Aussie's - Harry Potter - just love them! (1 Viewer)

[Larry Gardner]

Very cool!
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_...55E421,00.html
Maybe now, Warner Bros will start to listen to REAL statistics and not biased retail chain stores that only order P&S.
This should start some rumblings in Warner Market Research. Sounds like someone is doing their job - or doing it right.

 

[Tino]

Interesting, although the article mistakenly states that only one-third of the image is seen at any given time.
In reality, two-thirds is seen while one-third is missing. But we all knew that right?
Then again it was shot super-35...oh wait..that's another discussion.

 

[SteveK]

Hopefully, there will be a very LARGE number of returns. A handful of copies being returned will hardly be noticed, but THOUSANDS of copies being returned will certainly get somebody's attention.

Now, how much more proof will be required to convince studios that widescreen should always be offered?

Steve K.

 

[Eric C D]

Good on ya, mates!
Eric

 

[Stewart Storrar]

Well, one of the R4 sites I read each day had an article suggesting that a "family discount chain" (which I believe is K-Mart) were reporting a return rate of 10% because it was Pan & Scan. A figure which, given the movie and the type of store I find very impressive. However I can't take any credit for that figure, as I had no intention of purchasing a Pan & Scan only title

 

[Sam Owens]

I've heard a number of people go 'Pah! Standard! Forget it!' while shopping in places like Target and K-Mart.

It seems that with widescreen TV sales rising 700% year on year in Oz (according to DBA.org.au), there are LOTS of consumers who either want OAR and/or to future-proof their collection. Now that even K-Mart has started selling widescreens, it was extremely stupid of Warner to ignore this trend.

 

[Daniel P]

I went to the UK for my Potter disc.
I will never support the local market if they pull shit like this all the time.

 

[Anthony Thorne]

Daniel - ditto. I was about to buy the disc at my local Safeway in Moonee Ponds, and then remembered the Pan/Scan deal. This crap is typical of the local market, which I understand really is run by morons who wandered into the home video business from corporate finance and/or running utility companies. (The PM was grinning at me from the front of the local paper while I put the disc back on the shelf. Ahh, Australia in 2002...)

 

[SteveK]

Stewart- A return rate of 10% is quite impressive indeed. Hopefully that "family discount chain" will complain loud and clear to Warner that they don't want any more P&S only titles. And then hopefully Warner will conclude that NOBODY wants any more P&S only titles. And then hopefully OTHER studios will conclude that nobody wants any more P&S only titles. And then hopefully there will never again be any more P&S only titles.

Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Steve K.

 

[Stewart Storrar]

Steve - We share the same dream...

 

[Angsty]

SteveK,
We won't be holding our breaths from $2Warner as all they've said so far is: "no comment"..
Nor do we ignore their continuing practice of releasing NTSC titles into a PAL market.
Just makes it that much easier to completely ignore anything with the $2Warners name on it..:frowning:
Angela

 

[Adrian_P]

I too went to the UK for my Harry Potter disc. No way am I buying Harry Potter R4 or letting anyone I know buy it too.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Nor do we ignore their continuing practice of releasing NTSC titles into a PAL market.

I don't have any problem with this. The titles being released in NTSC are actually the R1 versions (dual coded) and are all catalogue releases which probably would never see the light of day otherwise as the Australian R4 market is so small. Seriously, there is so little discernable difference between a PAL and NTSC anamorphic transfer most people would never notice it.

 

[Doug Bull]

I tend to agree Julian.
I recently bought the region 4, NTSC transfer, of Calamity Jane.
Not only was it cheaper than importing a region 1 copy, but also I don't have to put up with the horrible PAL speedup, that I would have experienced had it been released as a PAL Disc.

The only thing I will disagree on however, is that PAL transfers usually do look better than their NTSC counterparts. Scanning lines are always quite visable on NTSC Discs and are almost invisable on PAL Discs.
Just the same though, NTSC discs can look really good.

The big problem is for those here that don't own NTSC compatible TVs.
A Friend of mine picked up a cheap region 4 NTSC Disc from K-Mart that had been returned to the store.
It was marked Faulty, because it only displayed a Black and White image and was marked at half price. ( NTSC will only display B&W images on a non NTSC Compatible TV)
He smiled a big grin and bought this perfectly good disc at the bargain price.

What would happen if Warners started releasing PAL only Discs in the United States?

 

[Julian Lalor]

Warners clearly state on the box cover that the DVD is NTSC. All DVD players sold in Australia support NTSC and most televisions made after 1995 as well. As for releasing PAL only DVDs in the US, this will never happen. Virtually no US television supports PAL.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

As for releasing PAL only DVDs in the US, this will never happen.

I agree, the studios usually front the cash for the R1 release primarily. It's the other regions that suffer more often than not. Still, I have several PAL VCDs the play fine... the only problem is that the TV can't handle the resolution, so it only takes the middle 525 lines, making everyone stretched (opposite of 16x9 tv show stretch) as well as creating an even worse P&S. This is particularly troubling since subs are often cut off by through this.

Oh bother, the whole world's supposed to be united under the HDTV standard soon enough anyway, right?

 

[Brian Kelty]

The silly thing is, the R2 Harry Potter is dual coded R2/R4. So $2Warner actually had to make a special effort to produce an R4-only P&S release when they could have used the R2 transfer.

 

[Richard_M]

I was going to get Harry Potter R2, but in the end went with R1 due to already having bought from these suppliers before.

I waited until there was confirmation that the R4 release was going to be P&S before ordering though, as I have been caught before buying R1 only to find the info on the R4 release was wrong, and the R4 was a better release.

Richard

 

[Doug Bull]

Julian,
I'm well aware that all Region 4 NTSC discs are marked as such, but the Joe Six Packs, Downunder, wouldn't have a clue to what it means. Hence the so called faulty disc with the B&W picture. (Not even K-Mart knew it was not faulty)

While most TVs sold in OZ over the past few years are NTSC compatible, there are still an awful lot of older sets around that are not, or need to manually switched to receive NTSC signals.( Most JSPs only know how to switch the TV on, alter the volume and change channels)

Of course PAL DVDs would never be released in the U.S.
My point was, I consider it outlandish and arrogant for Warners to take for granted that everybody in OZ has a TV that is capable of displaying NTSC, which is certainly not the case.
So my comment regarding the U.S and PAL, is meant to be a dig at Warner's, for it's poor attitude regarding region 4.

But forgetting all that and for me personally, I agree with you 100%, that it gives us a chance to get obscure or low selling titles,that otherwise we might never get to see.

 

[Angsty]

All DVD players sold in Australia support NTSC and most televisions made after 1995 as well.

So, what you are saying is that it is OK for a foreign multi-national company to determine the broadcast standards for Australia?
Bah! It just shows $2Warners' complete contempt and disdain for the R4 market.
I return that contempt with equal passion and boycott their "faulty" products.
Angela :frowning: