Richard--W wrote:Will everyone who is 3-D enabled at home
please support post 671.
The people at Warner Archive are monitoring this thread.
NOTE: this is NOT the place to ask how field-sequential 3-D works, etc. Don't derail the thread with questions about 3-D technology etc. Just support the suggestion that field-sequential 3-D DVDs are popular and if added to the burn-on-demand Archive program you'll buy them etc.
Many thanks.
Richard
Well, if they're listening, here are my two cents about this new wrinkle in their marketing of old films: too expensive for the product they are peddling!
I just received a copy of
Westbound, the one Boetticher western from the Randolph Scott series that hadn't received a proper DVD release yet. Very good-looking image, anamorphic, and presented in the OAR of 1:85. But this 72 minute effort, with no extras to speak of, ended up costing me over $26 shipped to my front door, with the attendant shipping and tax (I live in Illinois) costs included. The shipping charge of nearly $5 is absolutely laughable, if it didn't hurt my pocket book. To give you some context, the majority of films shipped from any number of British DVD e-tailers (Amazon.uk, sendit.com, HMV, Moviemail, etc) end up costing me less than a single title sent less than 30 miles from my house!
I think it's Warner's attempt to mimic Criterion's Eclipse series of films and present sought-after titles without much fanfare, restoration, historical context and CHEAP! Well, they definitely got it right on all accounts except for the pricing structure. A typical discounted Eclipse set from Criterion (when discounted through outlets) ends up averaging out to around $12-15 per movie.
So they should drop the price for each film to $14.99, and standardize the shipping to $2.95 or thereabouts per title (well within reason). This would drop the total price to less than $18 shipped to anywhere in the continental U.S., and for those of us unfortunate enough to be living in the same state as one of their distribution centers, add an additional $1.50 in tax, thus still keeping the price below $20 per movie shipped.
That would be fair, and competitive with what other big DVD labels are doing with their marginalized films! I doubt I'll be revisiting their store anytime soon unless they reduce their prices to the aforementioned levels. Besides, for the money they're asking, I can always just record these films from TCM directly on dual-layer burners (keeping the bit rate above 7 MBPS), with an occasional Robert Osborne "intro and epilogue" and deal with the TCM logo popping up intermittently during viewing.
On a more positive note, I ordered the title on Monday, it was sent out on Tuesday, and it arrived at my doorstep on Wednesday. Customer service is very good, that much I will give them!