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Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

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Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Old 08-19-16, 04:30 PM
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Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.


Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has revealed plans to release five films as part of its first waves of Manufactured on Demand Blu-ray releases beginning on September 6th. Additional films will follow in the coming months and through next year.

The "Choice Collection" offers a diverse slate of titles, encompassing something for every taste, with a curated flow continuing throughout this year and into next.

The collection kicks off with the long awaited Blu-ray debuts of fan favorites The Karate Kid Part III (1989) and The Next Karate Kid (1994). In October, the slate includes Brian De Palma's edge-of-your-seat thriller Body Double (1984), Marie Antoinette (2006), which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary, and the acclaimed music documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005). All features are presented in full high definition with lossless audio.

Blu-ray MOD is an exciting expansion of the existing DVD MOD program, which has seen a variety of the studio's fan favorites, cult classics and hidden gems come to market with a seamless consumer experience, via retailers such as Amazon.
http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=19669
Old 08-19-16, 07:27 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

I guess this will be the wave of the future for smaller studio pictures, especially on Blu-ray format, which is considerably more expensive to press in smaller quantities than DVD.

I find these burned MOD discs are often mistaken as pirated copies or you have unscrupulous vendors making fake copies of titles that are currently not available as MOD and trying to pass them off as legit studio MOD versions.

I'd rather see more value-priced Mill Creek-style double features than MOD.
Old 08-19-16, 07:33 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

The people on that other forum are shitting themselves, because the MOD's will be BD-R's.
Old 08-19-16, 07:45 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

What exactly is a MOD and how will it benefit me?
Old 08-19-16, 07:46 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Saves me more money. I won't support this.
Old 08-19-16, 08:30 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by OldBoy
What exactly is a MOD and how will it benefit me?
Manufactured on demand. They only make product by the number of orders received. Usually no extras, just the movie and maybe a trailer.
Old 08-19-16, 08:34 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Decent a/v?
Old 08-19-16, 08:50 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by orangerunner
I'd rather see more value-priced Mill Creek-style double features than MOD.
Same here. I'm not going to pay money for them to burn me a BD-R.
Old 08-19-16, 09:02 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

All I'm taking from that message is that I won't be getting a Criterion version of Body Double.
Old 08-19-16, 09:18 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by OldBoy
Decent a/v?
The technical specs and presentation are equal to the quality had they pressed the disc. Video and audio quality would be identical, the same zeros and ones. The BD-R's also have the same scratch-resistant coating the pressed discs have.

BD-R discs are arguably not as durable and may not last as long as a pressed disc. Since BD-R (or DVD-R) is the format of choice for illegal copies, they also carry a certain stigma.
Old 08-19-16, 09:29 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by Decker
All I'm taking from that message is that I won't be getting a Criterion version of Body Double.
I wouldn't give up total hope. I was bummed when the movie Lost Horizon was released as an MOD. I wouldn't buy it and figured I'd never get it on DVD let alone Blu-ray. Then Twilight Time released it as a Blu-ray. So Body Double may not be a Criterion in the near future it may down the line. Or you could try and get the TT version. I love that flick and picked it up from them.
Old 08-19-16, 11:05 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by Decker
All I'm taking from that message is that I won't be getting a Criterion version of Body Double.
Looks like I'll be importing the French version. I have to see if the subs aren't forced, first.
Old 08-19-16, 11:46 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Wait a minute...has it actually been confirmed that these will be BD-Rs? The Warner Bros Archive Collection was originally considered MOD but they are pressed. Sony could be doing small batches like Twilight Time. If the discs are not going to be BD-Rs I am going to immediately stop buying from Twilight Time in fear that other studios will follow suit. The only one of the initial titles I am interested in picking up is "Body Double." They should have included "Fright Night" if they wanted this to go gangbusters. That initial group is pretty lame.
Old 08-19-16, 11:50 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by AaronSch
Wait a minute...has it actually been confirmed that these will be BD-Rs? The Warner Bros Archive Collection was originally considered MOD but they are pressed. Sony could be doing small batches like Twilight Time. If the discs are not going to be BD-Rs I am going to immediately stop buying from Twilight Time in fear that other studios will follow suit. The only one of the initial titles I am interested in picking up is "Body Double." They should have included "Fright Night" if they wanted this to go gangbusters. That initial group is pretty lame.



According to Amazon: "this product is manufactured on demand using BD-R recordable media."
Old 08-19-16, 11:51 PM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Okay, that means its time to buy a region free player. I'm not going to invest in BD-Rs. If you feel the same as I do, write to Sony and voice your displeasure. Frankly, if its a movie I want to own I'd rather pay a little more for a genuine, pressed Blu-ray disc. No sale.

Wait a minute again...I just checked the Amazon listing for "Karate Kid III." It does not indicate anywhere that it is a BD-R. The case says "Blu-ray Disc" and the friggin' price is $26.99! I find it odd that the Blu-ray logo is missing—that may be the tip-off that there's something different about these discs. I think there needs to be some further clarification. It looks like Sony would rather take all the profit rather than licensing out to Twilight Time and others. I think they've learned that the Twilight Time model of scarcity can work to jack up the price of titles. Twilight Time's strategy may end up being copied by the studios they have depended on for content—that's priceless.



There is very good reason to boycott these discs. Credit to Katatonia at Blu-ray.com:

Basically a PRESSED DISC has actual "pits" and "lands" in the disc where the data is located, and it is permanent. The data is physically pressed onto the disc. It can't be erased or written over with new data, and usually has a long lifetime.

A BD-R just has a "dye" layer where the data is burned into that layer of dye. These only have a limited lifetime before they tend to go bad and the data can no longer be read correctly without errors. They come in two varieties; write-once and re-recordable/erasable which can be used multiple times.

The lifetimes of BD-R's can vary greatly. I've had a BD-R go bad after just 6 months before it was no longer playable. Then again, they can last for many years and still be fine. It's a gamble.

The same thing goes for CD-R's and DVD-R's, the technology is basically identical as far as pressed and burned discs are concerned.
If these turn out to be BD-Rs and you support this format, you will see other studios follow suit. Don't be a fool.

Last edited by AaronSch; 08-20-16 at 12:46 AM.
Old 08-20-16, 01:06 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

no sale. They won't get a dime from me if they are BD-R.
Old 08-20-16, 01:12 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

This sucks. I've been waiting forever for Marie Antoinette. I see that the French version is region free but has forced subs. Anyone know of any other versions out there? I'm not region free but I keep adding reasons why I need to be. MA would be another if available.

Last edited by popegregFKAgoblin23; 08-20-16 at 01:20 AM.
Old 08-20-16, 01:28 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by AaronSch
The case says "Blu-ray Disc" and the friggin' price is $26.99! I find it odd that the Blu-ray logo is missing—that may be the tip-off that there's something different about these discs. I think there needs to be some further clarification.
The plain font "Blu-Ray Disc" is an indication it is a BD-R disc. Legally-speaking, only pressed discs are allowed to use the copyright Blu-ray and DVD logos. If they are a recordable disc, they have to use a plain font. It's a rule that is not strictly enforced, but the studios abide by it.

I have "Pennies From Heaven" from the Warner Archive and they too have a plain DVD logo instead of the usual logo on its packaging.

I suppose if demand for a certain title is really strong they may press 500 units of a DVD disc (which is usually the minimum) as pressing discs at that volume is cheaper than burning DVD-Rs.
Old 08-20-16, 02:18 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

I'm not happy about them using BD-Rs for a technical reason, not a longevity one: They'll probably cheap out and use only single-layer BD-Rs which are only 25 GB. This will really limit bitrates and quality on titles > 90-100 minutes. Double-layer BD-Rs are 50 GB, but are quite poor relative to single-layer BD-Rs.

As to the BD-R debate in general, if I want the title badly enough, and it's either BD-R or nothing, I'll opt for BD-R! I can always burn another copy (or 2 or 3) to ensure that ONE of them will last. Likewise, I could back-up those copies to fresh new BD-Rs when an arbitrarly long time has passed (eg, 5 years) to ensure the title is "fresh". Or backup to HD, etc.

Using BD-Rs makes legality of the "copy" issue moot to me, since they're choosing to use a method of distribution which is known and proven to have lesser longevity than pressed media. What a guy stuck between a rock and a hard place to do?! Cheat 'em at their own game!

And BTW: Those initial titles are pretty lousy... Give us some good horror catalogue titles, and we may actually buy those BD-Rs.
Old 08-20-16, 02:29 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

The lifetimes of BD-R's can vary greatly. I've had a BD-R go bad after just 6 months before it was no longer playable. Then again, they can last for many years and still be fine. It's a gamble.

The same thing goes for CD-R's and DVD-R's, the technology is basically identical as far as pressed and burned discs are concerned.
This, and I have no idea what kind of recordable media they use for MOD. Are they using quality DVD-R and BD-R discs, or whatever cheap shit they can buy in bulk for pennies?
Old 08-20-16, 05:58 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Bad thing is, most people don't belong to A/V forums or websites and are clueless about this issue. They'll buy it because they wanted the movie and won't know a thing about pressed vs. BD-R burned. Thus the studio will make their money and will have no incentive to do anything differently.

It would be something if we could rally support from a vast number of people to voice displeasure at the quality of these releases. I suspect the vocal minority won't accomplish a thing.
Old 08-20-16, 06:11 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Wonder how soon these titles will show up in local dump bins, so that Alan Smithee and his buddies can swoop in and binge buy them all up.
Old 08-20-16, 08:36 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

They can keep 'em. If they happen to release one of my few "Holy Grail" titles I *might* consider a purchase. MOD is a excuse to provide inferior product at premium prices. They just need to keep licensing the titles out to distributors who care enough to press copies.

Based on the initial title list I get the impression they're marketing to "Joe 6 Pack" who doesn't know the difference. Give it time and you'll see the same comments on these as on DVD MODs - "I was sent a bootleg. It's purple instead of silver like it should be."
Old 08-20-16, 09:00 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by AaronSch
Okay, that means its time to buy a region free player. I'm not going to invest in BD-Rs. If you feel the same as I do, write to Sony and voice your displeasure. Frankly, if its a movie I want to own I'd rather pay a little more for a genuine, pressed Blu-ray disc. No sale.

Wait a minute again...I just checked the Amazon listing for "Karate Kid III." It does not indicate anywhere that it is a BD-R. The case says "Blu-ray Disc" and the friggin' price is $26.99! I find it odd that the Blu-ray logo is missing—that may be the tip-off that there's something different about these discs. I think there needs to be some further clarification. It looks like Sony would rather take all the profit rather than licensing out to Twilight Time and others. I think they've learned that the Twilight Time model of scarcity can work to jack up the price of titles. Twilight Time's strategy may end up being copied by the studios they have depended on for content—that's priceless.



There is very good reason to boycott these discs. Credit to Katatonia at Blu-ray.com:



If these turn out to be BD-Rs and you support this format, you will see other studios follow suit. Don't be a fool.


Here's the listing and it's right there,

https://www.amazon.com/Karate-Kid-Pa...1701520&sr=1-4


Important Product Information - This product is manufactured on demand in the BD-R format. It will play in nearly all leading Blu-ray players that have the latest firmware updates. Microsoft Xbox One, however, does not currently support BD-R playback.
Old 08-20-16, 09:27 AM
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Re: Sony Announces First Waves of MOD (Manufacture on Demand) Blu-ray Releases.

Originally Posted by Why So Blu?
Here's the listing and it's right there,
Yeah, it's probably correct, but,

1. Amazon sometimes has wrong info, especially for pre-orders.
2. For a time Amazon had a message that WAC Blu-ray's were BD-R, even when they were not.
3. Sometimes discs can be unexpectedly pressed anyway. Like when Fox pressed a bunch of their tv DVD-R titles last year. The warning was always there, but what were sent were real pressed DVD's.

If these are BD-R's then I'll avoid them, and they very likely are, but there's still some small possibility that they won't be.

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