Review of David Dickinson: Cheap As Chips

Introduction

Antiques and television have traditionally meant one thing - The Antiques Roadshow. Ancient and crusty presenters frighten the life out of members of the general public by telling them that the piece of tat that they found in granny`s old wardrobe is in fact a Stradivarius violin worth millions of pounds, or that the piece of cloth they use to line the dog`s basket is in fact the Turin shroud. Cue heart attack and/or swift phonecall to the insurance company to up the contents insurance on the house.

This has been standard Sunday evening TV for most of my lifetime, and for a while before that I`m sure. But daytime TV has stolen most of its thunder with Bargain Hunt, presented by the master of mahogany skin, David Dickinson. Two teams go round an antiques fair armed with 200 quid and buy things. They sell them in an auction and either lose about 150 quid, break even or maybe make about 50 quid.

The popularity of the show has made Dickinson a bit of a celebrity at the moment, so what better time to cash in with a DVD? This doesn`t feature any footage from Bargain Hunt, but instead features interviews with relevant people in the trade as well as Dickinson giving us his guide to auctions and picking up bargains.

Video

A standard full-frame transfer brings us David Dickinson in all his orange glory. Is it mahogany, creosote or just stewed tea? You too can decide what colour his skin really is.

You also get to see some antiques.

Audio

A standard DD2.0 stereo soundtrack. You can hear everything that`s said and that`s about it really!

Features

You get extended versions of interviews from the main feature (yawn) and the "interactive auction game", which consists of 2 video clips. You are shown information about an antique, you then guess how much it sold for. You then see the answer. This can be played with just 2 antiques, so lasts all of a few minutes.

Conclusion

Yet another Xmas cash-in. I can`t really see the point of this DVD. You don`t need stunning image quality for a programme about buying antiques. You don`t need 6 channels of digital surround sound. Do you really need the improved scene/chapter access of DVD? Not really.

So why put this out on DVD in the first place? The content is perfectly suited to VHS (again the title is available cheaper in that format). It just seems to be a waste of everybody`s time putting this on DVD. Why do I have to keep saying this?

If you`ve ever watched Bargain Hunt then you`ll be aware of most of the content of the DVD, even though there`s no footage from that show. 50 minutes of uninteresting content like "be nice to someone you`re buying something from and they might give you a discount", with an RRP of £19.99 - you must be joking!

If you want to buy this title (and I can`t think why you would want to since it has very little purpose), I`d suggest that you buy it on VHS instead and save a few pounds.