Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: DVDs with a limited time release is not a good idea

This is topic DVDs with a limited time release is not a good idea in forum The Afterlife at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-27-2003, 02:12 PM:

Losing a lot of favorite DVds from theft a few weeks ago was a very traumatic experience but not being able to replace them because they have gone out of print or were put into moratorium makes the situation even worse. Because my DVD movies were all grouped together by the studio that released them, almost all of my discs from Fox, MGM, half of my Disney collection and Warner Brothers are gone. Out of 150 fifty title that was snatched, I am planning to replace only fifty but many of the ones I want are no longer available including a lot of Disney animated films such as "LADY & THE TRAMP", "PINOCCHIO", "101 DALMATIONS (Live and animated), "MELODY TIME","A BUGS LIFE", "TARZAN" and "SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARF". I lucked out with "SNOW WHITE" when I found a copy at a Sam Goody store in Honolulu last week and "A BUGS LIFE" will be on store shelves again in a few months so that is not too bad. Among many precious Fox DVDs I lost were the out of print "THE TOWERING INFERNO' and the special Five Star two disc editions including "PATTON", "THE ABYSS", "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" and "INDEPENDENCE DAY". I was able to get another copy of the two disc version of "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" because it was part of the Rodgers & Hammerstein collection which is still available. The set also included "THE KING & I", OKLAHOMA", STATE FAIR", "CAROUSEL" and "SOUTH PACIFIC" that were also stolen and needed to be replaced. I will aso get the two disc set of "PATTON" later this week along with "TORA!TORA!TORA!", "THE LONGEST DAY" and "THE THIN RED LINE" which were also stolen when I receive my Fox WW2 collection from one of my local retailer. I will unfortunately have to settle for the single disc editions of "THE ABYSS" and "INDEPENDENCE DAY". [Frown]

I honestly feel that once a movie is released on DVD and there is a a demand for the titles from people who are only now collecting them after getting a player or from people like me who have lost a copy from theft and need to replace it, the studios should alway make them available and not play that childish game of putting them back in the vault like Disney does and Steven Spielberg has with "ET" or Fox with their single disc "movie only editions after they had released a lavish two disc collection which is no loner available.

-Claude

Posted by Doug Willming (Member # 728) on 01-27-2003, 05:13 PM:

Just an idea, Claude, but there's always Ebay. I just checked on a whim and somebody has the ID4 2-disc set for 19.95, so it's not like it's a total rip.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 01-27-2003, 05:45 PM:

Also, check out some used record stores. Many of them also sell DVDs and videotapes, particularly out-of-print or "hard-to-find" items. Even if they don't have what you want, they might know of another store that might.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 01-27-2003, 09:21 PM:

"Seek and Ye Shall Find" and that is exactly what I did this afternoon at my local Borders store. I could not believe it when I was able to find the two disc edition of "INDEPENDENCE DAY" for $23.95 and "TARZAN" for $36.95. They even had a copy of "SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARF" which I do not need anymore. I am going to visit two other Borders store in the city either tomorrow or Wednesday and see what they have. The two stores in the city are frequented by more die hard video customers and the likelihood of finding anything I want is not good but I will try anyway. Now that I have found a two disc "ID4" and "TARZAN", All I want now is the two disc set of "THE ABYSS" and if I look hard enough, I might be able to find it.

-Claude

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 01-27-2003, 09:28 PM:

Also Claude, I have found "Pawn Shops" have a pretty good selection of used and sometimes new DVD,s.

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-27-2003, 09:45 PM:

I've had some good luck with pawn shops and I'm about to give eBay a try.

I don't like the idea of "limited-time releases" because it's nothing more than a way of forcing people to buy DVDs on somebody else's terms. I also wish they'd let up on all the freakin' special editions, ultimate editions, collector's editions and super-duper-deluxe-better-buy-it-one-more-time editions.

How many copies of EVIL DEAD does a guy need?

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 01-27-2003, 10:24 PM:

Sam Hunter wrote: "Also Claude, I have found "Pawn Shops" have a pretty good selection of used and sometimes new DVD,s."

You might even find the exact same DVDs that were stolen from you! [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-27-2003, 10:37 PM:

This is something I've always wondered about...why does the video industry limit availability like that?

I work days in a store that sells CDs and etc. We can also order videos and DVDs. Seems like music CDs stay in print for years and years, whereas vids tend to go out of print within months. I can sort of understand Disney's thing, where they make the demand go up by withholding titles from the market, but on typical mainstream titles like "Towering Inferno" it doesn't make much sense.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-28-2003, 09:21 AM:

Don't worry. Soon they'll run out of extra features to add, and we'll be left with the, "Almost-Special-But-Not-Quite-Edition" with over 6 hours of commentary from the Key Grip, and 10 minutes of never-before-seen footage from the camera film that was dropped and became exposed to the sun. [Cool]

=TMP=

Posted by Sam Hunter (Member # 1119) on 01-28-2003, 09:31 AM:

Excellent Point John [thumbsup]