DVD "Screener" Help (1 Viewer)

[TommyD]

I have a question for any of you videophiles who can help me:I have seen some DVD "Screeners" advertised on the web and want to know if they are the same as the regular releases or not?Do they contain the annoying warning/messages on them such as some VHS screeners I have seen? I have seen "Beyond Re-Animator" advertised and the DVD seems to have all the same special features as the regular version.I just can't find out if the DVD has the messages contained.
Thanks,
TD

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Actual "screeners" are discs sent to voters for industry awards, usually while the film is still in theaters, and certainly before they are released on home video. (Which is why an actor recently got in trouble when "screeners" he lent to a "friend" ended up on the internet and being sold on VHS and DVD.) Recipients sign an agreement not to sell them or give them to unauthorized persons. I don't know if these agreements remain in force after the film in question is actually made available on commercial DVD and/or VHS.

At the very least real "screeners" are borderline and in most cases illicit. And they do carry digital watermarks and on-screen messages saying things like "Property of Fox Studios" during the film. I don't know if screeners include bonus material that will later end up on the commercial discs, but it is certainly possible. HBO specials and the like are always prepared before the film's release, and interviews and the like (for new films) are usually shot during production, so that could all be digitized and compressed and put on a screener disc.

I'd be very leery about buying such things myself. They could easily be bootlegs and the word "screener" could be used to explain why the discs don't have professional labels or studio packaging. Either way (real screeners with no features and "property of" messages or bootlegs masquerading as screeners to disguise their origins) they don't sound like anything I'd want to own.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Chet_F]

Yea, what Joe said.

 

[TommyD]

Thanks.Will stay clear of any screeners.

 

[Mark E J]

It should also be pointed out that most of the "screeners" you see for sale on the net are actually bootlegs. They are just DVD-R copies of the original screeners with photoshop cover art.

 

[Ian_H]

Video retailers also get screeners when an item is up for pre-order. The studios send them to the company buyers to get them to order them. Depending on the company some are exactly like the finished product while others are not.

-Ian