Warner Archives 5 for $50 anniversary sale for select DVDs and save $5 on select multi DVD sets and free ground shipping is active. Actually it's $10 per select title. I purchased 7 for $70 + tax.

For $10 more you could have added 3 titles.

Thank for the SAVINGS code. The Last Dinosaur w/Richard Boone isn't part of the deal, won't change to $10 no matter how many titles in cart. Noticed PT 109 is on the site for pre-order, available in May.

Judging by a horror story regarding these Archive discs posted at HTF, you might want to back up your Archive titles asap or avoid them altogether. Apparently some discs are failing after being watched once without issues. So far despite WB stating on the WA site that they will stand by the longevity of these DVD-Rs, they are maintaining a 30 day return policy only. It wasn't until a buyer publicly posted his problems on the WB Twitter page that they offered to accept his defective discs for a refund.

Thanks for the SAVINGS code...wound up picking up 8 gangster/film noir films and 2 silents for $88.90.

I'm one of the guys who's been posting over there. I've got two titles that I bought back in November of '09 that worked fine upon receipt, but have since crapped out. While I am by no means a big MOD supporter (I only have about 14 titles), this has been a fast developing story. As it stands now, we've been told that Warner has directed customer support to replace faulty discs at the customer's request. It will likely take some time for this policy to filter down to the phone operators, but I will give Warner credit for nipping a potentially bad situation in the bud. Regardless, I also make it a habit of backing up my Archive discs. The main reason I've been pursuing this issue with customer support is really for the benefit of others as I have ISOs stored on my server.

I read all your posts over on the HTF and I am glad to see WB respond as such ,even though it took a little too much of your time and effort for them to respond.

I ordered 9 titles today and I have 11 previous ,out of those 11 I have watched 10 and 1 of those titles I watched 2 times (1 month apart).

I have experienced no problems , but I feel that WB might be in for a bumpy ride shortly. Let's face it, how many people have watched an Archive dvd twice or let's say watched a title 1 or 2 years from date of purchase?
Most people have probably watched them once or have a stack of them unopened.
Who knows a year - 2 years from today people might revisit some titles and find they don't play any longer, I think WB should come up with a more flexible return policy than say 30 days.

I have half a dozen or so of these titles. Can someone direct me what I need to use or how to back them up. So far I haven't had any problems but I'd hate to lose out on a $20 per disc investment.

More often than not, I use something like DVDShrink and do a full backup. I then take the resulting TS_VIDEO folder and convert it to an ISO file. There are a slew of programs out there that will perform this task. Consider hitting google and find the solution that works best for you.

You can use DVDShrink to save the full back-up as an ISO file (at least I can in conjunction with Nero). It is one of the "save as" options when you go to do the back-up.

Or use DVD Decrypter and select it as an option in DVD shrink if you can't afford/don't have Nero.

Or just use DVD Decrypter to make an ISO and then burn it to a new disc, still using DVD Decrypter.

Unfortunately, using the SAVINGS code now nullifies the $10 per film sale, bringing all the prices back up to $20. I should have finished my order yesterday when I had 10 titles for $80 sitting in my cart.

One thing about WB, they have wonderful customer service which is a direct polar opposite to some other companies out there and they'll take good care of you as well. Never been a fan of these MOD discs but unfortunately, it's becoming the norm but I'd rather go without the title I'd like than buying it on this "homemade" format after hearing all these horror stories about the durability of such discs.

I have to get them down below 10 bucks a title before I'm willing to buy these things. Once they're backed up, I'm not terribly concerned about the quality aspects, but I'm not willing to pay premium prices for fringe titles. I still have a backlog of unpurchased pressed material released over the last 5 years or so to catch up on.

I have purchased 24 of these "homemade" titles since the beginning of the program and haven't had a problem. Like everyone else, I rip copies of most of them. But they do get watched more than once as I've loaned all of them out to other people (fellow Canadians who can't order them as I can) and no one has reported any problems yet, including those who borrowed certain discs nearly a year after I purchased them.

RMW, if you have access to the Niles Public Library, they have about a hundred Archive titles in their collection. Skokie and Des Plaines Library have a bunch too. That's how I've been able to see a lot of them and it is teaching me that I don't have to own everything anymore.

Thanks for the tip Echo...that I didn't know about as I have heard that these "homemade" discs only play a certain number of times properly before they start wearing down like a VHS tape-type thing. I have no issues with the MODs as long as these studios take some time to produce a quality and long-lasting product without gouging us with their outrageous prices on these things and not just half-assing it for the mere sake of making a quick buck.

I strongly suggest back ups for any dvdr that isn't a Taiyo Yuden or a Falcon, & even there I suggest back ups for anything important. Most dvdr media is unreliable crap.

Re how to back up: The only issue with Shrink & Decrypter is that they are both so old that if there are newer (last 3 years or so) copyguards on the discs both of them will be worthless (I have no idea if WAC is using any copyguards).

I recommend Any DVD &/or DVD Fab though neither are free, I have gotten way more than my money's worth from both!

The fact that public libraries are carrying Archive titles should indicate that they are not likely to "wear out" after one or two viewings.

100% false. A disc will only fail if the data becomes corrupted through A)improper handling B)bad media C) compatibility issue with the authoring/burning software

Completely agreed. The two that died on me were only viewed once. It was an age-related thing rather than a number of viewings.

The libraries I frequent have gotten bad discs from the Archive right off the bat, ones that are discolored and won't play. I have had to point it out to the librarians so they can reorder from their distributor. I haven't done a follow up though to see if they were able to exchange them or had to order new copies.

Also, since DVD-Rs are particularly prone to scratching, depending on the blank media used and whether any protective measures were taken in the manufacturing, I wouldn't wait too long to get some of these from your local library. I have had regular pressed discs from my libraries get so trashed by patrons that they are useless. I fully suspect the potential for this would only be increased with DVD-Rs such as those used in MOD programs. I honestly don't know what people do with the discs that they borrow from the library, but apparently when it's not their property, anything goes.

DVD-Rs aren't more prone to scratching, however all things being equal, a scratch on a recordable disc is highly likely to affect playback whereas the same scratch wouldn't affect play on a pressed disc. I consider this a moot point since anyone buying/recording DVD-Rs should know to handle them so they won't get scratched. Don't touch them either. A fingerprint can affect playback. Another big no-no is to store them in heat and humidity.
As long as the disc is not defective from the get go, you handle them like a vinyl record, have air conditioning, keep them out of a damp basement or hot garage, they should last years. At least 11 years and counting so far.
I can't imagine an MOD disc surviving long as a rental.

WAC discs have an anti-copy process but in my experience DVD Shrink has never failed to get around it.

Agreed 100%. Those in denial on this issue may have a rude awakening at some point. I was fortunate in that early on in my experience with dvdr's, I had a couple hundred Ricoh manufactured Maxells go bad from just sitting on the shelf for 6 months. Woke me up in a big hurry!