Fireplace DVD | Fireplace XXL | 2 DVDs Set with Double Extra Long Fires with Burning Wood Sounds

When my wife and I lived in the Midwest, we used the real fireplace in our home almost every day and night from November through March. I loved to sit in our family room with the lights dimmed, late at night after my wife had gone to bed, watching the colors of the dancing flames and listening to the popping and crackling sounds of the firewood as it burned behind the fireplace screen. Nothing was more relaxing. Then my work caused us to move to the deep South, where fireplaces are most often purely decorative, especially in the beautiful, old, stately, antebellum homes that are plentiful there. A number of our homes there had multiple fireplaces, but none of them were working fireplaces, and even if they had worked, you might only light a fire 5 to 10 times a year, because the temperature is so much warmer in the deep South. When I started to see "burning fireplace" DVDs being sold, I decided to try one to see if I could find my "long-lost friend and late-night confidant and problem-solver". I purchased a number of "fireplace DVDs", but none of them brought me the satisfaction I had enjoyed with my Midwest fireplace.Then I saw "Fireplace XXL", The Ambient Collection, on Amazon.com. It's product description and customer reviews sounded like it corrected the problems I had experienced with the other "fireplace DVDs" I had purchased previously. So I ordered "Fireplace XXL" from Amazon.com. It arrived very quickly (thank you Amazon Prime), the day before my wife and I were having a Christmas open house for her co-workers. Normally I would have put five music CDs in our player, hit the "play" button and turned my A/V system's amp down to provide background music for the party. This time, I loaded the "Fireplace XXL" DVD in the player, hit the "play" button and selected "fireplace sounds and music" on the DVD menu and adjusted the sound on my TV speakers. As our guests arrived and gathered in our family room, they all were drawn to the fire in the fireplace on my TV screen. As more guests arrived, more and more people gathered around our "fireplace". They all said it looked so realistic and had all of the positive aspects of a fireplace without the unwanted extra heat. One guest said to me as she was leaving, "I know your fireplace isn't real and is just a movie on your TV. But I held my hand in front of the screen, and felt a feeling of warmth coming from the fireplace. It was so nice." I gave her the name of the DVD, "Fireplace XXL" and said she can order it on Amazon.com. I didn't tell her that the warmth she felt was from the TV screen and would have been there even if a program about Antarctica's harsh weather had been playing.Later that night, after all the guests had gone and the clean-up was done, I finally had a chance to watch "Fireplace XXL" myself, and I have to say, I was blown away by "Fireplace XXL's" realism. The High Definition camera beautifully captures all of the sights and sounds of the fire in the fireplace, from its gentle start-up, through its growth to a roaring inferno, and finally to its peaceful conclusion. You get the popping and cracking sounds and the "shooting star" embers that accompany the popping sounds. The tops of most of the flames, other than when the fire is at its roaring, maximum size, are visible, not cropped off because the camera is too close to the fire or the video shot at the wrong angle. Having two DVDs, with a total of four fireplace scenes, with each scene having it's own music that goes very well with it's fireplace scene, allows you to match your preferred fireplace scene, with or without it's background music track, to your mood or your situation. Combining the features and flexibility of "Fireplace XXL" with most flat-screen TV's ability to change the picture size and picture mode, "Fireplace XXL" can almost make you forget it is a DVD on your TV, not a real fireplace. I'm going to try burning a stick of a woody/smokey-scented incense and putting a small ceramic heater near my recliner the next time I watch "Fireplace XXL", to add my olfactory and tactile senses to my auditory and optic senses currently being stimulated, and see if I can finally have "a real wood-burning fireplace", without having to clean and carry out a coal bucket full of ashes after the fire has burned itself out. "Fireplace XXL" is absolutely THE BEST, the most realistic, fireplace DVD in the market today.

We are very happy with this one! The video quality is MUCH better than expected - dare I say perfect! This purchase was intended to upgrade an older fireplace DVD. I had intended to buy a Blu-ray but nervously settled for a DVD after not finding what I wanted in BD format. My requirements were simple; realistic, super clear picture and looping. In this two disc set, there is a total of two different fires. One DVD disc is of a split log fire and the other disc is of a round log fire - we have no preferences as they're both great and filmed/treated in the same style. Each disc has one 60 minute fire - you have the choice of viewing in a 60 min. standard(normal) view OR a 60 min. zoomed in view of the same fire. These are classic looking indoor fires, that fill the TV screen perfectly and are realistic and believable. These DO NOT look like fake natural gas aided fires. The fire DOES fit your modern TV screen perfectly. (If you want silly looking fires w/ pebbles or Christmas stockings or ultra modern hearths or a zillion useless options, look elsewhere.) And the picture is CRYSTAL CLEAR, even on our 82 inch TV! Originally, we really wanted a BD to help insure that perfect clarity but I can't imagine a better picture than what we now have with this new set. Each fire loops continuously so each 60 minute fire could(will) play automatically for hours if you wish. Soundwise, there are two options: perfect natural fire sounds(crackling) OR depressing piano music that's sort of Claire de Lune'ish...Note: Apparently, there is also a play-all menu option to watch the 60 min. standard view automatically followed by the 60 min. zoomed in view - not sure if this also continuously loops or is just a way to watch 120 min. total, but we didn't care for that option - the transition of going from normal view to close-up is weird...Btw, Netflix has a decent FREE long fireplace video(s) available to stream that has a much better picture than our original fireplace DVD. These have natural sound OR a Christmas music option. But it doesn't compare to our new Fireplace XXL set. I'm guessing that this perfect picture quality is hard to fit on just one disc, hence the two discs. And don't let the fact that this set really only contains two different fires, stop you from buying this. You get what you pay for and this will be the only fireplace DVD you'll ever want. Very happy.UPDATE: Netflix recently added two additional hour long fireplaces videos that are "4K" w/ natural sound! They are very very good and look awfully similar to these Fireplace XXL 4K DVDs...Hmm... I'll have to watch again but might these be one in the same? My advice, unless this is intended to be a gift, I would recommend trying the free ones 1st on Netflix, the only downside I see is not having the looping option or just knowing you'll always have that fire video when you want it. I say that because anyone familiar w/ Netflix streaming, knows Netflix doesn't keep titles very long in their streaming "library" BUT I will say that they have managed to keep some fire videos for a few years in a row now...

The fireplaces were unexceptional. One of the four isn’t even full screen. The crackling wood sounds were hyper and not relaxing. I have a different video at half the price that is more soothing in sound and a full screen fireplace. The packing is nice and the general presentation is very professional but I think the point of why someone buys these video was missed.

Lovely DVD, hearing the flames crackling was so nice. Just right for relaxation, I could even imagine I was feeling warmer! Great that you have a choice of fires to choose from.

I cannot get the dvd to play.i have tried everything

My first purchase of anything like this. It is fabulous. If I like it now in summer, how much more will I like it in winter? Very pleased.

We were going away for the New Year and wouldn't have a real fire where we were staying so I bought this DVD and it was fantastic - it made the room feel warm and welcoming. Wonderful quality and a real feel good factor.

Given as house "warming" present!