Trying to build a good tennis DVD library...

[Robert_in_LA]

I'm want to start building my own tennis DVD library, which would include, obviously, classic and famous matches. I want to start slow, maybe five or six DVDs, and build from there.

Obviously, I'm going to start with those classis Borg-McEnroe Wimbledon matches from the early '80s. Mac is my favorite all-time player, so that's a no-brainer. I also want to get some McEnore-Connors matches from the U.S. Open. Also, I here Agassi-Rafter from Wimbledon 2000 is a classic match.

So, what are your opinions for what I should start with? What are the definitive, must-own matches for any respectable tennis DVD library?

Also, how good are the DVDs found on TW? Tennis-Replay has plenty of stuff, too, but how good are their DVDs? Anyone order from them? Thanks in advance for the advice...

 

[MaximRecoil]

The 1984 French Open final between McEnroe and Lendl is an awesome match.

Also, how good are the DVDs found on TW? Tennis-Replay has plenty of stuff, too, but how good are their DVDs? Anyone order from them?

I would expect the quality of the DVD's on TW to be good, considering they are official DVD's. The selection doesn't seem to be great though.

I ordered the 1984 French Open final from www.replay-tennis-dvds.com because it was the only place I could find it. The quality wasn't great. It was a VHS recording that had been transferred to DVD, with some ghosting going on due to less-than-perfect reception from whoever recorded it originally off the air. Also, most of the 4th set is a different broadcast of the same event spliced in, with French language commentary. The splicing is seamless, and the picture quality is a bit better (still VHS though), but the colors are worse (far too saturated) and the French language commentary really sucks if you don't speak French. It switches back to the U.S. broadcast near the end of the 4th set or the beginning of the 5th set.

Despite that, it was still great to see that match again, as it was the first tennis match I ever watched on TV when I was a kid. I watched it live on a small B&W TV with my older brother at my grandfather's house when I was 9 years old.

 

[kalic]

Do you try some net downloads, torrents etc...? I try to find some matches from '90s.

 

[Robert_in_LA]

I ordered the 1984 French Open final from www.replay-tennis-dvds.com because it was the only place I could find it. The quality wasn't great. It was a VHS recording that had been transferred to DVD, with some ghosting going on due to less-than-perfect reception from whoever recorded it originally off the air. Also, most of the 4th set is a different broadcast of the same event spliced in, with French language commentary. The splicing is seamless, and the picture quality is a bit better (still VHS though), but the colors are worse (far too saturated) and the French language commentary really sucks if you don't speak French. It switches back to the U.S. broadcast near the end of the 4th set or the beginning of the 5th set.

Thanks for the info regarding replay-tennis... Did you order any other matches from them? Was the quality any better? Thanks...

 

[MaximRecoil]

Thanks for the info regarding replay-tennis... Did you order any other matches from them? Was the quality any better? Thanks...

No, just that one. I would expect most any unofficial DVD of a match that took place before home digital recording became common, to be slightly below VHS quality at best (I say "slightly below" because there is a certain amount of unavoidable loss when transferring an analog format such as VHS to a digital format such as MPEG-2 [DVD]).

In any event, it beats "YouTube quality" by a mile -- at least you can see and follow the ball.

 

[Robert_in_LA]

Do you try some net downloads, torrents etc...? I try to find some matches from '90s.

I haven't thought of this... The only downloading thing I use is LimeWire, but I mostly use it to find music. I haven't tried lookig for tennis stuff. Is there a lot out there? What other good programs are out there besides LimeWire? Thanks...

 

[Moose Malloy]

tennis dvds dot net has great selection, prices, etc. and quality is rated so you know before ordering what you are getting.

you should check out the book 'greatest matches of the 20th century' by steve flink, most of the recent matches listed in that book are available online.

these are must have's:

smith-nastase, '72 wimbledon

lendl-edberg, '85 australian

lendl-cash, '84 us open

mcenroe-connors, '84 us open

sampras-becker, '96 masters final

lendl-mac, '84 french(quality is great from tennis dvds)

mac-wilander, '85 us open

connors-krickstein, '91 us open

agassi-sampras, '00 australian

safin-federer, '05 australian

sampras-courier, '95 australian

nastase-ashe, '72 us open

laver-ashe, '69 wimbledon

connors-borg, '76 us open

 

[whatsgood4u]

the only tennis dvd i own is the fed pete match in 2001 wimbledon. aka. the passing of the torch

 

[NetMuncher]

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