man*machine

The last couple of Warner Archives orders I placed recently, the discs came shrink-wrapped. No security seal, of course, but as of now they are being sent out shrink-wrapped.

Pizza

That's a postive in my book. I hate those things. It is so nice when I get an import from the UK or Japan and there are no security stickers stuck all over the DVD/CD case. I guess we have more store theft here than there. Someone is getting rich making them.

abintra

Didn't think I implied otherwise.

I believe most large production runs are all automated.

Thanks for the info. That would be a positive development for me personally.

davidh777

FWIW, I agree. The average dollar-store shopper is not going to recognize the Archive titles and might only buy the ones with familiar stars. But the PDs will have better title/name recognition (again, for that shopper).

Plus Warner is very resistant to devaluing their product like that (see Redbox and Big Lots histories).

Pizza

I'm looking over the sale and horror discs over at deep discount and see a few DVD-R's I'd have bought if they were DVDs:
Don't be Afraid of the Dark, A Return to Salem's Lot, Razorback.
My in laws get some kind of mail order magazine that's filled with DVD-R's selling for close to $30 a pop. It doesn't note they're burned on demand until the back of the magazine. I got to imagine some consumers won't even know what they're getting.
Just curious if anyone felt burned (no pun intended) by Dr. Horrible. I picked up the blu-ray but I know I would have felt bummed out if I had bought the DVD-R for $10 to only see it released later in the year for the same price on Blu.

Jay G.

It wasn't the same year. The Dr. Horrible DVD-R was released December 19, 2008. The Blu-ray was released May 25, 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Hor...VD_and_Blu-ray

mike7162

I just learned at the DVD Beaver site that Sam Fuller's Verboten! has been "archived". After the pretty decent treatment he's received on dvd, I'm pretty bummed/pissed about it. But I'll be buying it anyway.

Pizza

Fair enough: If I had bought Dr. Horrible on DVD-R for $10 and it came out later at the same price on Blu, I would have been bummed.

jjcool

The only DVD-rs I buy are blank. I refuse to spend what amounts to more money for a burned copy, than an actual pressed copy would go for. on top of that it isnt even guaranteed to play in my player. No thanks.

Pizza

The Green Slime.
I really hate WB right now. I really hate DVD-Rs. At least I got the Japanese issue on DVD.

JOE29

I broke down and bought one a while ago. The White Buffalo wasn't Warner but MGM who are doing the same thing. I had to return the first copy because it froze up in my dvd player half way through the movie. Returned it for a replacement copy, when I received it the thing would only play in one of my dvd players, I have two, in separate rooms. I figured it was more of a pain in the ass to go through the whole return process again and decided to keep the dvd and only be able to play it on one of my two dvd players. whew. The only reason why I bought this in the first place was that I really liked the movie and took a chance on it. But I won't take a chance on another one at the current prices. If the prices get cut in half I may try it again but not until then.

kstublen

They aren't movies, but I'd buy all of Amazon's Nickelodeon releases if they were released on real DVDs.

DarkRavenII

Made In Paris
Kitten With A Whip
The Mad Miss Manton
Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain
The Incredible Shrinking Woman

Pizza

I should also add:
The Animal World (Just to see Ray Harryhausen's work)
Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space
Still, those don't bother me as much as The Green Slime.

Chet Desmond

I was disappointed (but not surprised) about THE GREEN SLIME too. I'll probably pick it up eventually though. It'll be the first one of these I've bought.

Vlyger

The Maxx

rw2516

Why hate DVD-Rs? If they didn't exist you still wouldn't have the movie. A pressed DVD release is not a reasonable expectation under any scenario.

Pizza

You read the title to this thread, right?

rw2516

Yes, but why be upset about the DVD-R release?

Dane

DVD-R release is NOT a proper DVD release.

smurr05

Carny - even though I thought my DVD-R copy looked fine and sounded fine and at least was anamorphic!

rw2516

But why even care? If you are only interested in pressed DVD with no interest in DVD-R, a DVD-R release has zero impact on you. It's the same as the movie not being released at all. Those not interested in DVD-R seem to feel that these MOD programs are preventing pressed DVD releases which is entirely untrue. Marketplace factors that led to DVD-R releases are preventing the pressed dvds.
Why would someone who wants Green Slime on DVD hate WB and really hate DVD-Rs? A month ago this wasn't available on DVD and it still isn't. Nothing has changed for you. It is entirely unrealistic to assume these films would released on DVD if these MOD programs didn't exist. So why care?

I don't trust the MGM/UA DVD-Rs. I would buy White Buffalo and Eight On The Lam if released on DVD, but to me these don't exist. The movie is unavailable and I feel no different than I did five years ago when they were unavailable.

Jay G.

Not true. A DVD-R release could delay or even permanently halt a pressed DVD release of the film.

rw2516

False. The studios have no intention of ever releasing these films on DVD.

Fox doesn't have an MOD program and I don't see a lot of Fox catalog being released. Also, It takes time and money to properly prepare these movies for DVD release. In less than two years WB has over 500 Archive titles. Probably more catalog titles than they've released on DVD in the past ten years. And they are adding a couple hundred at least each year. They could probably restore maybe 15 a year for proper release. It would take 50 years to get these all out on DVD. It took an entire year to restore just 60 WB shorts.

calhoun07

My only issue with these is the price. As long as it plays and it looks good, sounds good and is anamorphic I could careless what the bottom of the disc looks like. But they are just simply priced way too high.