[David Coleman]

I'm starting this thread cause i'm interested if some of the views I have are shared by others. Let me say that nearly all studios put out great product nowadays and the concerns they have towards restoration of older material is commendable! However much I may want to cheer on behalf a studio there's seems to be a policy (or seeming policy) that defies convention. Well here's a few of my thoughts:

WARNER:

Hands down the best video transfers, I haven't seen a bad one of theirs in years including older catalog titles. However the bad is the Snappers (only studio doing them) almost stubborn refusal to use DTS (other than Morgan Creek releases outside the test discs) and why do they still do 384kbs DD when the standard is 448kbs?? These things confound me??

ARTISAN

T2 EE. This studio has pushed the barrier once more on DVD. First with RSDL, the first DVD-18, and their special editions are high quality. If it's not a SE it sucks-- BIG TIME!! Even RESEVOIR DOGS isn't exempt!!

UNIVERSAL:

The held such promise to me with the ULTIMATE EDITION series (Film on one disc/ Special Features on the other) but now it seems they CRAM everything on one disc!! Also their transfers while generally good lack consistency. Please help me if there are any other 2 disc sets (outside RED DRAGONC) outside the ULTIMATE EDITION banner.

FOX:

I'm sorry but right now I can't really think of a complaint. Their video quality is up there (though not at the level of a Warner) and this studio I dare say is the most consumer friendly studio out there!! They offer it all!! Multi disc sets for appropriate films. DTS as an option on films that merit them. Real special features! Restorations of important older films. They may have some caveats but I haven't noticed them lately. Pricing they are also great at too!!! The best value of all studios!!

MGM:

Much improved and love the latest Bond package. They've gone from awful to pretty good!! Their pricing is fantastic. I'm surprised by how many of their titles i've got and that's mostly cause the price is right. However, their barebones titles are really bare. No effort to upgrade the sound formats to 5.1 (not that they all need them) and little restoration efforts on the older titles that I can tell. However, long way from where they used to be!

PARAMOUNT:

Improving!!

They've had mostly top notch transfers and to their credit they've almost always tried to remix to 5.1 when possible along with giving the original sound mix on most titles. When it comes to this studio it's always the same thing!! Value!!!

Pricing is still to high for catalog releases and they come with NO extras for the most part. Now they have been dropping some of their titles to competitive levels lately but still that lack of extras is bothering. Also the fact that multi disc sets don't seem to exist (only one's I can think of are Star Treks and Forrest Gump) help me out if there's other titles

COLUMBIA/TRISTAR

I guess this is my most frustrating studio!! I love the SUPERBIT line and though the premium on them isn't really worth it I appreciate they have a line that's on par with Warner! However it irks me that they know how to produce a beter product- yet they don't do it!! They hold back quality to produce a lesser quality product to the public, then sell them the quality they should have had from the beginning and charge a premium for it!! As we all know SB is simply more than doubling the data rate, it's eliminating the level of pre-filtering of the high frequency material before encoding!! If that didn't do this on the initial releases and offered the quality first and the extras next they'd be competitive with everyone's quality!! They also are shy on the multi disc releases!!

NEWLINE:

No complaints here!! They and FOX put out the best product appropriate for each title! Newline doesn't compromise the quality but always has top flight extras for the consumers and the pricing is right!!

BUENA VISTA:

Inconsistent!!!

This studio has released some stellar releases (Pearl Harbor: VS, TARZAN: Collector's series, PLATNINUM EDITION releases,) yet they still release garbage looking transfers on the older material and aren't even consistent in them being anamorphic. They also seem to be shying away from the extras!! However they have had some stellar releases at times and do offer the option of DTS.

Well theses are just a few of my thoughts! I'm really interested to hear yours???

David

[Dan Shogren]

Those are all valid points, but to me it seems like almost all the studios are losing their grips on high quality dvd production. There seems to be a declining number of multi disk sets being released, and more flippers.

[Dan Rudolph]

Dan, what are you talking about? The only flipper I know of in the last year is Dances With Wolves. And we seem to be getting as many 2-disc sets as ever. Not everything used to be like Fight Club.

[Jon Robertson]

Warner and Disney's "nothing above an R" ratings policy means we don't get uncut versions of Scream, The Devils, Eyes Wide Shut, etc.

Almightily irritating.

[Mark_vdH]

Of all the big stuios, only Paramount chooses to subtitle the extras (except trailers) for the deaf and hearing impaired.

When the market was still "smaller" it may have been a valid excuse, but now there's really no excuse anymore for Warner or Fox not to subtitle all material on their dvd's.

The strange thing with Warner is, that a few months ago I bought the UK copy of Amadeus as a gift for someone (I have the R1) and I noticed the documentary on disc 2 did feature English subtitles.

[Andrew Chong]

I don't know if it is policy to do this, but Disney subsidiary Dimension has yet to, near as I can tell, release a movie in their Jet Li Collection with original sound and language. All of those I've seen have been English-dubbed.

Granted, other Disney-related releases including the recent Miyazaki anime features provided an option for original language, what about live action features such as the aforementioned?

Apart from all of their excellent work, Fox, again unsure if it is policy, chose to English-dub fight choreographer Corey Yuen on the Kiss of the Dragon disc in the supplementary features.

The manner by which Warner handled fight choreographer Yuen Woo Ping's dialogue on their The Matrix Revisited disc was far better, nay, correct (Woo Ping's original voice provided with English subtitles).

[Christian Preischl]

IMO Paramount's pricing policy has improved drastically as far as their movie-only editions are concerned.
Columbia, however, leaves a lot to be desired in that respect. Their 2 disc prices are okay, but movie-only releases with an SRP of 24.99 is just ridiculous these days.

Chris

[Rob Lutter]

Pioneer and ADV's constant mucking with the original kanji titles on anime productions. It really messes with the composition of the opening credits. Other companies like Bandai, TRSI, Buena Vista HV and even Funimation have given consumers the original credits or an alternate angle with the original credits.

Something that companies have improved-upon are hard-subtitles (non-removable) for theme songs and signs... which are now all-but-extinct.

[David Forbes]

I hate it that all studios don't put a naked Monica Belucci in EVERY movie being made.

[Adam Lenhardt]

Quote:

Hands down the best video transfers, I haven't seen a bad one of theirs in years including older catalog titles. However the bad is the Snappers (only studio doing them) almost stubborn refusal to use DTS (other than Morgan Creek releases outside the test discs) and why do they still do 384kbs DD when the standard is 448kbs?? These things confound me??

I wonder... perhaps the lack of DTS and the low-bitrate Dolby is the reason their transfers are so damn good? If so, I'd gladly give up the difference in SQ.

[Malcolm R]

FOX:

I'm sorry but right now I can't really think of a complaint.

There've been plenty of complaints about Fox TV box sets, especially The X-Files (price, the "Triangle" fiasco), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (packaging, scratched discs, poor video quality, wrong music, wrong flags for some players), and Family Guy (censored commentaries).

Most of the movies have been fine, other than the continued presence of a non-anamorphic The Abyss and their total cave-in to the full-screen sect with reissues such as The Sound of Music proudly displaying "no black bars!" stickers.