1966 Batman series on Blu-ray and DVD November 2014 discussion

[jefferiestubes8]

on Blu-ray in HD November 2014. Officially. (and DVD...)

Warner is holding a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego later this month (on 7/24 from 6-7 PM in Hall H) with Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar to fill in all the details.

There is a 480p trailer at this link.
Batman: The Complete Television Series coming on BD, DVD & Digital in November!
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/070214_1330
and direct link to the WarnerBrosOnline Youtube trailer.

I'm sure this will be full-length unaltered episodes (not edited for syndication) in 1080/24p pillarbox 1.33:1 original aspect ratio transfer from the original camera negatives just like Trek TOS.


I should mention this article from Forbes.
'Batman' Feels Like The Last Gasp Of DVD
http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/07/03/batman-feels-like-the-last-gasp-of-dvd/

I can’t imagine physical media surviving much past the current generation. The quality will likely improve, both in terms of audio/visual and in terms of consistency of an online connection. Eventually the studios will find a way (or merely a will) to allow digital downloaders to enjoy whatever special features would have otherwise been on the DVD or Blu Ray release.

I have to presume that part of it was the realization that physical media is quickly becoming an endangered species. It arguably became, an “if not now, then never” situation.

Consumers will still buy DVDs and Blu-Rays if they are offered, as Walt Disney’s Frozen sold 3.2 million copies on its first day of release even after being available on Digital Download for a few weeks prior.

Warner Home Video knows it and is going to price gouge this product...

For 120 episodes let's compare with Trek TOS Blu-ray season 1-3 release in 2009.
$129.99 list price per season from Paramount on Blu-ray for approximately 24-28 episodes. This was classic TV with a high demand for HD on Blu-ray format in 2009.

For Batman's 120 episodes I will guess the list price will be $329. list price and Amazon.com & Best Buy will price it to start in November at $259.
In 2015 Christmas season 1 year later I will estimate the price will be $229. with occasional 1-day only sales at $149.
They need to price it to sell volume and not too high for collectors only.
Speculate all you want but I believe with the high demand and no Region 1 (USA) legal release on DVD ever they will use Paramount Trek TV style pricing for the first 12 months. I think the Digital HD product available on iTunes for download that won't include any audio commentary or "value added material" (VAM) HD special features will probably cost $229. on iTunes in HD.

for comparison Warner Home Video released a modern TV series of 5 seasons
Fringe: The Complete Series [Blu-ray] (2013)
priced at
List Price: $197.50
Price: $102.99 Amazon July 2013

I wonder will be is Warner Home Video going to release DVDs similar to The Best Of Star Trek: The Original Series, Vol. 2 DVD or The Best of Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 2 to sell a 5 episodes on DVD ONLY but not on Blu-ray to force people to buy the whole series on Blu-ray who want it in HD?
The Best of Batman.

I also wonder if Warner Home Video will do a tie-in with Fox Searchlight since they already released Batman: The Movie [Blu-ray] (1966) that is currently $16.99 list price but you can get it online at Amazon for under $8. This way you could get the 1960s Batman all in one set. They probably won't do it though.

related is the thread from January that did not officially mention HD.
KA-POW! 1966 Batman series coming to DVD, at last!

 

[kirk55555]

That article is ridiculous. I'll be buying DVD's until they aren't around (and they aren't leaving any time soon), and I'll only get blu rays when the players don't require a human sacrifice to afford (I don't have an HD TV anyway, so blu ray's are just videos that are hugely expensive just for a different logo on the discs). I could live to be 100 and I'll never use a digital download, and there are more people like me than Tech snobs will admit. Physical media, especially for movies and TV shows, isn't going anywhere. There are always going to be people too poor for digital media players, or people who hate computers or just can't use them. Its a bit annoying, and kind of humorous, to see tech snobs keep predicting the death of physical media, but ignore that there are a lot of people who aren't like themselves and don't have the money/the inclination to go digital.

As for Batman, I'd hope they'd sell individual seasons for more reasonable prices on Amazon. Buying The Complete Series of a show always seems like a rip off to me, besides the fact that its super expensive.

 

[Professor Zoom]

That article is ridiculous. I'll be buying DVD's until they aren't around (and they aren't leaving any time soon), and I'll only get blu rays when the players don't require a human sacrifice to afford (I don't have an HD TV anyway, so blu ray's are just videos that are hugely expensive just for a different logo on the discs). I could live to be 100 and I'll never use a digital download, and there are more people like me than Tech snobs will admit. Physical media, especially for movies and TV shows, isn't going anywhere. There are always going to be people too poor for digital media players, or people who hate computers or just can't use them. Its a bit annoying, and kind of humorous, to see tech snobs keep predicting the death of physical media, but ignore that there are a lot of people who aren't like themselves and don't have the money/the inclination to go digital.

As for Batman, I'd hope they'd sell individual seasons for more reasonable prices on Amazon. Buying The Complete Series of a show always seems like a rip off to me, besides the fact that its super expensive.

No price has been given. You have no idea how much it costs. The OP was THINKING a price.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

That article is ridiculous. I'll be buying DVD's until they aren't around (and they aren't leaving any time soon), and I'll only get blu rays when the players don't require a human sacrifice to afford (I don't have an HD TV anyway, so blu ray's are just videos that are hugely expensive just for a different logo on the discs)

I take it you haven't actually checked the prices in a while.

 

[bigdaddy]

That article is ridiculous.

Yep. You can't go "DVDs are dead!!!!!" and then go "Frozen sold 3.2 million DVDs in a day".

Movie studios are SLOOOOWWWW and until they stop screwing over the costumers physical media will never go anywhere. (And neither will the illegal viewing / downloading)

 

[Keith1701]

I look for the new series in November.....Thanks for the information.

 

[the G-man]

I take it the search function was broken...and you couldn't find the sci fi/ fantasy forum either

 

[Keith1701]

I look for the new series in November.....Thanks for the information.

However, I haven't seen it on Amazon yet.

 

[Lance]

That article is ridiculous. I'll be buying DVD's until they aren't around (and they aren't leaving any time soon), and I'll only get blu rays when the players don't require a human sacrifice to afford (I don't have an HD TV anyway, so blu ray's are just videos that are hugely expensive just for a different logo on the discs). I could live to be 100 and I'll never use a digital download, and there are more people like me than Tech snobs will admit. Physical media, especially for movies and TV shows, isn't going anywhere. There are always going to be people too poor for digital media players, or people who hate computers or just can't use them. Its a bit annoying, and kind of humorous, to see tech snobs keep predicting the death of physical media, but ignore that there are a lot of people who aren't like themselves and don't have the money/the inclination to go digital.

This oh so very much.

I keep hearing people saying "This is inevitable" and "That is inevitable" and "The Other Is Happening Now", but I can't see any evidence of it, either in the sales figures I keep seeing, nor when I actually visit 'bricks and mortar' stores and witness first hand that people are still very much buying physical media.

Frankly I've long wondered if the extent to which physical media is allegedly 'dying' in the right here and right now is being exaggerated. I even wonder if there's a conspiracy afoot: if people within the industry itself are crying wolf as a means to make the death of physical media something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, so they can get more profits (ie. Digital Streaming means bigger $$$ because less overheads).

I am yet to be convinced that the actual wider consumer market is anywhere near ready to abandon physical media completely.

I can see people jumping aboard steaming as merely another option for watching shows, but I don't see it supplanting physical media in terms of the people devoted enough to a show to want to own it.

If anything I think the media which most faces competition from digital streaming are the traditional TV networks and movie theaters, the broadcasters of material. Those are the guys who are in direct competition for the consumer who says "I feel like watching a show tonight" and elects to flip on their computer instead of the TV set.

 

[the G-man]

Are you sure streaming is more profitable? The record companies always seem to bemoan the rise of streaming and the decline in CD sales.

 

[Lance]

^ I'd guess there would be overheads for maintaining the actual servers etc, but the question then is would that be less money than actual printing/distribution of physical discs to stores? I suspect that streaming would be cheaper on the whole. Maybe not by much, but enough. Also streaming would allow them to have closer control over their IP, unlike a physical disc where by definition the consumer has control. The death of physical media also means the death of the second-hand disc market too, which is definitely good for the copyright holders and bad for consumers. So, no doubt there are loads of reasons for the big studios to try and 'persuade' the public that physical media is dying.....

Frankly I hope its not true. I suspect that making everything an internet-only resource would alienate sections of the market who simply don't have a reliable internet connection, or perhaps don't even have the internet at all. Which is another reason why I think all the Chicken Littles crying about the impending death of physical media any day now are jumping the gun a little bit. I'll believe it when I see it.....

 

[tomswift2002]

I'm still surprised that Warner Brothers are releasing this. Considering that FOX owns the footage for the series (and especially after Warner's has repeated that they huad no rights to the series, as reported in this 2008 article (it's at the bottom) http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-2008-HTF-WHV-Chat/10539 ; http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Batman-Watchmen-Batman-Deal-Reported/10573) it was surprising to hear that WB got the home video rights. I was also expecting Fox to put the series out since they have the 1966 movie as well.

For the complete series release, even though it hasn't been announced, I wonder if WB might licence the 66 movie for inclusion in the set.

As for physical media, I think it still has life. Just check out this 2012 article from Forbes on Vinyl making a come back. http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackoma...s-unlikely-recovery-according-to-new-numbers/

But another thing with physical media vs. streaming media is physical media still allows for better quality video and audio. It doesn't matter how well the compression codec is, nothing is going to give you better quality from something that does not exist. Whether it is MP3 or MP4, those compressions have less physical information than MPEG2 or CDA.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I'm still surprised that Warner Brothers are releasing this. Considering that FOX owns the footage for the series (and especially after Warner's has repeated that they huad no rights to the series, as reported in this 2008 article (it's at the bottom) http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Site-News-2008-HTF-WHV-Chat/10539 ; http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Batman-Watchmen-Batman-Deal-Reported/10573) it was surprising to hear that WB got the home video rights.

You do realize 2008 was 6 years ago. Things change.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

Official.

pre-orders for Warner’s Batman: The Complete Television Series – Limited Edition. The Blu-ray and DVD sets street in November (exact street date TBA), but the SRP for the BD set is a hefty $269.97 (or $188.98 with Amazon’s 30% discount).

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-two-cents/071714_1330

 

[Dream]

I'm shocked as hell that this is happening! How did they get around the rights issues?

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Considering how expensive the set is I guess it involved a whole lot of money.

 

[RandyS]

I'm shocked as hell that this is happening! How did they get around the rights issues?

Who cares? The point is it's happening.

I've already begun saving.

 

[mos6507]

I'm shocked as hell that this is happening! How did they get around the rights issues?

The same process that made The Hobbit possible. Both sides realize they have more to gain by sharing the property than stonewalling forever and nothing happening.

 

[Timby]

Are you sure streaming is more profitable? The record companies always seem to bemoan the rise of streaming and the decline in CD sales.

Sure -- in many cases with streaming, you don't even own the movie, just a license to stream it for a while. License runs out? Guess what, tough rocks, you have to buy / rent it again.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I'm shocked as hell that this is happening! How did they get around the rights issues?

The same process that made The Hobbit possible. Both sides realize they have more to gain by sharing the property than stonewalling forever and nothing happening.

I wonder if there wasn't a point of diminishing returns as well. How long will Batman be a hot commodity? 10/20 years from now will it still be as in demand?