Is Manufacture on Demand the future of TV on DVD? (2 Viewers)

[Jeff Willis]

I may have the wrong info about the MOD DVD's but I thought I read over on the movie forum that they (or some) are copy-protected. I think I recall someone over at that forum who mentioned that they also were unable to play a MO DVD on their PC DVD drive.


Looking at a couple of my MOD DVD,s I see a disclaimer on a Uni MOD movie, "...and may not play in other DVD devices, including Recorders and PC Drives."


One of my "Barker" Tarzan movies has the standard copy-protection logo on the back cover.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Gary (and everyone else),


How would your blind buy approach to MODs be different if they were pressed discs? Titles you would have to pay full retail price for, with little hope for a discount, yet would be on trusted media.


I think part of what has killed retail DVD sales is everyone looking to pay the absolute minimum for titles. I have a very distilled collection of both movies and TV shows, all of which I paid streetdate price for when they came out because I wanted to support them. With burned discs, on the other hand, I won't even consider a purchase - no matter how discounted they are - simply because of the format.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt

Gary (and everyone else),


How would your blind buy approach to MODs be different if they were pressed discs? Titles you would have to pay full retail price for, with little hope for a discount, yet would be on trusted media.

Matt, for me the problem would still be present if we were talking $50+ a pop even though the media would be much preferred. Like you, I'd almost always buy my "sure fire" dvds on street date. Actually, I'd usually pre-order them so as to help the numbers that the studios look at. I agree with you that waiting for rock bottom discounts doesn't help, but I personally was only doing that with shows that I generally didn't care that much for, but had a small interest in nonetheless. With complete blind buys, sometimes I'd pre-order if I felt there was a decent chance I'd like it, but if I really wasn't sure then I'd wait for a steep discounted price. So it just all depended. But I do feel I did my part in buying the vast majority of my sets on the release date until the last couple of years. Even so, except for the early years of this hobby when sets were priced a bit higher, I rarely paid $50 for a new season set. The pricing tended to be in the $30 to $40 range, tops.

Gary "unless I inherit a million dollars in the very near future, or win Publishers Clearinghouse, I'm not going to invest much money into the MOD programs" O.

 

[smithb]

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt

Gary (and everyone else),


How would your blind buy approach to MODs be different if they were pressed discs? Titles you would have to pay full retail price for, with little hope for a discount, yet would be on trusted media.


I think part of what has killed retail DVD sales is everyone looking to pay the absolute minimum for titles. I have a very distilled collection of both movies and TV shows, all of which I paid streetdate price for when they came out because I wanted to support them. With burned discs, on the other hand, I won't even consider a purchase - no matter how discounted they are - simply because of the format.

Some coming later to the game playing catch up and concerned about future availability and others that are prolific buyers have large unwatched piles of seasons waiting to be watched at some future date. We are counting on these disks being ready to be played when the time comes. Pressed disks provide a much higher level of assurance that they will play at that later date, whether next week or years from now. Replacement policies are great but who knows if the product or program will still be available when that time comes. With must have releases only available on MOD, I could move them to the front of the list removing some uncertainty. But with casual and blind buys this would be less likely, thus not a risk I would be willing to take.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by smithb

Some coming later to the game playing catch up and concerned about future availability and others that are prolific buyers have large unwatched piles of seasons waiting to be watched at some future date. We are counting on these disks being ready to be played when the time comes. Pressed disks provide a much higher level of assurance that they will play at that later date, whether next week or years from now. Replacement policies are great but who knows if the product or program will still be available when that time comes. With must have releases only available on MOD, I could move them to the front of the list removing some uncertainty. But with casual and blind buys this would be less likely, thus not a risk I would be willing to take.

More great points, Brad. I agree. My backlog is quite significant and I'm definitely planning on watching some things years from now. With MOD I'd be absolutely obsessed with having to watch them immediately to make sure they are working, and for fear that if I put them "on ice", so to speak, for a few years they'd not play when I got around to them. It's another great point you brought up!


Gary "so far I've bought only 2 MOD TV sets - Highway Patrol and Flipper S2" O.

 

[ChrisALM]

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt

Gary (and everyone else),


How would your blind buy approach to MODs be different if they were pressed discs? Titles you would have to pay full retail price for, with little hope for a discount, yet would be on trusted media.


I think part of what has killed retail DVD sales is everyone looking to pay the absolute minimum for titles. I have a very distilled collection of both movies and TV shows, all of which I paid streetdate price for when they came out because I wanted to support them. With burned discs, on the other hand, I won't even consider a purchase - no matter how discounted they are - simply because of the format.

I have a number of titles that I pre ordered or purchased on street date and I don't remember paying retail as there was almost always a decent discount at online stores. The discounts on the MOD releases so far have not matched the discounts on the previous standard DVD releases. Over time, the standard DVD release's price point continues to go down, and there are plenty of titles I have interest in buying, as I have not bought ahead and am playing catch up to a certain extent. I can find a variety of titles of standard DVDs at a better price point than the MOD titles. So, why pay more for a blind buy MOD title than a standard pressed disc DVD title?


There are some shows I will have to go the MOD route if I want them, and I will eventually do that. But I am less enthusiastic about purchasing TV on DVD on DVD-r's than pressed discs. I will limit my purchases as a result.

 

[BobO'Link]

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt

Gary (and everyone else),


How would your blind buy approach to MODs be different if they were pressed discs? Titles you would have to pay full retail price for, with little hope for a discount, yet would be on trusted media.


I think part of what has killed retail DVD sales is everyone looking to pay the absolute minimum for titles. I have a very distilled collection of both movies and TV shows, all of which I paid streetdate price for when they came out because I wanted to support them. With burned discs, on the other hand, I won't even consider a purchase - no matter how discounted they are - simply because of the format.

A blind-buy is a blind-buy... for me to pick one up whether it be on "pressed MOD" or pressed "general release" the price *has* to be "right" and/or *very* high buzz on the title.


Example:

"Thriller" w/Boris Karloff. I don't ever recall seeing this series, but the buzz is very high along with excellent reviews from trusted sources. The premis is one I lean toward and it fits with other titles said to be "similar" (Twilight Zone, Outer Limites, Hitchcock). The ~$150 SRP is *way* higher than I'll pay not knowing more than I do *and* more than I'd pay even if it were a much desired series due to the price to episode ratio. If this were a highly desired series I'd have picked it up sometime over the past few months when it hit ~$70 at a few etailers, but again, that's higher than I'm willing to pay for a blind-buy of the series. Yesterday amazon had it for $56 shipping included. I ordered a copy as that's low enough for a high buzz/highly recommended series meeting the other criteria I listed above. That said, for me to pick up the same series via MOD, *if* that means it's pressed-on-demand, it would *still* have to hit that same price point. I only pick up "2nd tier" and "unseen but high buzz" titles when they are true "bargains". That typically means under $20/season for hour programs and under $12 for half-hour. "Thriller" at $23/season is close enough because of the buzz. Put that price at under $10/season and I'll go for 3rd tier and "vague recollection" programs.


I have *never* payed "street price" (MSRP) for *any* title. Highly desired titles I've pre-ordered have generally been ~20-25% under MSRP, and I have many of those. Even OOP titles I've purchased have been picked up at prices under MSRP. I occasionaly get "buyers remorse" when I see a title I own selling for half or less what I paid, especially if I've not watched it yet, but I remind myself that had I waited I might not have been able to get it at all. I don't see that changing with MOD even if they are pressed disks. I'll *still* look for a discount and put non-discounted merchandise at the bottom of the list (BBC- I'm looking at you).