Having gotten my first Warner Archive disc, an important thing to note is that these are NOT standard DVD-Rs, they're special ones which supposedly are needed to keep the CSS encryption intact. Big thing is that they won't read on any PC drives (except ones made VERY recently to accommodate these discs) DVD recorder or any other device that is capable of writing, because they can't tell what type of disc they are. When playing on my Sony Blu-Ray player, the display said "DVD VIDEO" like a normal DVD, rather than "DVD-R" or "DVD+R" when playing either of those types of discs. Looking at the center of the discs they have "FOR DOWLOAD" etched into them.

My gripe about these besides the price is that they aren't chaptered correctly- they have chapters automatically placed every 10 minutes like you can set most DVD recorders to do. The title I got was a made for TV movie so they could at least have just put the chapters at the parts where the commercial breaks would have been.

It also remains to be seen whether they'll use dual-layer media for anything running longer than 2 hours.

I have approx. 75 Warner Archive titles and they play on anything I put them in. DVD players, recorders, PC drives(both read only and burners). The oldest PC drive I have is from 2003 and they work in it.

Any device should read them as DVD VIDEO because that's what they are. It's the format of the files on the disc. Just like a CD-R that plays in anything is CD AUDIO just like the cds you buy. Even the discs I burn on a standalone dvd recorder are recognized as DVD VIDEO because that's the format they are recorded in. If you download an avi file and want to burn it to watch on a dvd player, it has to be burned as a DVD VIDEO, and that is how the player recognizes it.

That's the kicker. You're getting a barebones release at a definitely non-barebones price. I don't mind standing in line for my meal at McDonalds and refilling my drink when it runs low. If a five-star restaurant instituted a policy like that, it would lose customers very quickly, no matter how good the food was.

The price will adjust to whatever the market will bear. The concept is one year old and they've already had two sales (last week and at Christmas) where you could get a number of titles for under $10 each with the appropriate couponing. They've also had more limited sales in which you could get specific titles (like the Tarzan boxed sets) for the same low price. If you're patient, you'll eventually get what you want. If you feel you just have to see If Looks Could Kill next week, you may pay through the nose for the privilege.

I think the price ultimately goes back to what these titles were getting on the used market as out-of-print VHS tapes...usually $20, $50 or higher on Amazon. If people are willing to pay that much for a used VHS tape (or burned copies on the grey market), why not for a new DVD? It's simple: supply and demand. By going the MOD route, WB is supplying only what the consumer is demanding, which keeps the price per item as high as possible. No leftovers that end up in the bargain bin. They throw a bone to the complainers as it were with the occasional very brief sale. It's a brilliant marketing move, and the only way to counter it if you don't like the price is don't buy it, and by the same law the price should eventually come down. However, people are buying at these prices, so don't hold your breath.

I'm thinking that the cost to produce a DVD-R is higher than a DVD, therefore they cost more. They save by not having to put up the initial pressing costs that a DVD run would have, but with smaller numbers being burned, the higher the individual cost per disc and making it harder to discount. It probably takes longer to produce a DVD-R, too. Anybody know the actual process? Burn one disc or a couple of hundred at a shot? Either way, I suspect the cost per item is higher with a DVD-R.

I doubt they burn them individually. I'm guessing there's a stop-loss involved, so that when they get below, say, 20 copies of a title, they burn another batch. That way they won't have a huge amount on hand but they aren't burning onesies, twosies as the orders come in.

I placed two orders last Sunday for five Warner titles each (so I could use my coupons twice). One order shipped Tuesday and arrived Wednesday. I don't know when the other shipped, but it arrived Friday. They can't get turnaround time like that if they're burning every order individually.

I have a defective disc that I bought at the end of 2010. Warner refuses to replace it because it is outside the 30-day warranty period. Since they are now playing hardball with their replacement policy, I will no longer purchase Warner Archive discs. The defective title is "Zeppelin".

Interesting. I've purchased about 200 titles all told and never had any problem with them replacing the few defectives they shipped. If they played hardball with me, I would end my relation with them as well. I will not be forced to watch my purchases within 30 days to get what I had payed for

Just another reason why i'm not a fan of these kinds of DVDs, but to each his/her own.

That's interesting. I went through this exact same problem back in March. The defective title was a year old. After tweeting to Warner brass back and forth, my title was replaced and management said that their warranty policy would be ammended.

I posted to their FB account and that got their attention. A replacement is on the way, fingers crossed it's not defective as well. Meanwhile, I've joined ClassicFlix to start renting WAC discs instead of buying. I may still buy a few here and there, but with the 30-day warranty it is not worth the risk anymore. I've got over 100 discs now, with about 10 replacements, in other words 1 out of 10 were defective, with about 20 I still haven't watched all the way through.

I've bought only 2 of this type of dvd. Both times I've had to send for replacements. I knew about the fail rate so made sure to view both of them as soon as I got them so didn't have problems getting replacements. (Both replacements were fine.)

Neither title is something that is going to be released widely, so it is nice to have this option, but for the price (even with sales) and fail rate, it's hard to jump on other titles that are MOD that I have an interest in. Like others, I don't always watch my movies right away and I hate feeling obligated into watching.

I've bought over 50 of these discs.
Yes, they are over-priced so I usually hit their 5 DVDs for $50 sales.

Also, if you put something in your cart and leave it there they sometimes contact you and offer a discount.

All discs have played and been just fine.

I have played them all just once so far with a few I've played twice.

Their service is fast and reliable.
I also bought some "Columbia Classics" from them which were worth it.

At Christmas they were also selling their Warner Gangster Box sets for just $15 each. Currently those sets are $35 and up on amazon.

So the WBshop.com is a pretty good deal if you go by your own terms.

I beg to differ! 'Don't be afraid of the dark' had a high profile remake and even following that release Warner remastered the original and guess what? DVD-R archive crap again. It deserves a factory pressed version and if they don't want to do it, license it to a company that will. I know for a fact that they only need to book 500 copies a time at the pressing plant becuase I did it myself with my film and would never put a popular title on sale in that shoddy and unreliable format. Even a piece of crap like 'Trog' gets a release that no one wanted. The film wasn't a hit and no one asked for it. Yet 'Don't be afraid of the dark' is a cult film that has a fairly huge fan base. Honestly if they're not going to do this properly I will watch everything online for free and they can miss out on my business. I am not going to accept inferior product from a company like Warner. Many feel the same way as I do, and it's better to accept that especially with small cult films that have small followings. I wouldn't be sorry if Warner Archives sinks to oblivion. They suck.

I bought TROG.

And I also bought DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK from Archives.

No complaints here. Keep 'em coming!

I had no idea that the 'From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler' was going under a different name 'The Hideaways' - god, I haven't seen that since I was a kid, and even at that screening we never saw the actual end of the film, cause the print up and burned...

Some of Warner's standard DVD titles including Trog have been replaced with DVD-R versions. Really seems like a step backwards when it doesn't cost that much to make a REAL DVD, and it blurs the line between a legit original and an illegal copy made from an original disc.

^Many of the Hammer Horror titles have also been downgraded to DVD-R versions. While I have a *few* Warner Archive titles (stuff I though I'd never see on DVD) I'm only be willing to purchase titles that have *never* had a proper DVD release and only then during a sale where it's under $10. Frankly, even at $10 any title on DVD-R is overpriced. IMHO $10 should be the "regular" price with sale prices of $5 or less. There's absolutely *no* reason these should cost more than pressed disks.

Trust me, a LOT more titles formerly available on "regular" DVD are making their way into the archives. There's just no market for them anywhere else these days. I just recently received an Archive email announcing the widescreen debuts of VISION QUEST and another title the name of which escapes me. It still costs more to make a real DVD than a DVD-R, and both are "legit" in their own ways. Someone further back mentioned that studios could press as few as 500 "official" DVDs at a time, but why? That's 500 copies (of how many hundreds of films that currently reside in the archives?) that need to be shelved/stored until someone buys them all, IF someone buys them all, copies that for the most part will never see the inside of a retail outlet. The DVD-R's require NO storage beyond that required for the blank discs (and I doubt they need mountains of those on hand every single day), the plastic cases, and blank paper to print the sleeves, all of which can be ordered as needed, using up considerably less space at any given time.

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Incidentally, I just got an email this morning that the Warner Archive has now added the MGM/FOX MOD titles to their library. Awesome to have nearly everything under one roof now.
http://www.wbshop.com/MGM/WAMGM,defa...ny&src=EWSONY1

That's in addition to the Sony Screen classics they've had available for a while now, of course:
http://www.wbshop.com/Columbia-Class...ny&src=EWSONY1

As well as the HBO line of MODs. Not sure how long these have been available through the Archive, but there's some good stuff there:
http://www.wbshop.com/HBO/WAHBO,defa...sortd1=1&sz=49

I wholeheartedly agree with those who say these discs are overpriced, but question the sense of anyone who would actually pay those prices in the first place. Like others here, I've never spent more than $9 each (always with free shipping) during the countless "multiples" sales they have throughout the year. In fact, most of my orders have worked out to about $8 per disc thanks to discounts off $100 orders posted by other members here.

And I've never had a problem with any of the approx. 70 that I've ordered over the years (most as a direct result of Glenn Erickson's thoroughly-researched and informative reviews; the bastard's bankrupting me! ), though I do rip back-up copies just for protection.

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Do you mind me asking how you're accessing the WBShop from Canada? I'm in the same situation and, although you can get them through Amazon.com, you can't access the uber good pricing you mentioned direct from WBshop sales.

As mentioned above, I'd guess there is a small bit of storage involved. They probably keep x copies of the popular titles on hand then replenish as they go. That'd allow for faster turnover of customer orders rather than burning each order individually. Then they'd likely crank up more inventory in advance of their big sale events.

The business model works. We know that they're overpriced and wait for sales, but if it was regular pressed stock--heck, we often refuse to pay as much as 10 bucks for catalog Blu-ray, but we stock up on these at that price.

I've played probably four of these and had no issues. I own a lot more than that and should spot-play them just to check.

My secret weapon is a U.S. mailbox that I've rented for about 15 years. I live in Toronto, but my family's in a border city a couple of hours away. I visit regularly, so I order the vast majority of my DVDs, Blu-rays and other media online in the U.S. and have them shipped to a Michigan postal outlet (where I'm told most of the boxes are rented by Canadians! ). The WB Archive discs were tricky in the early days as they wouldn't ship to P.O. Boxes, but simplifying the address to "Box 12345" seemed to do the trick. Not sure if that's an issue anymore. Beyond that, there really is no other reasonably-priced option for Canadians to get these things. Amazon's Canadian site has tons of them, but they're $25 a pop; here in Toronto, the only retailer I've seen them at is Sunrise Records' flagship store downtown, where they have virtually the entire Warner, MGM and Sony MOD libraries available, but want over $30 each for them (which is robbery if they're somehow taking advantage of the cheap sales too). So, if you're within range of the border by even an hour or so, it's definitely worth looking into a P.O. Box on the other side. Then it's just a matter of timing your purchases.

Another nice thing about getting these for $8 or $9 is the resale in Canada remains high, so if you don't like a title you purchased, you can turn a tidy profit on Amazon.ca's Marketplace.


That's good advice. I do the same thing, chapter-skipping through each one before I store it for later.

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I do live in a border community so that could certainly be possible so I may consider it. Thanks for the FYI.

If you're on the border already, there's no reason not to do it! I can't even begin to calculate how much I've saved over the years. The small mailbox I rent in a USPS outlet in a Michigan mall costs about $60 per year, but I split that cost with a friend who still lives in my old home town, which means the box gets visited more frequently so nothing gets sent back, and the savings I've incurred on just my own purchases more than cover the expense. Being able to take part in the American Black Friday online sales, various Amazon.com sales throughout the year (not to mention their regular pricing on a lot of stuff), the Barnes & Noble 50% off Criterion sales, the Deep Discount sales (especially back when they actually meant something), and little pop-ups here and there (like the recent $20 Transformers 3D blu-ray offer on Facebook) has been key to both building my collection and expanding my knowledge without breaking the bank. As I hinted above, one advantage of doing this is that the resale for DVDs and Blu-rays on Amazon's Canadian marketplace is relatively (and often considerably) higher than it is for U.S. sellers on the U.S. site, meaning you can often break even or make a solid profit if you decide to sell U.S. purchases down the road. Just some more Timbits, err, tidbits to chew on . . .

arrgh. finally got around to seeing some more movies in the Mexican Spitfire collection. Just got a Blu-ray player (high end Sony) and they won't play. freeze up every time and locks the machine.

Will now have to buy another HDMI cable, dust off an old DVD only player and hope it works.

Will never buy another archive disc.

Technology is supposed to get better over time, not worse.

Put in a disc, watch a movie. Disc bought from reputable dealer (WB). Decent player (Sony). This should not be complicated.