I'm curious about a closed thread and wanted to follow up a bit on the policy.

Without getting into the details, a thread was closed in the DVD Talk area dealing with an emmy screener for a popular TV program. The thread was closed for the reason that discussions of screeners are analogous to bootlegs. While I agree this would be true for source/sales information, I'm a little puzzled as to why this would also be true simply for discussing the disc itself for a couple of reasons.

First, the disc itself is legal and was produced by the studio/copyright holder itself. Bootlegs are inherently illegal.

Second, I have the disc discussed in the thread in question, and the disclaimer on it says "Warning: Not for duplication, sale, rental or public performance." It does *not* say "not for discussion."

Third, there are plenty of perfectly legal ways that folks here could have the DVD in question -- they could have received it from the studios, or they could have been given the disc by someone who received it from the studios.

Given all this, I just don't understand why the content, packaging and quality of the DVD can't be discussed *without* talking about "duplication, sale, rental or public performance." These permissible topics may be of interest to curious folks, and I (who admit that I am a lawyer) just can't see what would be illegal or actionable about that. In fact, under the same principle y'all would have to close the entire "TV Talk" and "Movie Talk" areas.

I totally respect the management's right to run the board however they want, but in my opinion this seems a bit of overreach.

It was closed for two reasons...partly because the person who started the thread gave some indication that he hadn't obtained his copy through legitimate means, and even moreso because the thread went on to discuss how to obtain the screeners.



(7/24: Ignore this following paragraph and see ToddB's comments below -Blade)
If someone who had obtained a screener legitimately wanted to talk about it, I don't think that would be a problem. I don't see how it would be useful, except where people were requesting specific information, as there's no legitimate way for most people to obtain these.

The problem, Trinitron, is that the membership has shown repeatedly that they can NOT handle this. Every discussion about bootlegs ends up degenerating into requests about where to buy it, how to obtain it, etc. Similarly, if you look at the thread I closed, 3 of the 4 posts in the thread discussed/requested information on how to obtain this screener.

Bootleg discussions were not able to follow the ground rules laid down for them, and become more trouble than they were worth. I have no doubt that screener discussions would follow an identitical path, therefore the same "no-bootlegs" policy will be applied to screeners.

Thanks for the explanations -- I see and respect your points; it's unfortunate that this gets in the way of the discussion, though. (Rare stuff is one of my interests.)

Good point. Disregard my earlier comments about legitimately owned screeners.

Funny how there's so many screeners in the Exchange forum on a daily basis and nothing is ever said about them.

I doubt anyone picks through each of those threads looking for screeners. That's what the "Report this post to a moderator" link is for.

Um, one of the people who's always got screeners listed is the moderator. Personally I've got no problem with them but after seeing this thread I'm curious why they are allowed in that forum.

The screeners question is a relatively new wrinkle in the bootleg question.

We'd already been discussing this in the mod forum, though we haven't reached a final decision yet.

We'll keep you all updated once we decide exactly how we want to handle these.

oh

I notice that there are several links to many sites at the top
of each dvd talk page.
At least one site above has screeners forsale right now.
So is it the policy that its ok to link a site that sells them,
but we can not even discuss them here?

Count me as another who enjoys collecting some of these.
The artwork alone for many is unique. Never to be seen again.

What's a screener?

A screener is a DVD (or tape) produced by a studio or producer and sent to critics or people who vote on awards. Because of the nature of those groups of folks, they are usually of very recent material, and as such can be pretty highly desirable to collectors.

Studios usually don't want them outside of the hands of the folks they actually send them to, but sometimes they are semi-publicly distributed. For example, UPN sent out a screener of the musical episode for Buffy the Vampire Slayer in many mail subscription copies of Daily Variety. While I'm not personally interested in that one, it is a highly desired DVD that can fetch hundreds of dollars. (Even though, of course, it's not supposed to be sold.)

Screeners are also sent to just about every video store in the country to advertise upcoming VHS/DVD releases. Screeners aren't so rare. When I worked at a video store 10 years ago (a small mom & pop) we got about 10 a week from our distributor. Nothing too exciting or unusual about them.

Agreed as far as movies go. But for some tv shows they are.
Dr Quinn Medicine Woman sent out in a wooden box to
a select few. Best/favorite epsiodes. & Thats just an example.
My favorite movie one though is the Trojan War Cover.
They changed Love Hewitts outfit completely.
Anyways....Did not mean to hijack this thread.
But to show that there is interest in the subject from
a collectors point of view.

The "moderator" in question works for a video distrubution company and obtains the rightful way for anyuone who ?'d it.

I do not accept that as a valid point.
Either its all or none...Period.
I do not care if its a moderator or a new member.

No single person should be able to trade them,
unless all can. As long as no cash trades hands,
I really do not see the big deal in all this.