ProfessorEcho

The last order I placed with VCI I had to call them and specifically request they NOT send the MOD versions of what I ordered. It's a crapshoot now, but you can still get pressed if they have them, it just has to be ensured by phone.

Maybe you answered this already, but if you sell MOD versions, do you indicate so at EH?

Thanks for the update about the smaller labels I requested and thanks to both you and Bob for the search tip!

SethDLH

I couldn't resist the price cuts on Gradiva and Girl Slaves... for my Mondo Macabro collection... and a few filler titles just to bring the average cost down

GoldenWheels

We don't--for the most part. Some of the copy will mention the running time as being on a DVD-R (as opposed to a DVD). But those are only the ones where it is right up front on the case that it is a mod. And most aren't like that.

I realize it would be helpful for some folks but the majority of my customers just care if the thing is gonna play in their player--which, for the most part, DVD-Rs do.

g

I think it is important for any company to notify customers if a product is a DVD-R. This personally bothers me more than the slashed barcodes. I don't have any interest in collecting Mod releases.

laidbacklarkin

Received the Columbia Noir classics volumes and TGG's release of Pit/Pendulum and Theater of Blood in perfect condition. Contrary to what was expected, the TGG title was factory pressed. Thanks, HB

Living Deadpan

I agree. But I haven't seen Amazon or any other retailer mention that TGG's 1984/MEGAVILLE or THE HOSPITAL/BANK SHOT double features are DVD-r. It wouldn't surprise me if people have unwittingly bought TGG DVD-r's from Walmart bins, that's how sneaky they are. The only place it's stated is in very tiny print on the bottom of the spine. Like this but smaller:
IMO, TGG should be taken to task for being so indirect about their product. http://www.thegarrgroup.com/contact/

Yes, FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM/THEATER OF BLOOD appears to be factory pressed.

GoldenWheels

I am going to ask that our copywriters pay more attention to the formatting and make sure they mention DVD-Rs where they can (this is just reinforcing a rule but it is often a good idea to do that).

I understand completely why it is important to you guys, just keep in mind for my core customer, it is not important.

Where this becomes an issue is we cannot go back physically through 8,000+ upcs to check what is already in (so it's all caveat emptor in any case), nor can I be sure (or ever be sure) that say somebody like TGG doesn't switch me over to MOD discs halfway through a titles life here. If they start me with pressed and move to a MOD for a re-order, it will never be noticed nor would I be notified by the company. If I do an OS buy which gets culled from multiple return sources and the product has the same UPC, some could be MODs and some not.

So please know you'll still have to take everything with a big grain of salt while using your personal knowledge of the various labels proclivity to do mods in the first place. Risks are gonna be your SWV, TGGs, VCI, etc.

SethDLH

Another order arrives fast and in perfect condition!

Living Deadpan

Well I took one more TGG risk w/ PHIBES / SCREAM & SCREAM AGAIN.

I was going to ask if the UPC for PUNISHMENT PARK was slashed but I just decided to buy it. It's been OOP for a while. I'd rather buy it OS than buy it used and risk it not coming with the 24-page booklet.

(OT: I can't stand when trade-in stores sell used DVD's without booklets! Once I found Criterion's VAGABOND DVD used for $13. I brought it up to the front and asked if they could open it and make sure the booklet's inside. Nope, no booklet. If someone tried selling a Criterion DVD w/o a booklet on Ebay it would be considered "Incomplete Packaging.")

ProfessorEcho

I once bought a "Previously Viewed" 3 disc set Criterion from GoHastings before I knew what Previoely Viewed meant and it came in a two disc case without slipcase, any artwork or booklet. Fortunately Criterion sent me the missing items for $5 each, but throwing in the artwork for free. It was still a deal, but just barely. I've never bought a PV Criterion from Hastings again.

On another topic, but related to a discussion above, I bought a USED Alpha title from Hastings and it was a DVD-R. Dual layered, but still a DVD-R.

Living Deadpan

I bought a few $5 booklets from Criterion when I bought PV Criterion DVDs from Blockbuster. But those were all in print (Last Temptation of Christ, The Last Wave). Would Criterion still have booklets for long OOP titles like Vagabond?

ProfessorEcho

Good question!

Dimension X

I was wondering why you had SWV on that list because I thought the only DVD-Rs they sold were the ones exclusive to their own website. Well tonight I opened the copy of Wrestling Women USA I bought just over a year ago, and sure enough, it's a DVD-R. I took a quick look through my to-watch stack and saw two more without stickers on the top of the cases, so I opened them up. One is pressed, and the other (Babette / Monique, My Love) is a DVD-R also. I'm really not sure how I feel about this.

Living Deadpan

Same here with MURDER A LA MOD / THE MOVING FINGER. Owned it for a while, only discovered it was DVD-r this week. And I know the copy I had was pressed a long time ago because it was one of the final DVDs I ordered from HKFlix (if anyone remembers them). How long have SWV and VCI been pulling this shit?!

I wonder when we'll start seeing Blu-ray on Demand.

GoldenWheels

I don't know for sure how they are doing this but--my guess is that they are selling through their pressed catalog stock of whatever they had left (I don't know what they keep #s wise but some of these guys have thousands on hand at a time) and when they are sold out on the pressed version they move to the DVD-R for the title. So it may be completely variable by title.

Just a guess but it would make sense.

Dimension X

Did the case have a sticker on the top? If so, I might find a couple more before the month's out.
I figured it might be something like that. Wrestling Women USA! was one of their first DVDs, so I wasn't too surprised by it, but the other one, and the one Living Deadpan mentioned are more recent (I guess they were popular titles).

There are only a few SWV discs that I don't already own, or have copies of the movies from other companies, and two or three of those are long OOP. I was hoping for a price drop on the one or two you guys have before I buy them, but now I'm not sure what I'll do.

laidbacklarkin

Warner Archives is already doing it.

rbrown498

I thought that all of the Warner Archives Blu-ray titles were pressed. Are they not?

John Sinnott

^All the ones I've seen are pressed.

MooMooMooMoo

They say something like "first editions will be pressed, then they will be burned".

I have heard rumor then burned br is even more unreliable then burned dvd & cd. I have never burned a br. That concerns me.

SethDLH

Quick question GW - If I place a mail order and some items are out of stock when it is fulfilled how do refunds happens?

Living Deadpan

(EDIT 4/4/14: Deleted erroneous SWV comments.)

What bugs me is that they don't even change the UPC code between the factory pressed and the MOD's. As displeased as I've been with studios shifting to MOD, at least Warner Bros makes very clear distinctions between the factory pressed versions and the MOD versions.

I'll use FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE as an example. According to FilmAF:

Factory-pressed DVD UPC: 012569827929.
DVD-r UPC: 883316397176.

And the latter says "Warner Archive Collection" on the front cover very distinctively. Like Sony's DVD-r's say "Choice Collection."

AFAIK, SWV, TGG & VCI make no visible distinction. They treat their DVD-r's as interchangeable with the factory pressed ones. IMO, they should be straight with their customers and when the factory pressed copies go OOP, then reissue them as MOD's. But they're hoping we don't notice.

Dimension X

The "Something Weird on Demand" logo (I think it's a Comcast service) started appearing on cases in 2005 (at least). I just grabbed four of my newer discs off one of my shelves, one with a 2005 copyright has that logo and the other three (from 2006) do too. All were purchased in '06, and all are pressed.

The only way to tell then seems to be if it has a sticker or not (and even that isn't always the case, since I had a pressed DVD in a non-stickered case that I bought last year).

Edit: I took a look at my copy of Murder a la Mod (purchased in '06, about six months after the other discs) when I put those other four back on their shelf (yeah, I don't know why I didn't think to grab it the first time), and it has the "On Demand" logo on the back.

I agree, this is the way they should handle it so retailers and customers will know what they're getting.

GoldenWheels

If any item is OOS you will receive a back check in the mail, separate from the order itself.

If we feel we can get the item we try--and though 60 days is our max limit where we automatically issue the refund, very very few actually go that long, we get resolution one way or the other long before that in most cases.

Living Deadpan

After derailing the thread, here's a few DVD deals I found:

$2.95 Student Bodies (Legend Films)
$3.95 Driller Killer (Cult Epics)
$7.95 3-DVD Legend Films Cult Horror Collection (The Skull / The Man Who Could Cheat Death / The Deadly Bees)