An Open Letter To All Companies Still Releasing Classics On Blu-ray and Studios Who License Them… (1 Viewer)

You are all my heroes. You are carrying the flame. I hope that letters of appreciation online or mailed to you affirm this from collectors worldwide. We all know that classic titles are a hard-sell when it comes to reaping profits these days. Yet, you not only keep pumping them out, you are providing mostly great-looking transfers (including some expensive restorations) that we can just pull off our shelves and watch at our leisure. We may whine via online forums that this favorite or that one isn’t yet on Blu, but know that we generally love what you’re doing.
My word, I can turn on my 65″ OLED 3D t.v. whenever the mood hits and choose from hundreds and hundreds of stellar, film-like Blu-ray classics on my shelves to put into my player and know I will be seeing something as near to a theater-like experience as my small room will allow. From THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939 & 1959), to SPARTACUS to KISS ME KATE (3D) to…on and on and on, depending upon what scratches my itch that...

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I have great memories of going to my local Blockbuster in the 1990's renting and buying laserdiscs and still remember renting my first one Blade Runner released by Criterion and buying my first one Altman's McCabe & Mrs Miller and seeing them letterboxed for the first time. Still have the player and the discs.

Yup, this is a great time to be a film fan. Pessimist as I am, I keep expecting the inevitable downturn in catalogue releases, but so far so good. So, a big thank you to the studios who keep releasing quality stuff (& please get with the program Paramount), & an even bigger thank you to all those small specialist companies for all those many releases.

I have just finished watching Close Encounters projected in 4K and I echo your praise. I have never seen Close Encounters theatrically - the first time I saw it was Criterion's CAV laserdisc on a 29 inch CRT TV! Tonight was an incredibly greater experience. Sony is showing the way with gorgeous native 4K releases of classic films. I really hope they continue with more catalogue releases.

Great post, thanks! I remember when I was in high school buying some widescreen VHS tapes in the early '90s with my lawn mowing money. Never had the budget for laserdisc but then DVD came out about the same time that I was making "real" money working part time in college. When I married my wife my father in law gave me his laserdisc player and discs so I hold onto those just for collection purposes. I applaud TT, Criterion, WAC, Olive, Kino, etc. for keeping us supplied with wonderful films in blu ray.

Dick, The sentiments of many who visit this site regularly . Thanks for articulating them.

Truer words have rarely been typed, Dick. I've been doing this as long as I've been alive, and the level of dedication among the people who do this is something to behold, and even while waiting for holy grails to arrive, something else comes out in the meantime that shows just how great movies can be and how far restoration technology has come. We are at a golden age of media access, and while we may not have everything we want yet, we have a lot more than we could ever imagine.

And as for Woody Allen, say what you will about his private life (on another thread, please), but he does deserve credit for insisting on Manhattan not being cropped to a 4x3 ratio on home video, even in the days when "big screen TV" was smaller, heavier, and of lower resolution than what constitutes that today. The UHD disc is, theoretically, comparable to 35mm film in resolution. How much better can it get?

MatthewA said:

And as for Woody Allen, say what you will about his private life (on another thread, please), but he does deserve credit for insisting on Manhattan not being cropped to a 4x3 ratio on home video, even in the days when "big screen TV" was smaller, heavier, and of lower resolution than what constitutes that today.

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An artist deserves to be judged based upon his or her best work, and that should be kept separate from private life issues. I think we may be starting to lose sight of that as a society lately. There need to be checks and balances, evidence and corroboration prior to condemnation, otherwise any of us could lose everything as a result of a vindictive accusation, which is what is happening now in at least a few cases. No doubt some of these claims are absolutely true. But what of those that aren't? I am still very pleased that women are coming into their own these days, and I hope that has a positive effect upon the future of this country. Things will swing to the center eventually and all will even out.

Hope that wasn't too political. MANHATTAN, btw, is due for a 4k scan.

skylark68 said:

I remember when I was in high school buying some widescreen VHS tapes in the early '90s with my lawn mowing money.

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I remember these widescreen VHS releases, usually presented in hard plastic clamshell cases. Because VHS resolution was so poor, the widescreen editions were even more so. It was a failed attempt to compete with laser discs. I guess there were some Super-VHS releases also, but I never engaged in that format.

MatthewA said:

...The UHD disc is, theoretically, comparable to 35mm film in resolution. How much better can it get?

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A 35mm original camera negative is generally thought to have somewhere between 3-4K of real image detail, depending on the film stock and lenses used, shooting conditions etc., so UHD equals or surpasses it. But it's way beyond a 35mm projected release print. Even blu-ray is sharper and much more stable than projected 35mm - you never would have seen anything approaching UHD in a cinema.

I just deleted one post that I felt crossed the line as being disrespectful towards another HTF member regarding "bootleg" discs. To remind us all, the following is part of our posting guidelines, please, adhere to them. You can dispute other members, but don't make mean-spirited and personal comments towards that poster. We won't allow it!

Conduct
10. No personal attacks. We expect all members to treat each other with consideration and respect. While we encourage lively debate, we do not allow personal attacks. This includes direct attacks, such as name-calling, as well as indirect attacks, such as repeated baiting of a member in a provocative or belittling manner. If you believe that you have been subjected to a personal attack, or have witnessed one on another member, please see the section on Dealing with Problems for instructions on how to proceed.

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Dick said:

What a time this is for us!

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Enjoy it because I'm afraid that we're going to see fewer and fewer releases in physical media, especially of older films. The physical business is in severe decline and it's primarily a hit-driven business anyway and for the most part, those hits are recent films.

Having said that, what will be interesting to see over the next few years is what happens when mass consumers largely stop buying physical and switch to streaming. That will leave the collectors and perhaps then, there will be more classic films among the best-selling physical titles, although they'll sell far fewer copies.

In 2009, the physical media business in the U.S. was almost $11 billion. In 2017, it was just $4.7 billion. And in 2017, the top selling 100 Blu titles represented 53.2% of all units sold and 71.4% of U.S. industry Blu-ray revenue. So consumers are not buying deep and a retailer who only stocked the best-selling 200 titles could probably fulfill 90+% of customer needs.

Of course the used market will be around forever.

Robert Crawford said:

I just deleted one post that I felt crossed the line as being disrespectful towards another HTF member regarding "bootleg" discs. To remind us all, the following is part of our posting guidelines, please, adhere to them. You can dispute other members, but don't make mean-spirited and personal comments towards that poster. We won't allow it!

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Obviously I don't know the specifics, but it seems to me that this site should never permit anyone to endorse pirating media that violates copyright laws. There are some finer lines with bootlegs, which I consider to be content which is not otherwise available or a fan edit, which could be considered to be "satire". Especially if someone works in the industry and their job is contingent on the successful commercial marketing of media, I can understand them being upset with someone who has no regard for copyright. Too many people today think it's perfectly okay to steal media, just because it's virtual. IMO, this reflects complete ignorance as to where the value lies. Although there are other factors, pirating and stealing media pretty much killed the recording industry which in the U.S. is a third of its former peak size, adjusted for inflation.

Thank you Dick, for capturing our heartfelt thanks to the "niche" studios who lovingly restore our favorites and capture them for posterity.

zoetmb said:

...In 2009, the physical media business in the U.S. was almost $11 billion. In 2017, it was just $4.7 billion. And in 2017, the top selling 100 Blu titles represented 53.2% of all units sold and 71.4% of U.S. industry Blu-ray revenue. So consumers are not buying deep and a retailer who only stocked the best-selling 200 titles could probably fulfill 90+% of customer needs.

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I don't think the average consumer ever bought much in the way of catalogue titles. When DVD took off, you had entities like Blockbuster and Netflix buying up multiple copies of everything. As the rental market has shifted away from physical copies to streaming, it's hardly surprising sales are down.

MANHATTAN made it's video debut on the CED format, not Laserdisc, and it was not the first letterboxed title released. That would be the CED of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. RCA also released a letterboxed CED of AMACORD.

True, but those films weren't shot in Panavision.

Bob Graham said:

MANHATTAN made it's video debut on the CED format, not Laserdisc, and it was not the first letterboxed title released. That would be the CED of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. RCA also released a letterboxed CED of AMACORD.

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Ah! The glory days of analog and CED. Watching a CED was a bit of a gut-wrenching experience, always with a prayer in the back of your mind-- 'Please, please stylus, please don't skip'!

Bob Graham said:

MANHATTAN made it's video debut on the CED format, not Laserdisc, and it was not the first letterboxed title released. That would be the CED of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. RCA also released a letterboxed CED of AMACORD.

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I was not aware that MANHATTAN had come out on CED first. Nor did I know that MONTY PYTHON had been letterboxed in that format. Thanks for the info.

Well said!