Colin’s Film Journal

I’m starting a new project for DVDTimes - I am going to build ‘The Ultimate Home Cinema PC’ using top of the range components and will take you through all of the steps needed to build a system capable of running anything you wish to throw at it. There will be no limitations on format - DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD will all be compatible and regions won’t be a restriction.

I’ll cover the hardware, software and configuration of the system and to top it all, the finished PC will be given away in a competition on DVD Times. The total retail cost is expected to be nearly £1,000.

In the run up to the article I will also update my

FilmJournal with my progress. This is an exciting project, both in terms of scope and the ability to play all formats and I hope you all find it useful.

The First Component

The first component is here - the stunning Shuttle SG33G5M. This gorgeous piece of hardware specifically designed for media centre use - it comes with every connection you need, supports all of the hardware and software we will be using and even ships with a remote control.

Originally posted on DVD Times

It seems that 2006 may be the year of the ‘Extended Edition’. Not a day passes without another super-duper extended release announcement hitting the site; 5 minutes here, 20 seconds there - no matter how minor the restored footage is, there appears to be a market for it.

So who buys these discs? I guess it must be the completists and fans - but are there that many people who care about another 6 minutes of The Replacement Killers or 9 minutes of Casualties of War enough to justify spending more money on another DVD?

The main problem with most of these extended cuts is that the film’s Director usually isn’t involved - instead, it appears, more often than not that a nameless committee is involved in re-editing and tampering with the director’s intention. Most deleted footage is removed for artistic or pacing reasons - if it was supposed to be in there to start with then it would have been. These cheap and easy cash-ins are designed to extract more money from those who have too much to spend, often by means of a big ‘Unrated’ tag plastered across the cover art. Would anyone stand for an unnamed artist adding a few flowers in a nice vase to the Mona Lisa? Would we accept Penguin books writing an extended ending to Shakespeare’s Macbeth? Of course we wouldn’t, so why are films treated any differently?

Most of these extended cuts are to me just as bad as colourising a black and white film or chopping off the sides to fit a 4:3 TV.

There are some extended cuts that are of merit - Fincher’s Alien3 shows us what the film could have been before the studio got hold of it, while the upcoming Superman II release gives us a rare opportunity to see how the film would have been if Donner’s cut made it to the cinema. However in the sea of mediocre extensions, these true gems are becoming harder and harder to find.