Sony Archive MOD - Page 3

A hilarious 1967 comedy called WHO'S MINDING THE MINT is now the title I most desire from Sony - hopefully it will show up in this series.

NO GREATER GLORY caught my eye, because I thought there was a possibility it would be paired with the more renowned A MAN'S CASTLE in a small upcoming Borzage collector set.  It seems I should expect A MAN'S CASTLE to be released in this MOD line as well.

THE VICTORS  ( uncut version) I hope will see the light of MOD

PEPE   ...a guilty pleasure of mine

THE GO BETWEEN   ( it's available on Blu Ray in Europe)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WANDA JUNE

THE MAN FROM THE DINERS CLUB

LET NO MAN WRITE MY EPITAPH

SAIL A CROOKED SHIP

TWO RODE TOGETHER

INTERLUDE

X,Y AND ZEE

THE HIRELING

 Here's hoping.....

I'm hoping for a release of THE GOOD HUMOR MAN, written by Frank Tashlin and starring Jack Carson, Lola Albright and George "Superman" Reeves as a bad guy eventually brought to justice by the kids in the neighborhood Captain Marvel Fan Club. Some great stuntwork and cartoon-like gags. I'm also hoping for a release of Red Skelton's FULLER BRUSH MAN and Lucille Ball's FULLER BRUSH GIRL as well.

And hopefully we'll see a release of the Charley Chase, Andy Clyde and Harry Langdon Columbia shorts.

I'm hoping for some serials - about time the Colpix ones gets some respect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatthewA 

I imagine Arthur Miller's estate might disagree with you. Was it him who kept that film out of circulation for years?

Not exactly. Sony lost the rights to DEATH OF A SALESMAN when it was remade for TV with Dustin Hoffman a number of years back. Not sure who owns them now.

Mike S.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson 

The point is you're not only paying for the film, but paying for THE SERVICE - to get what you want from the available films ON DEMAND, Made to Order. This is the point most people fail to see.

 

It's custom, and you're paying for the custom service. People need to accept the fact the pricing isn't going to come down much on MOD. It's the nature of the beast.

 

I don't really buy that argument. There's no special custom "service" being provided in my opinion. I'm sure they don't burn the discs individually, one by one, as the orders come in. They run them off in batches and sell them to anyone who orders. When stock gets low they run another batch.  It's really no different than with pressed DVDs, except the batches are smaller and the process is cheaper for them. The reduced costs should justify a lower price than what they have.

As to the Sony program, I may want a few. But I think I'll wait to see if DeepDiscount.com keeps their current lowest pricing, then discounts from that price by 25% during their next sale, presumably in November. Getting them for $13.40, with no tax or shipping, would be more agreeable.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson 

The point is you're not only paying for the film, but paying for THE SERVICE - to get what you want from the available films ON DEMAND, Made to Order. This is the point most people fail to see.

 

It's custom, and you're paying for the custom service. People need to accept the fact the pricing isn't going to come down much on MOD. It's the nature of the beast.

 

Actually, the opposite is true; the production cost associated with MOD discs is substantially lower than it is for pressed discs and indeed this was one of the arguments forwarded for the creation of MOD.

The cost savings are enormous for the studio; they don't have to pay a factory to make the things, there are no minimum duplication run requirements so there's no risk of being left with a pile unsold if the market researchers got things wrong, they don't have to be shipped out to third party stores who take their slice out of the profit, etc. Not to mention if the Warner model is followed, there is very little being spent on restoration or extras either.

These MOD programs are an absolute gift to the studios as they would be to any business. They are selling something that costs very little to produce at a very high price and can do so because they have a virtual monopoly on the market.

It's hardly suprising that everyone is jumping onto the MOD bandwagon, and it has much less to do with making rare films available to the fans than it does with making a nice fat profit by flogging something with a minimal outlay at a premium price. They're probably cursing the fact they didn't come up with this little wheeze years ago. Think of all those titles they put out on standard discs they could have produced for half the money and sold for twice as much!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebiroth 

 

Actually, the opposite is true; the production cost associated with MOD discs is substantially lower than it is for pressed discs and indeed this was one of the arguments forwarded for the creation of MOD.

 

The cost savings are enormous for the studio; they don't have to pay a factory to make the things, there are no minimum duplication run requirements so there's no risk of being left with a pile unsold if the market researchers got things wrong, they don't have to be shipped out to third party stores who take their slice out of the profit, etc. Not to mention if the Warner model is followed, there is very little being spent on restoration or extras either.

 

These MOD programs are an absolute gift to the studios as they would be to any business. They are selling something that costs very little to produce at a very high price and can do so because they have a virtual monopoly on the market.

 

It's hardly suprising that everyone is jumping onto the MOD bandwagon, and it has much less to do with making rare films available to the fans than it does with making a nice fat profit by flogging something with a minimal outlay at a premium price. They're probably cursing the fact they didn't come up with this little wheeze years ago. Think of all those titles they put out on standard discs they could have produced for half the money and sold for twice as much!

 

Plus the fact that you could pick up a lot of pressed discs made by Warners, Sony etc., for a fraction of their retail prices probably also was a deciding factor in the studios going down this route. If only a few customers order the MOD they don't lose out on pressing discs that they are stuck with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by westumulka 

Plus the fact that you could pick up a lot of pressed discs made by Warners, Sony etc., for a fraction of their retail prices probably also was a deciding factor in the studios going down this route. If only a few customers order the MOD they don't lose out on pressing discs that they are stuck with.

Yes, that's what I meant by a monopoly on the market and not having to worry about minimum duplication runs.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebiroth 

 

Actually, the opposite is true; the production cost associated with MOD discs is substantially lower than it is for pressed discs and indeed this was one of the arguments forwarded for the creation of MOD.

 

The cost savings are enormous for the studio; they don't have to pay a factory to make the things, there are no minimum duplication run requirements so there's no risk of being left with a pile unsold if the market researchers got things wrong, they don't have to be shipped out to third party stores who take their slice out of the profit, etc. Not to mention if the Warner model is followed, there is very little being spent on restoration or extras either.

 

These MOD programs are an absolute gift to the studios as they would be to any business. They are selling something that costs very little to produce at a very high price and can do so because they have a virtual monopoly on the market.

 

It's hardly suprising that everyone is jumping onto the MOD bandwagon, and it has much less to do with making rare films available to the fans than it does with making a nice fat profit by flogging something with a minimal outlay at a premium price. They're probably cursing the fact they didn't come up with this little wheeze years ago. Think of all those titles they put out on standard discs they could have produced for half the money and sold for twice as much!

 

Yes, their costs to produce these are cheaper than pressed DVDs, but the point I was trying to make was that as this is promoted as a "service" and therefor, can charge more for less.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by GlennH 

 

 

I don't really buy that argument. There's no special custom "service" being provided in my opinion. I'm sure they don't burn the discs individually, one by one, as the orders come in. They run them off in batches and sell them to anyone who orders. When stock gets low they run another batch.  It's really no different than with pressed DVDs, except the batches are smaller and the process is cheaper for them. The reduced costs should justify a lower price than what they have.

 

As to the Sony program, I may want a few. But I think I'll wait to see if DeepDiscount.com keeps their current lowest pricing, then discounts from that price by 25% during their next sale, presumably in November. Getting them for $13.40, with no tax or shipping, would be more agreeable.
 

It's highly unlikely they'd keep even a small on-hand inventory on every title as that defeats the whole purpose of setting up MOD. No on hand inventory,prepared to fill one-on-one orders.

Do they possibly take the orders and do them in "daily groups" in the event they need to run off more than one copy of a title that day - that's likely, but each order is prepared to order - and it is a service,and promoted as such. Perhaps someone might enlighten us to how they do it.

As I said in a previous post - they can charge whatever they want - Not only for the service, but the value of the content.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson 

 

It's highly unlikely they'd keep even a small on-hand inventory on every title as that defeats the whole purpose of setting up MOD. No on hand inventory,prepared to fill one-on-one orders.

 

Do they possibly take the orders and do them in "daily groups" in the event they need to run off more than one copy of a title that day - that's likely, but each order is prepared to order - and it is a service,and promoted as such. Perhaps someone might enlighten us to how they do it.

 

As I said in a previous post - they can charge whatever they want - Not only for the service, but the value of the content.

Absolutely. Sony were one of the last studios who released some great boxed sets on pressed discs during the past year (the William Castle, Film Noir collections to name but two)... but the retail price for these was quite high. I know I certainly didn't buy any of these for their original suggested prices. Now that they've gone for MOD it doesn't matter at all if I don't buy the title, because they won't make any discs (dvd-r or otherwise) until someone does!

In the good old days of pressed discs when a new boxed set came out you knew that at some stage in the future it would come down in price... now with MOD there's no longer that guarantee.

I still keep an eye out on the sites (Warner Archives in particular) for any 'special' discounts that do occasionally come along... however with the overseas market (UK and Australia in particular) still using pressed discs as the norm I am tending to order more from those markets... with the exception of Shout Factory whose 'Shout Select' titles (which are on pressed discs) are great!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeWilson 

 

It's highly unlikely they'd keep even a small on-hand inventory on every title as that defeats the whole purpose of setting up MOD. No on hand inventory,prepared to fill one-on-one orders.

 

Do they possibly take the orders and do them in "daily groups" in the event they need to run off more than one copy of a title that day - that's likely, but each order is prepared to order - and it is a service,and promoted as such. Perhaps someone might enlighten us to how they do it.

 

As I said in a previous post - they can charge whatever they want - Not only for the service, but the value of the content.

After over a year of sale numbers, I would expect Warner Archive to actually run off a set number of the newly announced titles every week to help with any demand.  While it is more than likely less than the number they anticipate selling, it would seem like a good idea.  I have found that when I order from the new titles, they are mailed out quicker than when I order a title that has been out for at time. 

Sony has the rights to entire Columbia and UPA animated cartoon library (Fox and Crow, Mr. Magoo, Gerald McBoing-Boing, et al.), the majority of which were restored and remastered for television syndication years ago.

I would love to see Sony tackle those in their MOD program, since the best masters are already restored, and the overhead for those would be even less than the films they're doing new transfers for.

I'd like to see "Neighbors" with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd come out as part of this program.  I'm pretty sure this is the only shot this movie has for being released.

"they can charge whatever they want - Not only for the service, but the value of the content."

They can, they are and if you are buying they are setting the value of the content by that demand. If the public is willing to accept less quality (and less service - check warners' track record with mod, although it has improved) the bigwigs are happy to oblige. That the customer is settling for less at a cost of more isn't their concern.

This is slightly off-topic, but relevant to this thread in that I'm glad Sony has seen the error of their ways and is now giving us programming in its proper ratio and anamorphically enhanced. Here's my story... today I received from Amazon a Sony pressed-disc of "They Came to Cordura." I ordered it because it was on sale and I've been wanting the movie for a long time. When it was released on DVD in 2004 it was a flipper with the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen on one side and a panned-and-scanned version on the other. Guess what I received? A single-sided panned-and-scanned only disc! What is worse the packaging still says that both 2.35:1 and 1.33:1 are included, so poor Amazon has no idea that Sony has dumped the WS side! Needless to say, it's getting returned so fast Amazon doesn't know what hit them.

So my plea is to Sony, get rid of all the full-frame only pressed discs and bring them all out in MOD in glorious anamorphic widescreen.

I wouldn't mind if they offered all of their OOP pressed DVDs as MOD DVDs in the Screen Classics by Request program. It would prevent the trouble of tracking them down and paying outrageous prices on the secondary market. The Swimmer, Fat City, Bonjour Tristesse, California Split, etc.

Marcel do you have a phone number for SONY CLASSICS? I reside in the UK have an american address and shipper and I need to call them The automated software by directto you.com debited my card twice and yet said couldnt process my transaction due to card address not matching my US address. I would be most grateful as no phone number on their site thanks bruce

Me? Sorry, don't have any phone numbers from Sony.

Ok not to worry. Its a bit silly they list one can call them but dont provide a phone number!

This program gives me hope that I may soon own these 3 of the remaining 6 titles on my DVD wishlist (written in 1997):

• Yor: The Hunter From The Future
• The Hellstrom Chronicles
• Warlords Of Atlantis

Quote:

Originally Posted by CULTMAN1 

Marcel do you have a phone number for SONY CLASSICS? I reside in the UK have an american address and shipper and I need to call them The automated software by directto you.com debited my card twice and yet said couldnt process my transaction due to card address not matching my US address. I would be most grateful as no phone number on their site thanks bruce

Some sites that only ship to domestic addresses will accept payment from any credit card (for example, Best Buy only ship within the USA, but people in other countries can still buy stuff on their site and have it sent to a US address, allowing them for example to buy gifts for their American friends). HOWEVER it is not unusual for other sites to reject cards that have non-US billing addresses, or even (though this is more unusual) to insist that goods can only be sent to the billing address and nowhere else. Evidently that is what is happening here.

The solution is simple: order what you want from DeepDiscount - they accept orders from outside the USA and will ship to same with no problem, and they carry all of the Sony MOD titles.

thanks for your informative reply. Unfortunately Deep Discount dont ship to business/forwarding addresses just domestic addresses. Critcs Choice look a better and safer bet!

Quote:

Originally Posted by CULTMAN1 

thanks for your informative reply. Unfortunately Deep Discount dont ship to business/forwarding addresses just domestic addresses. Critcs Choice look a better and safer bet!

Why don't you have them send the titles you want to your UK address? They do ship overseas.

i would do but their pp charges for overseas are very high. Also I am a specialist dealer for UK customers and need to protect my margins! I found out that Movies unlimited offer COLUMBIA CLASSICS and I know them well so although these wont be available till mid october they look like the best bet.

In my humble opinion, DD's shipping charges are much cheaper than the ones from Movies Unlimited, especially when you buy many titles. An order worth $ 100 (that equals approx. 5 MOD discs) costs $ 12,95 at DD. At Movies Unlimited you have to pay $ 26 to a foreign country, according to the shopping basket.

It's only cheaper when you order stuff worth more than $300, because DD changes to UPS then and you have to pay $ 99 flat.