By Theoden K. Janes
Washington Post Staff Writer

Jodie Foster watched Contact with me on one recent Saturday, and I could barely get a word in edgewise. My DVD player wouldn't let me.

Foster, who portrays astronomer Ellie Arroway in the film, provides one of this DVD's three feature-length commentaries on alternate audio tracks. Extras like these turn watching a movie at home into a multidimensional experience – one that doesn't end when the credits roll – and make the differences between the VHS and DVD treatments of the same movie glaringly obvious.

Viewers who access Foster's audio track can hear the actor discuss her character's development, the difficulty of working on the special effects-heavy project (often acting opposite sounds and images that weren't really there) and provide a comment that, in retrospect, seems a little double-edged. "I have to say President Clinton is a wonderful actor," Foster remarks during a scene into which Clinton was digitally superimposed.

There's more: A scene-access option allows users to instantly call up any of 43 "chapters," production notes explain the transformation of Carl Sagan's novel to the silver screen and a computer-animation feature explains how the opening sequence came to be. Audio is available in English and French and subtitles offered include English, French and Spanish. There are even two theatrical trailers.

Long one of DVD's most ardent supporters, Warner Home Video has produced several inspired "special editions," including Contact, Devil's Advocate and L.A. Confidential. On the latter, there's an interactive map tour, "The L.A. of L.A. Confidential." By selecting the desired locale with the remote, viewers get a live-action sequence with a voiceover that provides information on 16 different locations in the movie.

You'll also get added value from MGM, New Line Home Video and Universal Home Video's Collector's Edition titles. Universal's Psycho package comes with a 94-minute documentary, "The Making of Psycho," and "Newsreel Footage: The Release of Psycho," outlining Alfred Hitchcock's marketing ploy that forbade patrons from entering the theater after the movie began. New Line Home Video's The Wedding Singer comes with a karaoke feature and music trivia.

And this doesn't come at the high cost of laserdisc, the former format of choice for videophiles: Best Buy and Target have advertised players for $299, while the discs average $20 to $25.

On the other hand, there's no lack of uninspired, no-value-added DVD releases. The $30 discs that Buena Vista Home Entertainment, the video distribution arm of Walt Disney Pictures, puts out are particularly disappointing, considering that extra cost.

I've viewed eight of its titles, including Con Air, Judge Dredd and The Rock. All have theatrical trailers. Seven have Dolby Digital sound. Six offer French-language tracks (Flubber has a Spanish-language track). Four offer Spanish subtitles. That's it – no Nicolas Cage interviews, no outtakes, no nothing. Trailers and multiple languages are nice, but they don't make me reach for my wallet.

That brings up the biggest obstacle to DVD's success – the movie studios themselves. DVD's picture and audio quality are astounding, but consider this: You can't get either Titanic or the Star Wars trilogy in DVD. Why neither Paramount nor Fox, the last major studios to support the platform, has announced plans to release these movies is baffling. (Paramount's first, Titanic-less wave of titles hits stores Oct. 6; Fox's Star Wars-deprived releases follow on Nov. 3.)

For another thing, many people don't own 27-inch-plus televisions and can't afford $2,000 for Dolby Digital home-theater setups that can pipe surround sound to six speakers encircling a couch. Without that hardware, a lot of the audio and video superiority of the format goes to waste.

So for now, what may be the biggest draw for film collectors are quality extra features that can only be done on DVD. After all, if you can't push a button on your remote control to hear an erudite Sylvester Stallone cutting through that clever subtext in Judge Dredd, how will you be able to sleep at night?