Sony to stop distributing discs in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (1 Viewer)

[Angelo Colombus]

In the U.K. Indicator produce their own "extras" for Sony titles. I'm not worried about Sony not distributing in Europe because of Indicator's work with Sony titles.

Have the Indicator releases of Young Winston, The Pumpkin Eater and The Swimmer. Happy with the results with all of them.

 

[Capt D McMars]

View attachment 184130

 

[cineescape]

In the U.K. Indicator produce their own "extras" for Sony titles. I'm not worried about Sony not distributing in Europe because of Indicator's work with Sony titles.

Indicator did a super job on their BD edition of Columbia's "Homicidal", William Castle's greatest, IMHO. I did have a strongly mixed appreciation for the commentator. It was tiresome tracking his ultra thick British accent, and especially his outputting of words at machine gun pace. But his cinematic knowledge, including of gay and trans horror sub genres, was truly encyclopedic.

 

[Bill Street]

In the short-term, it appears that Sony is just using smaller labels to license and distribute their work. In the medium to long term it is bad news as the disc market continues to shrink leaving eventually a lot of titles without disc representation.

I think "important" and "artistic" films will continue to be distributed for a long time, along with specialty audience discs, like horror, sci fi or even a niche like silent and precode films, as boutique labels are already really good at presenting these. The cost of getting these discs will increase as the cost of licensing and adding another layer can increase what is needed to make a usually quite small profit.

I can't help feeling there's some "built-in obsolescence" going on here, as disc-buying is increasingly becoming an online only purchasing option. I am not ascribing motives to Sony, but I believe the studios in general believe they can better control content through the streaming model, than they could through physically supplied media.

This won't affect us, the serious enthusiasts and collectors who crawl over broken glass to get that last Japanese printing because of new extras, but it is sad to see the regular market sidelined in what is seaming to be a quickly dwindling choice for purchase. Especially when streaming services have started lowering the amount of content they offer instead of increasing it.

 

[bmasters9]

Especially when streaming services have started lowering the amount of content they offer instead of increasing it.

And what little content they are offering is low-quality, w/bad language and other objectionable content out the wazoo (for a lot of it anyway).

 

[Alan Tully]

In the short-term, it appears that Sony is just using smaller labels to license and distribute their work. In the medium to long term it is bad news as the disc market continues to shrink leaving eventually a lot of titles without disc representation.

That's what Universal & MGM & Paramount seem to be doing (all those new Paramount 4K scans licensed out to Kino). Oh well, as long as the boutique labels keep going.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I can't help feeling there's some "built-in obsolescence" going on here, as disc-buying is increasingly becoming an online only purchasing option. I am not ascribing motives to Sony, but I believe the studios in general believe they can better control content through the streaming model, than they could through physically supplied media.

I honestly think studios care more about money than format, and that if discs were selling as they were at their height circa the early 2000s, they’d be happy to continue doing so. It’s just that disc revenue today is a tiny fraction of what it once was.

 

[cineescape]

If all the above isn't bad enough those like me with beloved Oppo-and especially my Pioneer LX500-BD players will soon be faced with vanishing replacement parts availability. That's why I'm getting myself used to JRiver and VLC Windows players. Thank goodness they both also have a good mix of zoom and slow motion quality tools, which I find indispensible and fun to use. Let's just hope that the market for M-disc, BD-RE and other blank optical media remains healthy, without which optical drives will go the way of VCRs.

 

[jcroy]

Let's just hope that the market for M-disc, BD-RE and other blank optical media remains healthy, without which optical drives will go the way of VCRs.

Too little, too late. That ship has already sailed.

The worst blank optical media manufacturer CMC, bought up the formerly best quality control manufacturer Taiyo Yuden in 2016, and the middle tier manufacturer Verbatim in 2019. CMC has not maintained much of any quality control.

There is no more blank disc manufacturer that is reliable.

 

[jcroy]

If all the above isn't bad enough those like me with beloved Oppo-and especially my Pioneer LX500-BD players will soon be faced with vanishing replacement parts availability.

If vanishing "replacement parts" is an issue, then one has to ask which type of hardware would have the best chances of still being manufactured long term. The only candidates I can think of, might be generic computer dvd-rom drives which can also play audio cd and cd-rom discs. In most of the world, a generic dvd-rom drive which is read-only is already mostly patent free.

The computer bluray-rom drives are still patent encumbered, until sometime after 2030. Bluray also has an additional complication, where the decryption is dependent on having an up-to-date disc ripping program. In contrast, dvd encryption is simple enough to be thoroughly cracked, that the (former) patent holders didn't bother trying to update it to something harder.

 

[cineescape]

Here's the drive in my HTPC https://www.lg.com/us/burners-drives/lg-WH16NS60

JRiver just needs RedFox's AnyDVD HD to run in the background to decrypt and play any BD. VLC player needs you to download and install these files into one its folders, after which it can play almost any BD.

 

[jcroy]

Here's the drive in my HTPC https://www.lg.com/us/burners-drives/lg-WH16NS60

LG and Pioneer are the only two manufacturers left still making bluray-rom drives. LG is based on mediatek chipsets, while Pioneer is using a Renesas chipset.

Even in the case of Pioneer, they have been teetering over the past several years when it comes to their optical media drives. For example, Pioneer does not make their own dvd-rom drives anymore. Apparently Pioneer's recent dvd-rom drive models, have been LG rebadges. (ie. LG manufactured oem dvd-rom drives, with a "Pioneer" logo on the front).

JRiver just needs RedFox's AnyDVD HD to run in the background to decrypt and play any BD. VLC player needs you to download and install these files into one its folders, after which it can play almost any BD.

This is exactly what I was inferring. Apparently AnyDVD and other bluray ripping programs have not been able to completely crack bluray's AACS encryption algorithm. AACS was designed such that compromised hacked keys, could be easily revoked in future bluray movie discs. So every time the anydvd or dvdfab hacked keys have been revoked, their designers have to update their keys to new hacked keys. This cat-and-mouse game happens at least once a year or so.

In contrast, dvd's css system has been entirely cracked and has remained "static" since November/December 1999. Since the dvd css encryption system was so poorly design, it was pointless to do any key revocation. Even back in late 1999, it only took less than 20 seconds to crack every single css encryption key on any dvd-video disc. (Today this can be achived in one or two seconds).

 

[willyTass]

And that’s why DVD won

 

[jcroy]

And that’s why DVD won

At that time, the only victory that dvd "won" was against Circuit City's DIVX format.

 

[RobertMG]

The new look will be all the majors simply licensing deals so they make money and let others do the work and we will get releases for years -----

 

[Sega]

This is just the start. In a few years, everything will be online only.
And you will not be able to get any new movies on Disc at all.
They are starting to do away with them.
It will all be some club bit. So much a month. Watch online only. And you will need to
be a member of about 10 clubs to see all this stuff. No thanks!
I have more LaserDisc. VHS Tapes. DVDs. HD DVDs.Blu-Ray disc etc.
I can watch stuff for years. And still not see it all.
Netflix is even doing away with in the Mail soon. I think they are going to
shoot there self in the foot doing that. I will drop them then. As millions will.
I bet. One thing to remember. Millions still do
not have a really good high-speed net. That you need to watch movies online

 

[Sega]

The new look will be all the majors simply licensing deals so they make money and let others do the work and we will get releases for years -----

Maybe? But if that happens. Will they be any good?

 

[RobertMG]

Maybe? But if that happens. Will they be any good?

Might be better because all the majors are having hits and misses = if they all farm out the films we might get stuff not seen The Spider's Web from Sony etc if they opened the vaults to Classicflix might get more classic tv too!

 

[Sega]

I honestly think studios care more about money than format, and that if discs were selling as they were at their height circa the early 2000s, they’d be happy to continue doing so. It’s just that disc revenue today is a tiny fraction of what it once was.

Might be better because all the majors are having hits and misses = of they all farm out the films we might get stuff not seen The Spider's Web from Sony etc if they opened the vaults to Classicflix might get more classic tv too!

Could be? But don't hold your breath.
Remember. It's all about BIG GREEN. Money.

 

[Sega]

If all the above isn't bad enough those like me with beloved Oppo-and especially my Pioneer LX500-BD players will soon be faced with vanishing replacement parts availability. That's why I'm getting myself used to JRiver and VLC Windows players. Thank goodness they both also have a good mix of zoom and slow motion quality tools, which I find indispensible and fun to use. Let's just hope that the market for M-disc, BD-RE and other blank optical media remains healthy, without which optical drives will go the way of VCRs.

VCR. I still have one. Going strong.
And tapes up the kisser.