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VOTE: Worst Studio/Distributor 2011 - Page 2  

Poll Results: Worst Studio/Distributor 2011

 
  • 24% (22)
    Echo Bridge
  • 4% (4)
    Lionsgate
  • 5% (5)
    MGM
  • 52% (47)
    Universal
  • 13% (12)
    CBS
90 Total Votes  
post #31 of 44
1/26/12 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveling Matt View Post

Warners. The downgrade to cheap DVD-Rs is inexcusable.
Huh? Warners has been doing their MOD thing for years now and so do many other studios.
post #32 of 44
1/27/12 at 11:45am
They started it all and have done nothing since to move back to pressed discs.
post #33 of 44
1/27/12 at 12:07pm
Why would they move back to pressed discs? The Archive seems to be doing fine without them.
post #34 of 44
1/27/12 at 7:21pm
The Warner Archive is a perfectly reasonable way of getting movies that we have 0 chance of getting otherwise.

I just got Youngblood Hawke last week, a film I remember running when it was new. Terrific transfer, really does the film more than justice. Can't imagine anyone thinking it is worth a standard release.

Warners doesn't have many titles left that are worth a standard DVD release. They are also doing just fine on getting Blu-rays of classic films shipped.

My only complaint is I wish they would focus on MOD Blu-rays. I gather that reasonable MOD technology for Blu-ray does not exist.
post #35 of 44
1/27/12 at 10:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rsmithjr View Post

The Warner Archive is a perfectly reasonable way of getting movies that we have 0 chance of getting otherwise.
I just got Youngblood Hawke last week, a film I remember running when it was new. Terrific transfer, really does the film more than justice. Can't imagine anyone thinking it is worth a standard release.
Warners doesn't have many titles left that are worth a standard DVD release. They are also doing just fine on getting Blu-rays of classic films shipped.
My only complaint is I wish they would focus on MOD Blu-rays. I gather that reasonable MOD technology for Blu-ray does not exist.



No, MOD Blu-ray is possible, but it is expensive, which would a.) eat profit and b.) make it harder for the casual to justify the expense. I think right now a studio like Warners is just trying desperately to get stuff out of their vault and out to people who want it. MOD Blu-ray I would suggest is still a good five years or so down the road and even then, a little more marked up than what we are currently seeing from Warners.

post #36 of 44
1/27/12 at 10:32pm
Not so sure that MOD Blu-ray is out of line. My son is a videographer and he works in HD and makes Blu-ray disks. The blanks cost about $2 each and burn in not that much longer than DVD's.

I understand that MOD equipment is different but it would seem to be in reach.

I would think that people who are interested enough in classics to go to places like Screen Archives or the Warner Archive would have Blu-ray and strongly prefer it. I understand that Screen Archive is going to focus on Blu-ray after a few experimental titles like The Egyptian.
post #37 of 44
1/28/12 at 8:49am
I'd just like to politely remind our friends on HTF that the MOD programs are fine for those living in America but they are very unfriendly for your fellow film-buffs in other parts of the world.

We only have access to them through their retail outlets, which always means a delay in release, and frequently means no availability at all. We don't get the benefit of any of the sales-offers. We have to pay shipping on top of the already high price and often have to pay additional costs for importation. This can literally double the cost for what's at-least perceived as a less-reliable product.

I completely see that the Archives were an ingenious solution to a downwards trend in catalogue-buying. I own a few of them myself, though not anywhere near as many as I did back in the halcyon days of the Warners Box Sets. But what was once a stop-gap seems to have become a firm business model. Nobody outside the US is going to be happy about that; neither would you be if the roles were reversed.

So bear in mind that when you advocate the likes of a Blu-ray MOD scheme, you're effectively talking about limiting access to everyone else.
post #38 of 44
1/28/12 at 9:25am



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by rsmithjr View Post

.
My only complaint is I wish they would focus on MOD Blu-rays. I gather that reasonable MOD technology for Blu-ray does not exist.



WAC has indicated on their Facebook page that they are indeed exploring the possibility of Blu-ray MOD titles. 

 

post #39 of 44
1/28/12 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Cashill View Post

Why would they move back to pressed discs? The Archive seems to be doing fine without them.

Of course, consumers have no other way of obtaining the films and have accepted the downgrade to DVD-R despite the drawbacks. Three years later and everyone's used to it.

An effort to move back to pressed discs for the most popular titles could add some credibility to the technical side of the program and allow more discriminating consumers to take chances on lesser known films.
post #40 of 44
1/28/12 at 4:04pm
"An effort to move back to pressed discs for the most popular titles could add some credibility to the technical side of the program and allow more discriminating consumers to take chances on lesser known films." There was talk of that, and perhaps some will go Blu, but I think the popularity of the program as is with discriminating cinephiles speaks to its credibility. (Consumers, discriminating or not, have historically shown little interest in catalog titles beyond the very top, and the stores that these discriminating consumers might shop in don't stock them or have vanished.) The few problems I've had--and I own dozens of these discs--have all been painlessly corrected. I see no difference between pressed discs and the high-quality DVD-Rs in use at this point and don't mourn the passing of the former from some distributors.
post #41 of 44
1/28/12 at 4:32pm
It seems likely to me that the downward trends in catalog sales have more to do with "catalog exhaustion" than anything else.
-- the studios had already published most of the titles that would have large enough sales to justify pressing and distribution
-- consumers had already bought what they wanted.
-- there is a large base of used copies in circulation, allowing consumers to buy used titles very reasonably.

MOD creates a whole new, and largely risk-free, method of distribution for the studios.

I also suspect that a number of titles have been restored because of MOD. Initially, Warners was just putting whatever transfer they had onto the MOD disks. Now, they seem to be doing a lot more restoration. The recent MOD titles I have bought from Warners and Sony have looked excellent (this last week: Youngblood Hawke and Paradise Lagoon, both of which I ran years ago).

I cannot imagine that either of these would be economically possible using the classic distribution model. We would simply have never had them at all.
post #42 of 44
1/29/12 at 12:21pm
Pressed discs are created by simply stamping information to a reflective foil. Burned discs are created by sloppily writing information to an additional dye layer. Some exclusive variables include the quality of the blanks (including dye grade), the quality of the software, the quality of the burner (including any firmware issues) and burn speed. Player incompatibility can also be common. They’re created, from start to finish, in a totally different way. And the passage of time does nothing to slim the differences. A perusal through the main Archive discussion thread in the DVD section of this very forum is proof positive of the difficulties with the inferior format.

However, I understand the realities of working under the conditions the Archive has set for itself. And I do appreciate that films are being restored when they would surely not be otherwise. Nevertheless, some Archive titles can certainly be deemed worthy of a pressed run (based, no doubt, on both popular opinion and DVD-R sales) and have yet to receive it.
post #43 of 44
1/29/12 at 2:11pm
MOD can be used as a "stalking horse" to test the viability of a title. While it hasn't been used directly yet, I suspect that indirectly it has been. Certainly Warners has restored films before MOD release based on the MOD popularity of similar titles and the expectation of sales. More and more new releases have nice packaging and new transfers.

I expect more of a mixed strategy, with titles initially being pressed with traditional methods, transitioning to MOD when the pressed titles are exhausted.

It is also likely that MOD technology will improve. Warners is now guaranteeing that their MOD disks will not degrade, so even if they do, the customer has recourse. My library has so far seen a much higher attrition of DVD's than of Warners MOD titles (with Universal leading the way in DVD's that no longer play). All of my MOD's still play. Of course, this is much too early to say.

MOD also eliminates the "middle man" in the retail chain. With fewer and fewer stores carrying any appreciable number of catalog titles in any systematic way, this is a benefit to the customer as well as increasing the studios' margins. The only national stores that are even trying are Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart, with Best Buy doing the best job. The days of the big super video store are truly gone.

MOD and direct mail are the future of packaged media for titles after initial release.
post #44 of 44
1/29/12 at 7:21pm
BREAK FROM THE DVD-MOD DEBATE (Though I will say I love that I have "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd" now because of it with a transfer that is better than any I have ever seen).

WORST STUDIO FOR 2011: UNIVERSAL

WHY: They are the ONLY studio that, when releasing a movie, I think, "No, I cannot pre-order or blind buy it until I see a review at the Home Theater Forum."

Other studios have a occasional hit or miss, but Universal seems to have the highest percentage of quality control issues
on catalog titles that they do nothing to resolve..
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