The thing that's most frustrating for me, is newer shows that are streaming in HD, like Elementary, Burn Notice and 24 but have never been released on Blu-ray
And IIRC, Little House on the Prairie (that hit 1974-83 NBC Western adventure w/the late Michael Landon, et al.) had been going on Blu and DVD for its first six gos (1974-80), and then became DVD only on the seventh one (1980-81).
There's also alot of snobbery within the physical media collecting world. I'm sick and tired of the amount of berating people get in chat rooms and sites like Facebook because they've bought the latest blockbuster on dvd as opposed to Blu-ray or 4K. The point is that they've bought a copy. They've shown that there's an interest in the product. If someone prefers dvd then cool. I'm 57. I've collected since the dawn of vhs. I have over 3000 discs. Of that around 800 are dvds. But so many of those are stuff that will never make it to Blu-ray, let alone 4K! I have dvds that may have better extras than its blu-ray/4K counterparts. I embrace my dvd collection. And I encourage people to be more open minded about dvds. Because you're alienating yourself from many great productions that'll never make it higher the dvd level.
Hear hear. Years ago, I endured a great deal of abuse in various internet locales for advising against format fetishism and predicting that the Blu-ray craze was, if people followed it, going to lead to a major contraction of the number of movies and shows brought to market. I was shouted down by the more avid that foresighted BD enthusiasts, then pretty much everything I was predicting at the time came to pass.
I agree, I have been buying UHD discs since they hit the market. I Have an LG UBK 90 player ( I had a Samsung UHD player before that )and to me films look great with it on my LG OLED TV. I see people on facebook and in forums telling people just starting out in UHD, oh you have to have a Panasonic UB9000 as if someone just starting out will pay that much for a player.
in Indonesia, there is this Facebook group that only allows bluray collectors and specifically not allow dvd collectors to join or even to upload pictures of dvd. its not a place to share passion in collecting, but to show off as who is the richest and can afford the most expensive stuff. i joined another group that allows all formats, but i saw the same mentality, looking down upon vhs, vcd, and dvd. i left the group and never look back.
@@skywalkerhunter95 The online hardcore Blu-ray fan community was REALLY snobbish in the beginning, and it sounds, from the comments here, like some of it--maybe a lot of it--still is.
I'm glad you brought up the point about the poor Blu-ray sales for Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. CBS spent a lot of money not only on upgrading the show but also produced many new special features that were included in the Blu-ray set. Many people complain that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is not available in Blu-ray. But obviously the poor Blu-ray sales numbers for the Next Generation will discourage CBS from ever spending the money necessary to upgrade Deep Space Nine. I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased that CBS/Paramount decided to spend the money to give us the original cast movie series (1 through 4) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition in 4K despite the money lost on Next Gen. I would be curious how well the 4K movie series is selling.
I read somewhere that the FX for Voyager and DS9 were all down on video, not film, to save money. The problem is that HD was not available at at the time, so the effects were all done in SD, making these shows poor prospects for Blu-ray.
Yep! During the 80s and the 90s, it was industry standard to edit on video. Even if a show was shot on film, it was then transferred to video for editing. Special effects were also outputted in this low resolution, too. Sometimes, if it makes financial sense, they can go back to the original film elements and scan in everything, then re-edit it all together from scratch, but the SFX would have to be redone (like in Star Trek: TNG), and that's what's keeping most sci-fi shows from ever being upgraded.
I absolutely support what I love and have no problem doing that. But I am also not going to piss my money away either. I refuse to pay some of the retail prices of some discs at launch and will wait for sale prices. I get what you were saying but there is also a flip side to that as well. Some companies really try and milk every last dime out of people and as an older guy who has lived and collected through the DVD days before Bluray and HD was even a thing I have more than put my fare share of money into the industry. I have no issues waiting to buy my favorite and most wanted titles when on sale.
You're 100% right. The industry tries to guilt trip the 4K community with the fact we're a smaller market to justify their insane prices because they can't stomach sales figures less than DVD. Yes, we're a smaller market, so simply produce fewer copies to supply the demand. They'll still make the same money if they scale their production accordingly. But they don't and pass the cost onto the end-user. Stuff them. Price fairly or I'll watch for free.
I love when you said "we cannot afford to be snobs" EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! AMEN! I also love how you brought up natural disasters such as earthquakes and fires - a lot of people don't consider those factors when talking about classic film and why they can't find certain titles on disc.
Miami Vice is a perfect example of this. In a normal world Vice would be a perfect candidate for 4K. Mainstream popular, a classic, sales potential, if you can pay the exorbant music licensing fir it. However I believe Vice's original masters were destroyed in the Universal fire from 2008. They're gone. What Mill Creek put out on Blu in 2016 was transferred from tape. Remastered on the cheap, yes. But to go back and do a 4K scan and do it proper.... not without a time traveling DeLorean. Pretty sure that got destroyed on the Universal lot by a train in 1990. 😆
It's not strictly about "being a snob". Some of us actually care about the audio aspect as well, and want more than just 7.1 (or if you're Nolan 5.1...). Also, HDR matters too, but less so depending on how well it was implemented over the Blu-ray. I had a decently large collection of Blu-rays already, and I've slowly but surely been replacing them all with their UHD counterparts. While the picture is still great for the most part on a 4K TV (DVD absolutely is not), Atmos/DTS:X and the rare Dolby Vision just makes the films even better.
@@naturallawman2965 somewhere between 2010 and 2012 I was talking to a restoration artist who was doing new scans from film for Miami Vice (I still have the pictures as proof); so for you to say 1) they were destroyed in a fire, and 2) Mill Creek scanned tapes, is false. There are also companies like Kosch in Germany who did a way better master than Mill Creek, and its certainly not from tape. They redid all the music mixing from scratch using the magnetic strips from the film, made new 5.1 mixes, made stereo mixes, and even redubbed edited/censored episodes into German dialogue that weren't even available before. And the video information, that's 35mm quality, and its visually approaching 4k, IMO, on HD.
It's not about being a snob. Why would I buy DVD over an HD digital download? Blu ray is better than both but DVD is outdated and looks garbage these days, so if a better alternative exists I'm going to take it
The sad truth is that too many people don't give a darn about A/V quality any more. They'll watch a widescreen epic on their phone or iPad. There are people with 4k TV's and they still buy DVD's... because they don't care.
One of my issues is that digital 4k releases are available so much faster than 4k blu rays. They should start including the digital 4k releases as preorder incentives. As it stands, you have to wait until the 4K blu-Ray is released to retrieve your 4K digital copy, which is sometimes months later.
I've come to the realization that many good movies will never receive a bluray release. These labels face decisions that fans often never consider. From restoration costs to licencing rights or even return on investment. It's much more lucrative to just keep reissuing the popular sellers in different editions over and over than to release a forgotten gem just once. So. I'm leaning into the dvd only titles now because SD is better than nothing.
Two years ago Vinegar Syndrome released RAD on 4K Bluray. Before that I think it was only available on VHS. I loved watching RAD as a kid in the 80's so when I saw Vinegar Syndrome was releasing it on 4K I quickly Pre-Ordered it. They have also released a 4K Bluray of the first Beast Master which I bought too.
Back in the 60's, I worked at a small TV station where we recorded live video directly to quad video tape. Viewed directly from the VTR, we thought the quality was good at the time, but it did not compare to 35mm transferred to HD. Some broadcast channels now put out 720P versions of old shows. I have one of the last plasma TV's made, and the 720 version of Star Trek blows away the usual 640-x 480 versions.
I don't understand why in an era where virtually everyone owns an HDTV that people would still only buy DVD and not take advantage of High Def format on Blu-Ray.
Something to keep in mind that any TV shows shot on video, rather than film, will only ever look marginally better when upgraded to HD. You're never going to see an impressive Blu-ray of something like Three's Company, since the masters were shot on videotape. If a show you love is available on DVD, don't wait on it in the hopes that it will eventually get a blu-ray release. Another thing is that very few movies and shows made for streaming services will get a physical release, since its in those platforms' best interest to keep them exclusive to their service, so the only way to watch The Mandalorian is by paying Disney $10/mo. for the rest of your life.
At least part of that could be because a lot of normal watchers are choosing streaming services and barely buying physical releases, but that's just a guess.
Great topic Heath. It's a shame that a lot of tv shows and movies will be forgotten about and stuck on past formats, formats that are not as easy to get hold of now. I don't collect VHS anymore but I bet theirs a lot of great shows/movies as you said on that format that will be lost over time, that's why it's really important to support the entertainment you enjoy. Top video bud.
With streaming growing more and more each year, I think it will create a demand for older TV shows and movies to get a quality increase, especially as 4K TVs become the new standard. And so if a studio has a 4K or 1080p scan for streaming it makes sense that they'll want to recoup the cost by releasing to physical media. That's my hope anyway.
streaming in 4k sucks / blu ray has a better signal to noise ratio in other words blu ray looks better...................some 4k like disney + you can't turn it off
I think Physical Media will continue, as a niche market anyway until Internet bandwidth gets to a point where films can be streamed without compression. The Kaleidascape movie server allows you to download full, uncompressed films, but the cost is prohibitive for all but the most wealthy collectors.
@@michaelmcintyre9179 absolutely agree and with cancel culture still prominent streaming services edit and end abruptly because of complaints. If I own the disc then I can just put it into the player and watch when I want.
Seeing as 60% of physical media buyers are happy with 480p DVD, I'd reckon it's a similar statistic for how many streaming users care about resolution as well. There is not a wide enough market for it
"The older it is, the more obscure it is... the more unlikely it is..." Sadly, such happened to be the case years ago as well, before streaming services even became all the rage. Over a decade on, I still can't find old-fashioned epics like THE EGYPTIAN or 55 DAYS AT PEKING (you know, the kinda things that would play on Turner Classic Movies) unless they happen to be released internationally in a format that couldn't play in my regular US DVD/Blu-ray player, having to find them uploaded onto YT where I could watch them for free!
Jeffrey FYI The Egyptian was released a few years ago on Twilight Time on BD - Region A/USA. Alas like all TT releases it was limited and it's long out of print, and for whatever reason it's one of the most in-demand on the secondary market. I keep bidding on it when it shows up on eBay hoping to get lucky at a price I can deal with but...no luck so far, it tends to go for $100-150 - more for a sealed copy.
A lot of good points here that I never thought of or took into account. It’s a shame, some stuff is just lost forever. One show I would absolutely love on dvd or blu is Unhappily Ever After. I definitely think that’s a rights issue as to why that hasn’t happened. Luckily I have some nice tv caps of the entire series but I’d love a physical set. I don’t really care about format much, I still buy DVDs, especially if it’s the only way to get something. I’ve been tempted to sell a few of my DVDs as I own tons of oop titles, but decided against it. A lot of the times dvds will have more extras or include the full screen version of the film, whereas the blu will be barebones
While watching the 1980s Twilight Zone on DVD, there was a comment made about how people complained about the quality of it but the speaker was saying thats the best its ever looked and probably the best it'll ever look because the original film was immediately transferred to video for editing and effects work and were neglected early and most likely thrown out to make room for newer stuff. Most of the original film elements don't exist anymore. It's sad really and pretty shocking to be honest when it comes to such a major name as that.
I don't know if they ever decided what happened to the film elements but the show was finished on tape, and even if the film elements survived, upgrading to HD would still require re-editing and then recreating all of the effects. Very expensive. Very unlikely. And it is a great show, every bit worthy of the original. Now in danger of disappearing.
I totally agree with what you said. Back in the day i often would buy something on DVD and then it got announced to be released on Blu-Ray and during the almost 2 years i've been buying 4K i have experienced the same thing. I would often joke before that you would just have to wait for me to buy the DVD for the Blu-Ray release to happen lol. But in all seriousness, i will get what i want on the highest format it's available when i can and if that's only DVD then so be it.
Super lucky that they upscaled Red Dwarf for bluray. Damn right I've owned that on every format! Still waiting for a boutique to pick up Gremloids for bluray.
Rights issues are also a huge factor as well. Some studios are really strange when it comes to their titles. Take TOHO for instance. They allowed the English dubs to be licensed to Kraken releasing on DVD/Blu Ray but then they wouldn't license the English dubs to Criterion. Some of the older Something Weird Video catalog had the rights revert back to their original owners and those owners aren't interested in licensing them out. The mystery about the CasaNegra collection. No one seems to know the status on those rights.
I agree with rights. Disney is notorious for this. They once licensed out some of their movies to Anchor Bay, but they disliked what Anchor Bay was doing, so they severed ties. Stakeout is not on Blu-ray, but the sequel is since Disney would only allow Mill Creek and Kino Lorber to use it. The masters for streaming are HD masters, but Disney simply won't release them physically nor license them out. Now with Fox being part of Disney, this is even more difficult. I think Criterion mentioned that it was far easier to deal with Fox to license out titles over Disney. Far less red tape.
I wanted a bluray boxset of superstore with all the seasons. They only released season 1,2, and 3 and only on standard dvd. Ended up finding a full 6 season bluray on the web.
I remember when Ted Turner purchased the MGM vaults and he was in tears because of the sheer number of pre-1950 and pre-1940 films on cellulose nitrate that had crumbled to dust while waiting to be restored. Films made in the 1970’s using Non-Technicolor film are also deteriorating very quickly and need restoration. Many T.V. Shows were recorded on video tape instead of film and is limited to 640 x 480i. and many shows were erased to use the tape again.
Thanks, Heath. This was a very informative video. I thought the the dvd percentage of sales had decreased with the Blu-ray/4K market. I didn’t realize that it was still the largest seller. Although when I walk through flea markets, a lot of sellers are trying to dump their Blu-ray discs because they aren’t good sellers for them. Majority of people have more devices that play dvd, so totally makes sense to me now. I remember working for Blockbuster when all they had was video, and being amazed when dvd first came out. And let’s not even begin talking about how expensive laser discs were when they first came out! Lol!
Happy to say I bought the Next Generation set, and didn't wait for a big sale either. It's marvelous and more people should buy it, both for the quality and the bonuses. I tried to "abandon" physical in favor of digital recently, but I've realized it's not quite possible in a legal way. I find myself drawn back to more cult and niche 4K releases, from Arrow, Synapse and Blue Underground to name a few. I'll keep supporting them as long as they release quality stuff, but unfortunately quality control has gone down the drain in recent times, and I don't blame them. Probably not nearly enough time, money and resources to do it properly right now, and unfortunately that means many, MANY discs are given replacement programs or just.. released in a subpar state. 😔
Warner have set aside a budget to HD remaster most of their classic TV content over the coming years. Currently they are finishing up remastering all 14 seasons of the the original Dallas TV series. They have gone back to the original negatives where available and have reconstructed seasons 10-13 which up until now have only been available in one inch master tape. A blu ray release is planned and of course streaming. Dallas may not be to everyone's taste but the DVDs did sell pretty well and Warner see an audience out there who want the series in glorious HD.
This is why I’m so glad that Renegade and Hunter both got re released. At least it isn’t out of print and has some potential to make some money off of dvd sales!
Great points Heath! The other consideration I would include is music rights that are too expensive to clear for whichever home video release. One example I can think of is Two_Lane Blacktop (1971) which did not receive a release because the music rights were too expensive. There was a successful petition from movie fans and the producers were able to get some of the music cleared for free. Another movie that gets mentioned along this line is Looking For Mr. Goodbar, although I'm not sure what the exact deal is with that. There's examples where they just alter the music instead, like for Weird Science and Married with Children.
The Married... situation made no sense to me. Fox (or was it Sony?) released it with massive changes to the music, and the sets were hella expensive initially. Yet Mill Creek puts out an 'el cheapo' Complete Series set, with all original music restored. Go figure.
Every time Criterion announces their monthly releases, I’m always like give me “Looking for Mr Goodbar” or “Those Fabulous Stains”. Diane Keaton and Diane Lane star in these, maybe these two movies are too rated R for a production company to take a chance on it, or what if these two actresses don’t want the nudity spotlight on them.
over here in the UK I was SO happy to find Cybill on DVD and Caroline in the City too that I don't care about it never getting an upgrade, I just appreciate that this format exists, as shows like 'Ed' with Tom Kavanagh hasn't even made it to dvd due to all of the cost for music rights.
Great points, thanks! I didn't know that companies base bluray decisions on past DVD sales. You're so right: we need to support these things by purchasing the titles that do come out. Fortunately, upconverting can look amazing (to me anyway) so if something never makes it to blu, the DVD can be just fine. As you say, we are lucky to have had all the great stuff that has already been made available.
@@CerealAtMidnight Also, there are some things, like some TV series, that I really would never buy again on blu-ray if I have the DVDs, same with some films. A well-made DVD can still look quite impressive (many Criterion discs, for example, or Indicator, Studio Canal, etc)
I know the #1 seller is still DVD~but I also think that for the most part that is the average off the street type buyer. Someone who runs to the store to pick up a few groceries and says, what the heck, let me grab this DVD movie as well. I don't think it is the same type of customer as the boutique collectors. When you get into boutique labels, they cater to their clients, who want bluray at least and most now crave the 4k. I'll buy a DVD if that is the only choice available~but otherwise I stick mainly to bluray. Another thing to consider is the work and care that goes into it. Take Seaquest DSV for example. Available from Germany, Australia and now the US. But which one had the most care put into it? I don't want something jammed onto too few discs if I can easily get a better version from another country. Show us you care and you have the collector in mind, and we will buy.
@John Hooper what're you talking about? sony owns both formats: lest we forget how much they banked on blu ray pulling the same trick with PS3s as DVD did with the ps2.
What about films or shows that are released in HD or 4K digitally, but not on physical media? In those cases, there obviously exists a version that is better than DVD quality, which could be put on physical media. Sometimes they are eventually released on physical media, though it may be a few years after the digital release. The bulk of the cost has already been spent, so why not also release such titles on physical media?
Absolutely agreed 100%. I still purchase DVD because it's the only format something may be available in. Also markets vary by region. Japan for instance, is still in a "rental" mentality, except for the most hardcore collectors because a new DVD movie can cost $40-$50 still, and Blu Ray well over $100 for a single film!
Don't forget about the advancements being made with AI upscaling. It's getting better and seems to be able to make some pretty good improvements to DVD quality source materials.
AI upscaling works best for animation, since that was never "real" in the first place, it is artwork. Upscaling for real life sources is more questionable (not that it cannot be done well, it's just way harder).
Don't know of any AI upscaling that makes it hard to know that it's not really 4K. As the other poster says, it works best for animation, for real movies it's hardly noticeable over HD. It's nothing close a full scale 4K restoration by a movie studio.
Some of it I'm surprised that there's been no Blu-ray though. I get that my DVD of "The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" is never going to get an upgrade from DVD, but I thought movies like "Bicentennial Man" would be mainstream enough to justify it.
Bicentennial Man is probably MIA because it's with Disney, which is a whole other frustrating can of worms. It's also kind of an obscure, niche movie that didn't earn it's money back at the box office, so it may be seen as too much of a risk.
@@CerealAtMidnight Bicentennial Man has already been scanned at 1080p and is available to rent or purchase for streaming from a number of sites. Therefore the expensive part of the process has already been done, and the only thing left is to burn it to blu-ray discs. It really shouldn't cost that much more at this point.
@@briantrash Only if a boutique label gets the rights and Disney is awful in that regard. Perhaps they should have such a division, but not holding my breath.
Yeah, Disney is sitting on thousands of movies, many of them restored in HD, with no release in sight. All those Fox movies that went out of print and are just waiting to make money for them, just wasting away. Maybe one day...
@@CerealAtMidnight With all of Disney's BS as of late, I hope they eventually go bankrupt(there is a huge rumor they are looking to sale their stake in Hulu soon for liquidity), and other more rights friendly companies pick up the pieces so many of these movies will see the light of day on 720p/1080p BluRay at the very least.
I've never seen a good accounting of why some DVD transfers can look excellent-sharp and vivid, approaching Blu Ray-while others are worse than mediocre. Is it purely money? The artistry of the technician? Improving quality over the years? The upscaling system in the player? Would like to see a report on that.
Source elements can play a part, but also the video codec used. DVDs from the last 5-10 years use different encoding and can look so much better than the early DVDs from 20-25 years ago.
All the above. Many dvds got a new hd transfer downscaled to dvd that looked really good. A lot of others were just older sd scans that didn’t get much clean up. All depends on the studio and how much they want to spend on cleaning up a transfer and how much work they want to put into it. Just remember, dvd was invented to look decent on a crt tv. HDTVs we’re just on the horizon. Also the player matters as well. Some are better then others at upscaling. The ps3 has one of the best upscalers I’ve seen. What ever algorithm it’s using smooths out the image and looks almost HD. Almost like modern AI upscalers. yet pop a dvd into a ps4, or Xbox series/one console and you get just a simple bilinear filter, which is ok, just you lose that “looks hd” look.
This was my thought on the Tales from the Crypt series not getting a bluray release. Makes me sad DVD is probably gonna be the best the series will look. Trying to watch the series on DVD now on my 4K TV is rough.
To be fair, the DVD releases of TALES FROM THE CRYPT was very subpar, even when they were new. It was basically just shoveled out with no real care. And if you really want to have your heart broken, check out the DVD release of George Romero's TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. Probably should have resulted in prosecution for those involved.
There’s also the problem with the distribution rights. Which drives me up the wall. For example they start their shows on DVD, then never finish them because they’re bickering over who owns the rights for the seasons. Webster and Mr. Belvedere both fall into this category. Then we have some that I guess don’t sell so well. Who is the boss? never got past season one, nor Silver spoons. Thankfully some companies like warner print on demand, allow you to finish your series is this way. I’ve gotten perfect strangers this way, growing pains, and the first four seasons of head of the class so far.
@@biggoofybastard it varies. It can be a bit more at times then a store would sell a season for, but they are professional DVD transfers. The only thing is they may not play all episodes in a PC/laptop or Xbox/PlayStation. This is to prevent copying. What happens is 1 or 2 episodes per set (not per disc) will freeze and you need to skip the episode. This is a non issue though if you’re using an actual DVD/Blu Ray player.
I fully understand that certain things just don’t sell but I’d love to see Takashi Miike’s Gozu get a Blu-ray release it’s one of my favourite films and only available on DVD. And I agree people shouldn’t be format snobs.
For YEARS I have been baffled at why DVD's were still around, since Blu-Ray players are now very cheap and affordable. But a couple of months ago I went into a local shop to trade in a few movies and the guy just plain didn't want any of the Blu-Ray's I had brought. He only bought and sold DVD's because DVD's were what "most people wanted". This was the real eye opening moment where I realized just how supremely dominant DVD's are in the history of media formats.
THIS. There are a lot of comments on this video about "DVD shouldn't exist anymore," but the fact is clear: most people who still buy discs prefer DVDs. Money talks and everything else walks. The argument isn't what format is best, it's what more people are spending their money on. For most of the disc buying world, DVD is the last disc format they'll ever buy. If companies phase out Blu-rays, then those people won't upgrade to Blu-ray, they'll just won't buy anything. Great comment with practical, real world experience. Thanks for sharing!
Happy to hear that dvd is still outselling bluray. I was a holdout and thought bluray was unnecessary and a way to get people to buy the same thing twice..now I have an appreciation for bluray, seeing the way some movies look in that format..but now I feel the same way about 4k; buying the same title AGAIN plus you need to buy a new player because standard bluray players can't handle 4k...I feel like if you aren't satisfied with bluray quality then nothing will make you happy..the stuff I like is so obscure that I'm grateful to find some titles on ANY format..
The difference in bluray over DVD is much bigger than 4k to bluray though. I still buy DVDs but only if unavailable on bluray. I'll always buy on bluray if available.
I was proud of myself today when I went to Best Buy and bought 'The Batman' on 4k (I was looking for it on steel book but it was all out so I just got the regular slip cover),when I noticed someone else deciding between blu-ray and 4k. I stepped in and told the individual that owning the 4k was like owning a 35mm print of the film, picture-quality wise and afterwards he picked up a copy and said you sold me on it. I felt good about him choosing 4k over blu-ray, hopefully winning over another fan of the format.
That seriously reminds me of when Special Edition DVDs were first coming out. I spent all my time and paychecks at Best Buy that even employees would be like "Bro which should I get or is this gonna get a special edition soon?"
This also explains why instead of the prices going down, they've been inflating the costs to ridiculous levels. You can get most previous releases for $15 - $20, but now new releases are all between $25 - $30, which is ridiculous.
@Rusty Gears My first DVD player ('97) was maybe $300. Thing about the 90s though compared to now is that you could literally rent everything, which included games and you could "take risks" on sampling, which you can't really do in a similar fashion now other than simply hoping you end up finding something new on streaming that you enjoy that you might want to own. As far as pricing back then goes, I remember paying $20 - $30 for imports from Suncoast, but I presumed it was entirely because they were imports was why they cost as much as they did. Now though, it doesn't make any sense. Optical media is FAR less expensive to produce than tapes ever were and my main point and gripe is that for a few years in a row we saw UHD prices dropping. So low that they were on par with Blu-Ray release prices, and over the last year and a half they've been jacking them way up again. They are the most expensive they've ever been. They are doing the same thing as what most "name brand" sellers, or premium audio dealers do: jack up the price because people assume they are getting the highest quality and will pay for that premium even if the production cost is nowhere near relative to the inflated price tag.
My local Tescos (here in the UK) which is a huge mega supermarket with just about everything you could want have stopped selling DVDs/Blu rays completely!
I am still shocked "X" did not get a 4K release and though Lionsgate was going to run it June 7, they officially scrapped it! :( But Malignant finally got a 4K release!
I've heard that Star Trek Next Gen didn't do well because Paramount released each season seperately: where there were people holding off for a cheaper all in one set. Since I never collected them on DVD, I snarfed each season that came out on BD. Really is an impressive set: VFX especially look great since those film elements were VistaVision. The lack of profit also condemned DS9 and Voyager to not get BD releases (I suppose Voyager especially since a lot of its effects were SD CGI and would need to be redone). I think one more factor for why a movie or series may not make it to BD or 4K is license issues.
I've heard that licencing fees can also have a big impact on what gets released. For instance a lot of shows get physical releases in Australia because the fees are lower there apparently. Also wonder if the cost of restoration could be reduced if rather than having a professional do it, someone could write a very accurate machine learning programme to do it 🤔
Wouldn't surprise me. Especially for properties from the VHS time where there wasn't this expectation that new formats would come along. Sure, at the time there was also laserdisc and beta, but those never really had the necessary traction to stay relevant and with HDTVs being many years off at that point, there was no reason to worry about licensing issues being an issue.
This is a really interesting topic. The Star Trek TNG issue really hits home with me. I purchased the TNG DVDs when they were new at great expense, about $700 as the time in 2001 I think, and that was shopping around to get the best price. So later when the Blu-Ray version came out it was really hard to justify spending more money for content I already own. So to this day I never bought them, and yes I feel like I let the system down. Because like you said I sent the message that I don't want a better version. So why would the studio invest in the next thing?
This reminds me of a movie I was looking for recently and even more so now that Liotta died yesterday. That movie was Turbulence. Not on bluray. I would love to see it get a bluray release. I would absolutely buy it.
Yeah. as a long time fan of film of all eras and genres, its always disappointing when things you love don't get a good release. I have abut a 1000s blu-rays and am very satisfied with the look of the majority of them, so with a 4k player that up-scales decently, I don't have the desire to upgraded to 4k, nor can I justify the massive cost of doing so as there are just too many aspects of my life to put money towards, and I'm sure hard-working casual movie fans feel that way about dvd. I do have a couple 4k release that included a better looking blu-ray from an older release, so those ones will occasionally trickle into my collection for that reason. There are some older tittles that got terrible releases (Spies Like Us and Prizzi's Honor) or have gone out of print in their respective regions (Cowboy and The Fury), and I hope they get that chance for re-release. It seems like all the labels are really peaking in their desire to put as much out as they can, so there is hope most tittles will get their chance at last on blu-ray sooner or later. Could Warner release Stealing Home or The Amazing Docter Clitterhouse? is it worth it? I'm not sure they feel it is, but I would love those on blu...and many more...
Maybe this has something to do with licensing rights but what I can't understand is why some of Woody Allen's classic comedies (eg., Love and Death) aren't available on Blu-ray. I know Woody is controversial these days but a Blu-ray box set was recently released with a number of his later films. 🤔
I know that three of my favourite films have never made it to DVD: 'Bed and Breakfast' (1989) with Roger Moore, Talia Shire and Colleen Dewhurst. It was released on the defunct label Hemdale; 'Light of Day' (1987) by Paul Schraeder with Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett, Gena Rowlands and Michael McKean, released by Columbia Tri-Star; and 'A Tiger's Tale' (1987) with Ann-Margret, C. Thomas Howell, Charles Durning and Kelly Preston produced by Viacom and released by Paramount. But I live with eternal hope these movies will eventually get the Kino Lorber or Shout Factory treatment...
One point: I'd rather not have a BR/4k release at all if it is not done properly and with love and care for the end product. For example, the HD release of Buffy on streaming is absolutely horrible with nearly everything wrong, from colour grading to aspect ratios.
Thank you. I get asked about this all the time on my channel. I started collecting TV on DVD and it's my comfort place for watching TV so I normally will grab the dvd edition unless it's something that I feel is really going to benefit from the upgrade. I upgraded my Twilight Zone to Blu Ray but I still would not get rid of the dvd set becauseit was just so much better made.(it also included a comic and the complete 80s series) Certain shows like Magnum P.I. and Rockford Files I have on blu because the dvds at that stage used Flipper Discs and those things scratch easy.
I agree to Aaron, my TV dvd collection has grown over the few years as shows like Canon, Kojak, Hogan's Heroes, Starsky and Hutch, Dallas and Dynasty and many more are not available until Blu-ray.
That's a very good video. I literally just made a video about some of the features Blu-ray has to offer to kind of tie in with a video from Jeff at Films at Home who's video was about why Blu-ray doesn't suck. So your video explaining that if people haven't bought titles in the past or always wait for the sales can't moan about titles not being released on 4K or Blu-ray. I did realise DVD was still the biggest format. It explains why they still manufacture them. Sad really. Trevor
Great video! I will admit that often times I forget that not everyone collects blu-rays and 4Ks like us. Agree if we want something we have to support it and buy it, definitely the best way to help. Like you said though some things may just not be viable due to so many factors.
Thanks! Yeah, we are the most dedicated audience out there, and I think we're growing, but we're just a tiny raindrop in the bucket that is the home media landscape. I believe a little gratitude goes a long way and we have so much to be thankful for already. If physical media dried up tomorrow, I'd be set for life. We are very, very blessed. The fact that more things are getting HD and UHD upgrades is just icing on a beautiful cake.
I have two thoughts on this, probably already echoed in other comments, but here they are. 1. Studios are missing the mark on what Blu-Ray could do in terms of TV show sales. We forget that the Blu-ray disc is just a higher capacity data storage in the same size medium as a DVD. Thus without "restoring" footage to HD, the same DVD rendering could be stored on a Blu-ray disc with an entire season on one disc. There's little work needed in terms of having to re-scan and rework any footage - all that's needed is a new menu and the original video files to be re-encoded for blu-ray players. But the features of Blu-ray make TV shows ideal for the format - you can access menus without having to stop the video, and the players can remember where you left off and continue playing from that spot next time. Overall, it's a potentially quicker and smoother interface than what DVDs offered. Having an entire season on one disc (again, possible if the DVD is straight transferred to Blu-ray) means less packaging, less waste, and less cost for the manufacturer. Not to mention more room on our shelves for our collections. 2. Even if Blu-ray and 4k don't sell, it still may be worth going back and restoring old movies and tv shows. This can be offered as higher quality streaming, which likely will sell, and it's just good for historic preservation. At this point, 4k is probably as good as we're ever going to need, and keeping raw 4k masters with lossless digital audio masters means these films can be re-edited and remastered for eternity. Of course this needs money and that's likely to come from non-profit film preservation societies. But preserving what is left as a digital master reduces the likelihood of further loss due to damage and decay.
I fully understand all your points, but trying to watch a DVD on a 4K screen through a standard DVD player (and not a PC program that can upscale or enhance it) often feels like watching it with petroleum jelly smeared all over the screen. It's tolerable if there's no other option, but just barely.
If you're using a standard DVD player, I'd recommend upgrading to a Blu-ray player that upscales. The difference will blow you away, and you can find one for $50 or less.
I thought my Star War: Phantom Menace DVD played on Blu-ray player to a 1080p small flatscreen TV looked OK until my friend brought over a Blu-ray rip of the same movie played from a hard drive. I have to admit that the ripped Blu-ray video quality looked better in a noticeable way but the 5.1 surround sound on the DVD still sounded better. Oh well at least all my upscaled, store bought DVDs looks better than my old VHS tapes collection that I copied to blank DVDs. Talk about Vaseline on the lens, lol…
I don't know if we have it any better or worse in the UK. But as you say I think it's down to what is profitable. Like you guys in the US we have a lot of HD stations, and a lot of these are by the companies that hold the rights to the TV shows, and they have made restorations and upscaling/new transfers of TV shows. One that springs to mind is Doctor Who. in this case the original series, shown between 63-89, (and to a lesser extent The Avengers, though that is also owned by Studio Canal) and these 'HD' versions are show on these channels. Dr Who is interesting since it was originally made on video tape, and a lot of these were telecinnied on to film for sale abroad, so theres a lot of restoration work that goes into it. For a lot of these the restorations were re done for the Blu ray releases, but I'm guessing a lot of these since they are the original rights holders could be seen as preservation? I remember reading about DS9 that even if Next Generation had sold well, that DS( may not have seen a blu-ray release, since while the episodes were shot on film the Special FX were edited on VT so there would be to much of a difference in quality at 1080p or 4K and they would have had to re-do the FX for many scenes, and then it's getting into the realms of serious money.
I still don't understand why Panic Room doesn't have an official blu-ray release, and i would love to see Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Series on blu-ray.
I was hoping Criterion would pick that up as they have already done a great job with Seven and The Game. I hope if/when it does come out more than one shot of Nicole Kidman's footage is included. The Superbit DVD did look pretty good though.
Because DVD sells way more than Blu-ray, plus TV on disc sells less than anything else. People simply do not buy most TV shows on disc. So DVD represents the least-risky, most profitable option.
I’m happy with the complete series of the wonder years on dvd. I never thought we’d ever get that. And I finally have it physically with all the original music. It’s a little noisy at times but I am beyond happy with the quality. Beggars can’t be choosers. I supported it and if it ever gets a better release which I doubt. I’ll buy that version as well. Also modern family just stopped after a few seasons on blu ray and suddenly stopped and only sold dvds. I still continued to own that series as they came out. Maybe one day the entire set will be on blu ray.
I was completely happy with the video content itself but I was extremely disappointed with the poorly thought out packaging for the original premium release with the metal locker. I was so excited to get that and then completely gutted when I discovered that a good amount of the discs were severely scratched with some of them being unreadable in my primary player while others somewhat worked when I played them through my PS4. Because of the way the binders that hold the discs were designed, each disc would become even more scratched every time I removed or reinserted it from the tight sleeve. I finally gave up and very regretfully packed it all back up and returned it. I ended up getting the more no frills version that came out with each season in individual plastic keepcases and have never had any issues with it but I still miss that awesome locker and the 3 extra discs. I just wished they had thought of something better than those shitty tight sleeved paper binders.
I just looked up an obscure z movie from 1946 My Dog Shep to see if it was on DVD. I was surprised that it is. More than likely, a movie like this may have come from a film scan of a 16mm print which is the format my father had this movie on. His big collection was in 35mm. He sold the 35mm collection and projectors long ago before he passed. I still have home movies and some features and shorts in both 16mm and 8mm both standard and super. The upkeep on film is massive no matter if it is 8, 16, 35 or 70 mm. The films need to be stored in proper climate controlled conditions and properly cleaned and rejuvenated to preserve them before they get vinegar syndrome. Once they get vinegar syndrome, there is no reversing it, only slowing it. As vinegar syndrome advances the film breaks down to the point that is no longer usable and must be disposed of. Even minor vinegar syndrome leaves a usable film damaged to where there are points where the film goes in and out of focus due to curling of the film stock. There are also articfacts that appear as the film layers start to separate. People may have seen footage of the Japanese Aircraft Carriers in WW2 with blotches. That is the effect of the breakdown of the film. Disposing of the film is not a pleasant experience. Thank goodness only a small portion of the home movies were lost. When disposing, the spores from the vinegar rot go right through a mask and that is hard on the sinuses. Last I heard some 50% of all movies before 1950 are missing, mainly because of Nitrate Film being used. It broke down even faster than the modern Safety Film. We have lost some 70% of all silent films. Another issue with restoration is the process of how color film was made. Technicolor was a chemical dye process that did not fade. It was an expensive process. Eastman Kodak invented a cheaper process that went by many names such as Eastman Color, Color by Deluxe, and Metrocolor. This process would fade over time leaving just the red color element. Once the color has faded and the print become what in the film industry is called 'cherry red' it becomes much more difficult to restore as the each frame has to have the color restored. Digital processing makes this a bit easier, but is still extremely expensive. Any film stock can get scratches and frames can be lost due to film breakage in the gate. If there is a negative stored in a vault, they will be the best source, but even vault stored films have been lost. Film collector helped in restoration of old movies because there were multiple prints that could be used to piece together the best elements. These prints only existed because someone at the end of a movies ruin did not destroy the print like they were supposed so. Some went into private collections and others were buried in the ground. For instance, Laurel and Hardy silent shorts were at one time thought to be lost. In France, there were old Pathe prints that were found buried when construction unearthed them. Because of this we have all but a couple of their silent shorts. I can agree that digital streaming may one day make any physical media obsolete. For those of us that are film buffs or have a favorite obscure movie this could be another event that causes even more movies from our past to be lost.
One of the reasons is essentially old TV shows or films bought it on video then dvd some now have stop buy can't keep replacing formats plus take up space.
I would love to see a video on you’re top 10 wish list of films you would want to have on some HD format … you might already have a video out on this topic and I over looked it if so disregard… really enjoy you’re content
I did a crossover with Jeff from Films At Home a couple of years ago where I named by top 5 movies that still needed a Blu-ray. I think three of them have been released since then, and the others are being restored as we speak. I'm happy. If we never got another new release, I'm set for life. Everything from this point on is just icing on the cake. ua-cam.com/video/TkBpGWhESZM/v-deo.html
Kino Lorber is about the only company that I know of that still puts out a ton of obscure (and some not that obscure) titles from various genres on dvd, blu-ray and some 4k (which I don't have interest in). By far, the majority of my buying is from KL. As you stated, there are still so many titles that are stranded on vhs and I'd be happy with just a well done dvd release.
That explains a great deal! Many of my VHS has not been able to upgrade such as documentaries and A BC Christmas. Why some things have not moved beyond DVD such as Kangaroo Jack, Maid to Order, ST:DS9. However I did find unexpected gems on blu ray such as White Lion, The Day the Earth Caught on Fire, Jesus of Nazareth, Forbidden Planet. I would have expected to see The Wandering Earth on blu ray, one of the last movies from China's movie market.
There are a number of TV shows on DVD that are just fine on DVD. When it comes to older sitcoms and things like the early seasons of Saturday Night Live, I can't imagine they'll look any better on Blu-ray. I'll buy the Blu-rays if they become available but I'm not fussed about it.
Considering how tape and film masters can deteriorate, I'm surprised there's no bigger movement to make digital master of everything. Even if no possibility of physical media sales there's always possibility of licensing the content to streaming services.
As a diehard movie fan and DVD tragic, I am happy to hear my beloved format reigns supreme over those blasted Blu-Rays and 4K discs. A few things I want to add to the conversation... I grew up in the late 1980s and 1990s watching VHS and my father gained a large VHS collection in 1992 when a friend of his who owned a video store (remember those?) passed him a hundred VHS tapes. For years I used to sneak into my father's bedroom (sometimes while he was asleep) and quietly 'borrow' one of his tapes to watch on the family VCR. When my father passed away, I had bought a DVD recorder (this was in 2005 so that was a new-fangled piece of tech) and converted my favourite tapes in that collection to DVD... Then bought a new, much better DVD recorder with HDD capacity (those are the best) and redid those tapes, along with my own VHS collection. I still own a number of my late father's VHS tapes (my favourite being "Killer Crocodile", which was the Australian VHS release from CBL Video (of the Italian domestic cut missing that extra pre-credits scene) now backed up by the Severin DVD in my collection) and I now have a massive 2000 disc DVD collection, some of which even include playthroughs of my videogames (basically I record the entire single-player campaign of all my PlayStation 1, 2 & 3 games and burn them onto DVD for posterity - Manhunt looks awesome on DVD BTW!), and I see DVD as the best physical video medium out there. DVD has many advantages over those blasted BDs & 4K'ers - they are robust, very easy to play (only things you need to worry about are region codes and PAL/NTSC compability, but here in Australia all our TVs can play NTSC despite being natively PAL and multizone DVD players are commonplace since our consumer watchdog the ACCC ruled that players using region blocking was against consumers' needs. For those of you out there who own rare VHS tapes, I implore you to buy a DVD recorder and convert your tapes to DVD (personally I tape the ENTIRE tape, previews and all) because if you don't, that VHS tape will die and end up in oblivion without its soul (if they have one) being preserved on DVD.
DVD looks like crap compared to Blu Ray and sounds worse too. As a "die hard" fan why would you want an inferior version to be supreme? You listen to 120kbit/s music tracks too?
What irks me is when a t.v. show starts out being released on DVD and Blu-ray... but later on, the Blu-ray releases disappear before the series is fully released. To my way of thinking... don't start something you can't finish. It's not just old series. It's currently produced ones too. That risk that the blu-ray format won't continue... has me questioning picking up ANY new t.v. show blu-ray releases with Season 1.
Question for you - I understand why studios are reluctant to do new restorations, but why not do more SD on Blu-ray just to save discs? My primary reason for not wanting to buy a tv series on dvd is because I don’t want to have to switch a flimsy fragile disc every three episodes. BDs are much more durable as well.
Good question. I think SD on Blu-ray still confuses the mainstream. I know the anime folks adopted SD on Blu-ray years ago, but every time I cover an SD on Blu-ray title, I get angry comments saying "the package lied, it's not Blu-ray!" Too many people think Blu-ray is a resolution, not a storage format. I think it's asking for too much trouble for most companies to deal with the backlash from John Q. Public.
All fair points, but I have always maintained that collecting was always a niche market. The average person does spur of the moment purchases. Of course, this begs the question. Is dvd so popular because that's what people want or because that's all there is on the shelves? I know of several tv shows that got blu-ray releases, and yet all you'll see at a physical store are the dvd sets.
I think we have enough data to conclude that DVD is more popular because most customers think it's good enough. Of the few "normies" that I know who still buy discs, DVD is fine for them. Most of these customers are older and have no desire to continue to chase new formats. We boutique enthusiasts are definitely a niche market, but the causal market isn't dead yet, though people keep trying to put the final nails in the coffin.
I’m a huge Rockford files fan and I’m very stunned that that was put on Blu-ray in light of your analysis of basic popularity and sales of DVD. I personally own it on DVD I don’t feel the need to upgrade to Blu-ray on something that old but I’m surprised it was made at all based on your video here.
Well, the HD masters were made years ago for streaming and Mill Creek was able to license them from Universal. It's an improvement from the DVDs, but not on par with something like Magnum P.I. Those old shows have high appeal to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Shout out also to Airwolf, Quantum Leap, Knight Rider, Charlie's Angels, and That 70s Show which also got Mill Creek releases at a time when it seemed really unlikely that those shows would ever see Blu-ray releases. As much as people take swipes at Mill Creek, they've done a lot to get movies and TV shows on disc when nobody else would.
@@CerealAtMidnight That's true-- some may not like the manner in which it was done, but you have to give props to Mill Creek for putting it out in the first place.
I am kinda a format snob. I have my budget and voting with my dollars I purchase the best quality I can. So I buy a lot of the 4K releases even at $40-60 each when released from studios like Synapse, Blue Underground, Shout, Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome. I have bought Blu-rays for years and is the largest part of my collection. Now I usually concentrate on upgrading my DVDs and never been to Blu-ray with some I suspect will never get the 4K release. DVDs I very rarely buy anymore. It has to be a title I don't own, really want, and suspect will never get the upgrade. I can't tell you the last time I spent more than $3 for a DVD title. So many titles I don't have in 4K and Blu-ray I want, I don't bother with DVD much anymore.
What bothers me is a show like Emergency did get some kind of HD upgrade for streaming services, but all you can buy is the DVD. If one has already spent the money on making a better product, why not release a physical media?
It might cost more to manufacture and distribute than the show will recover in sales. I'm sure someone did that math on that somewhere, but that doesn't mean it can't still happen in the future as the market continues to grow. I could see it being an online exclusive, or even an MOD product. I think Universal is paying very close attention to how shows like The Incredible Hulk, The Night Gallery, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman are going to sell on Blu-ray before they greenlight some of the older, more obscure shows for the format.
Ya this is why I've spent the last few years getting all the old TV shows I love on DVD. Because I want to watch them shows like tales from the crypt, Martin, rocko's modern life, saved by the bell shout factory edition that included good morning miss bliss, Thundercats, knight rider, and countless others. I was very happy to see that even through I bought incredible hulk (70s hulk) on DVD that it finally made it to bluray. So of course I'm going to buy it again to support them. Hoping one day to maybe see married with children, family matters, or even fresh prince of bel-air come to bluray but even if they don't I'll be grabbing the DVD.
I think a big reason is because most normal watchers are choosing to watch this stuff in streaming services and not buying as many physical releases for these companies/studios to release certain movies in Blu-ray at the very least. HOWEVER, I wouldn't fully confirm that because it's only a guess.
WB launched a series of content on DVD for their 100th Anniversary. I think that was a mistake. Many of which already had Blu-ray and 4k releases. From the standpoint of disc durability, Blu-ray is far superior than DVD in terms of scratch resistance and playback longevity.
Great discussion. Very important points especially format snobs. The only time I get frustrated is when some modern streaming shows never get a physical media release (i.e. star wars and Disney) due to obvious reasons. What is strange is that the The Next Generation didn't make much but they are releasing Deep Space 9 on bluray (my guess is limited improvements). Also, Babylon TV was remastered for HBO Max but no new physical media release. But of course, when we get a decent 4k release of the Craft everyone complains about a few compression issues and don't buy it. We have to support physical media or it will be gone. Thanks for important topic!
I have not heard that Paramount is releasing Deep Space Nine on Blu-ray. Can you link to a source for this info? The last I heard, DS9 and Voyager would not be getting an HD upgrade. I definitely agree, we have to support these releases, not nitpick them apart!
I purchased the TNG Blu-rays as well, although I waited for the complete series release. I’ve been very happy with them. I had purchased the original DVDs when they first came out, and the transfers were “soft to the extreme” due to the nature of the tape source. So these Blu-rays were a huge leap in quality. I really believe, though, that the sets would have sold in much better numbers to the masses if they could have figured out some way to derive a 16:9 transfer. And I know they included a feature on the disc as to why they couldn’t do that. (Mostly having to do with incompatible VFX effects work.) But everyone I spoke to stated that they had already spent hundreds of dollars on the DVDs, and needed a real excuse beyond a clearer picture to justify repurchasing the series on Blu-ray.
Are TV shows shot on 4K today or are they still shot on HD. If they are shot on 4K it would cost almost nothing to sell them on streaming services. It would just cost the price of storage and distribution via servers.
Intel announced their new Processors will NOT support 4k Bluray. I just built a new HTPC and was happy that the i9 1290K still supports BlU Ray and DVD. If you love a piece of content buy it in any format you can get. 20 years from now it will all prob be locked behind streaming.
The other big problem is that many people rather buy a blu ray player that upconverts the DVD picture. I have seen for myself that the older blu ray players were quite good at this DVD up conversion. Its no surprise lately you see less and less players that up convert Dvd. Friend , are you trying to tell me quantum leap will never be on HD .😐
Some companies may be waiting to see how streaming impacts the sale of hard copy movies and television. Will the public - at least enough to matter financially - not want to physically own anything ? There is a big investment involved as was explained here. My interest is mainly classic films and they can get super expensive when often multiple copies need to be found around the world in various film archives to create a good enough source copy. i'm encouraged reading some comments here about technological innovations that may help.
The Walmarts in my area are the only place that have some discs still. Target and Best Buy basically have nothing now, especially Best Buy, they only have a cardboard stand that had like 10 cubbies that would hold maybe 50-60 discs total.
So on the TNG remasters, I am curious if you have any information on this. The way I heard it back in the day, and I believe it was on a podcast from someone who had some knowledge on the matter. Supposedly, the reason Paramount remastered TNG was not really all that much about Blu ray sales, but rather the value of having them in HD for digital distribution, across cable networks and streaming services. I am sure they hoped that they would recoup the cost with physical sales, but TNG and TOS had still had an enormous value in syndication and streaming that was losing value with each year as HD content was becoming the standard. While DS9 and Voyager are loved by Star Trek fans in particular, they just do not have the mass appeal and have never been as valued by Paramount in the years since they went off air. So, if thats the case, it seems like their excuse for not doing DS9 and Voyager being that the TNG blu rays didnt sell, seems a tad disingenuous.
The thing that's most frustrating for me, is newer shows that are streaming in HD, like Elementary, Burn Notice and 24 but have never been released on Blu-ray
Nothing more frustrating than collecting a series on blu ray,then all of a sudden it switches to DVD. Examples: Archer, Handmaid Tale
And IIRC, Little House on the Prairie (that hit 1974-83 NBC Western adventure w/the late Michael Landon, et al.) had been going on Blu and DVD for its first six gos (1974-80), and then became DVD only on the seventh one (1980-81).
There's also alot of snobbery within the physical media collecting world. I'm sick and tired of the amount of berating people get in chat rooms and sites like Facebook because they've bought the latest blockbuster on dvd as opposed to Blu-ray or 4K. The point is that they've bought a copy. They've shown that there's an interest in the product. If someone prefers dvd then cool. I'm 57. I've collected since the dawn of vhs. I have over 3000 discs. Of that around 800 are dvds. But so many of those are stuff that will never make it to Blu-ray, let alone 4K! I have dvds that may have better extras than its blu-ray/4K counterparts. I embrace my dvd collection. And I encourage people to be more open minded about dvds. Because you're alienating yourself from many great productions that'll never make it higher the dvd level.
Hear hear. Years ago, I endured a great deal of abuse in various internet locales for advising against format fetishism and predicting that the Blu-ray craze was, if people followed it, going to lead to a major contraction of the number of movies and shows brought to market. I was shouted down by the more avid that foresighted BD enthusiasts, then pretty much everything I was predicting at the time came to pass.
Like the Abyss!
I agree, I have been buying UHD discs since they hit the market. I Have an LG UBK 90 player ( I had a Samsung UHD player before that )and to me films look great with it on my LG OLED TV. I see people on facebook and in forums telling people just starting out in UHD, oh you have to have a Panasonic UB9000 as if someone just starting out will pay that much for a player.
in Indonesia, there is this Facebook group that only allows bluray collectors and specifically not allow dvd collectors to join or even to upload pictures of dvd. its not a place to share passion in collecting, but to show off as who is the richest and can afford the most expensive stuff. i joined another group that allows all formats, but i saw the same mentality, looking down upon vhs, vcd, and dvd. i left the group and never look back.
@@skywalkerhunter95 The online hardcore Blu-ray fan community was REALLY snobbish in the beginning, and it sounds, from the comments here, like some of it--maybe a lot of it--still is.
I'm glad you brought up the point about the poor Blu-ray sales for Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series. CBS spent a lot of money not only on upgrading the show but also produced many new special features that were included in the Blu-ray set. Many people complain that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is not available in Blu-ray. But obviously the poor Blu-ray sales numbers for the Next Generation will discourage CBS from ever spending the money necessary to upgrade Deep Space Nine. I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased that CBS/Paramount decided to spend the money to give us the original cast movie series (1 through 4) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture Director's Edition in 4K despite the money lost on Next Gen. I would be curious how well the 4K movie series is selling.
I read somewhere that the FX for Voyager and DS9 were all down on video, not film, to save money. The problem is that HD was not available at at the time, so the effects were all done in SD, making these shows poor prospects for Blu-ray.
Yep! During the 80s and the 90s, it was industry standard to edit on video. Even if a show was shot on film, it was then transferred to video for editing. Special effects were also outputted in this low resolution, too. Sometimes, if it makes financial sense, they can go back to the original film elements and scan in everything, then re-edit it all together from scratch, but the SFX would have to be redone (like in Star Trek: TNG), and that's what's keeping most sci-fi shows from ever being upgraded.
At this point I'd just like to have the HD ST:TMP on Blu Ray.
I’d be happy to buy DS9 on DVD at a reasonable price. Picked up VOY recently, but only the first 3 seasons as the later ones weren’t at the store.
According to a post TheDiscFather posted on May 2nd, Deep Space Nine will getting a blu-ray releases in 2023.
I absolutely support what I love and have no problem doing that. But I am also not going to piss my money away either. I refuse to pay some of the retail prices of some discs at launch and will wait for sale prices. I get what you were saying but there is also a flip side to that as well. Some companies really try and milk every last dime out of people and as an older guy who has lived and collected through the DVD days before Bluray and HD was even a thing I have more than put my fare share of money into the industry. I have no issues waiting to buy my favorite and most wanted titles when on sale.
You're 100% right. The industry tries to guilt trip the 4K community with the fact we're a smaller market to justify their insane prices because they can't stomach sales figures less than DVD. Yes, we're a smaller market, so simply produce fewer copies to supply the demand. They'll still make the same money if they scale their production accordingly. But they don't and pass the cost onto the end-user. Stuff them. Price fairly or I'll watch for free.
I love when you said "we cannot afford to be snobs" EXACTLY ONE HUNDRED PERCENT! AMEN!
I also love how you brought up natural disasters such as earthquakes and fires - a lot of people don't consider those factors when talking about classic film and why they can't find certain titles on disc.
Miami Vice is a perfect example of this. In a normal world Vice would be a perfect candidate for 4K. Mainstream popular, a classic, sales potential, if you can pay the exorbant music licensing fir it. However I believe Vice's original masters were destroyed in the Universal fire from 2008. They're gone. What Mill Creek put out on Blu in 2016 was transferred from tape. Remastered on the cheap, yes. But to go back and do a 4K scan and do it proper.... not without a time traveling DeLorean. Pretty sure that got destroyed on the Universal lot by a train in 1990. 😆
It's not strictly about "being a snob". Some of us actually care about the audio aspect as well, and want more than just 7.1 (or if you're Nolan 5.1...). Also, HDR matters too, but less so depending on how well it was implemented over the Blu-ray. I had a decently large collection of Blu-rays already, and I've slowly but surely been replacing them all with their UHD counterparts. While the picture is still great for the most part on a 4K TV (DVD absolutely is not), Atmos/DTS:X and the rare Dolby Vision just makes the films even better.
Did he bring up climate change and the landfill space this junk takes up? Or survival of humanity isn't important here?
@@naturallawman2965 somewhere between 2010 and 2012 I was talking to a restoration artist who was doing new scans from film for Miami Vice (I still have the pictures as proof); so for you to say 1) they were destroyed in a fire, and 2) Mill Creek scanned tapes, is false. There are also companies like Kosch in Germany who did a way better master than Mill Creek, and its certainly not from tape. They redid all the music mixing from scratch using the magnetic strips from the film, made new 5.1 mixes, made stereo mixes, and even redubbed edited/censored episodes into German dialogue that weren't even available before. And the video information, that's 35mm quality, and its visually approaching 4k, IMO, on HD.
It's not about being a snob. Why would I buy DVD over an HD digital download? Blu ray is better than both but DVD is outdated and looks garbage these days, so if a better alternative exists I'm going to take it
The sad truth is that too many people don't give a darn about A/V quality any more. They'll watch a widescreen epic on their phone or iPad. There are people with 4k TV's and they still buy DVD's... because they don't care.
One of my issues is that digital 4k releases are available so much faster than 4k blu rays. They should start including the digital 4k releases as preorder incentives. As it stands, you have to wait until the 4K blu-Ray is released to retrieve your 4K digital copy, which is sometimes months later.
I've come to the realization that many good movies will never receive a bluray release. These labels face decisions that fans often never consider. From restoration costs to licencing rights or even return on investment. It's much more lucrative to just keep reissuing the popular sellers in different editions over and over than to release a forgotten gem just once. So. I'm leaning into the dvd only titles now because SD is better than nothing.
Two years ago Vinegar Syndrome released RAD on 4K Bluray. Before that I think it was only available on VHS. I loved watching RAD as a kid in the 80's so when I saw Vinegar Syndrome was releasing it on 4K I quickly Pre-Ordered it. They have also released a 4K Bluray of the first Beast Master which I bought too.
Back in the 60's, I worked at a small TV station where we recorded live video directly to quad video tape. Viewed directly from the VTR, we thought the quality was good at the time, but it did not compare to 35mm transferred to HD. Some broadcast channels now put out 720P versions of old shows. I have one of the last plasma TV's made, and the 720 version of Star Trek blows away the usual 640-x 480 versions.
I don't understand why in an era where virtually everyone owns an HDTV that people would still only buy DVD and not take advantage of High Def format on Blu-Ray.
Something to keep in mind that any TV shows shot on video, rather than film, will only ever look marginally better when upgraded to HD. You're never going to see an impressive Blu-ray of something like Three's Company, since the masters were shot on videotape. If a show you love is available on DVD, don't wait on it in the hopes that it will eventually get a blu-ray release.
Another thing is that very few movies and shows made for streaming services will get a physical release, since its in those platforms' best interest to keep them exclusive to their service, so the only way to watch The Mandalorian is by paying Disney $10/mo. for the rest of your life.
Well, we are developing the AI tech to upscale them, but who'd want to pay for that?
Yeah, still waiting patiently for the Mandalorian to be released 😉
At least part of that could be because a lot of normal watchers are choosing streaming services and barely buying physical releases, but that's just a guess.
Not anymore Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 and are now both being released on 4K Steelbooks as are Wandavision and Loki
Great topic Heath. It's a shame that a lot of tv shows and movies will be forgotten about and stuck on past formats, formats that are not as easy to get hold of now. I don't collect VHS anymore but I bet theirs a lot of great shows/movies as you said on that format that will be lost over time, that's why it's really important to support the entertainment you enjoy. Top video bud.
Yeah I didn’t realize how lucky I was when I started my collection but I see it more every day now. So correct.
With streaming growing more and more each year, I think it will create a demand for older TV shows and movies to get a quality increase, especially as 4K TVs become the new standard. And so if a studio has a 4K or 1080p scan for streaming it makes sense that they'll want to recoup the cost by releasing to physical media. That's my hope anyway.
streaming in 4k sucks / blu ray has a better signal to noise ratio in other words blu ray looks better...................some 4k like disney + you can't turn it off
I think Physical Media will continue, as a niche market anyway until Internet bandwidth gets to a point where films can be streamed without compression. The Kaleidascape movie server allows you to download full, uncompressed films, but the cost is prohibitive for all but the most wealthy collectors.
@@cliffordhamblen5477 oh god i hope not , if you stream it , you do not own it besides carap image from streaming especiall4k
@@michaelmcintyre9179 absolutely agree and with cancel culture still prominent streaming services edit and end abruptly because of complaints. If I own the disc then I can just put it into the player and watch when I want.
Seeing as 60% of physical media buyers are happy with 480p DVD, I'd reckon it's a similar statistic for how many streaming users care about resolution as well. There is not a wide enough market for it
"The older it is, the more obscure it is... the more unlikely it is..." Sadly, such happened to be the case years ago as well, before streaming services even became all the rage.
Over a decade on, I still can't find old-fashioned epics like THE EGYPTIAN or 55 DAYS AT PEKING (you know, the kinda things that would play on Turner Classic Movies) unless they happen to be released internationally in a format that couldn't play in my regular US DVD/Blu-ray player, having to find them uploaded onto YT where I could watch them for free!
Jeffrey FYI The Egyptian was released a few years ago on Twilight Time on BD - Region A/USA. Alas like all TT releases it was limited and it's long out of print, and for whatever reason it's one of the most in-demand on the secondary market. I keep bidding on it when it shows up on eBay hoping to get lucky at a price I can deal with but...no luck so far, it tends to go for $100-150 - more for a sealed copy.
Perfect example is Dark Shadows, Heath, we'll never see that on Blu-ray let alone 4K
Cult show, beloved by generations, over 1,200 episodes, all shot on tape.
A lot of good points here that I never thought of or took into account. It’s a shame, some stuff is just lost forever. One show I would absolutely love on dvd or blu is Unhappily Ever After. I definitely think that’s a rights issue as to why that hasn’t happened. Luckily I have some nice tv caps of the entire series but I’d love a physical set. I don’t really care about format much, I still buy DVDs, especially if it’s the only way to get something. I’ve been tempted to sell a few of my DVDs as I own tons of oop titles, but decided against it. A lot of the times dvds will have more extras or include the full screen version of the film, whereas the blu will be barebones
While watching the 1980s Twilight Zone on DVD, there was a comment made about how people complained about the quality of it but the speaker was saying thats the best its ever looked and probably the best it'll ever look because the original film was immediately transferred to video for editing and effects work and were neglected early and most likely thrown out to make room for newer stuff. Most of the original film elements don't exist anymore. It's sad really and pretty shocking to be honest when it comes to such a major name as that.
I love the 80's twilight zone, its possibly my favorite version of that franchise
I don't know if they ever decided what happened to the film elements but the show was finished on tape, and even if the film elements survived, upgrading to HD would still require re-editing and then recreating all of the effects. Very expensive. Very unlikely. And it is a great show, every bit worthy of the original. Now in danger of disappearing.
I totally agree with what you said. Back in the day i often would buy something on DVD and then it got announced to be released on Blu-Ray and during the almost 2 years i've been buying 4K i have experienced the same thing. I would often joke before that you would just have to wait for me to buy the DVD for the Blu-Ray release to happen lol. But in all seriousness, i will get what i want on the highest format it's available when i can and if that's only DVD then so be it.
Super lucky that they upscaled Red Dwarf for bluray. Damn right I've owned that on every format!
Still waiting for a boutique to pick up Gremloids for bluray.
Rights issues are also a huge factor as well. Some studios are really strange when it comes to their titles. Take TOHO for instance. They allowed the English dubs to be licensed to Kraken releasing on DVD/Blu Ray but then they wouldn't license the English dubs to Criterion.
Some of the older Something Weird Video catalog had the rights revert back to their original owners and those owners aren't interested in licensing them out.
The mystery about the CasaNegra collection. No one seems to know the status on those rights.
I agree with rights. Disney is notorious for this. They once licensed out some of their movies to Anchor Bay, but they disliked what Anchor Bay was doing, so they severed ties. Stakeout is not on Blu-ray, but the sequel is since Disney would only allow Mill Creek and Kino Lorber to use it. The masters for streaming are HD masters, but Disney simply won't release them physically nor license them out.
Now with Fox being part of Disney, this is even more difficult. I think Criterion mentioned that it was far easier to deal with Fox to license out titles over Disney. Far less red tape.
@@unconditionalprong I think it's safe to say Disney just sucks period, and it's a shame how much they own now!!
I wanted a bluray boxset of superstore with all the seasons. They only released season 1,2, and 3 and only on standard dvd. Ended up finding a full 6 season bluray on the web.
I remember when Ted Turner purchased the MGM vaults and he was in tears because of the sheer number of pre-1950 and pre-1940 films on cellulose nitrate that had crumbled to dust while waiting to be restored. Films made in the 1970’s using Non-Technicolor film are also deteriorating very quickly and need restoration. Many T.V. Shows were recorded on video tape instead of film and is limited to 640 x 480i. and many shows were erased to use the tape again.
Thanks, Heath. This was a very informative video. I thought the the dvd percentage of sales had decreased with the Blu-ray/4K market. I didn’t realize that it was still the largest seller. Although when I walk through flea markets, a lot of sellers are trying to dump their Blu-ray discs because they aren’t good sellers for them. Majority of people have more devices that play dvd, so totally makes sense to me now. I remember working for Blockbuster when all they had was video, and being amazed when dvd first came out. And let’s not even begin talking about how expensive laser discs were when they first came out! Lol!
Laser discs came out the same time as VHS, and were way cheaper to make, and purchase than VHS films were at that time.
Happy to say I bought the Next Generation set, and didn't wait for a big sale either. It's marvelous and more people should buy it, both for the quality and the bonuses.
I tried to "abandon" physical in favor of digital recently, but I've realized it's not quite possible in a legal way. I find myself drawn back to more cult and niche 4K releases, from Arrow, Synapse and Blue Underground to name a few. I'll keep supporting them as long as they release quality stuff, but unfortunately quality control has gone down the drain in recent times, and I don't blame them. Probably not nearly enough time, money and resources to do it properly right now, and unfortunately that means many, MANY discs are given replacement programs or just.. released in a subpar state. 😔
Warner have set aside a budget to HD remaster most of their classic TV content over the coming years. Currently they are finishing up remastering all 14 seasons of the the original Dallas TV series. They have gone back to the original negatives where available and have reconstructed seasons 10-13 which up until now have only been available in one inch master tape. A blu ray release is planned and of course streaming. Dallas may not be to everyone's taste but the DVDs did sell pretty well and Warner see an audience out there who want the series in glorious HD.
This is why I’m so glad that Renegade and Hunter both got re released. At least it isn’t out of print and has some potential to make some money off of dvd sales!
Great points Heath! The other consideration I would include is music rights that are too expensive to clear for whichever home video release.
One example I can think of is Two_Lane Blacktop (1971) which did not receive a release because the music rights were too expensive. There was a successful petition from movie fans and the producers were able to get some of the music cleared for free.
Another movie that gets mentioned along this line is Looking For Mr. Goodbar, although I'm not sure what the exact deal is with that.
There's examples where they just alter the music instead, like for Weird Science and Married with Children.
The Married... situation made no sense to me. Fox (or was it Sony?) released it with massive changes to the music, and the sets were hella expensive initially. Yet Mill Creek puts out an 'el cheapo' Complete Series set, with all original music restored. Go figure.
@@naturallawman2965 Yeah Im not sure what happened either
Every time Criterion announces their monthly releases, I’m always like give me “Looking for Mr Goodbar” or “Those Fabulous Stains”. Diane Keaton and Diane Lane star in these, maybe these two movies are too rated R for a production company to take a chance on it, or what if these two actresses don’t want the nudity spotlight on them.
This obscure 1973 movie had a DVD release WITHOUT the original music: ua-cam.com/video/xYQoSlHDN48/v-deo.html
over here in the UK I was SO happy to find Cybill on DVD and Caroline in the City too that I don't care about it never getting an upgrade, I just appreciate that this format exists, as shows like 'Ed' with Tom Kavanagh hasn't even made it to dvd due to all of the cost for music rights.
Great points, thanks! I didn't know that companies base bluray decisions on past DVD sales. You're so right: we need to support these things by purchasing the titles that do come out. Fortunately, upconverting can look amazing (to me anyway) so if something never makes it to blu, the DVD can be just fine. As you say, we are lucky to have had all the great stuff that has already been made available.
As someone who watches DVDs pretty much every day in addition to Blu-rays and 4Ks, I agree! Upscaled DVDs look great on a proper set up.
@@CerealAtMidnight Also, there are some things, like some TV series, that I really would never buy again on blu-ray if I have the DVDs, same with some films. A well-made DVD can still look quite impressive (many Criterion discs, for example, or Indicator, Studio Canal, etc)
@@CerealAtMidnight especially animation on dvd.
I know the #1 seller is still DVD~but I also think that for the most part that is the average off the street type buyer. Someone who runs to the store to pick up a few groceries and says, what the heck, let me grab this DVD movie as well. I don't think it is the same type of customer as the boutique collectors. When you get into boutique labels, they cater to their clients, who want bluray at least and most now crave the 4k. I'll buy a DVD if that is the only choice available~but otherwise I stick mainly to bluray. Another thing to consider is the work and care that goes into it. Take Seaquest DSV for example. Available from Germany, Australia and now the US. But which one had the most care put into it? I don't want something jammed onto too few discs if I can easily get a better version from another country. Show us you care and you have the collector in mind, and we will buy.
@John Hooper what're you talking about? sony owns both formats: lest we forget how much they banked on blu ray pulling the same trick with PS3s as DVD did with the ps2.
What about films or shows that are released in HD or 4K digitally, but not on physical media? In those cases, there obviously exists a version that is better than DVD quality, which could be put on physical media. Sometimes they are eventually released on physical media, though it may be a few years after the digital release. The bulk of the cost has already been spent, so why not also release such titles on physical media?
revenge TV Series
Absolutely agreed 100%. I still purchase DVD because it's the only format something may be available in. Also markets vary by region. Japan for instance, is still in a "rental" mentality, except for the most hardcore collectors because a new DVD movie can cost $40-$50 still, and Blu Ray well over $100 for a single film!
Don't forget about the advancements being made with AI upscaling. It's getting better and seems to be able to make some pretty good improvements to DVD quality source materials.
AI upscaling works best for animation, since that was never "real" in the first place, it is artwork. Upscaling for real life sources is more questionable (not that it cannot be done well, it's just way harder).
Don't know of any AI upscaling that makes it hard to know that it's not really 4K. As the other poster says, it works best for animation, for real movies it's hardly noticeable over HD. It's nothing close a full scale 4K restoration by a movie studio.
Some of it I'm surprised that there's been no Blu-ray though. I get that my DVD of "The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello" is never going to get an upgrade from DVD, but I thought movies like "Bicentennial Man" would be mainstream enough to justify it.
Bicentennial Man is probably MIA because it's with Disney, which is a whole other frustrating can of worms. It's also kind of an obscure, niche movie that didn't earn it's money back at the box office, so it may be seen as too much of a risk.
@@CerealAtMidnight Bicentennial Man has already been scanned at 1080p and is available to rent or purchase for streaming from a number of sites. Therefore the expensive part of the process has already been done, and the only thing left is to burn it to blu-ray discs. It really shouldn't cost that much more at this point.
@@briantrash Only if a boutique label gets the rights and Disney is awful in that regard. Perhaps they should have such a division, but not holding my breath.
Yeah, Disney is sitting on thousands of movies, many of them restored in HD, with no release in sight. All those Fox movies that went out of print and are just waiting to make money for them, just wasting away. Maybe one day...
@@CerealAtMidnight With all of Disney's BS as of late, I hope they eventually go bankrupt(there is a huge rumor they are looking to sale their stake in Hulu soon for liquidity), and other more rights friendly companies pick up the pieces so many of these movies will see the light of day on 720p/1080p BluRay at the very least.
I've never seen a good accounting of why some DVD transfers can look excellent-sharp and vivid, approaching Blu Ray-while others are worse than mediocre. Is it purely money? The artistry of the technician? Improving quality over the years? The upscaling system in the player? Would like to see a report on that.
Source elements can play a part, but also the video codec used. DVDs from the last 5-10 years use different encoding and can look so much better than the early DVDs from 20-25 years ago.
All the above. Many dvds got a new hd transfer downscaled to dvd that looked really good. A lot of others were just older sd scans that didn’t get much clean up. All depends on the studio and how much they want to spend on cleaning up a transfer and how much work they want to put into it. Just remember, dvd was invented to look decent on a crt tv. HDTVs we’re just on the horizon. Also the player matters as well. Some are better then others at upscaling. The ps3 has one of the best upscalers I’ve seen. What ever algorithm it’s using smooths out the image and looks almost HD. Almost like modern AI upscalers. yet pop a dvd into a ps4, or Xbox series/one console and you get just a simple bilinear filter, which is ok, just you lose that “looks hd” look.
@@lostless00 Thanks, that explains a lot.
This was my thought on the Tales from the Crypt series not getting a bluray release. Makes me sad DVD is probably gonna be the best the series will look. Trying to watch the series on DVD now on my 4K TV is rough.
To be fair, the DVD releases of TALES FROM THE CRYPT was very subpar, even when they were new. It was basically just shoveled out with no real care. And if you really want to have your heart broken, check out the DVD release of George Romero's TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. Probably should have resulted in prosecution for those involved.
There’s also the problem with the distribution rights. Which drives me up the wall. For example they start their shows on DVD, then never finish them because they’re bickering over who owns the rights for the seasons. Webster and Mr. Belvedere both fall into this category.
Then we have some that I guess don’t sell so well. Who is the boss? never got past season one, nor Silver spoons.
Thankfully some companies like warner print on demand, allow you to finish your series is this way. I’ve gotten perfect strangers this way, growing pains, and the first four seasons of head of the class so far.
how much does print on demand cost?
@@biggoofybastard it varies. It can be a bit more at times then a store would sell a season for, but they are professional DVD transfers. The only thing is they may not play all episodes in a PC/laptop or Xbox/PlayStation. This is to prevent copying.
What happens is 1 or 2 episodes per set (not per disc) will freeze and you need to skip the episode.
This is a non issue though if you’re using an actual DVD/Blu Ray player.
I fully understand that certain things just don’t sell but I’d love to see Takashi Miike’s Gozu get a Blu-ray release it’s one of my favourite films and only available on DVD.
And I agree people shouldn’t be format snobs.
They're probably not selling because the streaming services are a thing.
Great video Heath as always. I'm come to realize some films and tv shows won't ever see the light of day because of the elements not being stored etc.
For YEARS I have been baffled at why DVD's were still around, since Blu-Ray players are now very cheap and affordable. But a couple of months ago I went into a local shop to trade in a few movies and the guy just plain didn't want any of the Blu-Ray's I had brought. He only bought and sold DVD's because DVD's were what "most people wanted". This was the real eye opening moment where I realized just how supremely dominant DVD's are in the history of media formats.
THIS. There are a lot of comments on this video about "DVD shouldn't exist anymore," but the fact is clear: most people who still buy discs prefer DVDs. Money talks and everything else walks. The argument isn't what format is best, it's what more people are spending their money on. For most of the disc buying world, DVD is the last disc format they'll ever buy. If companies phase out Blu-rays, then those people won't upgrade to Blu-ray, they'll just won't buy anything.
Great comment with practical, real world experience. Thanks for sharing!
Yet people are buying 4k TVs. Just nonsensical.
When studios issue streaming rights for series to Netflix Amazon Prime etc, it also makes it less likely that a series set will sell big numbers.
Selling streaming rights has a cost of $0 and a revenue of millions. Physical media distribution has a much higher likelihood of losing studios money
Happy to hear that dvd is still outselling bluray. I was a holdout and thought bluray was unnecessary and a way to get people to buy the same thing twice..now I have an appreciation for bluray, seeing the way some movies look in that format..but now I feel the same way about 4k; buying the same title AGAIN plus you need to buy a new player because standard bluray players can't handle 4k...I feel like if you aren't satisfied with bluray quality then nothing will make you happy..the stuff I like is so obscure that I'm grateful to find some titles on ANY format..
The difference in bluray over DVD is much bigger than 4k to bluray though. I still buy DVDs but only if unavailable on bluray. I'll always buy on bluray if available.
I've been collecting 4Ks since 2016/2017, and I'm still very happy with blu-rays, let alone 4Ks.
I was proud of myself today when I went to Best Buy and bought 'The Batman' on 4k (I was looking for it on steel book but it was all out so I just got the regular slip cover),when I noticed someone else deciding between blu-ray and 4k. I stepped in and told the individual that owning the 4k was like owning a 35mm print of the film, picture-quality wise and afterwards he picked up a copy and said you sold me on it. I felt good about him choosing 4k over blu-ray, hopefully winning over another fan of the format.
He better hope he has a player for it and not just a bluray player. I made that mistake with John Wick 2.
That seriously reminds me of when Special Edition DVDs were first coming out. I spent all my time and paychecks at Best Buy that even employees would be like "Bro which should I get or is this gonna get a special edition soon?"
@@jimthar17 Know that did cross my mind, hopefully he has a 4k player. Other, buy one or return the disc.
This also explains why instead of the prices going down, they've been inflating the costs to ridiculous levels. You can get most previous releases for $15 - $20, but now new releases are all between $25 - $30, which is ridiculous.
@Rusty Gears My first DVD player ('97) was maybe $300. Thing about the 90s though compared to now is that you could literally rent everything, which included games and you could "take risks" on sampling, which you can't really do in a similar fashion now other than simply hoping you end up finding something new on streaming that you enjoy that you might want to own.
As far as pricing back then goes, I remember paying $20 - $30 for imports from Suncoast, but I presumed it was entirely because they were imports was why they cost as much as they did.
Now though, it doesn't make any sense. Optical media is FAR less expensive to produce than tapes ever were and my main point and gripe is that for a few years in a row we saw UHD prices dropping. So low that they were on par with Blu-Ray release prices, and over the last year and a half they've been jacking them way up again. They are the most expensive they've ever been.
They are doing the same thing as what most "name brand" sellers, or premium audio dealers do: jack up the price because people assume they are getting the highest quality and will pay for that premium even if the production cost is nowhere near relative to the inflated price tag.
Star Trek TNG on Blu-ray is one of my all time favorite purchases of my entire life.
My local Tescos (here in the UK) which is a huge mega supermarket with just about everything you could want have stopped selling DVDs/Blu rays completely!
I've been to Tesco! I was amazed at how many DVDs and Blu-rays I saw in what is essentially a grocery store.
@@CerealAtMidnight Yeah, well the big one in Roborough Plymouth has none at all now (although some good deals on garden furniture).
I am still shocked "X" did not get a 4K release and though Lionsgate was going to run it June 7, they officially scrapped it! :( But Malignant finally got a 4K release!
I've heard that Star Trek Next Gen didn't do well because Paramount released each season seperately: where there were people holding off for a cheaper all in one set. Since I never collected them on DVD, I snarfed each season that came out on BD. Really is an impressive set: VFX especially look great since those film elements were VistaVision. The lack of profit also condemned DS9 and Voyager to not get BD releases (I suppose Voyager especially since a lot of its effects were SD CGI and would need to be redone). I think one more factor for why a movie or series may not make it to BD or 4K is license issues.
I've heard that licencing fees can also have a big impact on what gets released. For instance a lot of shows get physical releases in Australia because the fees are lower there apparently.
Also wonder if the cost of restoration could be reduced if rather than having a professional do it, someone could write a very accurate machine learning programme to do it 🤔
Wouldn't surprise me. Especially for properties from the VHS time where there wasn't this expectation that new formats would come along. Sure, at the time there was also laserdisc and beta, but those never really had the necessary traction to stay relevant and with HDTVs being many years off at that point, there was no reason to worry about licensing issues being an issue.
This is a really interesting topic. The Star Trek TNG issue really hits home with me. I purchased the TNG DVDs when they were new at great expense, about $700 as the time in 2001 I think, and that was shopping around to get the best price. So later when the Blu-Ray version came out it was really hard to justify spending more money for content I already own. So to this day I never bought them, and yes I feel like I let the system down. Because like you said I sent the message that I don't want a better version. So why would the studio invest in the next thing?
This reminds me of a movie I was looking for recently and even more so now that Liotta died yesterday. That movie was Turbulence. Not on bluray. I would love to see it get a bluray release. I would absolutely buy it.
I have that movie. I also have some Christmas Stockings that were hung in the background of one of the scenes.
Yeah. as a long time fan of film of all eras and genres, its always disappointing when things you love don't get a good release. I have abut a 1000s blu-rays and am very satisfied with the look of the majority of them, so with a 4k player that up-scales decently, I don't have the desire to upgraded to 4k, nor can I justify the massive cost of doing so as there are just too many aspects of my life to put money towards, and I'm sure hard-working casual movie fans feel that way about dvd. I do have a couple 4k release that included a better looking blu-ray from an older release, so those ones will occasionally trickle into my collection for that reason. There are some older tittles that got terrible releases (Spies Like Us and Prizzi's Honor) or have gone out of print in their respective regions (Cowboy and The Fury), and I hope they get that chance for re-release. It seems like all the labels are really peaking in their desire to put as much out as they can, so there is hope most tittles will get their chance at last on blu-ray sooner or later. Could Warner release Stealing Home or The Amazing Docter Clitterhouse? is it worth it? I'm not sure they feel it is, but I would love those on blu...and many more...
We have to hold onto physical media, because that is the only way you can truly "own" your favorite film or series.
Maybe this has something to do with licensing rights but what I can't understand is why some of Woody Allen's classic comedies (eg., Love and Death) aren't available on Blu-ray. I know Woody is controversial these days but a Blu-ray box set was recently released with a number of his later films. 🤔
I know that three of my favourite films have never made it to DVD: 'Bed and Breakfast' (1989) with Roger Moore, Talia Shire and Colleen Dewhurst. It was released on the defunct label Hemdale; 'Light of Day' (1987) by Paul Schraeder with Michael J. Fox, Joan Jett, Gena Rowlands and Michael McKean, released by Columbia Tri-Star; and 'A Tiger's Tale' (1987) with Ann-Margret, C. Thomas Howell, Charles Durning and Kelly Preston produced by Viacom and released by Paramount. But I live with eternal hope these movies will eventually get the Kino Lorber or Shout Factory treatment...
One point: I'd rather not have a BR/4k release at all if it is not done properly and with love and care for the end product. For example, the HD release of Buffy on streaming is absolutely horrible with nearly everything wrong, from colour grading to aspect ratios.
The Scarlet letter 1934 Film Masters is coming out in November.
Thank you. I get asked about this all the time on my channel. I started collecting TV on DVD and it's my comfort place for watching TV so I normally will grab the dvd edition unless it's something that I feel is really going to benefit from the upgrade. I upgraded my Twilight Zone to Blu Ray but I still would not get rid of the dvd set becauseit was just so much better made.(it also included a comic and the complete 80s series)
Certain shows like Magnum P.I. and Rockford Files I have on blu because the dvds at that stage used Flipper Discs and those things scratch easy.
I agree to Aaron, my TV dvd collection has grown over the few years as shows like Canon, Kojak, Hogan's Heroes, Starsky and Hutch, Dallas and Dynasty and many more are not available until Blu-ray.
Can you clarify whet you mean the DVD TZ set is better? I have the Blu Ray set and very pleased.
@Steven Davies IIRC even the DVD set has been discontinued due to…the obvious.
That's a very good video. I literally just made a video about some of the features Blu-ray has to offer to kind of tie in with a video from Jeff at Films at Home who's video was about why Blu-ray doesn't suck.
So your video explaining that if people haven't bought titles in the past or always wait for the sales can't moan about titles not being released on 4K or Blu-ray.
I did realise DVD was still the biggest format. It explains why they still manufacture them. Sad really.
Trevor
Great video! I will admit that often times I forget that not everyone collects blu-rays and 4Ks like us. Agree if we want something we have to support it and buy it, definitely the best way to help. Like you said though some things may just not be viable due to so many factors.
Thanks! Yeah, we are the most dedicated audience out there, and I think we're growing, but we're just a tiny raindrop in the bucket that is the home media landscape. I believe a little gratitude goes a long way and we have so much to be thankful for already. If physical media dried up tomorrow, I'd be set for life. We are very, very blessed. The fact that more things are getting HD and UHD upgrades is just icing on a beautiful cake.
I have two thoughts on this, probably already echoed in other comments, but here they are.
1. Studios are missing the mark on what Blu-Ray could do in terms of TV show sales. We forget that the Blu-ray disc is just a higher capacity data storage in the same size medium as a DVD. Thus without "restoring" footage to HD, the same DVD rendering could be stored on a Blu-ray disc with an entire season on one disc. There's little work needed in terms of having to re-scan and rework any footage - all that's needed is a new menu and the original video files to be re-encoded for blu-ray players. But the features of Blu-ray make TV shows ideal for the format - you can access menus without having to stop the video, and the players can remember where you left off and continue playing from that spot next time. Overall, it's a potentially quicker and smoother interface than what DVDs offered. Having an entire season on one disc (again, possible if the DVD is straight transferred to Blu-ray) means less packaging, less waste, and less cost for the manufacturer. Not to mention more room on our shelves for our collections.
2. Even if Blu-ray and 4k don't sell, it still may be worth going back and restoring old movies and tv shows. This can be offered as higher quality streaming, which likely will sell, and it's just good for historic preservation. At this point, 4k is probably as good as we're ever going to need, and keeping raw 4k masters with lossless digital audio masters means these films can be re-edited and remastered for eternity. Of course this needs money and that's likely to come from non-profit film preservation societies. But preserving what is left as a digital master reduces the likelihood of further loss due to damage and decay.
I fully understand all your points, but trying to watch a DVD on a 4K screen through a standard DVD player (and not a PC program that can upscale or enhance it) often feels like watching it with petroleum jelly smeared all over the screen. It's tolerable if there's no other option, but just barely.
If you're using a standard DVD player, I'd recommend upgrading to a Blu-ray player that upscales. The difference will blow you away, and you can find one for $50 or less.
I thought my Star War: Phantom Menace DVD played on Blu-ray player to a 1080p small flatscreen TV looked OK until my friend brought over a Blu-ray rip of the same movie played from a hard drive.
I have to admit that the ripped Blu-ray video quality looked better in a noticeable way but the 5.1 surround sound on the DVD still sounded better.
Oh well at least all my upscaled, store bought DVDs looks better than my old VHS tapes collection that I copied to blank DVDs.
Talk about Vaseline on the lens, lol…
I don't know if we have it any better or worse in the UK. But as you say I think it's down to what is profitable. Like you guys in the US we have a lot of HD stations, and a lot of these are by the companies that hold the rights to the TV shows, and they have made restorations and upscaling/new transfers of TV shows. One that springs to mind is Doctor Who. in this case the original series, shown between 63-89, (and to a lesser extent The Avengers, though that is also owned by Studio Canal) and these 'HD' versions are show on these channels. Dr Who is interesting since it was originally made on video tape, and a lot of these were telecinnied on to film for sale abroad, so theres a lot of restoration work that goes into it. For a lot of these the restorations were re done for the Blu ray releases, but I'm guessing a lot of these since they are the original rights holders could be seen as preservation?
I remember reading about DS9 that even if Next Generation had sold well, that DS( may not have seen a blu-ray release, since while the episodes were shot on film the Special FX were edited on VT so there would be to much of a difference in quality at 1080p or 4K and they would have had to re-do the FX for many scenes, and then it's getting into the realms of serious money.
Down Under, local stores of JB-HI still carry good selection of Blu rays and 4K's. Also Imprint and Umbrella supply the market very well.
My interview with the founder of Umbrella Entertainment hits this channel TOMORROW! Stay tuned.
I still don't understand why Panic Room doesn't have an official blu-ray release, and i would love to see Tales From The Crypt: The Complete Series on blu-ray.
I was hoping Criterion would pick that up as they have already done a great job with Seven and The Game. I hope if/when it does come out more than one shot of Nicole Kidman's footage is included. The Superbit DVD did look pretty good though.
Tales from the Crypt is 100% released on blu-ray
What I do not understand is why some newer TV shows that are filmed in HD only get a DVD release.
Because DVD sells way more than Blu-ray, plus TV on disc sells less than anything else. People simply do not buy most TV shows on disc. So DVD represents the least-risky, most profitable option.
I like 2 Broke Girls and had to buy all the series on DVD.
I’m happy with the complete series of the wonder years on dvd. I never thought we’d ever get that. And I finally have it physically with all the original music. It’s a little noisy at times but I am beyond happy with the quality. Beggars can’t be choosers. I supported it and if it ever gets a better release which I doubt. I’ll buy that version as well. Also modern family just stopped after a few seasons on blu ray and suddenly stopped and only sold dvds. I still continued to own that series as they came out. Maybe one day the entire set will be on blu ray.
I was completely happy with the video content itself but I was extremely disappointed with the poorly thought out packaging for the original premium release with the metal locker. I was so excited to get that and then completely gutted when I discovered that a good amount of the discs were severely scratched with some of them being unreadable in my primary player while others somewhat worked when I played them through my PS4. Because of the way the binders that hold the discs were designed, each disc would become even more scratched every time I removed or reinserted it from the tight sleeve. I finally gave up and very regretfully packed it all back up and returned it. I ended up getting the more no frills version that came out with each season in individual plastic keepcases and have never had any issues with it but I still miss that awesome locker and the 3 extra discs. I just wished they had thought of something better than those shitty tight sleeved paper binders.
You can not afford to be a format snob here in the UK as quite a lot of TV shows & Films (new or old) never seem to come to Blu ray/4K
I just looked up an obscure z movie from 1946 My Dog Shep to see if it was on DVD. I was surprised that it is. More than likely, a movie like this may have come from a film scan of a 16mm print which is the format my father had this movie on. His big collection was in 35mm. He sold the 35mm collection and projectors long ago before he passed. I still have home movies and some features and shorts in both 16mm and 8mm both standard and super.
The upkeep on film is massive no matter if it is 8, 16, 35 or 70 mm. The films need to be stored in proper climate controlled conditions and properly cleaned and rejuvenated to preserve them before they get vinegar syndrome. Once they get vinegar syndrome, there is no reversing it, only slowing it. As vinegar syndrome advances the film breaks down to the point that is no longer usable and must be disposed of. Even minor vinegar syndrome leaves a usable film damaged to where there are points where the film goes in and out of focus due to curling of the film stock. There are also articfacts that appear as the film layers start to separate. People may have seen footage of the Japanese Aircraft Carriers in WW2 with blotches. That is the effect of the breakdown of the film.
Disposing of the film is not a pleasant experience. Thank goodness only a small portion of the home movies were lost. When disposing, the spores from the vinegar rot go right through a mask and that is hard on the sinuses. Last I heard some 50% of all movies before 1950 are missing, mainly because of Nitrate Film being used. It broke down even faster than the modern Safety Film. We have lost some 70% of all silent films.
Another issue with restoration is the process of how color film was made. Technicolor was a chemical dye process that did not fade. It was an expensive process. Eastman Kodak invented a cheaper process that went by many names such as Eastman Color, Color by Deluxe, and Metrocolor. This process would fade over time leaving just the red color element. Once the color has faded and the print become what in the film industry is called 'cherry red' it becomes much more difficult to restore as the each frame has to have the color restored. Digital processing makes this a bit easier, but is still extremely expensive. Any film stock can get scratches and frames can be lost due to film breakage in the gate. If there is a negative stored in a vault, they will be the best source, but even vault stored films have been lost.
Film collector helped in restoration of old movies because there were multiple prints that could be used to piece together the best elements. These prints only existed because someone at the end of a movies ruin did not destroy the print like they were supposed so. Some went into private collections and others were buried in the ground. For instance, Laurel and Hardy silent shorts were at one time thought to be lost. In France, there were old Pathe prints that were found buried when construction unearthed them. Because of this we have all but a couple of their silent shorts.
I can agree that digital streaming may one day make any physical media obsolete. For those of us that are film buffs or have a favorite obscure movie this could be another event that causes even more movies from our past to be lost.
One of the reasons is essentially old TV shows or films bought it on video then dvd some now have stop buy can't keep replacing formats plus take up space.
I would love to see a video on you’re top 10 wish list of films you would want to have on some HD format … you might already have a video out on this topic and I over looked it if so disregard… really enjoy you’re content
I did a crossover with Jeff from Films At Home a couple of years ago where I named by top 5 movies that still needed a Blu-ray. I think three of them have been released since then, and the others are being restored as we speak. I'm happy. If we never got another new release, I'm set for life. Everything from this point on is just icing on the cake.
ua-cam.com/video/TkBpGWhESZM/v-deo.html
@@CerealAtMidnight great!! I’ll check it out
Kino Lorber is about the only company that I know of that still puts out a ton of obscure (and some not that obscure) titles from various genres on dvd, blu-ray and some 4k (which I don't have interest in). By far, the majority of my buying is from KL. As you stated, there are still so many titles that are stranded on vhs and I'd be happy with just a well done dvd release.
That explains a great deal! Many of my VHS has not been able to upgrade such as documentaries and A BC Christmas. Why some things have not moved beyond DVD such as Kangaroo Jack, Maid to Order, ST:DS9.
However I did find unexpected gems on blu ray such as White Lion, The Day the Earth Caught on Fire, Jesus of Nazareth, Forbidden Planet.
I would have expected to see The Wandering Earth on blu ray, one of the last movies from China's movie market.
So that's why we're not seeing a proper 4K remaster for movies, like An American Tail?
There are a number of TV shows on DVD that are just fine on DVD. When it comes to older sitcoms and things like the early seasons of Saturday Night Live, I can't imagine they'll look any better on Blu-ray. I'll buy the Blu-rays if they become available but I'm not fussed about it.
One upside to just an SD source on Blu-ray would be fewer discs/smaller cases/less space.
Considering how tape and film masters can deteriorate, I'm surprised there's no bigger movement to make digital master of everything. Even if no possibility of physical media sales there's always possibility of licensing the content to streaming services.
As a diehard movie fan and DVD tragic, I am happy to hear my beloved format reigns supreme over those blasted Blu-Rays and 4K discs.
A few things I want to add to the conversation...
I grew up in the late 1980s and 1990s watching VHS and my father gained a large VHS collection in 1992 when a friend of his who owned a video store (remember those?) passed him a hundred VHS tapes. For years I used to sneak into my father's bedroom (sometimes while he was asleep) and quietly 'borrow' one of his tapes to watch on the family VCR.
When my father passed away, I had bought a DVD recorder (this was in 2005 so that was a new-fangled piece of tech) and converted my favourite tapes in that collection to DVD... Then bought a new, much better DVD recorder with HDD capacity (those are the best) and redid those tapes, along with my own VHS collection. I still own a number of my late father's VHS tapes (my favourite being "Killer Crocodile", which was the Australian VHS release from CBL Video (of the Italian domestic cut missing that extra pre-credits scene) now backed up by the Severin DVD in my collection) and I now have a massive 2000 disc DVD collection, some of which even include playthroughs of my videogames (basically I record the entire single-player campaign of all my PlayStation 1, 2 & 3 games and burn them onto DVD for posterity - Manhunt looks awesome on DVD BTW!), and I see DVD as the best physical video medium out there.
DVD has many advantages over those blasted BDs & 4K'ers - they are robust, very easy to play (only things you need to worry about are region codes and PAL/NTSC compability, but here in Australia all our TVs can play NTSC despite being natively PAL and multizone DVD players are commonplace since our consumer watchdog the ACCC ruled that players using region blocking was against consumers' needs.
For those of you out there who own rare VHS tapes, I implore you to buy a DVD recorder and convert your tapes to DVD (personally I tape the ENTIRE tape, previews and all) because if you don't, that VHS tape will die and end up in oblivion without its soul (if they have one) being preserved on DVD.
DVD looks like crap compared to Blu Ray and sounds worse too. As a "die hard" fan why would you want an inferior version to be supreme? You listen to 120kbit/s music tracks too?
They also like to keep some things streaming exclusive, It's super annoying.
What irks me is when a t.v. show starts out being released on DVD and Blu-ray... but later on, the Blu-ray releases disappear before the series is fully released. To my way of thinking... don't start something you can't finish. It's not just old series. It's currently produced ones too.
That risk that the blu-ray format won't continue... has me questioning picking up ANY new t.v. show blu-ray releases with Season 1.
Usually when that happens, it's because the Blu-rays tanked.
@@CerealAtMidnight I agree that's the case... but it doesn't make it any less annoying.
Question for you - I understand why studios are reluctant to do new restorations, but why not do more SD on Blu-ray just to save discs? My primary reason for not wanting to buy a tv series on dvd is because I don’t want to have to switch a flimsy fragile disc every three episodes. BDs are much more durable as well.
Good question. I think SD on Blu-ray still confuses the mainstream. I know the anime folks adopted SD on Blu-ray years ago, but every time I cover an SD on Blu-ray title, I get angry comments saying "the package lied, it's not Blu-ray!" Too many people think Blu-ray is a resolution, not a storage format. I think it's asking for too much trouble for most companies to deal with the backlash from John Q. Public.
@@CerealAtMidnight yeah that’s unfortunate. I kinda figured that was why but was hoping maybe the savings in protection costs would be worth it
I'd love to see that. Cheaper to produce, less space taken on the shelf, better upscaling...lots of benefits.
@@CerealAtMidnight Sad. But people that buy 4K are ok with upscaling. Ugh
I wonder how well The X Files did in blu-ray sales?
Probably pretty well. I wish Disney would get those discs back in print!
I have bought Return of the Jedi on VHS, Pal Laser Disc, NTSC Laser Disc, NTSC Laser Disc Special Editions, DVD, Blu-Ray
All fair points, but I have always maintained that collecting was always a niche market. The average person does spur of the moment purchases. Of course, this begs the question. Is dvd so popular because that's what people want or because that's all there is on the shelves? I know of several tv shows that got blu-ray releases, and yet all you'll see at a physical store are the dvd sets.
I think we have enough data to conclude that DVD is more popular because most customers think it's good enough. Of the few "normies" that I know who still buy discs, DVD is fine for them. Most of these customers are older and have no desire to continue to chase new formats. We boutique enthusiasts are definitely a niche market, but the causal market isn't dead yet, though people keep trying to put the final nails in the coffin.
I’m a huge Rockford files fan and I’m very stunned that that was put on Blu-ray in light of your analysis of basic popularity and sales of DVD. I personally own it on DVD I don’t feel the need to upgrade to Blu-ray on something that old but I’m surprised it was made at all based on your video here.
Well, the HD masters were made years ago for streaming and Mill Creek was able to license them from Universal. It's an improvement from the DVDs, but not on par with something like Magnum P.I.
Those old shows have high appeal to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Shout out also to Airwolf, Quantum Leap, Knight Rider, Charlie's Angels, and That 70s Show which also got Mill Creek releases at a time when it seemed really unlikely that those shows would ever see Blu-ray releases. As much as people take swipes at Mill Creek, they've done a lot to get movies and TV shows on disc when nobody else would.
@@CerealAtMidnight That's true-- some may not like the manner in which it was done, but you have to give props to Mill Creek for putting it out in the first place.
I am kinda a format snob. I have my budget and voting with my dollars I purchase the best quality I can. So I buy a lot of the 4K releases even at $40-60 each when released from studios like Synapse, Blue Underground, Shout, Arrow, Vinegar Syndrome. I have bought Blu-rays for years and is the largest part of my collection. Now I usually concentrate on upgrading my DVDs and never been to Blu-ray with some I suspect will never get the 4K release. DVDs I very rarely buy anymore. It has to be a title I don't own, really want, and suspect will never get the upgrade. I can't tell you the last time I spent more than $3 for a DVD title. So many titles I don't have in 4K and Blu-ray I want, I don't bother with DVD much anymore.
What bothers me is a show like Emergency did get some kind of HD upgrade for streaming services, but all you can buy is the DVD. If one has already spent the money on making a better product, why not release a physical media?
It might cost more to manufacture and distribute than the show will recover in sales. I'm sure someone did that math on that somewhere, but that doesn't mean it can't still happen in the future as the market continues to grow. I could see it being an online exclusive, or even an MOD product. I think Universal is paying very close attention to how shows like The Incredible Hulk, The Night Gallery, The Six Million Dollar Man, and The Bionic Woman are going to sell on Blu-ray before they greenlight some of the older, more obscure shows for the format.
Releasing on Blu-ray is VERY expensive.
Ya this is why I've spent the last few years getting all the old TV shows I love on DVD. Because I want to watch them shows like tales from the crypt, Martin, rocko's modern life, saved by the bell shout factory edition that included good morning miss bliss, Thundercats, knight rider, and countless others. I was very happy to see that even through I bought incredible hulk (70s hulk) on DVD that it finally made it to bluray. So of course I'm going to buy it again to support them. Hoping one day to maybe see married with children, family matters, or even fresh prince of bel-air come to bluray but even if they don't I'll be grabbing the DVD.
I think a big reason is because most normal watchers are choosing to watch this stuff in streaming services and not buying as many physical releases for these companies/studios to release certain movies in Blu-ray at the very least. HOWEVER, I wouldn't fully confirm that because it's only a guess.
WB launched a series of content on DVD for their 100th Anniversary. I think that was a mistake. Many of which already had Blu-ray and 4k releases. From the standpoint of disc durability, Blu-ray is far superior than DVD in terms of scratch resistance and playback longevity.
Great discussion. Very important points especially format snobs. The only time I get frustrated is when some modern streaming shows never get a physical media release (i.e. star wars and Disney) due to obvious reasons. What is strange is that the The Next Generation didn't make much but they are releasing Deep Space 9 on bluray (my guess is limited improvements). Also, Babylon TV was remastered for HBO Max but no new physical media release. But of course, when we get a decent 4k release of the Craft everyone complains about a few compression issues and don't buy it. We have to support physical media or it will be gone. Thanks for important topic!
I have not heard that Paramount is releasing Deep Space Nine on Blu-ray. Can you link to a source for this info? The last I heard, DS9 and Voyager would not be getting an HD upgrade.
I definitely agree, we have to support these releases, not nitpick them apart!
@@CerealAtMidnight I believe I saw it on Twitter. Maybe it was a rumored release. I will try and fine the tweet.
I bought those Trek TNG Blu-rays!
Me too! Love 'em :)
I purchased the TNG Blu-rays as well, although I waited for the complete series release. I’ve been very happy with them. I had purchased the original DVDs when they first came out, and the transfers were “soft to the extreme” due to the nature of the tape source. So these Blu-rays were a huge leap in quality.
I really believe, though, that the sets would have sold in much better numbers to the masses if they could have figured out some way to derive a 16:9 transfer. And I know they included a feature on the disc as to why they couldn’t do that. (Mostly having to do with incompatible VFX effects work.) But everyone I spoke to stated that they had already spent hundreds of dollars on the DVDs, and needed a real excuse beyond a clearer picture to justify repurchasing the series on Blu-ray.
Are TV shows shot on 4K today or are they still shot on HD. If they are shot on 4K it would cost almost nothing to sell them on streaming services. It would just cost the price of storage and distribution via servers.
Intel announced their new Processors will NOT support 4k Bluray. I just built a new HTPC and was happy that the i9 1290K still supports BlU Ray and DVD. If you love a piece of content buy it in any format you can get. 20 years from now it will all prob be locked behind streaming.
The other big problem is that many people rather buy a blu ray player that
upconverts the DVD picture.
I have seen for myself that the older blu ray players were quite good at this DVD
up conversion. Its no surprise lately you see less and less players that up convert
Dvd.
Friend , are you trying to tell me quantum leap will never be on HD .😐
Quantum Leap is on Blu-ray and it's dirt cheap! amzn.to/38DzCJL
Some companies may be waiting to see how streaming impacts the sale of hard copy movies and television. Will the public - at least enough to matter financially - not want to physically own anything ? There is a big investment involved as was explained here. My interest is mainly classic films and they can get super expensive when often multiple copies need to be found around the world in various film archives to create a good enough source copy. i'm encouraged reading some comments here about technological innovations that may help.
“Colombo” and “ Bewitched” streaming in 4k in Japan.
The Walmarts in my area are the only place that have some discs still. Target and Best Buy basically have nothing now, especially Best Buy, they only have a cardboard stand that had like 10 cubbies that would hold maybe 50-60 discs total.
So on the TNG remasters, I am curious if you have any information on this. The way I heard it back in the day, and I believe it was on a podcast from someone who had some knowledge on the matter. Supposedly, the reason Paramount remastered TNG was not really all that much about Blu ray sales, but rather the value of having them in HD for digital distribution, across cable networks and streaming services. I am sure they hoped that they would recoup the cost with physical sales, but TNG and TOS had still had an enormous value in syndication and streaming that was losing value with each year as HD content was becoming the standard. While DS9 and Voyager are loved by Star Trek fans in particular, they just do not have the mass appeal and have never been as valued by Paramount in the years since they went off air. So, if thats the case, it seems like their excuse for not doing DS9 and Voyager being that the TNG blu rays didnt sell, seems a tad disingenuous.