Posted by Doug Jacobs on 08/03/07 22:44

Spurious Response <SpuriousResponse@cleansignal.org> wrote:

> You're fucking nuts. I have it in several formats.

> The Laser Disc format was 37 discs at $20 each. That's $740 for the
> slow.

$20/Laserdisc isn't a bad price...for laserdisc. However, laserdisc never
got the mainstream market acceptance here in the US like VHS or DVD. Even
over in Japan, many laserdiscs were still $60-100 each (then again, so
were their VHS...stuff is EXPENSIVE in Japan!)

But when you have entire seasons of a TV show on DVD going for as little
as $16 each, $220 for a HD remastering just seems obscene. $50 - no problem.
$100 - a little steep perhaps, but it IS a new media, and anyways, the
red, yellow and blue ST:TOS DVD boxes were $100 each when they first came
out, so I wouldn't consider this to be TOO bad of a price for an early
adopter. But $220? For a single season?

Worse still, this is in the middle of a format war. Spending $20-30 on a
single movie isn't that big of a deal, but $220 pretty much means you're
whole-heartedly betting the farm that HD-DVD isn't going to die out like
Betamax did in the 80s. (this doesn't mean HD-DVD has to completely
CONQUER Blu-Ray - the two could still co-exist...)

> >You can get the red, yellow and blue DVD boxes that contain the entire series
> >for less than that.

> I have them. They were NOT that price when they came out. They were
> $70 each. Just because you can now find them in a group set at a
> discounted price doesn't mean you have an argument here.

When I first saw them, they were $100/box at Frys. Then last Christmas, my
local Costco had all 3 in a collection for about $180. Just the other
day, the local Costco had entire seasons of Buffy for $17/each. Yeah,
sure, Buffy != Star Trek and Star Trek >> Buffy even, but from a
cost/episode point of view, it does look like Paramount is charging a huge
amount for HD vs. what other shows are going for on regular DVD.

I do understand that HD remastering takes time and money and that HD is
still an early adopter's market, so higher prices are to be expected.
But I still think $220 for a single TV season is just ridiculous, especially
since the HD market has still to settle this HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray thing.


> > Makes no sense whatsoever.

> You are just some lame tard that doesn't have a dime to your name.

> Some of us have hundreds of discs, and several tens of TV shows on disc,
> and Yes, I will be buying the HD release eventually. Particularly if I
> can find it presented as a demo somewhere, so that I can examine if it is
> worth the trouble.

Why is it that every time someone says they think something is too
expensive, they're accused of being poor?

I too have 100s of discs - nearly 1000 at last count. Over half are
various TV and anime series, and a good chunk of my collection is made up
of imports, so I'd hardly consider myself a newbie to this hobby.

Personally, I've grown tired of the games the producers are playing with
us, the fans and customers. They release version after version of movies
simply because they know the fans will keep buying them. There's the
regular, no-thrills edition, then the Special Edition, then the 2-disc,
Limited Time Anniversary Special Director's Edition Supreme! Gotta buy them
all! Then there's the practice of releasing TV shows on single DVDs at
$25-30/pop, then sucker-punching you by re-releasing the whole series in a
slim-boxset at a 60% discount over the single discs. Farscape anyone? Or,
how about M*A*S*H*? Star Trek was perhaps one of the most egregious of
these. I'm sure you remember this, right? 2 episodes a disc for $25/each
with no remastering, no specials, no frills? Wow! What a bargain! Let's
all bend over and ask for another one!

Perhaps some people don't mind it, and have more than enough dispoable
income to keep re-buying and upgrading their collection. I don't mind
spending money on something I want, but I do try to spend wisely. And if
you think $220 for a HD remaster of ST:TOS is a wise buy at this time,
then we'll just have to agree to disagree.


--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.

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