Warner Archive Discussion Thread (FEEDBACK) (1 Viewer)

[Eric Vedowski]

Wouldn't a 1/85 ratio be a 16x9 full frame with no black borders on any side?

That's what I'm thinking. Some say 16x9 Letterbox and others 16x9 Full Frame-I assume the former are wider screen films. From DVDSavant:
George Feltenstein just wrote me with this: "The goal is to eventually make EVERYTHING available, but obviously that will take a lot of time, and a lot of money. I set out some ground rules. Everything HAS to be Original Aspect Ratio, and 16x9 if widescreen. No 4x3 Letterbox. No Pan 'n' Scan. I also wanted consumers to be able to preview the master before the buy, so they'd understand what they were buying."

 

[Thomas T]

I just got an e-mail from the Warners archive that my DVD shipped today (3/25/09). Since I actually live within walking distance of Warners studios (or am I incorrect in assuming that these discs are "made" in or around their vicinity), hopefully I'll receive it by Friday or Saturday.

I'll certainly report (as I hope others do) on the satisfaction of these DVDs as they arrive though I doubt the naysayers would care if we did backflips! Personally, barring any glitches, I think this is the BESt thing to happen since, well, the invention of the DVD itself.

No doubt other studios are carefully watching Warners experiement and if it is a success (initially, it seems to be) then expect Fox, Universal, Paramount and Columbia to follow suit. I wouldn't hold my breath for Disney though.

 

[Mark B]

I think this program is brilliant, and hopefully will lead to all of the studios following suit.

 

[Jay E]

Warner Archive states that all movies are in their OAR.
Crawdaddy

Yes, thanks, but I was wondering about them being anamorphic. Anyway, the other posts have relieved my fears.

 

[Jay E]

That's what I'm thinking. Some say 16x9 Letterbox and others 16x9 Full Frame-I assume the former are wider screen films. From DVDSavant:
George Feltenstein just wrote me with this: "The goal is to eventually make EVERYTHING available, but obviously that will take a lot of time, and a lot of money. I set out some ground rules. Everything HAS to be Original Aspect Ratio, and 16x9 if widescreen. No 4x3 Letterbox. No Pan 'n' Scan. I also wanted consumers to be able to preview the master before the buy, so they'd understand what they were buying."

That is exactly the kind of excellent customer care I have come to expect from George Feltenstein and Warner!

 

[CineKarine]

I Googled during my lunch break to find if anyone had received a DVD from the Archives yet and found some details on another forum I never visit from someone who received his today (I take it, it would not be right to link to another forum, correct?)

So I will just summarize what it says then:

DVD-R, blue surface, color top surface, Nexpax Amaray rental case, very good quality cover on high quality paper

Allied Vaughn for replication

Shipped from Illinois (3 days since order)

DVD: FBI warning, promo for Warner Archives, anamorphic menu.

This film from the 30s starts with the Turner logo

Excellent image

Chapter stop intervals: 10 minutes

 

[Brandon Conway]

I wouldn't stress out about the spec info and clip presentations on the website. These discrepancies seem more like website tech issues more than anything else. (I think the 1931 Possessed shoes a clip from some 70s/80s horror film?)

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes, thanks, but I was wondering about them being anamorphic. Anyway, the other posts have relieved my fears.

If their OAR is widescreeen, I expect them to be anamorphic even if it's 1.66:1.

 

[Adam_S]

I guess I am not that up on technology, but I assume doing an anamorphic release on DVD-R is not that big of deal. Since I think they are not new transfers, can any transferred letterbox film be made in anamorphic? In other words, when a letterbox film plays on TCM it is within the 4x3 ratio, but could those original transfers also be anamorphic? Also, can 5.1 or 4.0 sound be done on DVDrs? Or would stereo films be two track stereo with Dolby surround encoding?

I imagine the air masters for TCM are digibeta, that means they're either 4x3 letterbox (if older masters) or 16:9 anamorphic (aka 16:9 full frame). The use of the word anamorphic with DVDs has been really unfortunate, it's too bad we couldn't stick with just letterbox vs 16:9 :-p
and yes it's possible to upconvert a video signal from 4x3 tape to 16:9 anamorphic, generally there's a slight crop in vertical information if the film is 1.66, 1.78 or 1.85, I'll probably do this sort of upconvert with my star wars 4x3 letterbox original version dvds whenever it is that I get access to a blu ray recorder. I could do it back to DVD, but I don't want to compress them onto a single layer. :-p But no fears, it's easier and costs the same for WB to make a new anamorphic digibeta from their SR Master if all they have is a 4x3 letterbox digi. much easier to just lay off a new tape than go through all the fun of an upconvert.

 

[John Hodson]

If their OAR is widescreeen, I expect them to be anamorphic even if it's 1.66:1.

*Especially* if it's 1.66:1, given Warners committment in that area.

 

[Mark B]

Even more worrying, the clip for Interrupted Meoldy with OAR of 2.55:1 was shown in Full Frame P&S...!

Yes, it is full frame 16X9, however it is not panned but vertically stretched, which leads me to believe it is an error in formatting the clip to flash media.

 

[Thomas T]

How does an "Amaray Nexpax Rental Case" differ from the regular Amaray cases DVDs normally come in?

 

[Randy Korstick]

I Googled during my lunch break to find if anyone had received a DVD from the Archives yet and found some details on another forum I never visit from someone who received his today (I take it, it would not be right to link to another forum, correct?)
So I will just summarize what it says then:
DVD-R, blue surface, color top surface, Nexpax Amaray rental case, very good quality cover on high quality paper
Allied Vaughn for replication
Shipped from Illinois (3 days since order)
DVD: FBI warning, promo for Warner Archives, anamorphic menu.
This film from the 30s starts with the Turner logo
Excellent image
Chapter stop intervals: 10 minutes

Hmmm... sounds like a DVD doesn't at all sound like something I can DVD-R myself off of Turner Classic Movies. Hopefully this sheds some light for those who think Warner is just recording these straight off of Turner Classics with a recorder and shipping them off.
Thanks for the report.

 

[John Morgan]

This film from the 30s starts with the Turner logo

That's interesting as I think TCM has just about replaced the opening Turner logo with their TCM logo on all the Turner owned stuff they run now.
ADVENTURES OF MARK TWAIN will be a benchmark for me as the print on TCM isn't really that hot.
I have no doubt the post Warner stuff as well as the Allied Artists later films will look superb as I think most of them were mastered from original materials and when they showed up on CineMax and other stations, they looked superb.
And to get rid of the TCM bug in the lower right corner is a plus as well as not worrying about bad compression through cable or dish.
Well, so far I think I ordered about $200 worth of discs and I hope they give us those discounts more often. I think they said I should have them by Friday. Can't wait.
Boy, will I be broke soon.

 

[mdnitoil]

Hmmm... sounds like a DVD doesn't at all sound like something I can DVD-R myself off of Turner Classic Movies. Hopefully this sheds some light for those who think Warner is just recording these straight off of Turner Classics with a recorder and shipping them off.
Thanks for the report.

Did anybody actually think that?
I've heard concerns about the longevity of the physical disks themselves, but most folks seem to trust Warner for the quality of the actual video/audio. Maybe some folks are mixing up content with delivery system.

 

[GlennH]

Aside from the program itself, I have to say that the design of the Warner Archive website is really just plain awful. It's so hard to quickly get to the important information. And all those goofy big automatic popups when you mouse over anything are very annoying. They could at least give more movie details on those, but no, that's buried deeper. Somebody needs to do a complete overhaul on this site.

 

[Jay E]

Aside from the program itself, I have to say that the design of the Warner Archive website is really just plain awful. It's so hard to quickly get to the important information. And all those goofy big automatic popups when you mouse over anything are very annoying. They could at least give more movie details on those, but no, that's buried deeper. Somebody needs to do a complete overhaul on this site.

I agree...might be the most irritating and user unfriendly website I have ever tried to buy from. It's an ordeal trying to search through all the listings in detail. I still haven't made my way through all 150 yet and it's been 3 days...I keep getting frustrated and then click to another website.

 

[Jefferson]

Thrilled.
Yes, here is a longtime member who is thrilled about every aspect of this...I could not be happier. Part of my 'holy grail' is on this list, and I am so happy to be able to share them with my family. Thanks Warner

 

[Bill McA]

Will these discs have English subtitles and/or Closed Captioning?

 

[Robert Crawford]

My titles still haven't shipped which is making it difficult because I want to see how these look before I buy some more which might not be until next month. I'm kind of boycotting paying 19.95 a title for now.

Crawdaddy