Category: DVD distribution

  • DVD: “Not Dead Yet”

    DVD: “Not Dead Yet”

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    Ben Model
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    I’ve been producing and releasing DVDs via my Undercrank Productions label since 2013 and, in January, began releasing our titles on Blu-ray as well. All new releases in 2022 were issued on both formats. At a time when some other labels catering to classic and silent film are releasing only on Blu-ray, I was curious…

  • Re-release Everything

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    Ben Model
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    Over the last several months of doing live-accompanied live-streams of silent films, I’ve noticed the validity of something I’d read that Charley Chase once said. That he’d learned from his years in vaudeville that every seven years you get a new audience. As much as Steve Massa and I have thought some of the shorts…

  • To Blu or Not To Blu – Some Final Thoughts

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    Ben Model
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    The possibility of releasing on Blu-ray without the required huge costs and the risks of unsold discs that come with pressed product will be here in 2021. What does that mean for me? And what does that mean for you? Let’s start with you. It’s quite possible that you may not know or understand the…

  • Physical Media: “I’m Not Dead Yet”

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    Ben Model
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    In July 2018, one year after I released the restoration of When Knighthood Was in Flower on Blu-ray and DVD, I received an email from CreateSpace, Amazon’s manufacture-on-demand outfit for books, DVDs and CDs. Its subject line read “Important announcement regarding CreateSpace and Disc on Demand”.  I thought “Okay, this is the other shoe dropping…they’re…

  • For Some Fans, the Step Up to Blu-ray Means Replacing the Fridge

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    Ben Model
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    The advent of Blu-ray wasn’t the sea-change that CDs  were for vinyl or that DVDs were for VHS. Similarly there isn’t a one-size fits all scenario as far as consumers’ opinions and uses of the format. This is part of what has complicated my decision to Blu-ray or not to Blu-ray. I’ve read comments online…

  • The Blu-ray Difference is Green

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    Ben Model
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    Selling pressed or replicated product comes with additional steps and mental labor. Depending on your level of patience or available time, it may be worth the trip. When you have no choice in the matter and have to go with door number two, the cost difference is a bit of a sticker shock if you’re…

  • Being The Warehouse

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    Ben Model
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    In my last post I mentioned some of the basic technological differences between pressed and burned product, replicated and duplicated. With DVDs the choice between the two isn’t as large a financial outlay as it is with Blu-ray. But the cost and the order fulfillment hassle with pressed, for an indie like Undercrank (which is…

  • Pressed DVDs vs. Burned

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    Ben Model
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    In my previous post about my 3-year journey with a Blu-ray release, I mentioned two kinds of discs — pressed and burned. You may not be aware of these two kinds of discs and may not even know whether you’re watching one or the other. The difference is hard to discern to the naked eye,…

  • Why Isn’t This on Blu-ray? – a blog series

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    Ben Model
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    I get asked “are you going to release that on Blu-ray?” every time I do a Kickstarter. For the fan and consumer, the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is very simple: a few dollars more at the pump (if that) and the image quality is better. For the independent producer-distributor like me, however, there’s a…

  • Adding a Page to Watch Party Menu

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    Ben Model
    in ,

    “Can I tell you about today’s specials?” Okay, it’s been a couple weeks since someone’s asked you that question. But in the case of The Silent Comedy Watch Party, it applies. With people hosting movie-viewing watch parties on social media left and right, the floodgates of copyright-ignoring seem to have been flung open. Perhaps the…