would do!
  
  (What do they do, put chemicals in this stuff?) "Yes, I'd like to have a McAddicts Burger, please."
  
  I think they have a 10-Step Program for recovering McAddicts. It's called "McDonald's Anonymous". It's free of charge, and they are very discreet. <g>
  
  My younger brother used to work at McDonalds, and after 3 weeks, he couldn't stand the smell of it any longer. If you just *mentioned* the name, his face would grow pale.
  
  (And if I get any more off-topic, I think AfterDawn will have to shoot me dead.)
  
  Later!

  29.5.2004 01:15 #19

• Oriphus

  Quote:Yes, I'd like to have a McAddicts Burger, pleaseHahahaha - nice one lol. Yeah, its funny that people get those cravings for McDonalds. Me, if i had that guys money, id be wanting a 16oz Sirloin Steak, some pepper sauce, and some bolied potatoes....hmmmm.....very hungry right now. In fact...id love a steak right now - what have u started now Klingy....
  Quote:Certain conditions apply. Not available in all areas. Must be 18 years of age or older to play. Taxes extra. Void where prohibited by law. Must correctly answer a skill-testing question. Cannot be combined with any other offers. Coupons have a face value of .0001c. <that one came from dRD! <gg>. At participating McDonald's only. Cheese and bacon avail. at extra cost. One coupon per day per person per visit. LOL - very good again. Cheese and Bacon cost more - Nooooooo lol
  
  I hope your discs to arrive for you. It would be interesting to hear your views on the quality of them versus the quality of some of the ones on the markey produced by the record labels, which i think may be kind of dubious lol. Thats very kind of you to offer, do u think they can be copied? It might be difficult, of course, with Wilkes permision only.
  
  P.S. Looks like ill be getting shot right a long side u for the severe off-topicness of this thread lol. Remember the Off Topic thread in the Safety valve, that was one i fitted into fine :-D
  

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  29.5.2004 04:45 #20

• oracle

  2nd place for McDonalds (speaking with olympic terms)
  
  In Athens/Greece before the starting of the Olympic Games local pizza delivery stores are distributing dvd movies with their products. The movie can be retrieved by the delivery sore the next day(s) with the appropriate fee.
  
  In the west area of Athens surrounding the prices are:
  € 1.20-1.50 for the first day
  € 0.50-0.80 for the rest days
  And don't forgrt if you order 2 pizzas you'll receive a third for free......

  30.5.2004 02:22 #21

• A_Klingon

  Oh, good lord! They're at it again !
  
  
  
  http://dvd-d.com/index.html
  
  (Thanks to doom9).
  

  2.6.2004 03:11 #22