Site created 12/15/97.	page created: 3/9/06 Greetings, one and all, and welcome to The 7th Annual Digital Bits Bitsy Awards! We might have been here a bit sooner this year but, of course, Doogan doesn't roll on Shabbos. It's been a strange and exciting year for the little round digital medium that could. In some ways, it felt like the calm before the storm that will be Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Sure, DVD has now infiltrated every corner of the movie-going experience. Not only has it become the home video format of choice, rendering VHS just three more letters of the alphabet, for many it has become the motion picture format of choice, period. The theatrical box office slump that worried so many in Hollywood this past year has been blamed, at least in some part, on the often-superior viewing experience provided by DVD. Even so, that didn't necessarily mean that business was booming in the DVD world. Now that DVD has become the standard, sales predictably levelled off. Where years past saw DVD sales going up and up, this year they simply held steady. For some studios, this meant taking a wait-and-see attitude and hoping that the next new format(s) on the block would come along sooner rather than later, pushing those sales up once again. It seems pretty clear by now that UMD for PSP isn't going to attract much more than a niche market. So that leaves the dueling banjos of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray Disc to take center stage and sweep the world off its digital feet, right? Well, not so fast. DVD is still a force to be reckoned with and the best releases of 2005 showed just how great the format can be. It was an excellent year for classic movies on disc, as you'll see in the pages ahead. Despite the ever-shrinking window between theatrical and DVD release, several new movies managed to impress us both with outstanding picture and sound as well as, in some cases, well-produced extras. Even the dreaded double-dip, special editions of already released movies, brought out some innovative and entertaining work that justified going back to the well. Sometimes. Not always. Sometimes you eat the bar... sometimes the bar eats you. Anyway, mix yourself a White Russian, and sit back and enjoy as we present the Achievers of the Year. It's time for... The Big Lebitsy: The 7th Annual Digital Bits Bitsy Awards! Bill Hunt, Todd Doogan and Adam Jahnke (your ever humble hosts)* The Digital Bits *with special contributions by Barrie Maxwell, Matt Rowe of MusicTAP, and Gord Lacey and Dave Lambert of TVShowsonDVD.com. Editors' Top 10 Choices Outstanding Achievements in DVD for 2005 Other DVD Awards for 2005
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