One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

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erdnasephile
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One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby erdnasephile » September 3rd, 2014, 6:03 pm

One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection


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Initial impressions:
- There is nothing worse (well, maybe a few things are...) than buying a highly anticipated item, only for it to arrive trashed in the mail. Therefore, kudos to Dave and Dan for a superb job of packaging--oversized box--lots of padding. This is the way to ship!
- A few small extras were in the parcel: a D and D patch, a D and D playing card, and a postcard containing a 10% discount code for their new playing card site. Unexpected, but appreciated.

The Presentation Box:
- The DVD set comes in a black and white flip top slip cover. Curiously, the advertising text behind the top flap of the slipcover is far less bombastic than on the website. (Although at this point, they've already got your money! :D ) What is also interesting to me is that the slipcover has a soft, velvet-like texture. It just feels like quality.
- The box that holds everything slides easily out of the slip cover. It is done in a beautiful art deco style, with gold foil printing, and a sort of faux marble print--it compliments the endpapers of Drawing Room Deceptions quite nicely. Although made of cardboard, it's really of a very heavy stock and about the size of a cigar box--really, really impressive. The lid fits snugly in the top. As it's lifted there is a signature card glued to the bottom of the lid. (Reading it made me laugh). Guy's signature appears as well as the number of the particular copy. (BTW, if D and D are shipping the numbered copies in order, they have sold at least about half the run--less the reserve copies [if any]).
-The small book that holds the DVD's themselves is a weak point for me. To me, the idea container must be durable to protect the DVD's, yet still allow me easy access to the DVD's without potentially damaging the discs. I actually found it somewhat difficult to remove these DVD's as they are slid into heavy cardboard sleeves that do not flex at all. The discs fit into tight fitting recesses and you sort of have to pry them out of there at an angle while pulling. This puts a fair bit of stress on the discs, and I don't like doing that. The bookcase is beautiful bound book device, but it falls short from a utilitarian point of view. I ended up sticking my discs in paper sleeves (which thankfully, can still fit in the box with the rest of the stuff.
-I can't comment on the included deck of cards, as I'm leaving mine sealed. The ribbons to help get the contents of the box out of their little cubbyholes are a nice touch.
-I realize that the elegance of the packaging is but an afterthought (and perhaps a waste of money) to some; however, knowing Guy’s style and sensibilities, this is really the only way the material deserves to be presented in my opinion. I know it's an added expense, but I think it would have been a real shame to have released this material in a run-of-the-mill plastic case.

Contents:
Here's the nitty gritty. Each of the original videos has one DVD devoted to them.
-The first two discs contain the full content of the original 2 videos; however, they are NOT broken out into chapters in a submenu, which would have made the reprint much more useful. That said, if you are watching it on a computer, it's a simple matter to jump from trick to trick using the software; however, a formal menu would have been a lot better for learning.
-The first two videos do not appear to have been remastered. You can see a tracking line at the bottom of "The London Collection" for instance. "Routines" is in full color and the footage is much clearer and has less artifacts. The sound is mono on "The London Collection" and 2 channel stereo on "Routines". Although the old footage is perfectly serviceable, cleaned up, upcoded HD versions would have been nice.
-The first two discs have further commentary on the effects presented as a separate chapter item. In it, Guy gives a brief introduction in the style of the original video and a bit of background. He then shows updated handlings, applications, and ideas on many of the various routines. The footage is clean, although the sound leaves a bit to be desired, especially on the second disc.
-One thing should be noted about the commentary. It was filmed over a number of years. The original tapes are about 20 years old. In some cases, the commentary is about half that old. He discusses all of the tricks from "The London Collection", but not all of the routines on "Routines". He more than makes up for this with a very detailed discussion of "A Gambling Routine" (including thorough demonstrations of the sleights involved). There are also two routines in this section that did not appear in the original tapes--the last of which (which I think is unpublished) just destroyed me. Finally, both commentary sections also include video explanations of some of Guy's favorite routines from his book and lecture notes.
-I'll leave a detailed review of the tricks and sleights themselves to the experts. I'll only say that they're uniformly brilliant, and serious card guys will have a ball discovering or rediscovering them. It's enlightening to see how Guy refined the original routines, and there are lots of improvements worth incorporating/exploring.
-I saved my comments on the 3rd disc for last because it's the one disc that does not contain the original video. Indeed, disc 3 is an all new instructional video on "The Reformation" (thus, allowing Guy to keep his original promise--something he briefly discusses in the Introduction). It's miles ahead of the original video in detail, presentation, and clarity of instruction, even though the choice of lighting was a bit dark. Despite owning one of the original 100 copies of the VCR tape, I am really happy to see this. The explanation, while separated into chapters on the disc, is again sans menu for those chapters--just like the first two discs. I still wish they had included this to make learning easier.
- The rest of Disc 3 contains a fun interview with Guy on a variety of subjects including the development of this project, his creative process, and his current interests. (I've got to meet him one day--he seems like a cool person just to talk to!). The section called "The Interval" is a wordless video compilation of the sleights described in the book chapter of that name in "Drawing Room Deceptions". For me, this feature was a revelation, as I've always had a Cliff Green-like skepticism about some of the sleights in this section of the book. Not only can those sleights be done, but they can be done quite deceptively. “A Trick with Psychology” is an excellent version of an Andrew Wimhurst routine that I’d rather not mention. Guy’s performance in the 1994 Isle of Man Close-Up Competition follows. It’s a blast from the past, and I enjoyed looking at it and comparing it to his performance style today to see the evolution. (Still, I reckon he would have won the recent IBM/SAM competition with that act). Derren Brown’s parody of “The London Collection” closes out the disc—it’ll make a lot more sense after Disc 1.
-It is true that the majority of the material on these discs has seen print before in Guy's book and his other publications. However, some are explained on video here for the first time, and as noted above, further clarifications and extensions are present as well. Even being familiar with the written descriptions, I got a lot out of the videos, and I was quite happy to note several terrific routines I had overlooked previously.

Summary:
So, here’s what you get: All of the original video material—all cards, all practical, and lots of stuff you might want to use. A brand new performance and explanation of “The Reformation”. More recent commentary that meaningfully expands and explains the material as well as the video debuts of some other great routines. A boatload of extras. Unique deck of cards. All wrapped up in a top quality, professional kit that oozes panache.

Should you buy it?

How would I know (if I don’t know you personally)?

However, I can try to make a few suggestions. Please take them with a grain of salt.

-If you like easy magic that you want to be able perform with little practice, look elsewhere. This stuff is geared at the intermediate to advanced level.
-If you hate cards, see above.
-If you love cards and have (or want to have) some chops, go for it. These routines are devastating in the right hands, and the degree of thought incorporated into them will educate and inspire you. I just love learning magic where I spontaneously say to myself “That’s cool!” as I’m learning. These routines will do that over and over to you.
-If you want to finally learn “The Reformation”, this is the place. I suppose you could wait until people start dumping the original VCR tape on ebay, but I think you’d be short changing yourself and making the learning process more difficult.
-If you are unfamiliar with Guy Hollingworth’s material, I would strongly advise getting his book first. It’s easily available and cheap at the price. If you like the book, I predict you’ll like the videos—and vice versa.
-If you just want to enjoy hours of performance of strong magic by one of the best cardmen in the world, I think you’ll like the set.
-If you prefer to learn by reading and normally eschew videos, you could certainly justify that stance with regards to this product, since it does not contain a bunch of unpublished material. However, you'd have to seek out several disparate sources for all of the old stuff, and you'd miss out on the new handlings and extras as well. Plus, there's something to be said about seeing print routines brought to life by their creator.
-Finally, if you own the original tapes, should you buy? For me, that’s a definite “Yes!” for all of the reasons cited above. The extra material is well worth it to me as these days, I love to learn small touches to make what I already do better. These DVD’s are a goldmine for that sort of thing.

Considering the high quality of the material, the rich packaging, and the sheer enjoyment of viewing the set and working through the material, I think it’s a bargain even at the high asking price.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship, financial or otherwise, with anyone who was involved in this project. (I've never even met any of them). I'm just a serious amateur magician who loves performing card magic.

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Addendum: there is a sound sync issue on my copy of Disc 1 in the commentary section for the cannibal card routine--Thanks to Dustin for this information; A D and D rep emailed me that they are working on a fix as of this date). I will report back when this gets remedied.
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Addendum 2 (January 29, 2015): Dan and Dave Industries sent an email today with a link/password for the corrected video footage. Text follows:

We are very sorry for the delay getting the replacement discs out. For the time being, please see the link below for the complete footage of The Easy Way Home, without the audio sync errors currently present on Volume 1. As soon as the replacement discs are ready, you will receive one in the mail.
---------------------
Addendum 3 (February 4, 2015): Dan and Dave Industries responded in this thread via Elliott Terral: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=45194&start=120#p308641

Purchasers who want a replacement disc and the link/password for the corrected video footage need to:

"Forward your order confirmation to contact@dananddave.com and request a disc and the link. Please don't share the link amongst fellow magicians, not because we don't want it getting out, but because we would rather be able to speak with them directly to make note that they need a replacement disc."

If you have any questions, please contact Elliott Terral directly at jet@dananddave.com
---------------------
Addendum 4 (May 12, 2015): Dan and Dave Industries Customer Service contacted me and stated that replacement discs should ship by next week.
---------------------
Addendum 5 (May 23, 2015): Replacement disc received. The sync issue noted above has been fixed.
Last edited by erdnasephile on June 1st, 2015, 11:45 pm, edited 31 times in total.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby mrgoat » September 3rd, 2014, 7:04 pm

Thanks for such a detailed and excellent review. Top marks.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby MManchester » September 3rd, 2014, 7:32 pm

I would have loved to see a more personal photograph of the collection in your home, either a general display or of you handling the items. This shows the item as we might see it rather than embedding a generic staged photo.

I think that's the appeal of unboxing videos; how does an item look to the average person. There was obviously so much effort put into the review that this is a small detail, but it would have been the cherry on the top.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby erdnasephile » September 3rd, 2014, 8:01 pm

Your wish is my command. :D

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Roger M. » September 3rd, 2014, 8:32 pm

Best review I've read in a very long while.

Thanks for taking the time, and for the details.

I was really looking forward to receiving this before I read your review, even more so after reading it.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby MManchester » September 3rd, 2014, 9:59 pm

Your wish is my command.


Perfect. Cherry in the middle is just as good....Oh wait, I mean...
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby erdnasephile » September 4th, 2014, 6:01 am

Appreciate the kind words, guys--thanks!

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 4th, 2014, 11:12 am

Nice review has convinced me that I can find better ways to spend $150.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 15th, 2014, 2:25 pm

Thanks for the great review: has anyone else received their copy and have anything to add? (Yeah, we know Chris that you won't be buying it. ZZZZzzzz.)

I can assure you that every single item in Cliff Green's book Professional Card Magic can be done deceptively, because I can do it.

That is not to say that there aren't problems with some of the descriptions: General Delivery and Flight of the Blues both have textual issues, or mistakes, that make learning them very difficult if not impossible. However, I have (with the assistance of Howie Schwarzman and Dr. Victor Sendax) managed to piece together the original methods.

All to come in a new book.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby mrgoat » September 15th, 2014, 4:27 pm

The sync issues being reported seem more than disappointing when forking out that sort of money.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Dustin Stinett » September 15th, 2014, 5:49 pm

I address the sync issue in my review that will appear in the October issue of Genii. But I will tell you the bottom line here: do not let that dissuade you from buying the set.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Max Maven » September 15th, 2014, 8:41 pm

mrgoat wrote:The sync issues being reported seem more than disappointing when forking out that sort of money.


Comments such as this always seem to imply that the producers (in this case, the Buck twins) are "trying to get away with something."

No one wants to put out a bad product. (Yes, I've seen the thread on this forum about The Cramp; my assertion still stands.)

Technical glitches happen. In the review itself, erdnasephile reports that he has heard directly from the D&D group, who have said that the problem is being fixed. That means that the producers have been alerted about this unintentional flaw, and are working to correct it, which by extension I take to mean that they will be providing replacement discs to the purchasers.

What the hell more do you want?

And don't tell me that for such a high price you want perfection. Don't we all... But technical errors have crept into Hollywood films with seven-figure budgets. Dare I say, there have probably been glitches in some of the websites you have set up.

So, Damian, as you Brits so quaintly put it, stop whinging.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby GlennWest » September 16th, 2014, 12:57 pm

Max Maven wrote:So, Damian, as you Brits so quaintly put it, stop whinging.


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whinge

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby billmccloskey » September 16th, 2014, 1:20 pm

"And don't tell me that for such a high price you want perfection. Don't we all... But technical errors have crept into Hollywood films with seven-figure budgets. Dare I say, there have probably been glitches in some of the websites you have set up.

So, Damian, as you Brits so quaintly put it, stop whinging."

With all due respect to Mr. Maven:

glitches in movies and websites do not normally cost the consumer $150. I think anyone dropping that kind of dough has earned $150 worth of right to whing all he wants. While it may not dissuade me to purchase, it will certainly dissuade me from being in a hurry to purchase until all the bugs are worked out.

Let me know when the 2.1 version comes out.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby GlennWest » September 16th, 2014, 1:54 pm

billmccloskey wrote:I think anyone dropping that kind of dough has earned $150 worth of right to whing all he wants.


Has the whinger in question dropped the dough?

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 2:15 pm

Kudos to Dustin for his very complete review in Genii. He did a great job of clarifying what is being offered above and beyond the two older vhs tapes.

I would ask his take on the following bits from the review posted in this thread.

-The first two discs contain the full content of the original 2 videos; however, they are NOT broken out into chapters in a submenu, which would have made the reprint much more useful. That said, if you are watching it on a computer, it's a simple matter to jump from trick to trick using the software; however, a formal menu would have been a lot better for learning.

-The first two videos do not appear to have been remastered. You can see a tracking line at the bottom of "The London Collection" for instance. "Routines" is in full color and the footage is much clearer and has less artifacts. The sound is mono on "The London Collection" and 2 channel stereo on "Routines". Although the old footage is perfectly serviceable, cleaned up, upcoded HD versions would have been nice.


Do you think it's unreasonable to expect that greater effort had been made to clean up (or split into chapters) the original VHS material? I tend to watch stuff like this on my big screen TV, so lack of chapters for the digitally converted VHS material would be pretty annoying to me.

I applaud the writer of the review (from this thread)for pointing out the broken sound as I think it's only fair for a potential purchaser to know they're probably going to have to wait (or potentially jump through some hoops) to get a fixed copy. I experienced something similar when the "Back to the Future" trilogy was released on DVD. One of the DVDs was badly mastered, so the reviews were very helpful in letting me know to hold off on the purchase until fixed copies were in the retail channel.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 16th, 2014, 2:42 pm

David Lynch doesn't allow the use of chapter markers on the DVDs or blu-rays of his films. Artistic choice.

I really don't know what Guy's position on that issue is, but considering that your DVD player will allow you to fast forward at 2x, 4x, 8x, and 16x, then it doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 3:01 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:David Lynch doesn't allow the use of chapter markers on the DVDs or blu-rays of his films. Artistic choice.

I'd say most magic learning DVDs provide easy navigation via menus/chapters, so I don't think it's an unrealistic expectation. And it's not like the producers eschewed using menus/navigation elsewhere on the set.

I've seen the two vhs tapes in question and I think there would be real benefit from having some proper menus/navigation.

I really don't know what Guy's position on that issue is, but considering that your DVD player will allow you to fast forward at 2x, 4x, 8x, and 16x, then it doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother you.

Being required to fumble though the contents of a dvd (especially an educational dvd) in that manner strikes me as a real pain in the ass. Though perhaps I'm alone in feeling that way

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby billmccloskey » September 16th, 2014, 3:03 pm

there is another reason I don't own any David Lynch dvd's. :)

Personally no chapter markers would be a huge negative for me. Every magic dvd I buy, I burn to my harddrive, chapter by chapter, so I can play them through my appletv and on my ipad where I can study a particular section over and over again. It wouldn't have been too hard to add chapter markers.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Dustin Stinett » September 16th, 2014, 3:24 pm

Thanks for the comments Chris. And thank Richard for (1) giving me space in Joe Turner's month and (2) allowing me the amount of words I felt was necessary to review this product. He gave me more than he originally agreed to. Something had to "give" for that to happen. But it is obvious that Richard, like me, believes that this is not the usual DVD release.

So that goes toward answering your question.

In my original draft I did mention that I would have liked chapter breaks in the original video. But I had to cut back on some stuff and that was one of them. (15 words here, 15 words there, it all adds up to quite a few words!)

I honestly did not notice a track line on the TV that I watch DVDs on, which is in my library and is an OLD 22-inch number. (For the record, my son is now on his second HD flat screen TV in the time since I took this old job from him when he got his first flat screen, so this is a reliable old workhorse; knock wood.)

I was not at all concerned about any re-mastering of the original video. What I saw didn't bother me. Now this could be a product of the old TV that I use. Do the New HD TVs (which I do not own—even my "main" TV is an old picture tube model) make these imperfections stand out?

As for the sound sync issues. I have heard—second hand—two opposing comments from the producers as to what will be done. So I will not comment on hearsay. I do hope that they make it right and send buyers a corrected disc. But that is a hope, not a demand.

My review covers my feelings about it. I'm just glad that the issue was in the explanation part, and not the performance. That performance of Cannibal Cards is the funniest I have ever seen and I have watched it six times and counting. It makes me laugh every time. Best part of the whole set if you ask me.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 3:43 pm

Thanks for the clarification(s) Dustin. For the sake of those who purchased the set, I hope the producers provide actual corrected DVDs and don't fall back on correcting the issue via online downloads/streaming or something like a .pdf write up.

From your review, I'm a bit dissapointed that there doesn't seem to be much additonal work on "The Reformation" (a trick which I love, have spent much time trying to work up, but which I also recognize has some real issues.) The newer stuff on video (Interval, 3 Card monte) sounds really interesting, but not enough to tip me into the "buyer" column.

I strongly doubt it'll happen, but if the producers were ever tempted to package up the addtional materials as a standalone package (without the fancy box, custom cards, certificate of authenticity, etc.) at a more consumer friendly (i.e. non-collector) price point, I'd be pretty interested in that.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 16th, 2014, 4:10 pm

Chris, I think certain products deserve as many fancy extras as you can throw at them, and Guy's DVDs are one of them. He's a classy guy, who does classy magic, and his DVD set should have a classy presentation.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby AJM » September 16th, 2014, 4:26 pm

I've received my set although I've been unable to view the content as yet.

While a lot of good work has obviously gone into the packaging/presentation of the set, I would be disappointed to learn that the same level of care had not been applied to the content - particularly with regard to the sound issues and the lack of chapter breaks, which in my view are fundamental requirements.

Cheers

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 4:42 pm

Richard Kaufman wrote:Chris, I think certain products deserve as many fancy extras as you can throw at them, and Guy's DVDs are one of them. He's a classy guy, who does classy magic, and his DVD set should have a classy presentation.

Collectors want collectibles. And this boxed set seems squarely aimed at that demographic. I get that.

I would opine that Guy's previous releases haven't required a fancy box, custom deck, cert. of authenticity, etc. for his stellar material to be recognized as classy. I suspect there are students of guy's work who might want to enjoy/learn/use the material without need for all the classy (and pricey) non-essentials.

Book publishers smartly offer mass market editions of their "limited deluxe slipcased, etc." editions. I suspect a similar strategy might not be a bad idea for this particular "deluxe dvd edition boxed set", but I'm not exactly holding my breath... :ugeek:
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 4:42 pm

AJM wrote:I've received my set although I've been unable to view the content as yet.

While a lot of good work has obviously gone into the packaging/presentation of the set, I would be disappointed to learn that the same level of care had not been applied to the content - particularly with regard to the sound issues and the lack of chapter breaks, which in my view are fundamental requirements.

Cheers

Andrew


+1

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Bill Mullins » September 16th, 2014, 5:13 pm

GlennWest wrote:Has the whinger in question dropped the dough?


Dustin -- can you change Damian's forum username to "whinger in question"?

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Bill Mullins » September 16th, 2014, 5:20 pm

Chris Aguilar wrote:Book publishers smartly offer mass market editions of their "limited deluxe slipcased, etc." editions. I suspect a similar strategy might not be a bad idea for this particular "deluxe dvd edition boxed set", but I'm not exactly holding my breath... :ugeek:


I dunno, a book can last hundreds of years. Does anyone reasonably expect that we'll be doing anything with DVDs 20 years from now (other than marvelling at the old-timey ways we used to watch video)? That being the case, DVDs don't seem to be a product that lend themselves to being made into collector editions. I'm sure there were some VHS tapes that were gussied up into special edition/collector packages -- but did they survive as such? Are there any that have any collector value today?

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 5:56 pm

Good point Bill. I've always found fancy boxed versions (of which there are many for movie and TV show dvds) kind of strange. But collectors will (evidently) buy just about anything at any price as long as it comes in a pretty box or with some extra toys or is in some way "limited".

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 16th, 2014, 6:00 pm

In fact there were collectors' editions of some very fancy LASER disc sets (talk about an outdated technology). I have several of these, which are in beautiful large boxes, with great printed extras, and SIGNED BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE FILM. The best one is The Day the Earth Stood Still signed by Robert Wise. Limited, numbered.

Yes, I can play the disc, but it doesn't look like spit compared to the DVD (forget about the blu-ray).

And it also has no value, despite the signature.

But it's awfully pretty to look at.

And to address the issue of how the discs look on Dustin's old CRT style TV, they probably look much better than on a modern flat hi-def TV because they aren't being upscaled for the hi-def equipment. Since CRT's overscan the image, Dustin would not have seen the white line someone stated is visible at the edge of the video.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 16th, 2014, 6:28 pm

While I don't own any, I recall that there were even very ornate (expensive) vhs special editions.


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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 16th, 2014, 7:26 pm

Cool special edition of the Alien movies! But I was already watching laser discs by then. :D
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby billmccloskey » September 16th, 2014, 7:32 pm

For some reason I'm reminded of the Silicon Graphics O2 Computer that is sitting gathering dust in a storage shed in my yard. At the time, I paid $10k for it. Now? Perhaps there are old CPU collectors who would want it but I have no idea who they are. But I hate to part with it.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby JimW » September 17th, 2014, 12:19 pm

All three DVDs have chapter breaks. They are not listed on the menu, but if you play the main video you can skip ahead to the next section/trick by hitting the "Next" (>>) button on your remote. It's an extra step, but not as inconvenient has having to fast forward to the section you want to see.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby erdnasephile » September 17th, 2014, 2:47 pm

JimW wrote:All three DVDs have chapter breaks. They are not listed on the menu, but if you play the main video you can skip ahead to the next section/trick by hitting the "Next" (>>) button on your remote. It's an extra step, but not as inconvenient has having to fast forward to the section you want to see.


Jim: Yes, you're quite correct: that's what I meant (but was unclear) when I said you could jump from trick to trick using the software. I agree, it is more convenient than FF, but I think it would have been more optimal to have breaks at all the explanations as well instead of just at the start of each trick. A menu would have been nice too. :D

CLARIFICATION: The original footage of "The London Collection" has breaks at the performances AND the explanations. (The performances are all shown first serially. They are followed by all of the explanations.) "Routines" has breaks at start of the performances only. (The performance of each trick is immediately followed by it's corresponding explanation.)
Last edited by erdnasephile on September 17th, 2014, 5:52 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 17th, 2014, 3:27 pm

Hm, so an owner of these dvds who desires to view a specific trick explanation would have to repeatedly click "Next" to get to the desired effect and then grope around for the actual explanation via fast forwarding. Still sounds like a major pain in the ass to me.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Bill Marquardt » September 17th, 2014, 4:21 pm

I do not own this set and likely will not. I did buy a copy of Guy's book, Drawing Room Deceptions based on the recommendation of a couple of people here, and I am quite happy with that. While I understand the idea of collecting such items as this DVD collection, I really do have a hard time learning routines from video.

As a few have mentioned, it is just too difficult to isolate a particular trick on a DVD if there are no chapters. It is easy to use a book to review a specific move. If DVDs are produced with the true intention of teaching the material, they should have a chapter available from a menu for each trick. Not a difficult thing to produce.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Roger M. » September 17th, 2014, 6:43 pm

These DVD's are brilliant, and the moving around to view various effects is painless.

Some may continue to find fault with the menu access, but in reality - if you're learning from a DVD these days, you're sitting at your computer and a couple of mouse clicks is all it takes. If you're learning a single effect, you can loop the section you are working on and never even have to put down the deck of cards.
It's more physical work drinking your coffee and scanning the news on your computer in the morning than it is to make your way around these DVD's.

The issue of the out of sync audio is disappointing indeed (despite Max stating we had no right to be disappointed)

And I've not seen noted anywhere the concept that there will presumably be 1000 "slightly flawed", but annotated Disc #1's of The London Collection floating around now (because the discs have presumably been replaced), and that some of those discs will no doubt show up on ebay for sale for a "reduced price", something which can't help but diminish the overall value and rarity of what was an expensive boxed set limited to 1000 pieces in total.
..........only now it's 1000 in total, EXCEPT for disc #1 which is suddenly 2000 in total.

Enough with negative stuff though, even though the negative is worthy of note, and has been noted.

The new commentary at least equals the original discs in length, and in some cases exceeds it.
Taking the original discs as a benchmark, this new boxed set is equivalent to 6 DVD's worth of material.

Overall an excellent purchase, and only disappointing in that the Bucks haven't made clear exactly what they're going to do for customers to fix the audio sync issue.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 17th, 2014, 7:33 pm

I have neither seen nor heard any information about a replacement disc 1 being provided.

Most major (that is, real world) DVD producers require you to mail back defective discs before being sent the corrected copies. They provide a UPS pickup label for the purpose. (I just went through this with the complete set of The Fugitive, which had ... I think ... five defective discs.)

Roger M. is correct: if (and there is still no indication that this is going to happen) a corrected disc is going to be sent to all those who purchased the set, then some will keep both discs--because any sets sold after that point will not include the defective DVD thus making it a collectible--but others will see a quick way to make a buck and sell the defective disc via various outlets. It would not illegal to sell it.

Since we don't know how many sets have been sold (and you can't judge by the number on your set if you just received it yesterday because it's more likely than not that they are being sold out of order) it's impossible to say how many errant copies of the first DVD will make their way onto the marketplace.

But will it make a difference? Aren't the discs going to be on torrent sites anyway? Aren't bootleg copies going to be sold on eBay anyway?

Time will tell.
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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Max Maven » September 17th, 2014, 8:17 pm

Roger M. wrote: The issue of the out of sync audio is disappointing indeed (despite Max stating we had no right to be disappointed).


I never questioned anyone's right to be disappointed. In fact, I don't think that idea had ever even occurred to me before you made your assertion.

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Re: One Man's View of The Hollingworth Collection

Postby Chris Aguilar » September 17th, 2014, 9:19 pm

Roger M. wrote:
Some may continue to find fault with the menu access, but in reality - if you're learning from a DVD these days, you're sitting at your computer...

Well, no, I'm not.

I don't care to watch DVDs on my computer, strongly preferring to view them on my large screen TV. As such, having proper menus/navigation is pretty important to me.


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