quenkyle: Did you ever get those Exo-Squad files to work on your computer?
trumwill: No, I never did
trumwill: It never ceases to amaze me when a show hasn’t been released to DVD
quenkyle: Well, it does cost quite a bit
quenkyle: and some shows may not have enough of a following to make a profit
trumwill: Someone needs to find a way to do it cheaply.
quenkyle: What *does* surprise me, is that they don’t sell them online
quenkyle: Online distribution is that way
quenkyle: But the rights-holders are old school DRM enthusiasts
quenkyle: Generally speaking
trumwill: There’s got to be a way to put low-volume shows on DVD at relatively little cost.
trumwill: I mean, look at the $1 DVD section at Walmart! These aren’t exactly high-demand products.
quenkyle: True, but the quality of the video and audio tends to be godawful
quenkyle: I do want my DVDs to be in a semi-watchable state
trumwill: Oh, they’re at least semi-watchable. Not really DVD quality, but for low-volume stuff I don’t see that as a problem.
trumwill: It’s about as good as VHS (in fact, probably taken straight from VHS)
quenkyle: It’s a fine line to walk, though. Even if they put it out like that, the company in question may get a reputation for less-than-stellar DVD releases
trumwill: That’s why you create a special Discount label. Something like Cheap {Spit} Productions.
trumwill: Then you say “We’re going to release this via CSP, but if enough people buy it we’ll do a full-on release. So go buy this crappy product if you want the real thing!” Studios love pulling that crap.
quenkyle: But word will get out about who owns it. Just like when Disney quietly purchased Miramax and started editing things they didn’t like out of their movies
trumwill: See, I didn’t know that Disney even did that! 🙂
quenkyle: haha
quenkyle: I still think digital distribution is the best way to go. Especially for shows like Exo-squad, which they’ll never revive. Better to make a few bucks off it than have it moulder in a vault somewhere
quenkyle: Oh!
quenkyle: That’s another reason
quenkyle: A lot of those old shows have been lost. As in the masters are gone
quenkyle: Did you hear about The Who and Rock Band?
quenkyle: They wanted to release a full album, but the band itself couldn’t find their own masters.
quenkyle: Shit like that is pretty common, it seems
trumwill: Actually, what they could do is contract it out. Sell the right to produce crappy DVDs to some third party distributor for a commission or something. Kind of like the pirates do now, except legit (and probably of somewhat better quality)
trumwill: The masters only matter so much if you want to release something that looks really nice.
quenkyle: haha
quenkyle: That is kinda the point, though, I think.
quenkyle: Even if it were cheap, I wouldn’t buy a DVD that looked like ass
trumwill: What if you couldn’t get it any other way?
quenkyle: VHS quality is a no-go these days
quenkyle: Then I’d wait for someone to post the shitty quality one online and download it
trumwill: Damn pirates!
quenkyle: haha
trumwill: People actually pay $100 for VCR-recorded episodes of The Practice, Crossing Jordan, Judging Amy, and other shows that (thus far) have not made it to DVD. There’s money to be made here!
quenkyle: O.o
quenkyle: I had no idea
quenkyle: crazy bastards
trumwill: If it’s the only way that you can get the show, you’ll do what you gotta do. I almost broke down and bought The Drew Carey Show.
quenkyle: crazy bastard
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2 Responses to IM Chatty: Coming Never To DVD
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I don’t think the problem lies in having a big enough production run to make money. Instead, I believe the problem lies with the individual copyright holders. One example of this would be WKRP in Cincinnati. (I’m not really that old despite liking the show. I watched alot of old tv reruns when I was young) It would sell a number of copies, but each episode had a different popular song(s), and you have to negotiate with each music copyright holder to put the episodes on dvd. Unfortunately, that process takes a long time. I’m sure its a similar scenario with many of the current series unavailable on DVD. I believe in a recent New Yorker there was an article talking about a related issue dealing with the balance between too few property rights and too many property rights.
I actually addressed that issue in my “Coming eventually to DVD” post. For some shows, like WKRP, Ally McBeal, and Daria one of the big hangups is music copyright holders. But I don’t think that’s the case with a lot of shows. And in the more recent of those, you can simply replace the music. And for more recent shows, they almost certainly own the DVD distribution rights as part of the initial contract.