thetao

Per a comment on another thread, Sony has apparently given up selling burned Blu-Ray disks, and Universal has started selling pressed BD MOD's themselves. (I believe Fox also has a limited selection of BD MOD's that have always been pressed.) This was news to me. Would anybody mind giving a few examples of Sony and Universal's pressed output?

E Unit

It's been confirmed by Sony they've stopped selling blu-rays?

Adam Tyner

Some recent examples from Sony are None Shall Escape, Stay Tuned, and Battle in Outer Space. Apparently Sony transitioned away from BD-Rs around June?

There's a long list of Universal's pressed MOD titles on blu-ray.com's forums.

Brian T

I've been eyeballing a Sony Blu-ray of Richard Lester's ROBIN & MARIAN for months now that seemed to pop up out of the blue. Figured it was probably another burned disc, but it seems that might not be the case?

Adam Tyner

I can't say for certain, not having the disc myself, but it sure sounds like Robin & Marian would be pressed, based on when Sony released it.

Josh Z

Robert Harris confirmed that Robin and Marian is a pressed disc in his review:

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/com...lu-ray.359766/

"For those concerned about such things, I had originally thought that this was a new line of MOD titles coming from Sony, of Columbia titles. The disc is, in fact, pressed, regardless of distribution and manufacture."

thetao

Thanks for the details. Can anyone comment on Universal's output?

rw2516

I clicked the link. If you are referring to the titles shown by cover, it specifies that these titles are pressed not burned. Thanks for link by the way, had no idea Shakiest Gun In the West was available.

I purchased Man's Favorite Sport back around Thanksgiving. I couldn't tell if it was pressed or not. Playing surface looked same as pressed. BD-50. Player identified as BD-ROM and had DST-HD audio. Disc had ID info with cover image. Only thing different I'd never seen before was that after movie player went to stop instead of restarting movie. Disc had no menu, just pop-up for subtitles on/off.
Is there a way to distinguish a pressed BD from a burned one?

PhantomStranger

I'm not even sure you can burn a dual-layer BD-R. Every BD-R I've ever reviewed was a BD-25.

E Unit

There's BD-50's, and you can burn on them. I've bought them on eBay, mostly because it's the cheapest way. But I've never seen an MOD burned with it as of now.

rw2516

Good to know. Man's Favorite Sport has BD-50 printed on back cover.

Adam Tyner

Right, that was the intention -- to link to Universal's pressed titles.

From my limited experience, silver-ish data side == pressed, black data side == burned

Adam Tyner

...and now there's a corresponding thread for Sony's pressed MOD releases.

rw2516

Thanks for link. Didn't know Heroes of Telemark was out.

Brian T

Seems like there are a lot of titles in both of those sets that boutique labels would love to get their hands on and treat properly (or have already). Can't help but think the studios are just greedily trying to get in on the action before better editions inevitably come along (or because they saw sales figures for the ones already available). At the same time, the obscure and/or non-hit nature of some of those titles makes me wonder if the price of pressing Blu-rays is now so cheap as to enable the hefty profit margins studios would probably expect in order to justify the bother.

rw2516

They are charging more for them to make up for it. The Universal ones run $20 while similar Uni catalog stuff is 9.99. The cheapest I found Heroes of Telemark at Deep Discount was 22.99. Amazon doesn't carry it and third party sellers want 24.99 plus 3.99 shipping.

Brian T

Exactly, but it seems like any boutique labels wanting to do SE's of any of those titles might have to think twice. Or maybe not, since at those prices Uni/Sony can't possibly move very many copies except to suckers who can't wait. If, for example, Shout was to release fancier editions of any of those titles, they'd probably cost as much if not more, but at least they produce some added value material. In that sense, these barebones discs could make eventual SE's look like much better value, especially stuff like Shout's discs with their wonky new pricing strategies. Gasp -- COLLUSION!

PhantomStranger

Most of the films released through the major studios' MOD programs have very little commercial potential. I doubt many of them are projected to sell more than 1500 units in their entire lifespan. Mill Creek probably has the model right. License a bunch of older, less popular catalog movies from the studios and throw them together in dirt-cheap bundles. I think the Shout Factory approach falls apart on anything that isn't attractive to genre collectors, or has a huge fan base.

PatD

Quick question: Sony MOD's are factory pressed--this this correct? Or are they simply crappy burned discs. I'm just trying to get a read not his situation.

PatD

Is the (relatively) new Sony pressed? Could I get some confirmation on that please? I'd hate to buy a BD-R.

dex14

Sony doesn’t do BD-Rs. They are all pressed.

b2net

Except for their "Choice Collection" titles which are most of not all BD-R.

PatD

The People vs Larry Flynt is NOT part of the "Choice Collection", RIGHT? (fidgets)

dex14

Larry Flynt is pressed.

b2net

The Choice Collection titles do not have the Blu ray logo on the front case and the back has text "Blu ray Disc" instead of the Blu ray logo.