Forum - View topicAnswerman - Back To It
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Polycell
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7580 Location: Wales |
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It's been tried before - remember Bandai Visual USA? They went for boutique prices and also released what were essentially imports (their discs and boxes were made in Japan with inserts stuck on the back for the different regions). One of their last releases (i.e. it never actually got released and eventually came out through Bandai Entertainment instead) was True Tears. The first volume was $29.99 - for one episode (BE released the whole series for $39.98). |
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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Between the fall of singles and the rise of the internet, I'm not entirely sure how time's affect the difficulty of the task, but AoA's success seems to suggest that BVUSA just had the wrong business model: AoA only sells through a select few online retailers, while BVUSA went straight for big box stores.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23858 |
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I have no doubt that AoA paid attention to the lessons of BVUSA.
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Dfens
Posts: 459 |
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One of my close friends uses a media center that he built that is hooked to his desktop wirelessly with cccp codec pack with media player classic and a stand alone bluray player. For the most it works until some piece of hardware fails or some piece of software acts up.
In the past I've run hdmi cables and audio straight from my PC to my tv for viewings but since I tend to watch most of anime late at night I usually watch it on my PC with wireless headphones so that I don't piss off the neighbors. Plus it runs more stable this way. But yeah cccp plays any file you throw at it end since everything is now 10 bit you kind of have to have it.
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6874 Location: Kazune City |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Well of course I know of BVUSA, that's ancient history, I'm talking about another production company trying to waltz in after AoA's success but with crap titles, even if they're brand new. |
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Polycell
Posts: 4623 |
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ThisJustThis
Posts: 54 |
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Here's something relevant to both topics of playback setups and limited editions:
Why are people still buying physical copies? You can split buyers into roughly two categories: people who purchase copies *just to watch the show* or people who purchase copies for the sake of "collection" (yes, it's not a very clean split). If you want to "own a physical copy" of the show, for the most part, I'd classify you as a collector, since someone who just wants to watch the show gains little from owning a persistent copy, excluding those people with poor internet. The discussions about playback setups seem to suggest that people are moving more towards playing either streamed anime or anime ripped (maybe legally but probably not) onto hard drives. Because these playback alternatives are becoming more common and convenient, the number of people in the "buy just to watch" category is shrinking. The choice is then whether to try and hang on to those dwindling customers still watching optical media purely for the sake of availability, or to dress up their product, call it "limited" and "premium", and charge a higher price for people who want to own it for the sake of owning it or to have a "physical copy". Are they losing money by not having physical releases that are "affordable" and "reasonable" to the "average fan"? Your average fan is not on these boards lamenting about video quality and availability of BD vs DVD releases. Your average fan is streaming Crunchyroll through his AppleTV or iPad and can't tell the difference between 1080p, 720p, and DVD quality. Most people probably don't need or even want BDs and DVDs. Eventually (and maybe not far from now), those discs themselves will only be collectibles, as the content on them will be available more readily, cheaply, and in higher quality from other sources. Even if you wanted a persistent copy, you could download it and put that on a hard drive, and that's "physical" enough for things as important and personal as photos. Personally, I buy physical copies for two reasons. For the most part, it's as a collector. I'm willing to pay the prices because I see it as investing in something I like, rather than trying to get a bargain for a dozen episodes of anime on discs. Maybe they'll stop making bargain DVD releases of bargain series, or any series. Maybe that's for the better, with everything shifting to digital. Those barebones "standard edition" releases are little more than the same files burned onto a disc and stuck with some labels. You can get a "copy" like that from Hong Kong or eBay for a fraction of the price. I'm fine with the LE copies on my shelf that I may never watch, not as trophies to "boast about" to somebody, but as something in return for that tiny part I paid in support of the industry, the art, the series worth paying for, and sometimes the people who decided to even give me that choice (like NISA, in many cases). The second reason is actually the watching aspect, and how for me, it's still more convenient to stick a BD into my PS3 than to boot up my laptop or navigate some streaming interface. But I get the feeling that won't be the case for much longer. |
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Dfens
Posts: 459 |
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With cccp they include media player classic with it so you have the player and all the codecs so their isn't a file out their it can't play, it pretty much became the standard a few years ago when Fate Zero premiered and most if not all fansubs went to 10 bit.
As for physical media from everyone I know most people haven't bought into the simulcast/streaming BS and prefer to download shows and then buy the ones they like. Last time we all got together and wanted to watch a show someone recommended that wasn't downloaded before the event we turned to Cruchyroll. That piece of shit service crashed 4 times and had to buffer before we could finish the 1 episode. Yeah pay for a service like that, I have to stream every time I don't think so. What the industry wants fans/customers to jump on and it's the future seems to be wishful thinking. Just like downloading manga when it's not that much cheaper than the physical copies, never going to happen. I never purchase a show I've never seen before unless it's so dirt cheap that are giving it away and I can re-sell it if I don't like it but that rarely happens that I will take the risk of a blind buy. You could say I'm a collector but I don't buy Anime to put on shelf to say hey look at me I'm so cool because my collection is so huge and bigger than yours. Or look I have such and such title. I like to sit in bed and watch my shows on a big screen TV and not be stuck in front of my computer all day long. Even though I'm working more and more and can't re-watch my shows as much as I use to be able to, when I do have time I can pop in a disc and watch in the highest quality possible. And for me I can tell between the qualities between the initial broadcast and the Blu-ray release. I don't have time to re-download the Blu-ray rip or want to. The thing is their are some people and a lot of them that only want to watch shows and have no desire to own them, I have a friend who fits into this category. Those who want a show but won't pay over a certain price or just can't afford to. And those who if they really want it will pay whatever ever price it costs, they may not like that price but they still will pay it. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5861 Location: Virginia, United States |
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People buy physical copies because they want to own it. They want to be able to watch the show, when they want it to see it.
Streaming is fine for those who only want to watch the show once, and have a fast internet connection. I am going digital for my books, mainly Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels and series. Biggest problem I have, is that simply not everything is available. I am still going to be stuck with hard and soft cover books that simply have not been converted to digital, and who knows if it will ever happen. That is the same problem with streaming movies and TV series, there is plenty that is not available and maybe never will be. There is also the very real fear that as titles grow older they simply will be dropped from streaming and video sites to make room for newer content. If you own a physical copy of media, you own it for life. |
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9870 Location: Virginia |
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Tars Tarkas wrote:
However, if the machine you use to play it back dies and a new one is no longer being made you have problems. I hate to think of the couple dozen pre-recorded Beta tapes I had to throw away and VHS players are getting hard to find. That is why I still like real books. No electronic equipment required. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5861 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I still have plenty of VHS tapes, especially Ranma 1/2, GunBuster, and a smattering of other titles. Haven't played them in awhile. We all know already that VHS tapes will not last forever, even if you keep them in good condition. That is not a problem with DVD and BD disks. I also have two laserdisc players that are still in working order (one I bought in 1986). As it is, BD players will probably outlast me and they can still play DVD's. The oldest of my DVD's still play as good as they did when I bought them. All in all, between the DVD and BD, it will be a lifetime of use for me. You couldn't ask for more. Also, I too, like real books, and that is the problem. I have built up quite the library over the decades. 60% of my books were in boxes, because there was simply no room for them. A book in a box in the garage, is not a book. Got boxes of books and boxes of comics, all in the garage. There comes a time, when enough is enough and you have to seriously weed through your stuff or you will end up like those hoarder people on TV. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
Even well-looked-after DVDs suffer rot. Several of my Vision of Escaflowne DVDs simply are unusable now after only one watch and careful storage in a darkened room. Given that I rarely re-watch series, I have no idea how much of my collection has issues; I'm almost too afraid to find out (plus it would take forever to check each disc). But if it's happened to one series then it has probably happened to others too. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5861 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I have heard of disk rot in areas that typically have high humidity. Don't know if you live in such an area, or have had in the past. I should go through my older DVD discs to check them out in a more methodical process. |
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