Difference Between Warner Blu-Ray VS Warner Archive Blu-Ray (1 Viewer)

[Rick Thompson]

These days if by chance I'm going to be passing by a BB in town (ie. driving on the same road segment), I'll first check their online listings to see whether the nearby stores have anything I want. About 95% of the time, stuff I might be interested in, is generally not carried at all at the nearby stores.

No point anymore in even dropping by to see what's on the shelves. Not even the dump bins.

I rarely go into Best Buy any more, unless it's for something I absolutely must have that day. There are two reasons:

1. They rarely carry what I'm looking for (their range of products, even outside pre-recorded media, isn't what it used to be), and even when they do, I'm picky on brands. I use only Verbatim media, as all the professionals I know use it, and that's good enough for me. Forget about Memorex and the assorted others; I've had enough experience with coasters. I've also had enough of H-P computers, which are really good at not lasting very long.

2. Their prices. The fact is, Best Buy usually isn't.

Online, usually Amazon, means I get the quality I want at a price that beats the bejesus out of Best Buy. Add in that they deliver to my door, why would I go to Best Buy unless I have to kill time while my wife is in Joanne Fabric or Michael's?

 

[Brandon Conway]

First patch* or all of them? That's good news if true.(*Meaning that with Archive DVDs, the first patch can be "pressed" but after that they're DVD-Rs)

All. BD-Rs are simply not viable.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Even some releases which should be on two discs are crammed onto one, like Adult Swim / Cartoon Network titles, which have issues with compression.

Warner only distributes for Turner titles (similar to HBO and BBC). (Note that this is not the same thing as the Turner feature film catalog, which is owned now by WB).

 

[atfree]

For me, there's no difference. The respective outputs of either WHV or Warner Archive in terms of catalog releases is abyssmal.

For example, WB has rights to the films of Errol Flynn, arguably their biggest star from the mid-to-late 30's to the early 40's. And we have exactly one of his biggest hits on BD ("The Adventures of Robin Hood"). I would love to know why, in the 8th year of BD, we don't have:

Captain Blood
The Charge of the Light Brigade
The Prince and the Pauper
Four's a Crowd
The Dawn Patrol
Dodge City
The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
Virginia City
The Sea Hawk
Santa Fe Trail (available in a dodgy BD release from a public domain print)
Footsteps in the Dark
Dive Bomber
They Died with Their Boots On
Desperate Journey
Gentleman Jim
Edge of Darkness
Northern Pursuit
Uncertain Glory
Objective, Burma

The DVD's of most of these were very good (some great) so the transfers are probably in good shape. I'd take all of these, day one purchases, from either WHV or Warner Archive on BD. This one is a real sore spot with me.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I love Errol Flynn as well, but I imagine they have sales data of those DVDs backing their decisions up. Also, some of the Technicolor ones would need to be redone for the alignment issues.

 

[bruceames]

The fact that BD-R is not viable really puts the hurt on future releases, as DVD-R has made thousands of DVD movies available that never otherwise would have been viable via DVD-rom. It's really a big negative on the format. I understand that bad film elements on many older movies also make it unattractive for many to get a release, regardless of medium, but if BD-R were available then it would make a huge difference.