criterionforum.org

So are SD and Blu-Ray going to be included in all subsequent MOC releases?

We're currently debating that -- we think it's time to make the push. What are everyone's thoughts?

If you were faced with a DVD edition for £19.99 (£11.98 preorder at amazon) or a dual DVD and Blu-ray edition for £24.99 (£15.98 preorder at amazon), but you only had a DVD player, and hoped to get a Blu-ray player at some point in the next 4-5 years or whatever, which edition would you buy?

Should we issue a DVD-only release, as well as a combo DVD and Blu-ray only release?
Or a DVD-only release and a Blu-ray only release?
Or just a combo edition (DVD and Blu-ray) on its own?

Well, how much of your business would you estimate is overseas buyers, because a Blu-ray from Region B is a coaster for many of us. That said, I think only charging five pounds more for both is a good business move in general though

I think it would be extremely admirable to issue Blu + DVD editions. Personally, Criterion's scattershot approach hasn't been pleasing to me. The trust bubble has been breached a little and I'd rather know for certain whether a title was imminent on Blu-ray instead of only announcing a DVD edition.

what domino and souvenir said.

I own all your blu-ray for a certain ambition of having a complete collection of spine number but I don't have a Blu-ray player so I'm kinda dying to see tokyo sonata and mad detective and since I live in Quebec and I'm a student it may take a while before I get a blu-ray playes that plays uk BR... I think the Sunrise idea is great, 15.98 GBP is the maximum I would pay for a movie and it has to contain a thick book and some great extras like shorts or good documentary/interviews... Spine 1,2 and 3 seems to worth it(or would have worth it if they were released with a dvd).

Hail_Cesar wrote:it may take a while before I get a blu-ray playes that plays uk BR

Masters of Cinema Blu-ray releases are all-region/region free discs and they'll play on any BD player.

I'd prefer to only pay for the Blu-ray. I suppose if the DVD is "free" I wouldn't mind, as long as it wouldn't increase the packaging size.

Consider this a vote for separate BD and DVD releases. I'll continue to buy MoC BDs as long as the features and supplements work on my region A player. I have zero need for the DVD... I plan to order the Sunrise BD, but the included DVD will just be dead weight.

Not to mention that most people who wanted a standard def Sunrise probably have one, two or even three copies by now anyway (remember how quickly the MoC came out after the Eureka special edition?). I'm not sure what another standard def release would be in aid of.

I plan to order the Sunrise BD and have no need for the SD so I vote for separate BD and SD releases as well.

If there are fences in Digital Limbo I'm sitting on one. I would welcome a transitional phase where both are offered so I can continue to buy stuff I want to watch before I am convinced by an all region player.

Another vote for separate releases. Perhaps a new thread with appropriate poll options could be created to lessen the clutter in this thread?

I am still living in the dark ages of region-lockdom and as such, have never bought from MoC in the past, but if a Sunrise BD were region-free, I would buy it up in a heartbeat, gladly making it my first. If my vote is worth anything, I honestly find BD/DVD combos to be slightly annoying. I have no rational reasoning behind this, other than a aesthetic preference toward excluding things from the packaging that are useless to me. And even though, yes, I could throw away the DVD if I wanted, I'm sure the empty DVD housing left in the packaging would nag at me to no end, to the extent that I allow DVD packaging to reign over my life (which, to be honest, is probably only around 7%). The only way the addition of a DVD for someone who has made the Blu jump makes practical sense to me is for portability. But let's face it, Sunrise isn't exactly the first thing you think of when popping the kids in the station wagon for a long drive.

Bandai Visual already tried this with Wings of Honneamise and people didn't like it, from what I can gather several being put off buying altogether.

Granted that was a while back when Blu Ray was still competing with HD DVD and the prices MOC are suggesting are lower but I would still advise against a Blu Ray/DVD set.

Personally I like the DVD option, though I guess I might never watch it. 24.99 seems like a good price and if I recall that's only a couple pounds more than what the MOC Blu-rays already are. Disney does it with some of their animated titles and I appreciate that and I admit the one thing I liked about HD DVD was that some had the DVD versions.

In the case of Sunrise, since I already have the existing MoC DVD and the Fox box, I'd prefer a slightly cheaper Blu-only edition.

In all other cases: there is a small appeal to the already-Blu customer to having the SD DVD as well (to show at friend's house who doesn't have Blu-ray player or, in my case, to use in the classroom, where there is no Blu technology). However, in the end--and this is only from the view of someone who already has a Blu-ray player and can play both A and B region discs--I think separate releases of Blu and DVD is the way to go.

Agreed, it would also become redundant very quickly within the next two or so years as multi region blu ray players become cheaper and more readily available. Just as myself and others wait patiently to buy Criterion Blu Ray in the near future I fail to see why North Americans cannot do the same.

Dvd and BR version and BR only version would be great...

I only want the Blu-ray disc and don't want to pay more for useless DVD.

Can anyone explain to me the rationale behind a double release? I could understand if MoC hadn't already released Sunrise, but it's already in the collection. Is it a way of keeping the film in print or what? Is it a new transfer? Otherwise it just seems like a complete non-issue. Those who want the standard def can buy (or probably already have) the MoC or the R1 and those who want the Blu can get the new MoC. Everyone's happy, MoC presumably save some money and so does the consumer.

Wasn't easy to answer this but ultimately I'm leaning towards prefering separate releases myself. I won't be upgrading to Blu anytime soon and like the BR owners am not very keen on spending £5-£10 extra on something I won't be using. Also, I've already double-dipped on Sunrise and while I love this film, I've never bought a title three times over, and am not going to (sorry Nick).

Cinetwist, the new MoC edition is a new HD telecine of the 2002 film restoration used for the previous editions. So it looks marginally better on SD than the previous DVD, but heaps better in HD (because it's HD for the first time). Furthermore, a Czech silent print of the film has been discovered and this will appear too (also in HD). The resolution in the Czech print is, at times, revelatory.

Eureka issued their first edition in 2003, we brought it into the MoC Series in 2005 (and reauthored it), and since then the licence has expired. We've now renewed the licence, this new material has come to light, and so far from being a 'cash-in', it makes sense to issue this properly now for the next period of the licence.

From the comments so far (in this thread and via PM) it seems as if issuing a *Blu-ray only* would be the most forward-thinking, less wasteful, aesthetically pleasing course of action.

It seems pretty overwhelming that the BD owners want separate releases and the SD owners generally want a combo. So I'll throw myself into the latter camp. I own 4 BD titles and 3 are SD/BD combos and I have no BD player yet. I happily paid a premium to get both formats.

I like the idea of "future-proofing", but the fact that dual-versions would prove to be more expensive than one or the other is a deal-breaker for me. The only reason I'm not upgrading to Blu any time soon is down to money (my student grant won't cover the cost of one of them big fancy-pants TVs), so having to pay more for individual discs would be counter-productive and pretty annoying... The Blu-ray kids shouldn't have to pay more for an extra coaster too...

"Blu-ray only" is probably the best idea for this, as the people most likely to double-dip for an SD would have to be cover art fetishists and Dudley Andrew completists. (Saying that, are there any plans to make the new essay available on the website?)