Posted on 03/23/2009 7:47:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Warner Bros. is reaching into its film vaults so it can sell old movies on made-to-order DVDs, in a move it hopes will goose sales of a vital product in a downturn.
Starting today, the studio will sell copies of 150 films from the silent era to the 1980s Brat Pack that have never been released on DVD. Internet downloads of the movies will cost $14.95, while DVDs sent in the mail are $19.95. Both can be ordered at www.warnerarchive.com.
The initiative, which Warner claims is the first of its kind for a major studio, is an effort by the Time Warner Inc. subsidiary to combat what could be a fundamental decline in demand for DVD purchases - a falloff that can be blamed on market saturation as much as the recession.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailynews.com ...
Are this movies that one would not be able to get right now from say Netflix? The prices are to high, but watching some of the silent films would be cool.
They're getting ready to have serious problems with ripping, as a 500 Gig hard drive is under $100 now, and it's not that tough to rip a DVD or VHS to disk. Also, most of these movies will be the old stuff that wasn't in high definition anyway, so they won't be able to make the "quality" claim.
Are this movies that one would not be able to get right now from say Netflix?
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It sounds like it,, looking at some of the titles , I can see why.
There are a few I recognize,, some oldies but goodies..
The download is a few bucks cheaper..
Most of my DVD ripping software was DL’d free from mininova and my last 1 TB hard drive I bought on Web Monday for $80 from WalMart. I agree, when WB reached into the vaults, someone for sure had to work overtime to make them look presentable.
The old Buster Keaton and Chaplin films if available, I’m very interested in. Not sure if they’re WB though.
I imagine those would be in the public domain these days.
Warner Brothers were the king of the gangster movie in the pre-Hays Code era. Great stuff.
The quality of transfer on old public domain movies can vary a lot. Public domain classics sourced from old exhibition prints, Nth generation video, etc. are real cheap, but if you’re willing to pay you can get good restorations with lots of documentaries, contemporary stills, etc. I have no idea how much effort Warner Bros. is putting into this effort—probably little to no restoration, but if they’ve really opened the vaults we’ll get the best video transfers yet.
Old movies “weren’t in high definition”?
Old movies are on 35mm film—which most assuredly IS “high definition.”
Considering that (A) a lot (most?) old movies are much better than the crap that comes out today, thus stimulating demand, and (B) there will be no multimillion-dollar actor salaries, just residuals to dead actors’ estates — this is probably a very good business move.
One Terabyte for just over $100:
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