criterionforum.org

tenia wrote:However, we don't know the market share of BD VS DVD for independant labels like Criterion. And we surely don't know the general consumer view on BD, but surely, looking at the wide difference between the penetration of HD and the penetration of BD, what we might overestimate is how useful BD is for most people.

Peter Becker wrote:Today, something like 60 percent of the discs we sell are Blu-rays, 40 percent DVDs. The good news is that the growth of Blu-ray has more than made up for the slide in DVD, and our overall audience is growing.

I'm incredibly disappointed that after just a year they decided to switch back. What will happen with the dual-format format titles when they run out of stock? Reprints in the separate formats?

Jean-Luc Garbo wrote:I'm incredibly disappointed that after just a year they decided to switch back. What will happen with the dual-format format titles when they run out of stock? Reprints in the separate formats?

Probably.

All this certainly makes the reissues of The 400 Blows and Breathless as Dual Format quite the waste of time.

At least this means something like Mishima probably wont need the current DVD stock to sell out for the blu-ray to be released.

I'm dvd only but I was happily buying the dual formats. Just less of them than dvd-only Criterion releases because they cost a bit more.

I guess I'm the person most of you aren't too happy with. As a 30 year old person who doesn't have tons of extra income, I've never upgraded from CRT TV, old stereo receiver and older projector so I never got a blu-ray player. Eventually I will, it's not the most pressing thing to me although I'm well aware of and appreciate the benefits. Just owning the movies at all, and being able to study them frame by frame, is usually my priority. I'm also a person who doesn't do streaming really, I have a Hulu account and I've caught up on some unreleased things that I wish I could own but I barely use it, really.

The prospect of spending huge sums of money upgrading my 1000+ dvd collection is also daunting, to say the least. And the things I do desperately want to upgrade rarely seem to get the deluxe blu-ray treatment.

I don't know, mixed feelings. Happy to be able to purchase more unseen Criterions but at the same time I didn't mind owning the blu-rays for future viewing. Box set purchases are what mostly make me in favor of having the two formats separate. And, finally, dvd-only Eclipse sets are my favorite thing about Criterion - I personally would love to see many more of them getting released instead of single movies with tons of extras!!!!!

liam fennell wrote:The prospect of spending huge sums of money upgrading my 1000+ dvd collection is also daunting, to say the least.

So don't do it. Most of my collection remains firmly SD, and most of that isn't upgradeable anyway.

liam fennell wrote:doesn't have tons of extra income

my 1000+ dvd collection

:-k

MichaelB wrote:

liam fennell wrote:The prospect of spending huge sums of money upgrading my 1000+ dvd collection is also daunting, to say the least.

So don't do it. Most of my collection remains firmly SD, and most of that isn't upgradeable anyway.

Oh, I wouldn't and good portion of mine also aren't upgradeable, of course. That part of my post is pretty irrelevant for why and how I justify staying dvd-only, it is true. This is just a factor that weighs in my mind when I try to convince myself to embrace blu-ray because I know I'd want to upgrade every possible beloved release alongside upgrading the equipment - and while said releases are still in print. I just don't have the on-hand cash and I'm sure I'm not alone in this, no matter how much I appreciate the numerous and undeniable benefits. So I stick with dvd whenever possible and probably will for the foreseeable future.

1000+ dvds accumulated over many, many years, you know, and in box sets? Buy a few things every month and it adds up eventually. I'm not saying this is the most wise way to spend what little money I have, it is just a fact!

mteller wrote:

liam fennell wrote:doesn't have tons of extra income

my 1000+ dvd collection

:-k

Liam answered for himself, but it took me 7 years to have a 800+ DVDs, at a time where most of them were 50€ for 5 DVDs. If you do the calculation, it's about 100€ / month, which is far from excessive.

But of course, Criterion DVDs are not 10€ apiece, but one can always look for second hand titles.

liam fennell wrote:I guess I'm the person most of you aren't too happy with.

Looking at what you wrote, I don't think you are. We'd probably not too happy with people which still stick to DVD while they actually already have upgraded their TV set and have a budget good enough for jumping to BD.

Maybe we shouldn't make assumptions about people's income and financial priorities, especially people who we don't know.

I think the idea of getting mad at people who are DVD only for whatever reason is fairly silly. I'm far more annoyed with the many people I know who consider me a sucker for buying physical media at all, instead of just stealing it all the time (piracy is one thing, but being an evangel for piracy is pretty unbearable to my view.)

liam fennell wrote:I'm dvd only but I was happily buying the dual formats.

You sound like a perfectly rational person. I can't see why anyone would be unhappy with you about this (I mean, other than those that think you should have been complaining about not all of your Criterions being the same height).

mfunk9786 wrote:Maybe we shouldn't make assumptions about people's income and financial priorities, especially people who we don't know.

#NotAllCriterionCollectors

You expressed some anxiety about eventually upgrading your collection. I might recommend buying a cheap bd machine with a composite out, so you can buy BDs rather than DVDs, and still continue to use your old display as long as you like. But yeah, whatever makes you happy. I would say people buying any physical media are friend of people who collect movies. Probably some insane slipcover completist is keeping this whole industry alive.

liam fennell wrote:I guess I'm the person most of you aren't too happy with. As a 30 year old person who doesn't have tons of extra income, I've never upgraded from CRT TV, old stereo receiver and older projector so I never got a blu-ray player.

I say forgo food and upgrade your system and entire catalogue. And think, to some you'll be a hero.

To be honest, I don't know any film fans who haven't gone without eating in order to allocate funds for a good deal on a DVD set or whatever, but that's not a sustainable lifestyle!

I waited until my DVD player broke down in 2010 to get a blu-ray player, so I didn't think of it as buying extra equipment. And many of my upgrades have cost me nothing (or a couple bucks) because I could sell the DVD for a decent price. There have even been cases where a DVD is OOP and I can sell it for more money than I need to get the Blu-ray. Example, I had a sealed copy of the MGM The Long Goodbye that I sold for $24 and then bought the great Arrow Blu-ray for £10. So even though my multi-region player cost me more than I'd have liked, it's allowed me to do things like that. I realize that selling media isn't for everyone and can be a hassle sometimes. I couldn't justify a lot of what I purchase without doing so, though.

swo17 wrote:

liam fennell wrote:I'm dvd only but I was happily buying the dual formats.

You sound like a perfectly rational person. I can't see why anyone would be unhappy with you about this (I mean, other than those that think you should have been complaining about not all of your Criterions being the same height).

I also fall into this category. I live in Australia & my BD player doesn't play locked Region A BD.

The dual format enabled me to enjoy the DVD now & then the BD when I eventually get a new player. Now I'm stuck back with DVD & won't be able to buy Criterion Bd until I upgrade my player.

giovannii84 wrote:

swo17 wrote:

liam fennell wrote:I'm dvd only but I was happily buying the dual formats.

You sound like a perfectly rational person. I can't see why anyone would be unhappy with you about this (I mean, other than those that think you should have been complaining about not all of your Criterions being the same height).

I also fall into this category. I live in Australia & my BD player doesn't play locked Region A BD.

The dual format enabled me to enjoy the DVD now & then the BD when I eventually get a new player. Now I'm stuck back with DVD & won't be able to buy Criterion Bd until I upgrade my player.

Try JB HiFi ... I got a region-free BD player for less than $100. I've had it for almost three years and never had a problem.

No releases this month are dual format. Does that mean anything about the future of those releases?

mfunk9786 wrote:No releases this month are dual format. Does that mean anything about the future of those releases?

They've been discontinued.

Oh sorry, didn't think to peek behind the home theater talk.

Arrow wrote:

mfunk9786 wrote:No releases this month are dual format. Does that mean anything about the future of those releases?

They've been discontinued.

Specifically, this happened

mfunk9786 wrote:Oh sorry, didn't think to peek behind the home theater talk.

Yeah, it got buried fast.

Count me disappointed as well for the reversion to separate formats. Dual-format made so much sense and seemed like the best compromise for everyone. I didn't realize there was so much pressure to go back to separate DVD editions.