Latest Bluray Idiocy: "Rental Versions"

[andy o]

OK so this is a bit old news, but I just found out yesterday right before returning a copy I'd just watched of The Hangover to Blockbuster, only to find that there existed an Unrated version that I'd rather had seen.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/rentalgate

Via AVS Forum

WB (which I used to like the most, cause of their no-nonsense approach to menus) and Fox (usual suspect) are making rental stores including BB and Netflix carry "rental versions" which strip all extras, add ads (not just trailers) which are unskippable (and we thought we'd rid ourselves from that nonsense when it failed for DVDs and some blurays), but worst of all, do not include Director's Cuts or unrated/extended versions.

W
T
F
?

 

[BurnerHEAD]

OK so this is a bit old news, but I just found out yesterday right before returning a copy I'd just watched of The Hangover to Blockbuster, only to find that there existed an Unrated version that I'd rather had seen.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/rentalgate

Via AVS Forum

WB (which I used to like the most, cause of their no-nonsense approach to menus) and Fox (usual suspect) are making rental stores including BB and Netflix carry "rental versions" which strip all extras, add ads (not just trailers) which are unskippable (and we thought we'd rid ourselves from that nonsense when it failed for DVDs and some blurays), but worst of all, do not include Director's Cuts or unrated/extended versions.

W
T
F
?

Good catch!

But to call that a scandal is, in my opinion, not quite fair.

Normally when you rent a movie, you just want to watch the movie and see if it's good or not. You don't need all kind of extras, because mostly I don't even have time to watch them.

If I buy a disc of a movie, that's good, I watch it several times and also have a close look on all kinds of extras that the disc includes. (Refer to Ice Age 3)

I think it's okay, it benefits the users that actually buy the movie and get the full retail disc with all extras.

And needless to say, this is just another reponse to piracy of rentals.
Note: Former Rental DVDs and Blurays have had stronger protection than the retail disc.

Best Regards,
BurnerHEAD

 

[andy o]

I personally really don't care much about the extras (though some commentaries like Seth MacFarlane's on Famiy Guy discs, or the Arrested Development ones I love), but to not have the chance to watch the director's cut version? Come on.

Besides, if one is a bit paranoid (and these guys sure give people a reason), what's next? Less audio options? 5.1-only or (GASP!) STEREO? 720p?

This will not discourage piracy, as any DRM. This will encourage it, since there's no premium now for the rentals, they're pretty much the same as the pirated ones floating around!

 

[BurnerHEAD]

I personally really don't care much about the extras (though some commentaries like Seth MacFarlane's on Famiy Guy discs, or the Arrested Development ones I love), but to not have the chance to watch the director's cut version? Come on.

Besides, if one is a bit paranoid (and these guys sure give people a reason), what's next? Less audio options? 5.1-only or (GASP!) STEREO? 720p?

Okay, I was too fast in my reply and you're right in the point, that the true rental freak gets ripped of and suffers a serious loss.

This will not discourage piracy, as any DRM. This will encourage it, since there's no premium now for the rentals, they're pretty much the same as the pirated ones floating around!

Well, I don't understand that conclusion and what pirated versions are you talking about?

Best Regards,
BurnerHEAD

 

[andy o]

what do you mean what pirated versions? they are BD rips of course, movie-only 1080p rips. Aside from some recompression that may or may not exist, they'd be as good or even better than rentals cause they wouldn't have forced ads and the rentals wouldn't have anything else either.

 

[Charlie]

I think all rental versions should contain the movie only so that way if one wants those features they have to pay for the retail version. This makes fair use useful I think if one wants it all.

 

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

It appears there are two schools of thought on rentals. We have some studios going with the movie-only route. Other studios are going with force-feeding you 10 movie trailers plus other garbage without letting you skip it. Both have some valid points.

I do, however, find myself lacking sympathy for the movie industry which saw a significant increase in profits for 2009. Yes, piracy exists, but the movie industry can hardly cry, "We're poor and pirates are stealing the shirts off our backs!". Even in a piss poor economy the movie industry made record profits.

The industry is blatantly fighting against RedBox and rental chains. With the disagreements and the industry wanting more money it seems pretty clear that their rental-only types of releases are poisoning the rental market which will push [some] consumers to purchase the retail movies in order to see extra content, skip promos/ads/garbage, and, in some cases, just be able to have audio language and sub-title choices.

The biggest idiot in terms of creating a rental-only release of a movie is Disney with their SD DVD UP Region 1 (US) rental-only release containing no audio language options and absolutely no sub-titles. They deserve the moron of the year award for 2009.

 

[andy o]

That's the stuff I'm talking about, when they stop including pretty basic stuff. What bothers me the most right now is being unable to see director's cuts, extended versions or alternate versions (I am Legend's theatrical ending was studio-pleasing garbage, I would have hated the movie if I didn't see the alternate ending). Seems pretty much a slippery slope to me. Bye-bye lossless? Higher-bitrate or resolution video for buy-only? They will stop at whatever the consumer will put their foot down on.

BTW, the simplest, cheapest and most reasonable way (and the most obvious) would have been to just include the extras on a second disc, then the rental stores can rent them separately. Online stores already do this, but what I'm saying is to master the discs specifically so only the movie is on one disc. Most two-disc sets still have some extras on the first disc.