MooMooMooMoo

VCI is running a "50% off" sale on serials ($9.99 + s/h)

Unfortunately Phantom Creeps is a burned copy, which likely also means it's a dvd5.

The only other one of any interest to me is SOS Coast Guard. Has anyone compared the VCI to the Roan?

http://www.vcientertainment.com/Film...Serials?page=1

thetao

Hmm. They aren't showing list prices, so I don't know how the $9.99 compares to their intermittent "50% off list" sales. Any idea? I have a number of VCI serials still on my list, but so many have gone DVD-R that only 3 of these appeal to me.

I have Roan's SOS Coast Guard; haven't seen VCI's. I never watched the whole thing, but it looks pretty good. Popped it in briefly last night. There is occasional damage that they hastily tried to mask...like taking large-ish, white scratches and coloring them black. The serial uses lots of wipes, and you can see their video processing shift off and then back on, apparently so it doesn't get confused. I also noticed a night shot that was electronically brightened...but only because the effect didn't start and stop exactly at the frame boundaries. Kind of like they were doing the corrections live (!). But overall it still looks very good. Not a full restoration like VCI did with Buck Rogers or the two Green Hornet serials...but there's no indication VCI's SOS Coast Guard had that degree of restoration either.

Hope that helps a little.

BobO'Link

On most of the serials $9.99 is 50% off the MSRP. It's basically the same as one of their 50% off sales for most titles. They show the MSRP on the item page so be sure to check that before adding a title to your cart to be sure you're not picking up a $14.99 MSRP for $9.99. They also indicate on each item page if it's a DVD or DVD-R.

MooMooMooMoo

Thanks. It is worth a watch. I can say the Roan beats the other PD's of SOS that i've seen. I collect Lugosi.

MooMooMooMoo

I give them Kudo's for stating which are burned. Some of the other smaller companies aren't doing so.

ProfessorEcho

Does anyone know if ROAN's HORROR CLASSICS 6: THE GORILLA/NABONGA is now an MOD? It's $8.39 at Amazon which doesn't seem too bad, but I have no idea how the quality is on this title.

Geff (MooMooMoo), do you have any info on this?

MooMooMooMoo

Glenn, sorry, I don't. At this point, the only Roan's I can personally guarantee are factory pressed are the ones I'm selling, & I'm out of that title.

thetao

I have this disk; it's a flipper. The Gorilla looks quite good and I'll guess it came from a very clean 16m print. Dark scenes are a little too dark, but that's the worst I can say, technically. As for the film itself, paraphrasing an IMDB review, "...at least the Ritz Brothers aren't singing an dancing". I have yet to watch Nabonga, but just checked it. There are many more little scratches, noticeably less detail, and dark scenes can be really dark...but there don't appear to be many. It's not great, but certainly watchable.

See my post here about the DVD-R situation. Roan/Troma appears tp have sold very few multi-feature DVD-R's. AFAIK, it was just Pre-Code Hollywood #1 and #2, The Kennel Murder Case, and The Stranger. As long as your case has a security sticker at the top and no DVD-R sticker on the spine, I'm sure it's fine. Honestly, I suspect there was just one pressing.

In case anybody recalls my trials finding a copy of Image's Quicksand (w/ Mickey Rooney), I finally gave up and bought a like new Roan copy off EBay for an unbelievable price. The only potential Roan on my list now is the Mr Wong collection. I was just gonna go with VCI, but notice that used Roans aren't that much. Any suggestions?

MooMooMooMoo

The Roan Mr Wong box is superb. Just make sure you get a factory pressed.

I have Gorilla/Nabonga in my personal collection also.

I don't have any lists of Mods; but i was told by more than one retailer that they didn't have the ability to look at the dvd's to see if they had dvdr stickers (likely drop shipping).

BobO'Link

I agree about the Roan Mr. Wong set. I looked at both before purchasing and went with the Roan mainly due to all the good reviews. VCI typically does a very good job but I've not seen it and and Amazon "reviews" on that one are all of the "gushing fan boi" type. At the time I made the purchase the Roan copies were going for pretty good sums and *almost* went with VCI for that reason but then I actually lucked upon a new Roan copy going for less than a VCI used copy so it won the day.

MooMooMooMoo

I'm running a blow out sale on all of our remaining Roan DVD's, for DVD Talk members only:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-exchang...l#post12334421

MooMooMooMoo

Does anyone know if this new VCI series is pressed or burned? I just emailed them.

https://www.vcientertainment.com/Fil...VCI-EXCLUSIVES

coyoteblue

Anything I've gotten from them as been pressed. Like the Carry On movie collections and the Will Hay double features, etc... Don't see why these would be any different.

MooMooMooMoo

Decent price, especially if they run a sale. the Noir set interests me.

BobO'Link

They usually state clearly on a item's detail page if it's a MOD or not. It's in the block on the upper right with price information:

MOD (DVD-R):
https://www.vcientertainment.com/Fil...product_id=458

Pressed (DVD):
https://www.vcientertainment.com/Fil...product_id=324

It's interesting they're combining some of their serials into packages. There are several of those I've had my eye on in individual releases and can save a few $$ with these.

MooMooMooMoo

The Noir set looks like your pressed example. I'm half tempted to get it now, but with the shipping I think I'll wait a little while & see if there's a sale. Apparently they're not going to be on Amazon (though I wouldn't be surprised if a few hit ebay used)

rbrown498

VCI's having a 60% off SRP sale now through the 14th. Use the code JULY60 at checkout.

Living Deadpan

Thanks. Snatched THE NAME OF THE GAME IS KILL.

MooMooMooMoo

I keep looking at the "Web Exclusive" Noir box, & keep waiting for a sale that includes that category (I already have the 2 George Raft's on it, or i would have already bought it).

thetao

I am contemplating an order and curious about the same thing. In the past, I assume VCI has run sales on their "VCI exclusives"? I was eying one of their Rank collections, but if the price never changes, there's no great incentive to buy it right now.

ProfessorEcho

Also waiting for those new exclusives to be included as part of a sale. They are great sets, but could potentially be partial double dips. I'm focusing on the ones where I have none of the titles.

Slightly off topic, but I read a post elsewhere that said the best DVDs of public domain films is a company called DIGICOM? The guy said they were even better than Roan. I never heard of them. Has anyone else?

thetao

I've heard of them and don't believe it. You probably have seen their offerings, but dismissed them as junk before ever checking the studio. Just like Alpha will occasionally surprise you, I'm sure Digicom has some good titles, too, but mostly due to where they stole their master. If they were that good, IMHO they'd be better known.

BTW, I decided to buy the "VCI Exclusive". It costs basically as much as the single title I wanted, and this way I combine shipping.

MooMooMooMoo

I THINK Digicom is the same as CATCOM? If so, they don't hold a candle to Roan or VCI.

Neil M.

I wouldn't count on the exclusives ever being on sale. According to the email, the reason that they aren't included is that the price is already 50-60% off the price of buying the titles individually.

MooMooMooMoo

Troma is doing a 50% off sale on remaining Roan titles. I am GUESSING due to the limited titles, they're pressed, but i don't know for certain.

https://www.tromashop.com/roan-group/dvd?limit=all