Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: So Nice! Buy It Twice! (or, Stupid Variations of Products)

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Topic: So Nice! Buy It Twice! (or, Stupid Variations of Products)

Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-10-2002 06:23 PM

This is a rant that I was about to get into over in the Film Reviews forum. I thought it would be more appropriate here.

I just purchased MEMENTO from Amazon.com and I watched it last night. It's really good. That's not the issue.

For those unfamiliar with the film...it is told in flashbacks. Essentially, it starts at the end and ends at the beginning. Sort of.

Along with several other people, I thought it would be nice if the DVD offered a view of the movie in chronological order. Alas, it doesn't.

The good news is that a forthcoming "Ultimate Edition DVD" will offer a chronological cut. Someone (on another discussion list) asked why we didn't just wait for it before buying.

That's what got me pissed off.

It isn't really fair to ask collectors to wait for the "Ultimate Edition" or "Special Edition" or "Collector's Edition" because there's usually no way of knowing if one is in the works. Besides, I've waited long enough to see this movie. Primarily, it's the movie I want.

But to illustrate the problem:

There are at least three versions of TOY STORY out there. There's the individual DVD of the movie and then there's also a "Toy Box" edition which has TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 in one package and then there's a "Special Edition Toybox" that has all the extra features.

Back in the days of Laserdiscs, there were countless versions of STAR WARS. The same was true for VHS versions...often just different packaging.

Speaking of collector packaging...What's up with the different covers for the STAR WARS EPISODE II soundtrack? It says "collect all four designs...while supplies last!" Do I need 4 copies of the EP II soundtrack? Does anybody?

TV Guide does the same damn thing! What's up with that?

Are people really buying all the different versions???

------------------
And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

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David Stambaugh
Film God

Posts: 4021
From: Eugene, Oregon
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 05-10-2002 06:54 PM

Manny, you hit the nail on the head! I used to collect laserdiscs. Then I realized I was buying the same titles over and over due to a newer/better transfer, or added footage, or some other "improvement". How many versions of Star Wars did they release on laser? I practically stopped buying them (of course laserdiscs are defunct now) largely due to this issue because I felt as a consumer I was being overly manipulated and ripped off. Even now I'm very selective about what DVDs I will buy because they still constantly release "new" versions.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 05-10-2002 07:13 PM

The only version of the Star Wars Trilogy that I ever purchased was the Special Edition with the fake Jabba and other things that made it worse. One nice thing though is that all three movies have fairly impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. Lots o' bass. They were remixed very nicely. You can't even get those on DVD yet, so I guess LaserDisc is good for something. I also have True Lies and Titanic in DTS on LaserDisc.

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Aldo Baez
Master Film Handler

Posts: 266
From: USA
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 05-11-2002 12:35 AM

If you go to DVDtalk.com this is a long long standing issue with alot of DVD buyers. I rarely buy DVD's but for one hate this. I did buy memento when it came out, and now I'm having a hard time selling it to get the new edition. Also, Amelie is coming out as a special edition. Everyone is wondering if BV is going to release it in a tin later on (Like the french edition), or just go with this. I'd rather have the tin but I still want the dang movie. Decisions.

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James R. Hammonds, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 931
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 05-11-2002 01:59 AM

Just sell them to half price books.

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Michael Gonzalez
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 790
From: Grand Island , NE USA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 05-11-2002 07:33 PM

That's not quite the best solution James. There doing the same thing for Lord of the Rings but at least they were good enough to let us know ahead of time that there will be a better edition coming out in November as oppose to the one coming out in July.
Of course I am still waiting for the StarWars EP1: Special Edition "Jar Jar Free" to come out on DVD.

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John Moriarty
Film Handler

Posts: 50
From: Cambridge, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 05-12-2002 04:22 AM

quote:
There doing the same thing for Lord of the Rings but at least they were good enough to let us know ahead of time that there will be a better edition coming out in November as oppose to the one coming out in July.

The other nasty trick they are playing (with region 2 version at least) is that the four disk collectors/directors cut versions have a thirty minute longer version of the film, which is speard accross two disks. So if you want to watch the whole film you have to do a disk change part way through. I wonder how many collectors will buy both versions so that they can watch the film without interuption, but also watch it with the extra footage.

John

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Bill Gabel
Film God

Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 08-08-2003 07:11 PM

Fox Home Video just re-released "Castaway", "Sound of Music", "ID4" and "Planet of the Apes". They released these in a 2 disc Special Edition when they first came out. Then some months later released a single disc edition with different packaging. Now they have re-released those titles with a 2 disc and another package.

I just got in their releases of "All That Jazz", "Hello Dolly" and "The Rose". They all look and sound great. The new transfer of "Dolly" as the box states shows 2.35 than the original Todd-AO ratio material. The soundtrack is 4.0, but the box has two mistakes on it. It labels the soundtrack just 2.0 stereo. And the other mistake credits Produced by Todd-AO , it should read "Produced in Todd-AO". That mistake goes back to the second edition on VHS in the early 80's.

[ 08-09-2003, 02:08 PM: Message edited by: Bill Gabel ]

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 08-08-2003 07:33 PM

I see a lot of magazines lately that have "collectible" covers. They have 3 or 4 versions of the same mag, but with different crap on the cover. The magazine says "Cover #2 of 4. Collect them all!" or something similar.

How this enhances a magazine company's profits is beyond me. I can't see too many people purchasing multiple copies of the same mag.

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Ron Lacheur
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 650
From: British Columbia, Canada
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-08-2003 08:10 PM

This is known on dvd websites as " Double Dipping ".

Bill, only Best Buy is re-releasing those 2discs sets right now. They have different cover art than the original releases.

Fox is offically re-releasing these in October under the " Digipack " name. This is including the former " Five Star " release of Die Hard as well.

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Pravin Ratnam
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 844
From: Atlanta, GA,USA
Registered: Sep 2002

posted 08-11-2003 06:22 AM

It's interesting how studios want to crack down on piracy and copying of dvds even for personal use, but won't let you upgrade from one dvd version to the better one wihtout having to make a completely separate purchase. If we are paying for the rights to own a movie , like they say, why not let me pay $20 or whatever for the first version, and then let me pay an upgrade price , which would be the difference in prices, plus the cost of an additional disc(say $2 more).

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Duncan Smith
Film Handler

Posts: 50
From: England
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 08-11-2003 06:42 AM

Hey Manny,

I know your point is mainly about Special editions etc and I agree with you. Thought you'd like to know (if you don't already) that apparently there's an easter egg on the Memento DVD that will play the film in cronologically edited form. Don't know the details but it's supposed to be there, check a few websites for tips I guess.

Good luck, Duncan.

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 08-11-2003 08:42 AM

I don't like the constant repackaging of movies any more than anyone else. But this is a stunt the home video industry has been pulling on customers for roughly 20 years, even with formats like VHS or those 12" cartridge-based RCA SelectaVision discs that played with a stylus (remember those?).

There's few movies I'm going to buy even once much less twice or three times. I would buy the new "T2" extreme edition DVD, but only for the HD-DVD version of it. Since the HD version requires a 3GHz PC for playback without dropping frames (along with having your PC connected to the Internet to download a special Windows Media Player 9 "unlock" key that expires after 5 days) I'm not going to pick up that version any time soon.

I don't have a big problem buying another version of a DVD if it has new features that make the purchase worth it. But items like a new video transfer or the addition of a DTS track alone aren't going to be quite enough unless the previous DVD had crappy video/sound.

That's why I'm kind of torn about whether or not to buy the upcoming "Superbit" version of "Lawrence of Arabia." Sony can make a freaking three disc special edition of "Black Hawk Down". But they can't do the same for "LOA"? I guess they'll provide that on a new "Superbit Deluxe / Extreme Phiggidy Edition" a couple years from now.

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