A PEEK AT THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES - WARNER ARCHIVE EDITION (1 Viewer)

[haineshisway]

Does the search function here work at all or has there not been a single mention of this release? Wouldn't it have been nice to know a bit more about it before anyone made an actual purchase? Shouldn't Warners have given us some details so we'd be informed? So, what's the deal, since I apparently was the only guinea pig to actually make the purchase? It's the exact same disc as the previous Blu-ray and I mean the exact same disc - same menu, same everything, just ported over to a new disc. That older transfer was fine, so there is zero need for anyone to purchase this who has that. Could it have been better? I'd like to think so, but that's just me. For those who don't own this, this is a no-brainer purchase since The Best Years of Our Lives is simply one of the greatest movies ever made.

 

[Reed Grele]

There's this.

 

[Reed Grele]

Post #98 in the above thread predicted that it would be a re-pressing of the same disc.

 

[RichMurphy]

The latest Warner Archive podcast simply said that THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES was "back in print" on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I took that to mean that, unlike their many new remasterings/restorations, this was just a reissue.

Which brings up a question I've always had: why does something go "out of print" when it is "manufactured on demand"?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Thanks for taking one for the team, but this was expected by some of us.

 

[Robert Crawford]

The latest Warner Archive podcast simply said that THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES was "back in print" on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I took that to mean that, unlike their many new remasterings/restorations, this was just a reissue.

Which brings up a question I've always had: why does something go "out of print" when it is "manufactured on demand"?

I don't think the first release was manufactured on demand.

 

[jayembee]

The latest Warner Archive podcast simply said that THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES was "back in print" on both DVD and Blu-Ray. I took that to mean that, unlike their many new remasterings/restorations, this was just a reissue.

Which brings up a question I've always had: why does something go "out of print" when it is "manufactured on demand"?

The Best Years of Our Lives was originally released by the Warner Home Video department back in 2013. WHV eventually let it go out of print as they had started winding down deep catalog releases. Most titles they released on DVD went OOP and started being offered MOD by Warner Archive, which is a different division. Pretty much everything they burn as DVD-R releases that had a previous DVD release from WHV are exactly the same as the original releases, since they have the ISO files sitting on a hard drive somewhere, and can just burn as many copies as they want without having to re-author them.

Most of Warner Archive's Blu-rays are new, "never before on Blu-ray" releases. In early 2018, they started reissuing WHV Blu-rays that had gone OOP. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of them. By my count, there are about two dozen such re-issues. The next one up will be The Man Who Would Be King, coming out next week. Which is good, because the original DigiBook release has been OOP for a while, is damn hard to find.

 

[RichMurphy]

I don't think the first release was manufactured on demand.

The Best Years of Our Lives was originally released by the Warner Home Video department back in 2013. WHV eventually let it go out of print as they had started winding down deep catalog releases. Most titles they released on DVD went OOP and started being offered MOD by Warner Archive, which is a different division. Pretty much everything they burn as DVD-R releases that had a previous DVD release from WHV are exactly the same as the original releases, since they have the ISO files sitting on a hard drive somewhere, and can just burn as many copies as they want without having to re-author them.

Most of Warner Archive's Blu-rays are new, "never before on Blu-ray" releases. In early 2018, they started reissuing WHV Blu-rays that had gone OOP. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of them. By my count, there are about two dozen such re-issues. The next one up will be The Man Who Would Be King, coming out next week. Which is good, because the original DigiBook release has been OOP for a while, is damn hard to find.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[JohnMor]

I thought all the regular WB blus that migrated to the Archive were the same discs. Meet Me In St. Louis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, A Streetcar Named Desire and the ‘76 A Star is Born were.

 

[jayembee]

I thought all the regular WB blus that migrated to the Archive were the same discs. Meet Me In St. Louis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, A Streetcar Named Desire and the ‘76 A Star is Born were.

They are. Since there are existing authored discs for those, they just reissue the same disc. Even the label on the disc is the same (at least for two reissues I have that I checked -- Papillon and Shaft -- they don't include the WAC URL that's on all the other releases of theirs). They just add a new "Warner Archive Collection" cover insert.

It's the same with their DVDs, as I said before. The only time they author new disc ISOs is if it's a release that didn't have a previous edition from WHV. In those cases, they basically just make a very simple menu and don't add any frills.

The BDs they put more effort into for titles that haven't had a previous BD edition from WHV.

 

[haineshisway]

There's this.

a) that thread is many, MANY years old. I stopped searching after page four of nothingness. And I'm talking about THIS new Warner Archive release. I can't remember what b) is

 

[haineshisway]

My point, of course, is that this should be stated clearly in the release announcement.

 

[lark144]

My point, of course, is that this should be stated clearly in the release announcement.

The release announcement said "Back in Print" implying that it's the same master as before. Otherwise, they would have stated it was a new scan, but they didn't.

 

[Garysb]

I am guessing the different covers of the archive editions could be confusing. Those that use the same cover as the previous release such as "That's Entertainment", A Star is Born" etc. with "Warner Archive" added are more likely to be assumed to be a re release. While others like, The Best Years of Our Lives" ,with a different cover from 1st release might be assumed to be a new improved edition. Another thing about "Best Years" is that this is a title released by but not owned by Warner Bros. They are likely to release whatever elements they are given.

 

[Mike LaBorde]

Warner Archive has had a deal with the Goldwyn estate to release a lot of the Samuel Goldwyn stuff. BTW, all the Warner Archive Blu-Rays are regular pressed discs and not BD-Rs. Some of their DVD releases (those expected to sell very well) get an initial run as standard pressed DVDs too. The discs from the last few years seem to be mostly region-free as well.

 

[jayembee]

Most of Warner's releases tend to be region free. The vast bulk of the films under their control they have worldwide rights to, so they don't need to region-lock their discs. It's the same way with Disney.

 

[AlexNH]

This release is MOD and pressed, correct?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

All Warner Archive Blu-ray Discs are pressed. They still call them MOD because they manufacture them in small batches rather than in large numbers for traditional retail distribution.

 

[jim_falconer]

Watching this now…could be the greatest American film ever made

 

[bujaki]

Wyler's masterpiece. Even better than that Roman epic.