End of season DVD

[Croft fan]

I know its abit early, but I can not wait for the end of season DVD, to arrive. I hope that this year they put in afew more extras. Like the Inros from the ads (the greenflag ad) Some where funny and I would just like to see them again. Last year did not have any intros from the prsenters, like Tim Harvey or Vickey Buttle-Henderson, I think they they should be included, along with more post race interviews. The Presenters did a fine job this year as always and think they should be on it.
If you think of anything that you think should be on it add your comments. Iwould be intersted.

[KPC]

There is certainly the potential to include extras on DVD but at the end of the day the reviews are not major contenders in the battle for shelf-space at Smiths and so on. Therefore the money that can be thrown at it will be limited. As always I think a cropped review is all we can expect, REVIEW being the operative word. It would be great to get the full monty, I agree.

I long ago gave up trying to keep all of the coverage as there is just nowhere I can store all the video tapes you have to get through.

[Peter]

My favourite season review was the 1998 one. As well as containing plenty of race footage, it was more than just a repeat of what we had already seen, as we had Charlie and Watty giving some extra analysis and preview for 1999 in that restaurant in Kensington. It would be great to have Vicki, Ben and Tim doing the same this year. Although I guess they have already started work on the 2003 review so it is probably too late to make big changes.

[kevin ritson]

Surely some extra footage is available from the producer's vaults? If you look at the Le Mans DVD, there's extended interview footage, in-car footage etc

There's only so many times you can add a history of the series, driver biogs etc.

[ATF]

You're not really that early - it's out on the 27th!

I think the DVD really needs some extras - otherwise why not just save money and buy the video? It wasn't even in widescreen as was the TV coverage! Hope they get that sorted this year!

And the extras...

I thought the on-board laps of each circuit was a good idea last year but that was about it! And the web links they put on each year are just ridiculous as an extra!!

I agree - they should have more intro and predictions at the beginning and maybe more driver interviews and unseen features, different from the TV coverage!

[John]

My favorite is still the 98 review - it got quite a bit of stick I recall but its the only one which was different to the TV coverage. They usually have a selection of the pre-show features which go out on TV - which is fine but you buy the video and think 'yeah its good but I've seen all this'. The 98 tape had Charlie and John actually discussing the season and giving their opinions. Something like that with Ben and Tim would be good (especially if Tim takes the mick out of some of the drivers like he has done this season).

And of course the 98 tape has that extremely funny out takes section at the end along with the stupid credits. Thats what I'd like to see this year!

[Alan]

I must admit to sticking to videos so far - so I am not sure what, if any extras you get on a DVD. Has anyone got both and can explain?

I rather expect that at the end of the day this will all come down to cost. How many copies of the videos do they actually sell?

98 was good though, probably to be aimed for as a standard, and of course it was a superb year for racing.

[Les]

got both last year (DVD was new toy last year).
The DVD had extra interviews if I remember correctly - that was about it!!!!!!

I see Duke are selling last years at the really cheap price of £13.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KPC]

Can't say as I've looked at last year's yet, a bit to fresh in the memory. The 2001 one though had an extra, which was a feature that had been cut from the TV prog. Snetterton, if memory serves, had been cut short (sprint race and feature) as Wimbledon or something was on. So the DVD had the sprint race, which had not previously been aired and some dull fly on the wall featurette following Plato round his hotel room.

You don't actually need a DVD to get extras, there's no reason why a video can't have longer footage, although a three hour review would be pushing tape space I'll admit. DVD and video are merely different mediums and extras just a gimmick to boost the market, not a legal requirement. As I said previously, the capital return on the reviews is probably not sufficient to merit too many hard spent manhours thinking up and producing extras. As with the TV coverage, they don't do it for us fans, as with everything in life it's about statistics and profit.

[ATF]

Originally posted by KPC
The 2001 one though had an extra, which was a feature that had been cut from the TV prog. Snetterton, if memory serves, had been cut short (sprint race and feature) as Wimbledon or something was on. So the DVD had the sprint race, which had not previously been aired and some dull fly on the wall featurette following Plato round his hotel room.

The Snett race sprint race is also on the video and yes so is the extremely dull feature with Plato and Dawn McD!


Has anyone got the 2000 DVD review? On the video, there is hardly any coverage of rounds 21 & 22 at Oulton and loads of the Silverstone finale! I was just wondering if it was the same deal with the DVD?!

[Bill]

Yeah, the DVD is the same. I think that oulton gets less than a minute, while Silverstone gets about 45, couple of corking races there:D, shame for Reidy though!

Couldn't happen these days I don't think - they don't have anything like 45 minutes of feed from any one meeting -20 minutes is more like it, so no way of looking at the better / more important races in more detail i fear :(

[ATF]

I think all of the races should get an equal amount of time on the review video. Or at least in the case of the Oulton 2000 coverage, they could have at least acknowledged that Tarquni actually won one of the races!! And the Silverstone round had too much time - it was basically a repeat of the TV coverage, not a review of it!

2002 wasn't a bad review - showed each race in detail
2001 was very poorly edited - stuff like "the safety car has closed up the field" and you never even saw a safety car!!

[tvgod]

Originally posted by Bill
Couldn't happen these days I don't think - they don't have anything like 45 minutes of feed from any one meeting -20 minutes is more like it, so no way of looking at the better / more important races in more detail i fear :(

Of course there's more - they show everything live on Motors, so copies of the full races must exist (and with commentary).

As they re-cut the races for ITV, they must record all the cameras all the time too...plenty of scope for extra footage.

...and all those on-board cameraswill be recording all the time too.

[codename_47]

Originally posted by ATF
The Snett race sprint race is also on the video and yes so is the extremely dull feature with Plato and Dawn McD!


I did get a kick out of the Alan Partridge reference though....

"It's a travel Tavern!" :D

A-ha! :)

[Bill]

Originally posted by tvgod
Of course there's more - they show everything live on Motors, so copies of the full races must exist (and with commentary).

As they re-cut the races for ITV, they must record all the cameras all the time too...plenty of scope for extra footage.

...and all those on-board cameraswill be recording all the time too.

Ah, yes I know what you mean, but I just can't see them cutting the races differently for the review, as it all seems to have been done at the minimal expense possible for the last couple of years.

[tvgod]

Originally posted by Bill
Ah, yes I know what you mean, but I just can't see them cutting the races differently for the review, as it all seems to have been done at the minimal expense possible for the last couple of years.

Too true.

[KPC]

In the days of vid there was obviously a real issue with tape length. To squeeze the year, with 26 rounds, into three hours was asking alot technically. Races such as those at Brands were often cut, usually because not alot happened. That's not to say that Brands isn't an exciting racing circuit, but like others, it can be... no overtaking, carbon copy first and second race, that kinda thing. If you were a video editor/director with 20 hours of footage and three hours of tape that can be physically squeezed into a cassette, what would you do?

Now DVD is a different matter.....

[ATF]

How much material can you actually fit onto a DVD? Wouldn't it be good if they put full coverage of a couple of races on the DVD? Maybe just a couple of the best rounds like Rockingham?

[tvgod]

In standard DVD5 mode, you can get just over two hours on a disc.

In DVD9 mode, you can get much more - although the picture quality isn't quite as good.

[ATF]

Originally posted by tvgod
In standard DVD5 mode, you can get just over two hours on a disc.

In DVD9 mode, you can get much more - although the picture quality isn't quite as good.

That must mean that most of the motorsport reviews around are only in DVD9 mode? And if they are, they should make the most of being able to put loads of extras on!!!

[Bill]

That explains quite a bit - I have found the 2000 and 2002 DVDs to be a bit jerky in parts, which has been a real torment to me! I thought it was the player... nice to know thats not the case, or at least, not entirely!

[KPC]

The most sensible approach IMO would be to have the usual three hour review and a second discs for extras as we have with many film releases.... film and making of, out-takes and so on. The price would no doubt be a tad higher, but so what?

[ATF]

I've got to say I'm a bit disappointed that Richard West hasn't replied to my suggestions on his forum for questions. I think it's a bit late to influence what happens with the DVD - it's out in 10 days!

What has happened to Westie anyway?! Answers on a postcard...

[Amanda]

Richard usually goes on holiday at the end of the season. Alan Gow has already said he is working on the TV deal. Richard is very busy but does care about the supporters and I am sure he will answer your questions as soon as he can.

[KPC]

DVD/video is out Monday....... Review time.

[motormouth]

This year's DVD is 3 h 53m

[ATF]

I also noticed on play.com under the technical details, it says the DVD is 4:3 Fullscreen mode!!!!!

[tvgod]

Originally posted by ATF
I also noticed on play.com under the technical details, it says the DVD is 4:3 Fullscreen mode!!!!!

Not entirely unexpected.

[ATF]

Has anyone seen it in the shops? It says 'Out of Stock' on play.com and is despatched from Amazon in 6-7 days!!

[KPC]

Which is why you should pre-order it......

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Originally posted by ATF
Has anyone seen it in the shops? It says 'Out of Stock' on play.com and is despatched from Amazon in 6-7 days!!

Order direct from Duke.

[Croft fan]

Just bought it today in HMV in York.



Originally posted by ATF
Has anyone seen it in the shops? It says 'Out of Stock' on play.com and is despatched from Amazon in 6-7 days!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Order direct from Duke.


Buy it from a shop you can take it home as soon as u buy it LOL.
Not had chance to watch it yet but I have seen what extras are on the DVD and I think the Gareth Howell bit could have been longer. How sexy is he? LOL.

[ATF]

Got it today from Amazon.

The introduction at the start and the summary at the end is really poor. Between them you've just basically got the ITV programmes. There is hardly any thought gone into this at all - it's just a cheap way of producing a season review.

[roadie85]

i really think they should put out-takes in the dvd, that would make it funny as well.

[KPC]

Originally posted by ATF
Got it today from Amazon.

The introduction at the start and the summary at the end is really poor. Between them you've just basically got the ITV programmes. There is hardly any thought gone into this at all - it's just a cheap way of producing a season review.

It was always gonna happen. There just isn't enough revenue generated to make it worthwhile. Stick it on the shelf and any bought is a bonus....

[codename_47]

Originally posted by roadie85
i really think they should put out-takes in the dvd, that would make it funny as well.

Yeah, outtakes are great.....remember in the ITV F1 season review one year they had outtakes at the end....98 I think....that was brilliant! ;)

Well, we're not getting good reviews here at all....think I'll stick with the Motors TV season reviews then.... until it becomes a bit cheaper ;)

[Alan]

We bought the video - not particularly impressed I have to say - but hopefully it will encourage a view casual buyers to come along next year to see what it is all about.

I must say it is becoming difficult to justify buying it - we really only get it because we have all the videos from '88, so it keeps the collection complete.

They did put some out takes on the video a few years back - back in the John Watson/Charlie Cox days - 98 or 99 - someone remind me!!:confused:

[ATF]

Originally posted by Alan
They did put some out takes on the video a few years back - back in the John Watson/Charlie Cox days - 98 or 99 - someone remind me!!:confused:

1998 - ah, that review (and the season) will take some beating!!

[Peter]

I have not yet bought the review, as I usually get it under the tree! Judging by the reports I have read on here, I'm not missing much by waiting an extra month or so.

The 1998 review was by far the best ever. Not only did it feature out takes at the very end of the video, but there were also unseen extras such as Cox and Watty analysing the year in a cafe.

Surely it wouldn't cost too much for Ben and Tim to do something similar?

While we are on the subject, how about a Christmas special on ITV? I know the following of the series is nowhere near that of Formula 1, but surely they could devote half an hour orso some time during Christmas to touring cars?

[ATF]

Originally posted by Peter
While we are on the subject, how about a Christmas special on ITV? I know the following of the series is nowhere near that of Formula 1, but surely they could devote half an hour orso some time during Christmas to touring cars?

Motors TV have got a 4-hour review coming up. But as far as ITV doing anything, I seriously doubt it! Shame!

[Alan]

Motors TV - 9 till 11pm tomorrow and Sunday (22nd and 23rd).

Will be worth sticking a tape in I think!

[KPC]

I apologise for bringing this old thread back to the top but I've just got round to watching the thing and have just got to have my piece.....

The reviews of old were just that, reviews, and as far as I could always tell, with the odd Brands opener exception, showed the whole edited race as shown on TV. The DVD races seem to have been hacked to death. No sooner have the lights gone green than we're at the pit stops and the chequered flag. If anyone was watching the review with a mind of getting themselves into the series they'd more than likely think it was a pile of p**.

I can only imagine that the race lengths have suffered so as the every programme feature can be squeezed in. Surely the race comes first. Background is a good thing, but not to the detriment of the racing. Perhaps they could have done a two set.

Not impressed.

On a different note, I noticed Muller jump start at the first Brands meeting without penalty. Poor old O'Neill then gets on at OP. Tut tut.

[Alan]

Just for reference (and with my anorak fully zipped up) most of the videos have been 180 mins, the exceptions being some in the early 90's ie 1991 was just 90 mins!!!:(

They did of course change to two races per event some years ago, so we are going to see less of each race now. I've put the anorak away so I can't tell you when it changed or how long the races used to be!!!:o

Unless someone wants something to do and get their stopwatch out and watch 2003 and, say 1998 - will we ever get answer - or is this just a perception we have?

[tvgod]

Originally posted by KPC
On a different note, I noticed Muller jump start at the first Brands meeting without penalty. Poor old O'Neill then gets on at OP. Tut tut.

Dan Eaves jumped the start at Oulton and Brands, but wasn't penalised for either.