philip74

the only things which relaxes me

philip74

thats the main reason why i am pissed off at warner! not because of 3min
of a bad terminator movie missing
small studios still rely on customer service and really put effort into their releases.
warner is the biggest studio which should set examples for industry standards.
this has nothing to do with putting emphasis on their bluray releases, but with
their major releases in general! the dark knight for example was the
biggest movie ever and what extras were put on the bluray and dvd sets?
very poor in general!
also, they never respond to customer emails, so besides their forcefull bluray measures, they just don`t seem to care about their clients!
look at their lasts couple of releases like watchmen or gran torino!
these movies dropped to 10 dollars i think after two weeks and then they start crying big time how much profit they lose!!
no wonder!! this shit releases are not worth more than 10 dollars on release
day! so now, instead of realizing that more effort has to be put in releases, they focus their hopes on bluray and think they will make a fortune there

RD1973

I already threw in the towel. Starting next week, with American Werewolf in London, I will be buying Blu-Rays only (eventhough I won't have a player until Christmas).

Having said that, Blu-Ray customers should be just as disturbed by this news as DVD customers. Everyone is looking at this as a tactic to push Blu-Ray at the expense of DVD. As someone who is about to take the Blu-Ray plunge, I look at it a little differently.

I remember the hype about Blu-Ray when it first came out: tons of storage space, limitless possibilities, etc. I guess the studios realized that would cost an arm and a leg. So they thought, "lets just dumb down the Blu-Ray releases and make them a little more manageable." Of course in order to do that, you have to dumb down the DVD releases too so the Blu-Rays still look better. Now, Blu-Ray releases contain what 2-Disc DVD sets used to contain (occasionally throwing in a video commentary and some BD-Live stuff).

I'm still going to switch to Blu-Ray, but I feel like I'm making the jump just to stay in place.

visitor Q

Hey GizmoDVD ...did a family member of yours slip on a DVD disc and die or something?

It's so funny to see the vehement Blu-Ray vs DVD battle lines drawn up again! This site should give everyone a break and split in half - DVDTalk and BlurayTalk, period, end of story.

It's too bad at a place like this people can't seem to stop by to voice their honest and (what seems to be in some respects) "collective" opinion without getting Blu-Ray slammed down their throat. I thought there was another subforum on this site strictly dedicated to HD ..and for bashing ignorant non-conformists???

toddly6666

Even if people hated the movie, it's still a sleazeball move by Warner.

philip74

dvd times and dvd town have changed site infos now and dvd versions are now also only being listed as theatrical cuts. i guess warner is really
trying to play hardball with this title. i mean this is really a new level, we are not just talking dvd lacking some bluray special features anymore.

and for all the users constantly telling how cheap bluray has become:

it is not a price issue for me, i have a full hd 50 inch plasma and if i like i will
buy 10 bluray players!
however, as much is i like hd quality, i have found disc loading times for blurays too long, i have not been able to find a good codefree bluray player, i have a collection of around 900 dvds and don`t like the visual fact of suddenly mixing in small blue boxes, i like watching my movies at friends`
houses, or lending them movies, i have to import all my dvds and blurays would currently cost me much more, i love slipsleeves and currently many dvds are still released with sleeves, while their blu counterparts are not, many
movies are not released on bluray yet, etc. etc.
i am always someone who upgrades, but currently i don`t feel bluray has reached such a mainstream market where i feel ready to jump in just yet.
besides i do actually remember what happended to the people who switched
immediately and ended up with hd dvds

but anyhow, this should not be a discussion of bluray vs. dvd. even if i was already purchasing bluray, i would find it a shitty move from warner.

like i said, if thats the only way they can get people to purchase bluray,
it is really VERY sad for the format!!
the quality alone should speak for itself, but i guess they realized that the
market is not responding to that selling argument as fast as they would like.
and besides, if i was running a business i would prefer that people buy
my products at all! if they sell a 22,99 special edition on dvd or a 24,99 on bluray, thats still money they make. if they put a little more effort into the dvd release, it wouldn`t end up in the 5 dollar bin after 4 weeks! customers (especially in this economy) are not stupid! they want some value for their hard earned dollar and such a barebones edition is simply not worth more in their view.
like i said before overhead costs for smaller bluray numbers will be much higher, so the main cash still comes from a solid dvd release.
i would be interested in some statistics of how much the normal theatrical friday the 13th dvd sold compared to the extended killer cut and to bluray!
for terminator, the directors cut will probably be pirated all over and i am not sure that business decisions like that hurt them more than the bluray ambition helps.
there is not even a rental version of the directors cut coming out!
even if i owned a bluray player, would i want to blind buy a directors cut that is just three minutes longer for 30 bucks?
so many users are always claiming that they understand business. do you really think that
warner will make so much additional profit with this move? do you really think so many people
will switch because of that release policy? or will this move piss more people off? will they
actually sell less copies because regular dvd buyers feel cheated out of the directors cut?
i think that all these fancy overhyped bd live features were not creating the major exitement
the studios had hoped, so now they have to find pushier ways to sell this format

BackStJoe

Loved the movie and I have Blu-ray, so no issues here!
Bring it on!

AnonomusBob15

someone who knows what they are talking about. exactly.

Gizmo

Where did you get a HDTV for $280?

Gizmo

These 'concerns' are voiced every time Warner announced a new title. Hell, they even made a thread detailing it.

Gizmo

The Oppo Blu-ray player is Region free for DVD and Blu-ray and fast loading - $500. There you go. Unless you are literally planning in buying a first or second generation Blu-ray player 'speed' is not an issue anymore.

Look, if there was anyone on this board who would be on your side it would be me. I've bitched about Blu-rays issues for 3 years straight now (ask tonymontana or dsa) yet here I am defending the format. That has to say something on how silly some of you are acting. It's amazing how all of you can 'buy a BD player if they wanted to' yet refuse to buy one for a dozen silly reasons.

AnonomusBob15

Are you the golden standard now?


I don't feel like I am acting "silly" in disagreeing with the studio in shafting the still present DVD consumer. We know that this is a tactic for the studio to make more money on Blu-Ray, regardless on whether or not it's a superior format.


The argument does remind me of the anamorphic argument back in the early days of DVD. So many people just didn't seem to care, which is fine if you have a square TV, but as soon as I went with the widescreen tv, I had to update quite a few titles. Not the same, but it was expensive for me to do so simply to "have better picture quality". I am all for PQ, and Blu-Ray fucking rocks, end of story.


Now, back to the DVD.........

chris_sc77

I got an e-mail back from them today stating this:
"Hi Chris,

We are sorry, but we can only answer customer service issues related to the WBShop.com orders and products at this department

You may want to send an email to the general WB site:

http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/help/help_feedback.jsp

Regards,"

So, please, everyone, I implore you if you care about DVD passionately to send WB your thought concerning the abuse they are showing us.

Gizmo

Non-Anamorphic and Anamorphic are not even the same type of argument as this.

islandclaws

No big surprise on WB's strategy here. The film was hardly well-received, and the box office returns were (I'm sure) weak, so I fully expected something along these lines. I didn't really think they'd screw DVD owners that much by not including the DC, but I did think the BD would be weak as hell. And it is.

AnonomusBob15

Good thing you read my post thoroughly.



edit: you are on ignore now. I'll take you off when I upgrade and want to talk about Blu-Ray.

cerial442

"He has a different opinion/view than us, get him out of here so everyone will think alike!"

chris_sc77

I am all for this type of segregation.

philip74

that oppo sounds good, unfortunately all my other equipment is pioneer, so i am really looking to purchase a pioneer player and there i havent found one which meets my demands yet.

also, please don`t misunderstand me!! i would never bitch about bluray!!
i think the quality is fabulous and it is a great new development for film freaks.
i just think people should upgrade for that reason and just don`t find it an ok
move from warner. even i already had bluray, there are millions of customers
who will prefer to stick to dvd.
companies should still cater to to very much existent dvd market. "forcing" people into something is never good.
if i switch to bluray i would want to purchase all movies on that format, but thats not possible either, as many titles are still missing and not being released.
if companies like warner feel that their only purchase incentive is to pull stunts like that, then something doesnt seem to be going in the bluray direction they want. i am only upset about their practices for the principle!
bluray should have much better selling arguments than blackmail!
i am sure that you will agree on that part with me that this measure
seems extremely desperate on their part.

warner, let people upgrade because they enjoy the quality and not because
you feel they have to make that transition! money is money and if they
make the turnover from dvd or bluray shouldnt make that much difference, unless you have the two departments in competition

crs

Even if Blu-ray didn't exist, I think many would still be pissed if Warner didn't release a DC on DVD if it turned out it could have. Why blame a different format, it's not like one thing necessarily got to do with another.

philip74

you are right, surprises me a bit though. don`t studios usually put extra
effort into dvd releases of box office disappointments, so that they can
at least recover their money by strong dvd sales!?
or do they just give up completely, cut their loses with the dvd effort
and write the whole thing off

cpgator

Now that is just silly.

Gizmo

Pionner makes several excellent BD players. While they won't be DVD/BD region free, they are still pretty fantastic.

philip74

and why is it in your opinion silly that i have a very nice clean setup
with piano black pioneer components and would like the keep the visual
aspect uniform?
you do have a bit of a hard time, that people have other tastes than you,
right

chris_sc77

Hmmm Maybe this explains something. This pic was taken at WB New Release X-mas party held last year for the staff and management: