Best-chaptered DVD's

[mercedes]

I think this is a great thread.

Wendy,
I was wondering if a suggestion to have a corner within Videofitness with the information on all the DVD's different chapters would be reasonable.

That way, anyone wanting to buy a specific DVD could check if the chaptering is good or not. I know of several DVDs that I have bought that have no chapters whatsoever - had I known this I would have probably not gone for them.

Also, it may also give an insight to future DVD producers of what it is that we are looking for in chaptering. No chapters is sometimes worse than VHS and to put a product out like that is probably not worth its cost.

I have several break-downs of chapters for several DVDs that I have been saving from posts. I can send that information in if need be.

Anyway, just a thought. If I need to submit this suggestion in another way, please let me know.

mercedes

[*pet*art*girl*]

Mercedes,
I second that idea! And I'll do everything I can to help. i can make a list of all the chapters of the DVD's I own (only 6 at the moment) but I'm willing to help however I can. that would be a great resource (and hopefully a *nudge* to some of our favorite exercise video producers who are still VHS holdouts).
Kathy

[ErinF]

Maybe when doing a review the chaptering could be included. After all, when it comes to DVDs, you can review not only the workout, but the features specific to DVD. It would be an important piece of information in making a decision about buying the DVD. That may be the appropriate place for it.

[*pet*art*girl*]

That works, too.

It would push me to write some reviews...
Kathy

[Linda B]

Mercedes- that is an awesome idea!!!

It would be useful to incorporate this information in regular reviews, but a separate section with only chaptering info would be very helpful. That way, we could look up the chapters more quickly, instead of wading through a bunch of reviews that not only might be for VHS but not have the info we need.

A whole list of chapter maps would come in very useful, not only for knowing which DVDs are well chaptered, but having all that info available for home programming use would be nice. Very few (maybe none) DVDs give a map, and so wach one of us needs to individually go through our DVDs and map them now. This would make that much easier.

Plus, I know that extensive work has been done by a few members here, and it would be nice to keep that in the archives.
I know I have seen Cathes DVDs (all of them), CIA chapters, FIRM Chapters, all chapterd by different people (at different times, and most likely some lost in the ether due to software changes). All this in one place would be very useful. Maybe a DVD section, including the DVD player information, since we have also noticed that some DVD players behave differently with different DVDs.

[Willow]

Another feature I would like to see is the chapter and title NUMBERS included in the DVD menu. This would make programming so much easier; at this point I have to go through the DVD chapter by chapter and write down the numbers for reference when I program my w/o. Even better would be a printed "menu" included with the DVD.

I'm still waiting on the stack of DVDs I've ordered, but for now can comment on two Kathy Smith DVDs:

Lift Weights to Lose Weight. This one is chaptered only by workout (upper body, lower body). There is also a bonus abs & back section, a section where Kathy talks about improving posture, and Kathy's bio. Only 5 or 6 chapters, no title separations, which would be nice to have between each exercise (so I could skip the triceps dips, for example).

Kickboxing Workout. This is the antithesis of LWtLW! It is chaptered verrry well, but title separations border on insane! The main workout has title separations as short as 5 seconds!! It's as though someone kept falling asleep with their finger on the "insert title" button. A lot of the divisions occur in the middle of a combo, so are totally not intuitive. I found this annoying yesterday -- I wanted to program some cardio bursts to intersperse with my other DVD, and had to add a ton of titles to the list. Still, the chaptering is excellent, so as long as you want to do an entire section, this won't annoy you.

I would also love to see a section on VF for DVD descriptions and breakdowns!

Willow

[*pet*art*girl*]

Hey Willow, I want this DVD but I am wondering -I read somewhere that the 'bonus' workout on this DVD is not really a bonus workout and that it is essentially the exact same complete workout as on the VHS. Can you please clarify exactly what is included in the DVD?
THANKS!!!
Kathy

[Janet K.]

I thought the idea of having a separate area containing info about DVD chapters and special features was actually brought up by Wendy at one point. I think it's a terrific idea. Granted, some of this info could be included in reviews, but it might be frustrating to wade through reviews to find, or not find, the info you're interested in. Also, many DVDs contain multiple workouts, so I'm not sure how the info would be included. People probably wouldn't want to search through reviews of all Cathe's CTX videos, for example, to find info on the CTX DVD chapters.

I think it would be very valuable information to have access to, and would be happy to contribute.

Janet

[MsChana]

I have 33 DVD's. I'll start compiling chapter lists this week. The one I did today:

Kathy Smith TimeSaver Cardio Fat Burner

#1 - advice/intro - 3:30
#2 - Workout #1 - 20:00
#3 - Workout #2 - 20:00
#4 - Cooldown stretch - 8:30
#5 - Bonus section: "Fat Free Snack Myth" - 3:00

It would have been tough to screw up the chaptering on something with only 3 logical, separate sections (they're also divided by a screen announcing what's next). Times are to the nearest 30 seconds.

[Willow]

Originally posted by kathy weller
Hey Willow, I want this DVD but I am wondering -I read somewhere that the 'bonus' workout on this DVD is not really a bonus workout and that it is essentially the exact same complete workout as on the VHS. Can you please clarify exactly what is included in the DVD?
THANKS!!!
Kathy

You heard right. There are not 3 separate workouts on this DVD.

From the main menu, you can select the following: Introduction, Kickboxing Basic Workout (says 45 minutes, is actually 50), Kickboxing Challenge Workout (says 55 minutes, but is actually 63), Tai Chi Energizer Workout (12 minutes), Customize Your Workout, Learn the Moves, Bonus Features, Audio Options.

Introduction. Kathy blabs.

Kickboxing Basic Workout. Warmup (10 mins), kickboxing workout (25 mins), buns & thighs kicking drills (5 mins), cool down stretch (3 mins), abs and back strengthening (5 mins). All seen on the VHS.

Kickboxing Challenge Workout. This has the same warmup (10 mins) and kickboxing workout (25 mins). Tacked on are the (same as above) buns & thigh kicking drills (5 mins), kickboxing stances demo'd by Keith alone (7 mins), a short "challenge" burst which is 3 or 4 combos with Keith only (5 mins), the same cool down stretch (3 mins), and abs and back strengthening (5 mins). Total time is just over 1:03. I took the video out of the library a while back, and IIRC, all that is new here are the 2 sections with Keith alone. (Frankly, the order of these is stupid -- the drills and stances are not aerobic at all, and are then followed with a cardio burst.) Also, the "basic" version of the kickboxing workout shows the name of each move briefly as it is introduced, while the "challenge" version doesn't.

Tai Chi Energizer Workout. I don't think this is on the VHS, so may be considered a bonus. It's actually divided into 2 sections. The first is called "Tai chi deep stretch". Keli demos alone for 6 minutes. Next is the "Tai chi energizer" with Keith (6 mins).

Customize Your Workout. This takes you to a new screen where you can select all of the individual components listed above.

Learn the Moves. This is the tutorial seen on the videotape. You can switch between front and side angle views. This one is divided by titles between each move.

Bonus Features. Yawn. "Behind the Scenes with Kathy and Keith" is 10 minutes of them yacking. There is also a library with clips of Cathy's vids, and Kathy's and Keith's bios.

Audio Options. You can pick music only, instruction only, or both. Spanish and English.

Overall, I would say I am very impressed with this disc, but thus far have only the other Kathy DVD to compare to. My main complaint, as I mentioned before, is the sometimes random insertion of titles in the main workout. I wasn't disappointed by the missing "extra" workout because I didn't read the case when I bought it, so I wasn't expecting one!

HTH, Willow