Warners opens DVDs-to-order from vault.

[Smokey]

Warner Bros. is opening its vault--which contains more than 5,000 films never made available on DVD--to home viewers.

The studio's Home Entertainment Group offering films and TV titles whose limited sales potential have prevented a traditional retail release. Starting March 23, consumers can order 150 classic Warner movies for $19.95 each at new studio site WarnerArchive.com. The studio will ship a made-to-order DVD, in a shrink-wrapped case with cover art, to consumers within five days of purchase.

Warner intends to add 20 classic films and TV episodes each month to the service, dubbed 'Warner Archive Collection,' and expects 300 titles will be available by the end of the year. Feltenstein said that the launch titles were based on the volume of consumer requests the studio has fielded over the years.

Likely upcoming TV show additions to the service, said Feltenstein, include "Maverick," "77 Sunset Strip," "Bourbon Street Beat," "Bronco," "Lawman" and "Hawaiian Eye."

DVDs don't come with any extras -- no commentary tracks, no deleted scenes, no "making-of" features. You get the film and, if it's available, the original trailer.

http://www.wbshop.com/Warner-Archive/ARCHIVE,default,sc.html

[Worf101]

This is GREAT news!!! Thanks Smoke... I appreciate you bringing the word down from on high.

Da Worfster

[Woochifer]

Good news if Warner's using high quality master sources, and has a way of ensuring that the picture won't get overly compressed during the transfer.

One thing that wasn't mentioned was whether Warner would be using more volatile DVD-R media to issue these discs. Any kind of recordable DVD media has a considerably shorter shelf-life than a mass produced DVD movie.

Also, the article doesn't mention whether these discs would be single or dual-layer.

[Smokey]

One thing that wasn't mentioned was whether Warner would be using more volatile DVD-R media to issue these discs. Any kind of recordable DVD media has a considerably shorter shelf-life than a mass produced DVD movie.

More information is emerging regarding quality of these discs, but so far the dics will be DVD-R which will be burned rather than pressed. But unlike homemade DVD-R, the discs will be manufactured via propriatary MOD (Macrovision RipGuard) process.

Here is more info regarding the quality of discs:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/sd-dvd-film-documentary/283916-140-150-warner-classic-exclusives-dvd-4.html

[Woochifer]

More information is emerging regarding quality of these discs, but so far the dics will be DVD-R which will be burned rather than pressed. But unlike homemade DVD-R, the discs will be manufactured via propriatary MOD (Macrovision RipGuard) process.

Here is more info regarding the quality of discs:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/sd-dvd-film-documentary/283916-140-150-warner-classic-exclusives-dvd-4.html

Regardless of how it's manufactured, it's still DVD-R media, which is inherently not an archive format. Seems to me that the process you refer to has more to do with how reliably the disc will play than how long it will last.