VIA Audioholics website:

The DVD / Blu-ray RentalGate Scandal
by Gene DellaSala
December 07, 2009

You just laid out your hard earned cash on a new Blu-ray player that we recommended. You head to your local Blockbuster or place your rental order online with Netflix to get your hands on the previous summer blockbuster movie to enjoy it in the creature comforts of your home theater room. You got the kids to sleep, the wife is in the mood, it's movie time. Ahhh, the Blu-ray logo appears on your display. Your mouth salivates as you anticipate the experience of the spectacular audio and video capabilities Blu-ray offers as well as the added features such as BD Live and a ton of extras previously not available on standard DVD.

You pop the movie in and it immediately starts playing previews some of which you are forced to watch and cannot bypass. This is an old trick inspired by Disney studios and now copycatted by many others. While this is often annoying, especially when trying to sooth a screaming child waiting to watch Little Mermaid before nap time, its usually not a big deal really. We are forced to watch previews in the theater anyways. So grab the popcorn, fill your beer mug and come back when the navigation screen comes up for the disc.

Umm, how did the movie start? What the heck? I am hitting the menu button but nothing is happening. I can’t select audio options? I can’t access BD Live? I can’t access the disc’s special features or, in the case with Terminator: Salvation, I can’t play the R rated version to see Moon Bloodgood’s boobs? Are you kidding me? Nope. This is no joke. Read on to find out why the recording studios are depriving you of more than just some naked flesh.

According to Variety Magazine, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will now start selling two versions of its Blu-ray and regular DVD’s, one with all the standard special features we've come to expect, and one with just the movie and trailers to be sold to rental shops like Blockbuster.

See: http://www.variety.com/article/VR111800 ... id=20&cs=1

And: http://www.avclub.com/articles/foxs-new ... ter,24860/

According to a letter sent by Fox senior VP of sales Don Jeffries: "We have developed product variations to feed different consumer consumption models and behaviors," the statement said. "For rental customers, we're delivering a theatrical experience in the home while promoting upcoming releases; for retail [or sell-through] customers, we're offering a premium product that expands the entertainment experience of that particular property to further enhance ownership."

Huh? So Fox considers a fully featured Blu-ray disc a “premium” product off-limits to rental chains and a product loaded with ads and stripped with features a “theatrical experience” for those that rent?

It seems the situation with movie studios blocking features on Blu-ray and DVD is worse than we thought when we first heard about this. We dropped by the local Blockbuster over the weekend and spoke to the store manager. This guy knew a lot about what was happening. Firstly, he verified with us that there is no set-up screen for the Terminator: Salvation rented Blu-ray disc AND there is no BD Live support. But wait, Terminator: Salvation is a Warner Brothers disc. So it appears this “theatrical experience” rental version isn't just limited to one label. The Blockbuster manager acknowledged that many features will be blocked on rentals going forward. We then inquired why this wasn’t previously done with DVD rentals in the past. He said, and we quote, "That's coming." Yes, that's right, they are going to be blocking special features from rented DVDs soon as well."

Is There Method to Their Madness?
In their greedy eyes, yes. Much like the music industry doesn’t want you downloading music in-lieu of buying overpriced CD’s, the movie industry wants to discourage renting to instead purchase overpriced Blu-ray and DVD’s you will probably at best watch once or twice and then shelf in your immense unwatched collection of discs. Come on admit it, you haven’t watched Ghost or Police Academy 6 since you bought it in the $5 deals section at Walmart. Actually did you even open them? Probably not, but it sounded like a good idea at the time.

So here is the deal. The Movie Studios are claiming that they are not making enough profit from movies' post-theater releases to DVD and Blue-ray. Furthermore, they claim they make no money on movie rentals. What's also typical is that most people stalk a rental store until they offer the movies they want at a special discount since they are previously viewed items used for rentals when the movie was hot. Then they go in and buy them at 1/2 or sometimes 1/4 the price, of which the movie studios see no profit.

The discount DVD rental business worries Hollywood movie studios because of fears that it is undercutting DVD sales, which dropped 13% in the fourth quarter last year and is projected to drop even more in the first quarter of next year, according to analysts.

See: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/30 ... n-redbox30

What the movie studios have seemed to collectively decide as an industry is to stop this cycle or severely hamper it. This seemingly brilliant strategy they’ve come up with has virtually gone unnoticed in the industry much more so than when these same studios attempted to withhold rental kiosks companies like Redbox new release DVD’s for at least one month to 45 days after they went on sale at retail stores. They also insisted on a 40% revenue share program and for Redbox to NOT sell used DVD rentals. Redbox fought back and sued Universal, Warner Brothers and Fox studios alleging the studio’s new revenue-sharing terms for vending machine operators violates antitrust laws and misuses copyrights.

See: Universal Studios Attempts to Squash RedBox

So why aren’t rental chains complaining about these new rental versions of Blu-ray and DVD’s? Perhaps because most people won’t notice what is missing and they get to rent their discs without fear from the movie studios cutting off their supplies. Or perhaps these movie studios are charging less for these copies to the rental stores which offsets the profit losses of not selling the used discs back to customers after their shelf life has expired. One can only speculate at this point.

One thing is certain, as long as these little stunts pawned off by the movie studios go unchecked, the loser will always be the consumer. Today they are getting away with stripping Blu-ray rental discs of menu and BD Live features. Just how far will they pervert this tomorrow? Will they start eliminating the high resolution audio tracks on the Blu-ray discs or perhaps limit resolution to 480p?

So What Can I Do?
Get active and phone or email your favorite movie studio today to ensure your rental rights are preserved and you aren’t forced to buy another crappy Police Academy sequel just to see the “enhanced” T&A action for the special R rated version, or you have to miss the bloodier and extra nude version of Terminator: Salvation after reading about its release for the past two months.

Here is the contact info to the three major studios that we currently know of that are offering the watered down “theatrical experience” versions of movies to rental chains.

Fox Studios

http://www.foxstudios.com/directory_of_services.html


Warner Brothers

http://www.warnerbros.com/#/page=compan ... arrymeyer/


Universal Studios

http://www.universalstudioshollywood.co ... dback.html

They're going to drive people to download the extras (along with the movies).

I think we're going to see 1 of 2 outcomes w/ Blu-Ray:

1. The format ends up being basically still born. From being in the business, I can state that DVD's have become a low valued commodity like VHS. Most Pawn shops are SELLING dvd's @ $2 ea. HOWEVER, unlike when DVD took over from VHS, the #'s I've seen on Blu-Ray market penetration are dismal. I find it hard to believe that dvd sized dl's are the issue, so i suspect it's cable & netflix.

2. The other possible outcome is a very SLOW market take over by Blu-ray, but the problem with that model is by the time a slow turn over occurs there will be new superior formats with new marketing pushes.

Regarding the "User Prohibited" issues, with dvd one can strip that crap with Any DVD & burn a dvdr. It's also possible with Blu-Ray, but the blanks aren't cheap.........

I only watch movies online...but this seems just wrong as far as taking away the extras go. It's just greed. (OT) I worry about the Net and the increase in invasive ads and sign ups to make comments. Sometimes they want a LOT of personal info just to comment on websites and stuff. I really wonder about all kinds of new restrictions on the Net and what the future holds. I'm not surprised that movies studios are doing this. As for movies, I only watch the odd one, but some people love to watch all kinds of movies and pay good money...so it doesn't seem right that they're doing this.

I don't need to watch the R Rated versions, though.

I think what it's mostly about at least with dvd's is those who "rent 'n rip" from Netflix & others. Blu-Ray I'm not as certain, in fact the way Blu-Ray prices have dropped in the last 2 months it doesn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps they're trying to harm Netflix' busienss.

I did not know the studios were attempting this.

I'm just not convinced yet, as far as Blu-Ray is concerned. Obviously, the industry would like to phase out DVD, and the elimination of HD-DVD as an option simplifies matters somewhat, but am I the only one left cold by some of the selling points of these current releases--"digital copies", non Blu-Ray bonus discs/non-HD bonus features, and "BD Live"?

Is Blu-Ray catching on yet with consumers the way DVD did--or the way the industry wishes it would?

When I first got into DVDs I would listen to every commentary and watch every extra on anything I rented. After awhile some of the novelty wore off and my life just got too busy for me to always do this. I wonder how many people who rent DVDs even bother with the extras? Having said that, though, I would still like to at least have the option to see some extras when I rent a DVD. At least give us a menu -- even dollar store DVDs can usually manage that.

I don't anticipate switching to Blu Ray anytime soon; my roommate had a HD TV and a Blu Ray and when I watch my regular DVDs on it, the picture and sound quality is just fine.

Part of my earlier point is the #'s I've seen show it is NOT.

Where I see BR catching on is now that the price of some players is below $100 & some discs are below $10, as someone's dvd player dies they may switch to BR.

Yeah, I'd switch if it was really cheap but at this point, see very little reason to do so. Maybe if I get an HDTV.

I remember going to a local movie theater that tended to book smaller "art" films, seeing "Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", and being absolutely blown away. Seeing deleted scenes from "Apocalypse Now" along with scads of behind-the scenes footage and unvarnished interviews and anecdotes was, at the time, a staggering experience. But, as with many other things, the thrill (and even the novelty) of viewing such footage has worn off. I'll meander through bonus material, attempting to chase the buzz I got from "Hearts Of Darkness", but inevitably all I seem to discover are endless interviews with geeky-looking guys in Hawaiian shirts sitting at computer monitors explaining how, using motion-capture technology and computer animation, "the challenge was to make it seem as though Dexter Jettster was actually on the set that day with Ewan McGregor"--WE GET IT ALREADY.

Of course, as I type this, maybe the issue goes beyond the entertainment value of such featurettes. I also remember being a kid and seeing "Superman" or "Return Of The Jedi" and wondering "How in the HELL did they do that???" Now I'll watch "Star Trek" or what-have-you and know the entire time exactly "how they did that"--on a computer.

Oh.

OK.

Yawn.

In the past, I always bought the most feature-packed version of a movie that I could get. Now, I generally just buy the single-disc, cheapest version (if I decide to buy it at all, rather than just renting it.) I finally realized just how rare it was that I watched the bonus features more than once anyway.

As for rental versions being more stripped down than any other version, I'm not surprised. They make more money when people buy tham when they rent, so they want there to be something extra in the retail versions. I can't say that I think this is unreasonable, but I do think it's another move that will ultimately bite the industry the ass.

The industry geniuses fail to see that crap like this is what keeps people like me from wanting to upgrade. Blu-Ray sounds great - until you realize they update the codecs periodically, that some players have trouble playing discs until their firmware is updated, the industry can decide to use a firmware upgrade to keep your old disc from playing. The stupid prohibited user ops on DVDs are bad enough, but they have more control w/the BR players. I have a PS3, and I hesitated to hook it up to the Internet because of crap like that. I have 3 BR discs that I got when I bought my newest TV - haven't even cracked the plastic. That said, I did put the BR version of Rush's R30 on my Christmas list, but not as a priority.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - if the movie business insists on treating its customers like criminals, they're going to drive more people away. I buy much less than I used to, partly because of crap like this.

Alan

I remember reading an article saying The Porn Industry controls what format of video we will buy, is this true?

In the article, I no longer have a link to it stated The Porn Industry were responsible for the death of Beta Video Tapes and prefered VHS for some reason.

I wonder where The Porn Industry stands on DVDs and Blue-Ray considering they have a huge clout in the market.


Any ideas of feedback guys?

I agree, if i had a B-R it would never get connected to the internet.

I love the extras. Watch them all, some more than once. I like the Lord of the Rings extras better than the movies!

I've heard this too. I think it's because Beta wouldn't let porn be produced for its machine; the same with HD DVD.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The studios themselves have destroyed the industry through crap product and constantly hammering down people's throats that the systems they use now are painfully outdated and it's time to switch...AGAIN.
Well, a poor economy, people losing their jobs, competition on the internet and bad movies just adds up to a giant "who cares" from the public in regards to Blu-Ray. Sure, there are plenty who enjoy it and have upgraded already. But for the most part it ain't workin' this time in terms of the mass public.
Plus, people really don't like being told that DVDs are essentially crap now, which of course, they're not. I'm fine with DVD and have zero intention of going to Blu-Ray. It does look very nice but not enough for me to really care.
I was in the industry for 20 years so I speak from experience-the public is fed up with this crap and they also suspect something else is coming around the corner the second they go to a new system.
The main problem-there was nothing wrong with DVD. Blu-Ray really offers little different, other than nice enhancement of what was already a compact, efficient format where VHS was totally different from Betamax and DVD from VHS.
DIVX anyone? Laserdisc? Videodisc?

Renting seasons of TV series can be maddening for this reason. Some shows will fit almost 4 hours of episodes onto a single disc, or even make both sides of a disc playable with 6-8 total hours of content. Others (Lost, Friday Night Lights) will put only 2 or 3 one-hour episodes onto a disc so that I end up having to rent more discs.

Worst of all is when the last disc in a set has one single solitary episode. Some rental outlets will just throw it in with the previous disc, while others make it a separate rental.