Criterion and UHD

News on Criterion and Janus Films.
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MichaelB
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#151 Post by MichaelB » Fri Feb 01, 2019 7:27 am

Since they've done joint projects with Arrow in the past, I wonder if that's on the cards here? It would certainly make a huge amount of financial/logistical sense.

I'm not sure whether this would work with the lack of region-coding on UHD BDs, but Arrow's film noir collaborations with Flicker Alley resulted in them both releasing exactly the same disc in terms of the machine-readable side - but if it's played in a Region A player, it serves up Flicker Alley branding and menus, and if it's Region B it delivers Arrow ones. I think the pioneering disc in this respect was The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Miss Osbourne, reflecting the fact that it was Arrow Video in the US and Arrow Academy in the UK.

And of course if multiple labels release exactly the same physical disc, that goes some way to addressing the economies-of-scale challenge.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#152 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:41 pm

Arrow allegedly has the Terminator, which I imagine would be a no-brainer film to test out what the maximum UHD sales for the label could be

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dwk
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#153 Post by dwk » Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:47 pm

According to the Kino Insider, RoboCop and The Terminator are with different labels and we know Arrow has RoboCop.

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#154 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:57 pm

I guess that means Shout

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Adam X
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#155 Post by Adam X » Sat Feb 02, 2019 2:38 am

Considering there's a sequel coming this year, that certainly says a lot about the state of the home video industry. Hopefully at the very least, whoever has it can finally produce an HD release with the original mono soundtrack and colour timing. I'd take that even if the disc had nothing else on it.

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Morbii
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#156 Post by Morbii » Sun Feb 03, 2019 1:46 pm

Blue Velvet as a trial?

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#157 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Feb 03, 2019 2:53 pm

Just out of curiosity does someone know how many UHD players have been sold so far?

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tenia
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#158 Post by tenia » Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:44 pm

FrauBlucher wrote:
Sun Feb 03, 2019 2:53 pm
Just out of curiosity does someone know how many UHD players have been sold so far?
It's difficult for the general audience to find consistent trustful figures that would also be clear if they include or not X Box One S and X, but it is said that by the end of 2018, about 4.5M players were sold (since inception), without the Xboxes.
If I'm not mistaken, this is lower than what was originally expected and projected, just like the discs figures which are also lower (projections for 2019 have also been adjusted from 16M to 14.4M, 10% lower).

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#159 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Feb 03, 2019 3:57 pm

Then what would be the rush for CC or some of the other boutiques to release UHD discs?

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tenia
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#160 Post by tenia » Sun Feb 03, 2019 4:33 pm

You mean, financially speaking ? Pretty much none, I guess. UHD currently has about 10-15% MS of the BD, which itself has a 15-20% MS. At best, it means UHD currently holds less than 5% of the physical video market, knowing that the industry itself is expecting a 25+% drop by 2022 but believes in a stagnation for 2019-2020 (which is very unlikely to happen).

But we could say that BD never went over 25% MS, and yet, we all love it here, so there most certainly is somewhere a cluster of customers available, but it's never going to take off sales-wise, and is going to be even worse than BD. The only possibility is if the technical niche happens to coincide with the last remnants of the physical market consumers, then maybe, there might be some business to be done there.

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senseabove
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#161 Post by senseabove » Mon Feb 04, 2019 4:09 pm

On the topic of labels making the jump, Carlotta is planning their first UHD release later this year: https://www.dvdfr.com/news/4691-carlott ... ncour.html

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domino harvey
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#162 Post by domino harvey » Thu Feb 07, 2019 12:37 pm

Discussion of KL's UHD of Hannibal moved here

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ShellOilJunior
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#163 Post by ShellOilJunior » Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:10 pm

3 Criterion movies included in Sony's UHD survey:
The Devil's Backbone
It Happened One Night
The Age of Innocence
https://secure.sonypictures.com/movies/ ... 08=4KU003D

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Adam X
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#164 Post by Adam X » Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:45 am

That’s one sorry excuse for a survey.
Last edited by Adam X on Fri Jun 14, 2019 6:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

black&huge
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#165 Post by black&huge » Fri Jun 14, 2019 1:17 am

Adam Grikepelis wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:45 am
That’s one sorry excuse of a survey.
You're not kidding.

onedimension
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#166 Post by onedimension » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:20 pm

I don’t think UHD takes off unless TV hardware and HDR/DV color grading and 4K mastering develop to the point that the gap between DVD/Blu-ray and UHD becomes as visible as the gap between VHS and DVD.. and it’s more likely Criterion streams a 4K/Dolby Vision image before they press a disc..

David M.
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#167 Post by David M. » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:26 pm

Adam Grikepelis wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:45 am
That’s one sorry excuse for a survey.
Why?

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Brian C
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#168 Post by Brian C » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:32 pm

onedimension wrote:I don’t think UHD takes off unless TV hardware and HDR/DV color grading and 4K mastering develop to the point that the gap between DVD/Blu-ray and UHD becomes as visible as the gap between VHS and DVD.. and it’s more likely Criterion streams a 4K/Dolby Vision image before they press a disc..
The mass acceptance of DVD likely had far more to do with the convenience of disc vs. tape (no rewinding, less storage space, etc) than image quality.

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Luke M
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#169 Post by Luke M » Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:37 am

david hare wrote:Even with Lady from Shanghai on it, it’s more an ultimatum than a survey.
I like how they say it *may* be released in a gift set. Not even a standalone release.

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Adam X
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#170 Post by Adam X » Mon Jun 17, 2019 1:36 am

David M. wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:26 pm
Adam Grikepelis wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:45 am
That’s one sorry excuse for a survey.
Why?
Well, yes, technically it’s a (very limited) survey, and they’ve actually at least doubled the number of titles listed for Question 2 since I originally looked at it; but it just that, really. It’s more of a marketing gimmick than an actual attempt to gain information from their potential customers. It reads like a list of titles Sony already has ready to go, and they want to know which ones you’d be more likely to buy if they released those first. It’s also such a random sampling of titles that it speaks as much to Sony’s lack of a plan as it does to selling this like they’re giving the customer an opportunity for input.

It brings to mind Warner Archive’s ultimatum of “if you guys don’t buy this collection of old cartoons, we won’t be releasing any more of them”...

(I’m having a bad time of it lately, so if this post comes off as angry or dismissive, I’m sorry, I was just trying to answer your question, & I don’t have the energy to fine tune it - I’m actually totally ambivalent about Sony’s UHD plans.)

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eerik
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#171 Post by eerik » Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:54 am

I don't know. I would not be so cynical about it. Criterion had a similar poll in the early days of Blu-ray (the one that Howard's End won).

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tenia
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#172 Post by tenia » Mon Jun 17, 2019 4:16 am

I'm thinking kinda like adam : Sony has tons of 4K masters available, has no idea how to prioritise those, so is doing a poll to try and get a grasp at what might sell most and thus should be released first. I'm not sure there is any more to take from this.

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Gregory
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#173 Post by Gregory » Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:09 am

No one has even begun to truly experience the movie Stripes until they've seen it in 4K UHD.

onedimension
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#174 Post by onedimension » Mon Jun 17, 2019 3:51 pm

Brian C wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:32 pm
onedimension wrote:I don’t think UHD takes off unless TV hardware and HDR/DV color grading and 4K mastering develop to the point that the gap between DVD/Blu-ray and UHD becomes as visible as the gap between VHS and DVD.. and it’s more likely Criterion streams a 4K/Dolby Vision image before they press a disc..
The mass acceptance of DVD likely had far more to do with the convenience of disc vs. tape (no rewinding, less storage space, etc) than image quality.
Yeah, fair point - plus the longevity of discs.. bodes better for UHD streaming than disc, unfortunately..

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FrauBlucher
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Re: Criterion and UHD

#175 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Jun 17, 2019 7:29 pm

I really don't see Criterion doing a deep dive into UHD. They have spent much resources on upgrading much of their catalogue on bluray. The home market just doesn't warrant it at this time. What I could see them doing is releasing select titles in UHD, like they did for 3D with the special edition of Pina

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