"Dunf" <> wrote in message
news:Zghdb.100917$ able.rogers.com...
>
> "Writer R5" <> wrote in message
> news:...
> > I thought your post was great and to the point. Thank you. I bought the
> new
> > Scarface DVD two weeks ago. It is the real thing too. Universal has lost
a
> lot
> > of what I think people might coin as being quality of respect for their
> > product. I do reviews and have received DVDs from Universal to review,
but
> I
> > just told them yesterday by E-mail that I am beinning to think that they
> really
> > don't care about what the consumers think and I am not alone in thid
> feeling. I
> > have seen many webmasters post things that were harsher than what I
wrote
> them.
> > I think it has to do with the whole Vivendi merger and selling thing,
but
> at
> > this point I will not lie to any of you and say I would never buy
another
> > Universal DVD or review one they send me, but I think their status as a
> > reputable DVD producer and distributor has gone down and I am pretty
> ****ed off
> > too. I might send them your post since I think it was well written in
> hopes
> > that if they see what consumers in newgroups are writing, they will
begin
> to
> > see the error in their ways. As it is I told them I and oother people
> think
> > Universal really doesn't care.
> >
> > Mark
> > GENRE ONLINE.NET: The Web Resource For Home Video Entertainment & More
> > http://www.genreonline.net
> > Mark A. Rivera - Writer/Reviewer/Editor/Webmaster
> >
>
> Go ahead and send them the post Mark. BTW, you know me under a different
> name from previous posts and have prob seen my rants about Universal
before.
> Thanks for the compliment; I have enjoyed many of your reviews in the past
> aswell. Say hello to Kevin Smith for me aswell will ya. Is he going to
> release Jersey Girl; just wondering.
>
>
I forgot to mention that, as many of you that are in the dvd/entertainment
business know, studios like Universal do apparantly have staff members that
visit newsgroups like this one to get public feedback. Weather they actually
take our comments to heart is another story. As I mentioned, I have no
affiliation with the film, tv or entertainment industry what so ever,
however, I own almost 400 dvds and have watch countless hours of film. I am
also well read on the subject of audio, dvd, mastering; the technology
itself. This is a hobby of mine which has me reading and posting to this NG
once in a while. I never hold back on my comments..that is why we have
forums like this. Lets just hope that the studios are reading this valuable
information.
Sure, some of the studios might think we are a minority of anal retentive
film lovers that pine over every aspect of a dvd's attributes or lack there
of. Maybe they think our opinion just doesn't matter. They are clearly wrong
if that is the case. Why did any of us get into to dvd to begin with? For
the quality and features that it offers. Studios like Universal must under
estimate customer feedback because they simply are not listening. For every
person like me that takes the trouble to write this stuff, there is 1,000's
of dvd buyers that just won't, for example, buy the new Scarface dvd cause
they are fed up. It's the customers that don't take the trouble to offer
feedback that Universal, for example, should think about seriously.
Universal should just admit that they screwed up on the original Scarface.
Then, they should offer a rebate towards the new re-issue. They should do
this with Animal House, Blues Brothers, I hate to admit, most of their early
releases. The 2nd re-issue of Animal House for example was not that bad,
however, compare it to the new one...see what I mean. What about that awfull
full screen version that they put out first? Really, do they think we don't
care about quality? If that's the case, why all of the sudden are they
marketing their products based on the assumption that we do care about
quality? What, did they suddenly realise this?
There is a fine line between making a film lover wait for one their favorite
(wish titles) to come out and rushing out a poor version to appease the mass
audience. A good example might be the film Neighbours. This one has yet to
see the light of day on dvd. Would it have been better to get a crappy
release back in, say, 1998, or wait for a premium version to come out in
2003. I say, better to wait since this title has long been available on VHS.
Paramount, for example, did the right thing making us wait for the Godfather
films. The often criticized Steven Spielberg is doing the right thing by
making us wait for correct versions of his highly anticipated releases.
We have to tell the studios that we don't mind waiting if it means getting a
premium version of a particular title. The technology is here, it has been
since 1997. The Philips Spirit Data Cine converter, touted as the best
technology for transfering celuloid to digital imaging, has been on the
market for some time now. Once again, the technology has been around for
quite some time now. For this reason we as consumers cannot accept inferior
quality like, for a great example, the original Scarface dvd.
I should point out that Warner Brothers or other studios are not entirely
innocent of releasing bad transfers on the market. The original One Flew
Over The Cuckoo's Nest dvd is perhaps one of the very worst transfers I have
ever seen thus far. This doens't include those awfull Front Row
Entertainment or Madacy grab bags we have come to know and totally avoid.
The idea of marketing a product by first offering an inferior, unacceptable
"version" of the product, then, years later offering up the premium version
that we should have gotten in the first place, is abhorant. Hypeing the
release of the new improved version so that we can mentally compare the old
with how good the new anticipated version will be, what is that? That is
insane! We are ultimately to blame for buying into this garbage marketing
tactic.
We made dvd the fastest growing new entertainment media in history. More
people owned a dvd player faster since dvd's inception than the number of
people that bought colour tv's back when they came out.
WE told the studios that the floodgates for heavy marketing were now open.
Lets tell them that those gates will close unless they live up to the
original promises made for dvd.
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