I'm finally gearing-up for my VCI buy. Does anybody know the differences between the original and re-released Green Hornet sets? I am guessing the disk contents are the same, including the transfers, but the 75th and 4xDVD Collector's Set are missing the liner notes. This doesn't explain why "GH Strikes Again" is available in three formats (original, 75th, and Collector's Set)...compared to original serial with just two...and makes me wonder if "Strikes Again" did get a new transfer. Picture quality obviously trumps all else, but if that hasn't changed, I don't mind paying more for the original, complete release. Any thoughts?

I'm frustrated. I ordered a Roan Radar men serial in "like new" condition from an Amazon 3rd party.

The good news is it isn't burned. The bad news is the disc was loose in the case& scratched due to same AND had obviously been ran through a buffing machine; it had large remnants of buffing fluid in places. Also had 14 THOUSAND "PI" data failures on side 1 per Nero CD/DVD Speed. (I consider 200-300 acceptable).

^^
Wow, you really have bad luck sometimes.

On the bright side, I didn't realize Roan had their own version of "Radar Men". Finding another copy may take some time, but I suppose the picture quality will be better than the Cheesy Flicks version.

The picture quality is superb, I can't imagine a poverty row serial looking any better.

I have the HAL ROACH STUDIOS/Image copy of RADAR MEN, but I haven't watched it yet. I wonder how it compares to the Roan. I actually collect the ROACH/IMAGE titles as I've been pretty happy with the quality of the ones I've sampled.

Ordered Flash Gordon last night. I'm down to 1 Roan left that's known to be in print & believed to be still factory pressed: Carnival Story. I'm pretty sure i already have all the OOP Roans I want with the possible exception of Lonely Wives which I only have a burned version of.

Now to move on the the Edward G. Robinson VCI's I need before they become burned only.

EDWARD R. HAMILTON is now offering some Roan titles. most DVD-Rs, but at least clearly marked as such. Among others they have the OOP Pre-Code and Cagney sets in DVD-R for not such great prices. They have a few pressed Roan titles as well.

VCI has a Father's Day sale going on now, the usual 25% off.

For those seeking factory pressed Roans, please see post #19 of this thread:

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-exchang...-question.html

FYI, my VCI order (described back here) arrived today. All are real DVD's, and GH Strikes Again (the original, not the 75th Anniversary) still included the lush, 12-page "liner notes"...not stapled, but folding-out like a poster. Sadly, the original GH and Buck Rogers lacked liner notes, even though these are advertised on the package. Will contact VCI to see if they can make amends. Purchased from ImportCD's with the current 10% off coupon code, for a cost of $10.17 each.

I have got to remember to put the 2 VCI Eddie Robinsons I don't have yet on the top of my to buy list while they're still factory pressed.

I purchased HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM used a few years ago and naturally the poster repro insert was missing. I contacted VCI and honestly explained what happened and they sent me the insert for free. I've never had any issues with their customer service.

Oldies.com is currently having a $3.99 ALPHA sale. Guaranteed to be PRESSED DVDs!

Re: Radar Men: I made it through it. While I hold to the statement that the picture quality was superb, it's also the worst serial I've ever seen. Whole I know the poverty row serials are supposed to be cheesy entertainment (I like the Lugosi's a lot & also Undersea Kingdom), this one was just plain bad imo.

Though I just started the Roan Flash Gordon. it may defeat Radar Men for my personal worst serial ever. & as it's universal, it doesn't even have the poverty row excuse! REALLY Bad so far!

As a friend of mine put it, we're not even up to Ed Wood standards here.....

Thanks for the serial reviews, Geff. I just started watching THE PHANTOM from VCI and four chapters in it's been really good. Columbia serials were never as good as Republic, but were usually better than Universal.

Today in the Amazon marketplace I picked up the Roan MR. WONG COLLECTION for $6.96 shipped, but was only in GOOD condition and has a stated broken case. I'm hoping it won't be too bad. Reviews seemed to praise the Roan set over the VCI one. Recently MGM released the Wong pictures on MOD for $20 per title! Crazy.

If the discs are at all clean you STOLE it. I've seen this one go as high as $50 more than once. I own the set. My memory is the transfers are ok, & the films are actually really good. I tend to prefer watching Karloff play distinguished characters as opposed to evil monsters & professors (no insult intended!!).

IMO, pulling off a respectful & dignified impersonation of an Asian in those days with all the prejudice was both somewhat difficult & very commendable. Lon Chaney, SR is the only other actor who comes to mind that also was successful in that manner. Moto (which I love) & Charlie Chan (which I'm really not fond of) really don't pull it off like Karloff does in Wong.

One of my holy grails is a decent quality copy of the Col. March series. I have the San Francisco uhf capture edition that was all over ebay a few years ago, but the quality is pretty bad.

Wasn't aware of the MMod. Wonder if MGM/Warner restored them?

Yup, my liner notes are on the way. VCI now ranks up with Criterion in terms of post-sale support issues.

Does anyone know if VCI's "Max Fleischer's Color Classics: Somewhere in Dreamland" is still factory pressed? There are numerous copies on ebay & Amazon (mostly from the usual drop shipping suspects), but it's not on VCI's web site.

http://www.amazon.com/Max-Fleischers...dp/B0000687E3/

Does Image Entertainment count among these budget studios? If so, here's another DVD-R warning:

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-World-Res...world+-ancient

It reappeared on VCI's site today. I also called them & was told that all 3 titles I'm interested in (Actors & Sin, Thunder In the City & the Cartoon set) are all factory pressed at this time. I need to nab them.

With the free ship at $15 DD seems to be the cheapest on Thunder & Max F; not so much on Actors.

Crap. Thanks for the warning. At least it's being acknowledged as burned. The ones that piss me off are like Roan when the customer doesn't know until receipt.

The snail mail VCI catalog has some decent bargains starting as low as $3.00, where a cursory check online shows them to be at least a dollar more. I'm not sure you can use any discount codes when ordering by mail and the shipping charges seem a little more inflated than buying online, but I haven't confirmed this yet.

So now IMAGE is going the MOD route? What a sad course this hobby has taken.

Does anyone know of any current DD coupons or codes?

Holy crap! Thanks for the warnings, guys! I've been slowly purchasing the VCI serials and fortunately have the pressed versions of most of the current MOD ones. Same for many of the ROAN and Image titles but I'll now have to accelerate those purchases so as to not get a MOD by "accident".

But that makes getting a pressed copy more difficult as well. Based on my experiences with Amazon Marketplace vendors, most of them are "drop ship" types and don't know *anything* about an offering above what the "warehouse" has told them. I've been attempting to find pressed copies of some OOP Hammer titles but no one knows what they have. For me it just means I'll be purchasing fewer titles. At least The Wife'll be happy...

Agreed with all. Though i question if the corps are going to see this burned disc policy backfire due to the availability of free content on the internet. The one thing they've been offering us is durable (almost) permanent storage with factory pressed discs.

At minimum they need to start using high quality Falcon (FTI) or TY blanks.

The average user is going to be furious when they learn the hard way that just about any scratches will destroy a burned disc & that the cheap mass market blank discs are only good for 1-4 years in many cases.