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Answerman - Why Don't DVDs On Demand Work For Anime?


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DJStarstryker



Joined: 16 Jan 2010
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:10 pm Reply with quote
DVD-Rs also don't last as long as commercially-pressed DVDs. I don't like to buy them, as a result. You can legally stream a LOT of anime. If I just want to watch an anime once, I can just stream it. Nowadays I only buy physical copies of anime that I know I want to watch multiple times. Therefore, I want it to last a long time.
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TheMorry



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 660
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:20 pm Reply with quote
Ah! No wonder why my print on order/demand DVD's from Media Blasters are such a fucked up mess. Ladies versus butler two DISC3's besides saying one DISC having the DISC2 print on it. And Kanokon and Ladies verss butlers cant ply through normal DVD gives some weird blue menu that shows audio and video content that is storaged..... Only through my PC im able to play them, but yea... that isnt the biggest problem but the two DISC3's is ....

Seriously guys dont buy DVD's on demand from media blasters, you feel sorry like i do. I think their blu-ray is fine. But yea since im from Europe i need a region free blu-ray player, got luck finding that...
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Suena



Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 289
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:27 pm Reply with quote
Having recently bought a on-demand DVD set from Warner: please no! It was kinda-awful (there were several compression artifacts, the cover looks like something I printed at home, the case was soft bendy plastic - not so great for holding 6 disks. The menu buttons were ugly scissor icons, and about half of them went to the wrong place). I'm willing to pay the $40-60 if it means I get a release that was put together with care.

DJStarstryker wrote:
DVD-Rs also don't last as long as commercially-pressed DVDs.

I'll have to keep that in mind!
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TnKtRk



Joined: 17 Mar 2011
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 12:28 pm Reply with quote
All I have to say is thank you DVD-on-demand. Without you, I wouldn't have classics like Thundarr the Barbarian, Goltar, or Swat Kats on the shelf.

Whaaat? Anime fans THE most discerning customers in the world?
No wonder anime will never be mainstream, not with that attitude.

wah... Crying or Very sad
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2665
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:01 pm Reply with quote
I've only bought two Burn-on-Demand products in the past (iaTV's Orguss set & MTV/Viacom's The Maxx DVD set), but I found both to be well produced & just as good as a regular DVD set, but maybe I'm not too particular in that regard. I have since sold my Orguss set, but that's mainly because the Discotek release is an overall better product (better video encoding, better translation, etc.).

People want to constantly bash on Media Blasters' DVD-R releases, but when you have a review from someone like Theron here on ANN, who had no issues whatsoever with the DVDs & didn't even know of said issues others had, then you know that it's really a case-by-case basis. It's unfortunate that it didn't work for specific people, but that doesn't mean that everyone is going to have those problems. I can understand to an extent the fact that DVD-R's don't last as long as regular, pressed discs, though.
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TheMorry



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 660
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
I've only bought two Burn-on-Demand products in the past (iaTV's Orguss set & MTV/Viacom's The Maxx DVD set), but I found both to be well produced & just as good as a regular DVD set, but maybe I'm not too particular in that regard. I have since sold my Orguss set, but that's mainly because the Discotek release is an overall better product (better video encoding, better translation, etc.).

People want to constantly bash on Media Blasters' DVD-R releases, but when you have a review from someone like Theron here on ANN, who had no issues whatsoever with the DVDs & didn't even know of said issues others had, then you know that it's really a case-by-case basis. It's unfortunate that it didn't work for specific people, but that doesn't mean that everyone is going to have those problems. I can understand to an extent the fact that DVD-R's don't last as long as regular, pressed discs, though.
Right...... 2 different anime DVD with issues.......
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HdE



Joined: 17 Nov 2015
Posts: 50
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:16 pm Reply with quote
I love that an authority we can all trust on the subject of disc authoring (seriously - Justin is THE BEST) has taken the time to write about this subject.

My personal opinion is that DVD on demand needs to go away. It just has no serious place in today's anime market, as I see it. And DVD-R is never going to shake off that stigma of being a lesser format than regular DVD.

I'm fortunate in that I'm able to spend money on anime fairly regularly, but as somebody who often digs out old discs and loves re-watching shows, every single purchase is carefully weighed up. I'm not made of money, so whether I think a particular release is good value or not factors into every click of the checkout button.

Anime on DVD-R will never, EVER get my money. There are simply too many stories of replication errors / faulty discs and the ridiculous scenarios that spring from them make me wonder why ANYBODY is willing to support it. Seriously - DVDs that have to be ejected and waved about to cool down before they'll play properly? Discs that won't play in games consoles?

I'm actually relieved to hear that the practice doesn't sound financially viable, and that licensors are effectively opposed to it.
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BigOnAnime
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 01 Jul 2010
Posts: 1246
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:25 pm Reply with quote
Now if only Mono Bastards could take the hint and stop doing them. I refuse to buy anime on DVD-R, so anything MB releases on DVD including reprints (yes, they've sadly started to reprint their remaining catalog on DVD-R's, buy a MB DVD release from Rightstuf new and it will have DVD-R's, or a mix of pressed and burned discs) is dead to me. I'd rather they just do SD-BD's instead like with what Discotek did as a test with Samurai Pizza Cats.
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dragonrider_cody



Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 2541
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:41 pm Reply with quote
I've been lucky as I've had no issues with any of the burn on demand DVD's I've bought so far. Several are Warner Archive releases, or Viacom/MTV releases from Amazon. So far, I haven't encountered any playback issues with my Pioneer DVD player, or my Playstation 3 and 4. But looking at the comments and reviews, it's clear that a lot of people have.

DVD-R does have it's place, primarily for very low volume titles with little retailer presence. Without burn on demand, I may have never been able to buy Flight of Dragons or Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973). However, I have to question if they are a good idea for Media Blaster's DVD releases, especially the dubbed ones. It would seem to be that if they feel a show can support the added cost of a dub, it should be able to afford the cost of an actual replication run. I don't think the idea would be so bothersome if they were only releasing older titles with very limited appeal. Hopefully, this will only be a temporary phase for the company.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4534
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 1:50 pm Reply with quote
I will never buy anime on DVD-R or BD-R simply because, if I buy something on disc, I want the option to still be able to enjoy it a decade or three into the future. I can still listen to most of my childhood CDs that I bought over 30 years ago, a handful succumbed to glue rot, but those are the exception, not the rule as far as my CD collection (which I still add to) goes.

If DVD-Rs have a shelf life of 10 years (if you're lucky), a major advantage of having something on physical media, the "permanence" (as long as you don't scratch it up too much), is taken away.
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DrunkAyanami
Get off my lawn



Joined: 27 Feb 2015
Posts: 88
Location: The great state of Vermont
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
I've only bought two Burn-on-Demand products in the past (iaTV's Orguss set & MTV/Viacom's The Maxx DVD set), but I found both to be well produced & just as good as a regular DVD set, but maybe I'm not too particular in that regard.


High five, Maxx buddy! That series was never really given the attention it deserved. I'm happy with my Amazon DVD on Demand copy, but still would like some kind of real "collectors edition" release. Blu-Ray would be even better, although I wonder if the limited (but detailed) animation would be worth it.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:43 pm Reply with quote
Justin wrote:
Anime fans are THE most discerning customers in the world when it comes to audio/visual presentation. They complain if the video quality isn't perfect, if the audio isn't the best available, if the subtitles aren't exactly how they like them.

Most curious. I would have assumed that being an anime fan involves having to tolerate one's share of sub-par releases. Inadequate NTSC-to-PAL conversions, VHS upscales, scratchy analogue audio tracks and Evangelion-jitter all grace my collection. Much as exposure to dirt inhibits the development of allergies, a helping of audiovisual rawness prevent the onset of videophilia.
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Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 2:54 pm Reply with quote
DVD-R would not be better than a pressed DVD.
DVD-R might not be better than streaming, if streaming is a viable option.
DVD-R would be better than nothing if I want to watch the show.

I did not realize that DVD-R was so expensive to make and distribute, and I regret that it is.
DVD-R could be a good alternative to streaming for people who just want to watch something one time, or try before they buy a better release, if it was cheap enough.

What happened to the idea of burning discs locally at a kiosk?
I remember reading about it several years ago. The concept was that you could walk into a store, select what you wanted, and burn the disc right there. I do not remember if the files were to be stored on a local server or downloaded over a network.
As far as I know it was never actually done, but it is an interesting idea.
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DJStarstryker



Joined: 16 Jan 2010
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:08 pm Reply with quote
Touma wrote:

What happened to the idea of burning discs locally at a kiosk?
I remember reading about it several years ago. The concept was that you could walk into a store, select what you wanted, and burn the disc right there. I do not remember if the files were to be stored on a local server or downloaded over a network.
As far as I know it was never actually done, but it is an interesting idea.


Did that ever actually happen? The only thing I can recall for burned DVDs at a store kiosk was digital photos.
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miken



Joined: 08 Mar 2008
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Fri Jun 17, 2016 3:30 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
A lot of them won't order on DVD-R, because recordable discs are seen as less valuable or reliable.

seen? i'm pretty sure they are Wink
BD-Rs are even so unstable that warner archive decided to release only pressed blu-rays...
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