Warner Bros. Archives....DVD-R'S!

[saltysam]

Warner in the USA have a new made to order system where they'll burn a film from a list to a dvd-r ! initially 150 titles are available with more to come.they won't ship internationally and $19.95 a title is expensive for a dvd-r!

http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/AR ... lt,sc.html

Quotes:

This story was not supposed to break until Monday, however I am
not surprised by the manner that it was and the fact that we ended
up not being able to break it to you in the manner we were promised...

That being said, this is something that had been in the planning for
quite some time.

For years Warner has resisted releasing small catalog titles in
fear that they would not sell. There are too many obscure titles
in studio libraries that never see the light of day simply because it
costs too much to replicate them on a large scale only to see a small
percentage of purchases.

All that is about to change in a huge way.

Warner is going to roll out a "made to order" program where they
will be offering very rare and obscure catalog titles to the public
that can be ordered online and will be replicated according to demand.

Let me explain further....

Every few months Warner will release a "wave" of new titles for this
program. They will range from silent films, forgotten classics and
even small films from the 70s-90s. They will not be mass replicated
to be sold in stores. Instead, anyone that wants a title will go to
Warner's website, order it, and have it sent to their mailbox within
three days. The titles will only be replicated according to the amount
of orders received.

The titles will arrive in regular packaging with artwork and a printed
label on the DVD.

The quality of these DVDs (and I forgot to mention these are only DVDs)
are as good as anything you would expect the studio to release. They
will be in their proper aspect ratio, 16x9, and with the necessary audio
codecs. Nothing will suffer when it comes to presentation quality.

The DVDs will cost $19.95 each

What this program will allow the studio to do is to release films it
never was able to make previously available to the public.

[Markgway]

The quality of these DVDs (and I forgot to mention these are only DVDs)
are as good as anything you would expect the studio to release. They
will be in their proper aspect ratio, 16x9, and with the necessary audio
codecs. Nothing will suffer when it comes to presentation quality.

Where does it say they're DVD-Rs?

[saltysam]

Where does it say they're DVD-Rs?

Robert Harris just posted this at the HTF:

I've seen a number of these titles, and the quality is fine. Each master was vetted, many by Mr. Feltenstein himself. All are proper aspect ratio, and stereo where applicable. Any titles that did not make spec were eliminated until newer transfers become available. In this regard the list has been changing over the past few months as test discs were created.

This is a HUGE effort which has been in the works for a long time, and is the only viable means of offering films to the public via DVD in short runs. Films such as the silents, early Garbo / Gable MGM efforts would have otherwise remained in the vaults.

The discs themselves are burned, not pressed. None that I've seen have had any problems, and press vs. burn should not be a controversy.

From Warner's FAQ:

Q: What makes an on-demand DVD different than a Commercial DVD?

A: DVD’s produced on-demand are similar to, but not quite same as, DVD’s you’d buy at the local video store. DVD movies you buy at the local video outlet are manufactured from a mold via a stamping process whereas on-demand DVDs are "burned". Each carries information read by the DVD player, but the physical properties of the two are different.

Most DVD players are compatible with both commercial DVD-Video and one or more of the “recordable DVD formats. Our on-demand DVD’s are manufactured using the most widely accepted format, DVD-R.
The owner's manual of the DVD player usually lists which DVD recording formats it can play. Almost all DVD players can play DVD-R (except for some older models made before 2000)

[luckystars]

Pedicab Driver?

[bradavon]

DVD-R! What a joke. DVD-Rs cost Warner less than 1 cent each and they're not reliable over time. There's a good chance they'll be unreadable in the future.

Is this an early April fools? I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

Pedicab Driver?

Warner don't have the rights, do they?

[saltysam]

Seems a bizarre idea and certainly expensive but it might be the only way to get a decent version of some classics.i think they are doing this becaue the bottom has fell out of the retail dvd market.Apparently the scheme is rolling out internationally in the near future.

[bradavon]

Has it really fallen out? Sell them for £4.99/£3.99 a pop, done!

BD works because it's a collectors medium and thus they charge a premium. DVD is considered the "average joe medium" and thus they can no longer charge £15 but I don't see how they have to.

They sell a significant number of DVDs to not warrant it. Of course downloads/online streaming is an issue but unlike MP3s (where most are happy to listen on a PC/MP3 Player) it's more complicated for movies (most are stuck to playing them on a PC) so won't take off in the same way, illegally anyway.

[saltysam]

Has it really fallen out? Sell them for £4.99/£3.99 a pop, done!

BD works because it's a collectors medium and thus they charge a premium. DVD is considered the "average joe medium" and thus they can no longer charge £15 but I don't see how they have to.

They sell a significant number of DVDs to not warrant it. Of course downloads/online streaming is an issue but unlike MP3s (where most are happy to listen on a PC/MP3 Player) it's more complicated for movies (most are stuck to playing them on a PC) so won't take off in the same way, illegally anyway.

I don't think they expect to make much money on it at all,they've said it'll be titles they'd lose money on by commercially releasing.i imagine they've done some research into it. Agreed the price is a rip-off but these films would otherwise clearly have been left gathering dust in the WB vaults. So at least the collector can get a decent "version" of an otherwise unavailable title however at a premium.

[bradavon]

Fair enough, none of this explains why they're using DVD-Rs though.

[luckystars]

Probably just marketing. Small scale this might work, but if enough people all demand the same film they might reissue it properly.

[saltysam]

i hear Doc Savage Man Of Bronze has sold plenty and is going for $30-$40 on the USA ebay

[Markgway]

Money Warners COULD have had themselves.

[saltysam]

Freebie & The Bean is a new release on this format...a film they've had numerous requests for release over the years and have ignored.bizarre

[saltysam]

MGM also go down the dvd-r route

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/? ... 1000489701

Universal as well...

http://www.amazon.com/List-Adrian-Messe ... y_d_text_b

[Markgway]

Some of those MGM titles have been out in the UK for a while on proper DVD.

[saltysam]

Some of those MGM titles have been out in the UK for a while on proper DVD.

Yes,and a number (House Of Long Shadows for example) have never been out on commercial dvd. seems like this could be the future for dvd in the advent of HD .

[oldeschool17]

What about Paramount Pictures? Don't they have the rights to distro Canon Films?

[saltysam]

Thought MGM had the rights to Cannon movies?

[Markgway]

MGM have most of the Cannon catalogue, but Warners also have some.

[oldeschool17]

Well whoever has the rights for Enter the Ninja(guilty pleasure) needs to release this uncut! I believe the R2 version was cut and generally shitty quality.

[Markgway]

Used to be Columbia, I think MGM have it now. Although the lack of a DVD makes me wonder...

[oldeschool17]

Used to be Columbia, I think MGM have it now. Although the lack of a DVD makes me wonder...

Makes no sense why this one never made it into a legit R1 Dvd release considering most of Sho Kosugi's other films have. I did see it on cable tv a couple of years ago.

[saltysam]

No Ninja 3 yet.i'd like to see an uncut Pray For Death as well although that's not Cannon.

[Markgway]

I used to have an uncut version of Pray for Death dubbed in Spanish.

Those Cannon/Kosugi Ninja films are very exploitatable so it does strike me as odd that whomever has the rights hasn't put them out.

Maybe MGM only had Part 2 (Revenge of the Ninja) from the initial trilogy?