I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in Video. Mods, please feel free to copy or move.

Those (like me) into classic film may be aware of the Roan label. In my experience, they have released some of the highest quality prints of PD films ever.

Long story short, a number of years ago they were acquired by the Exploitation DVD label Troma for a large sum of money. Troma pretty much ran Roan into the ground, & in the process much of the catalog went oop, & started selling for big $'s, which brings me to the subject of this post.

Over the last 2 months someone is releasing dvdr's of some of the pricier Roan titles & not identifying them as burned. Amazon has carried them, as have numerous drop shippers including the Super D chain (DD, Import cd's, etc). The first title that was widely id'd was the Pre-Code box with Of Human Bondage. it appeared that Amazon started cancelling orders when they learned they were burned.

However, today I received a burned copy of Lonely Wives from DD, & their subsidiaries posted a ton of oop Roan titles on ebay yesterday. These have also shown up on Buy.com.

There is a question as to whether these are pirates, or if Troma is imitating Warner Archives, etc. There are posts of conflicting statements from Troma at DVD Talk; 1 saying they have nothing to do with these, the other saying they are releasing them. So far, the 2 titles definitely id'd as burned have a "DVD-R" sticker in the lower left front cover of the packaging. IF IF IF the seller has them in stock & is not a drop shipper, you can ask them to look at the packaging & find out.

If these are official, my main problem is that they are not being id'd as burned at point of sale. The other issue is these have so flooded the market that finding real copies may be problematic.

More here:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-bargains/5 ... -drop.html

& here:
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-bargains/5 ... ead-2.html (start at post #40)

I know nothing about this, so I am going to ask a probably extremely ignorant question:

If these things are public domain, why does it matter whether they are DVDR'd? If done right, a DVDR looks practically indistinguishable in quality and these are probably already old and somewhat degraded films anyway.

Possibly issues of collectibility--while a particular OOP DVD title might fetch a premium on the secondary market, there's really no sense in shelling out more than a few dollars for something that was possibly manufactured in somebody's garage.

1. (most importantly) It is not disclosed.

2. CRAPPY quality of blank discs. The average person will no nothing of this & will be very disapointed when their disc no longers plays in 2 years or so; or sooner if they scratch it AT ALL.

3. Collectability & these are not cheap, the first title that appeared as a pirate has been selling for $15-$30..

Reduced shelf-life, sometimes vastly reduced. Always make backups when you buy official CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. Even the best quality recordable disc is lacking compared to a "real" factory-pressed aluminum CD or DVD. Don't take chances, guys.

So, what's the difference between a factory pressed DVD and a DVDR? I always assumed that basically they had to be the same thing. Maybe higher quality, but still I thought the movie still has to get burned onto the DVD.

I told you I'm completely ignorant on this. But for some reason the thread grabbed my eye.

& I've only once received a top quality blank from a purchase of this type (Wendy Waldman used a TY cdr for Orphans (sold through CD Baby), but did not disclose it was a cdr.) Usually the blanks used are the cheapest they can get.