Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mike_Richardson 
It's a big disappointment to see them jack up the prices after last year where it seemed they floated the idea of a subscription service or something that would cut the price tag for repeat buyers. Now they plaster REMASTERED on top of certain titles as if it justifies charging $25 or $30. Meanwhile Insiders aren't seeing nearly the discounts from a year ago on "non-remastered titles" and to me there's a huge difference between paying $13 and $19 for the product they are offering.
I really expected them to make the pricing more competitive a year in for their program and instead it's gone the other way.
A shame.
It's also surprising, when you consider it's Warners, the company that spent the last decade trying to sell themselves as God's gift to the classic movie fan. How about living up to some of that old PR and making the Archive affordable to most fans? Add more value paks or introduce a bulk discount. It's not surprising to see other companies abandon their classic fan base, but it is surprising to see Warners do it, since they spent so much time and PR trying to convince folks they care.
My problem with all the MOD programs is that they seem so cold, like such a slap in the face to longtime classic movie DVD buyers. After a decade, they'll finally offer a copy of the film you've been waiting for all this time, a copy that hasn't been restored or remasted, rather taken from a 1980s transfer, and they'll put it barebones, at triple the price, on a format that's inferior to their retail DVDs. You'd think they'd make some concession to the fans by lowering the price for these, but no. If they want to maintain the price level, then how about improving the quality of these discs? We saw Warners try to do that by remastering a few of their releases. But then Warners actually raised the prices for these, as if a remastering was something special, and not something that should have been expected on all these titles to begin with. Again, it just feels so cold.
What it all boils down to is price vs. quality. Keep the price, then raise the quality; bring everything up to retail standards. Keep the sub-retail quality, then lower the price. To me, that's reasonable and fair. So far, most of these MOD programs don't seem to be either.
