Warner Bros. - Getting Lazy?

[Eric Profancik]

Yesterday Chief Stailey reviewed the DVD of "Potter 6" and commented on the poor quality of the transfers and bonus material.
Today I reviewed the DVD of "The Hangover" and commented on the poor quality of the transfer and bonus material.
The other week I reviewed the Blu-ray of "Terminator Salvation" and commented on how awesome the disc is.

This makes me wonder what's up with Warner Brothers? Two high profile DVD releases with lackluster transfers. Why? How? Are they shifting their focus to Blu quality at the expense of DVDs? Anyone see any other recent lackluster Warner DVDs? Any thoughts? Is this a hiccup of a harbinger of things?

[Steve T Power]

I think it started last year or earlier. I recall the last Potter flick being savaged on DVD and praised on Bluray/HD-DVD. And The Dark Knight's DVD treatment was nothing special (the audio was terrible), but the Blu-ray was a thing of beauty. I think Warner is basically dumping their big-ticket stuff in favor of Blu-Ray.

[hoytereden]

I'm worried about their basic 180 in regards to classic releases. Sure, they have a lot on their Archive site but this seems a lazy way to do that. Quite a few of those titles, IMO, deserve better. BTW-Where is the next noir set from them?

[Andrew Forbes]

BTW-Where is the next noir set from them?

They have a new system. For $40 a title, they'll tape them off AMC and send you the VHS, in Classic bootleg black, sans label (for authenticity).

[Boba Fett]

I yelled conspiracy when The Dark Knight looked like crap on DVD.

However, when stuff like Falling Down, NBK, and Watchmen all looked great on SD-DVD (the latter being quite good for a 3.5hr movie on one disc) I figured the bad HP and Batman disc was just an anomaly.

I'm going back on my original accusation that WB is once again sabotaging SD transfers.

[Eric Profancik]

I think it started last year or earlier. I recall the last Potter flick being savaged on DVD and praised on Bluray/HD-DVD. And The Dark Knight's DVD treatment was nothing special (the audio was terrible), but the Blu-ray was a thing of beauty. I think Warner is basically dumping their big-ticket stuff in favor of Blu-Ray.

Wow. I've been shifting more towards Blu this past year and haven't watched many big DVD releases. It's a shame to hear this has been going on for some time. Seeing how DVD still represents the bulk of purchases it seems really dumb of them to drop the ball. But this can't just be a mistake; it seems this has to be a deliberate choice. And we ask again, why?

[Boba Fett]

I think it started last year or earlier. I recall the last Potter flick being savaged on DVD and praised on Bluray/HD-DVD. And The Dark Knight's DVD treatment was nothing special (the audio was terrible), but the Blu-ray was a thing of beauty. I think Warner is basically dumping their big-ticket stuff in favor of Blu-Ray.

Wow. I've been shifting more towards Blu this past year and haven't watched many big DVD releases. It's a shame to hear this has been going on for some time. Seeing how DVD still represents the bulk of purchases it seems really dumb of them to drop the ball. But this can't just be a mistake; it seems this has to be a deliberate choice. And we ask again, why?

Have you ever watched the ads for Blu-Ray on some Warner DVDs? It's laughable where they show an intentionally crappy looking scene saying "THIS IS DVD." Then they show the same scene with standard DVD quality and say "THIS IS BLU RAY"

They have to believe their customers are idiots for failing to see the irony in the ad.

[Eric Profancik]

I think it started last year or earlier. I recall the last Potter flick being savaged on DVD and praised on Bluray/HD-DVD. And The Dark Knight's DVD treatment was nothing special (the audio was terrible), but the Blu-ray was a thing of beauty. I think Warner is basically dumping their big-ticket stuff in favor of Blu-Ray.

Wow. I've been shifting more towards Blu this past year and haven't watched many big DVD releases. It's a shame to hear this has been going on for some time. Seeing how DVD still represents the bulk of purchases it seems really dumb of them to drop the ball. But this can't just be a mistake; it seems this has to be a deliberate choice. And we ask again, why?

Have you ever watched the ads for Blu-Ray on some Warner DVDs? It's laughable where they show an intentionally crappy looking scene saying "THIS IS DVD." Then they show the same scene with standard DVD quality and say "THIS IS BLU RAY"

They have to believe their customers are idiots for failing to see the irony in the ad.

Yep. It ranks right up there with the audacious ads for Digital Copies...that expire but they fail to mention that!

[BrettCullum]

I noticed your review of the Blu-Ray of TERMINATOR SALVATION... and then came my rather disappointed look at the DVD. No extras, no additional footage, although I would say it looked "okay". I think it is pretty clear that Warner Bros is banking on high definition, and relegating bare bones medium grade transfers to standard DVD.

A lot of the studios are pushing Blu-Ray extremely hard. As a site we are no longer getting BOTH copies, and often it is the "high def copy only". It may not be JUST Warner Bros... but rather, the whole studio system.

[HGervais]

As far as the Archive stuff....I just can't get past paying more for less. There a lot of movies I would buy if offered on DVD but won't do on these DVR discs. At a lower price point I could but not 20 bucks. $10.00 or $12.00 maybe.
As for new releases, I can't say. I have pushed by new release buying on standard DVD to almost zero instead going Blu.

[Steve T Power]

As far as the Archive stuff....I just can't get past paying more for less. There a lot of movies I would buy if offered on DVD but won't do on these DVR discs. At a lower price point I could but not 20 bucks. $10.00 or $12.00 maybe.
As for new releases, I can't say. I have pushed by new release buying on standard DVD to almost zero instead going Blu.

With regards to the archive collection - i'm actually pretty impressed with the packaging job. They feel/look perfectly legit until you flip the disc over and look at the face. But yeah, 20 bucks is WAY too much. These are sub $10.00 products.

[Dan Mancini]

As far as the Archive stuff....I just can't get past paying more for less. There a lot of movies I would buy if offered on DVD but won't do on these DVR discs. At a lower price point I could but not 20 bucks. $10.00 or $12.00 maybe.

It's a poor business model -- if one assumes that Warner actually wants any of these movies seen. They ought to charge between $5 and $9 for downloadable, DRM-protected content that can be burned to a DVD-R by customers who can also print keepcase-sized cover art if they so choose (or not, if they don't give a rat's ass). That, or they should cut a deal with Netflix to deliver the archive as streaming content. Better yet, they should do both if their contract lawyers can manage it.

Fifteen to 19 bucks for un-remastered content dumped onto a DVD-R that may or may not play on that $30 player you picked up at Target and use with the TV in your bedroom is outrageous. It's a plain stupid business model...especially since the criteria for deeming a movie archive worthy is that there's no way in hell it could turn a buck in the open DVD market. The only reason it makes any kind of sense is that, since the project requires almost nothing in terms of a budget, Warner Brothers can basically take a "buy it or not: we don't care" attitude.

[Andrew Forbes]

Is there still an annual Warner Q&A thingy? Any chance of the archive complaints being addressed?

[Boba Fett]

Is there still an annual Warner Q&A thingy? Any chance of the archive complaints being addressed?

Yeah, it's run by the Home Theater Forum, where if you don't kiss ass, you don't stand a chance on their forums. Warner ducks a lot of criticism questions; I remember someone asking about the inferior quality of the Dark Knight DVD and they immediately replied another division handles it. Any criticism is basically sidestepped and turned into a self-promotion opportunity. I know for a fact when HTF posts the transcripts, if any "unauthorized" or "out of turn" questions slip through, they aren't kept in the transcript, even if answered.