Hollywood Doom and Gloom

[fjtorres]

Publishers aren't the only ones fretting about technology-driven disruptions changing the market. Hollywood is living it, according to some.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57...col;topStories

Signature quote:

Not one of the media sectors restructured by the Internet or digital technology has managed to rebuild itself to its previous size.

People are less interested in collecting DVDs and that lost DVD money isn't coming back. It's moving to other players in the restructured business. It isn't so much that consumers are spending less, it's that they are spending it differently.
Much as the publishing business.
I don't see disaster for either business but the revenue distribution is changing in both.

[xg4bx]

i know i've just about totally stopped buying movies thanks to netflix. and thanks to netflix i've saved myself hundreds of dollars that normally would have been spent praying that the movie i'm buying isn't utter tripe.

maybe hollywood will begin to tighten its belt and not bet the farm on overrated 200 million dollar blockbusters.

[pidgeon92]

I have a collection of probably 300 DVDs, between movies and a few TV series'. I haven't bought a DVD in years and years, though, as I renewed my Netflix subscription, and now get everything through them.

[Catlady]

I have zero interest in Netflix. I buy TV series and movies--I just wish that instead of spitting out DVDs of any and all current and recent TV series, no matter how bad, the powers that be would release some of the old classic B&W shows from the 50s and 60s.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

maybe hollywood will begin to tighten its belt and not bet the farm on overrated 200 million dollar blockbusters.

And what are the odds the big publishing houses will stop betting the farm on celebrity bios and other get-rich-quick projects?

The similarities between the big studios and big publishers are not total but still...

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I have zero interest in Netflix. I buy TV series and movies--I just wish that instead of spitting out DVDs of any and all current and recent TV series, no matter how bad, the powers that be would release some of the old classic B&W shows from the 50s and 60s.

What Catlady said. Almost all of my DVDs I have purchased in the last year. The prices of the old 50s and 60s tv shows are coming down, as well as the movies.

Two days ago I bought a new copy of The President's Analyst with James Coburn for $2.37 plus $2.98 shipping at Amazon!

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by Catlady

I have zero interest in Netflix. I buy TV series and movies--I just wish that instead of spitting out DVDs of any and all current and recent TV series, no matter how bad, the powers that be would release some of the old classic B&W shows from the 50s and 60s.

Originally Posted by GA Russell

What Catlady said. Almost all of my DVDs I have purchased in the last year. The prices of the old 50s and 60s tv shows are coming down, as well as the movies.

Two days ago I bought a new copy of The President's Analyst with James Coburn for $2.37 plus $2.98 shipping at Amazon!

Have you checked out http://www.shoutfactory.com/? I've gotten DVDs there, and they keep adding more stuff to their catalog.

Edited to add: If you go to the Video section and select "TV on DVD" you can sort by decade.

[Kumabjorn]

Been in the process of cleaning out my bookshelves, a few left and I'm undecided if I want to scan and OCR them. During that process I also threw out 150 VHS tapes and a little over 200 DVDs. I discovered that I have 400 vinyl LPs from the '60s. Instead of throwing them away I put them up for sale at Tradera (Swedish e-Bay site), so far; No takers. Everybody is going digital I suppose. Soon I will have a room that i have no idea what I will use it for. Talk about First World Problem.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Been in the process of cleaning out my bookshelves, a few left and I'm undecided if I want to scan and OCR them. During that process I also threw out 150 VHS tapes and a little over 200 DVDs. I discovered that I have 400 vinyl LPs from the '60s. Instead of throwing them away I put them up for sale at Tradera (Swedish e-Bay site), so far; No takers. Everybody is going digital I suppose. Soon I will have a room that i have no idea what I will use it for. Talk about First World Problem.

Do you still have a turntable?
LPs can be easily digitized and cleaned up with readily-available and cheap software. (Some even free.)
All you need is a PC and a cheap pre-amp (I found one at Radio Shack for US$25).
Works pretty good; the CDs I've been burning sound better than the worn LPs they come from.

As for the extra room, put a recliner, a lamp, and a table. A quiet room for reading?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by GA Russell

Two days ago I bought a new copy of The President's Analyst with James Coburn for $2.37 plus $2.98 shipping at Amazon!

Egads. (more in shipping than in buying).
Good movie, too.
I prefer his FLINT movies, though.

When you consider that Sony sold the studios on Blu-ray by telling them they could sell HD Movies for $50 you can see just how badly Hollywood misread the market back in 2005. Now they're lucky if they can sell new BD releases for $25 and the backlist DVDs just keep piling up.

One new thing I've noticed at Wal-mart is the appearance of movie bundle packs; one case, four (vaguely) related movies for anywhere between $5-13.
Not all are old, either. I picked up a Rom-com 4-pack for my mother for $7.99 and a Steve McQueen Combo for $12.

I think DVD buying volume will resume but only when prices finish re-setting themselves. And that hasn't happened yet. When it does, $3 for a vintage movie DVD will be the norm, I think. (It helps that DVD material costs are closer to $0.50 than $50. )

And odds are that books, at least the e-editions, are headed down the same road. Supply and demand will eventually reach a pricing balance and that balance is likely going to be much lower than the BPH's price-fix dreams.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Do you still have a turntable?
LPs can be easily digitized and cleaned up with readily-available and cheap software. (Some even free.)
All you need is a PC and a cheap pre-amp (I found one at Radio Shack for US$25).
Works pretty good; the CDs I've been burning sound better than the worn LPs they come from.

As for the extra room, put a recliner, a lamp, and a table. A quiet room for reading?

Already have a reading room, but thanx. Maýbe I should start a whiskey collection and have a room for barrels?

As for turntable, yes I do have one, but I have also noticed that you can buy turntables with USB ports. Haven't checked into it thoroughly but I have to assume it is for recording to a PC. Lots of Frank Sinatra Live albums, Ella Fitzgerald, Platters, Count Basie. Belonged to my parents, they reluctantly entered the VD age somewhere around 2000.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

maybe hollywood will begin to tighten its belt and not bet the farm on overrated 200 million dollar blockbusters.

Not to mention most of the movies produced these days are re-makes and bad ones at that.

My wife and I have over 1000 DVD's and close to 60 blu-ray movies. But I am buying less and less of either.

It is not worth spending $30-$40 on new release movies.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Have you checked out http://www.shoutfactory.com/? I've gotten DVDs there, and they keep adding more stuff to their catalog.

Edited to add: If you go to the Video section and select "TV on DVD" you can sort by decade.

Also try Warner Archive, for both TV shows and classic movies.

TVShowsonDVD.com is a great site that provides information on upcoming releases. You can vote there for shows you want to see on DVD--it can't hurt! You can also set up e-mail alerts for news on DVD releases of specific shows, and check out listings of sale prices of TV DVDs at Amazon.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Do you still have a turntable?
LPs can be easily digitized and cleaned up with readily-available and cheap software. (Some even free.)
All you need is a PC and a cheap pre-amp (I found one at Radio Shack for US$25).
Works pretty good; the CDs I've been burning sound better than the worn LPs they come from.

As for the extra room, put a recliner, a lamp, and a table. A quiet room for reading?

I bought a (non-USB) turntable for $45 (new ones mostly seem to have a built-in pre-amp) and a $3 RCA cable, downloaded free Audacity software, and am happily converting my LPs to mp3s. It's great to hear all my old Sinatra LPs again!

Amazon sells a Behringer pre-amp for around $20, if you have an old turntable.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Already have a reading room, but thanx. Maýbe I should start a whiskey collection and have a room for barrels?

As for turntable, yes I do have one, but I have also noticed that you can buy turntables with USB ports. Haven't checked into it thoroughly but I have to assume it is for recording to a PC. Lots of Frank Sinatra Live albums, Ella Fitzgerald, Platters, Count Basie. Belonged to my parents, they reluctantly entered the VD age somewhere around 2000.

Yes, but you don't need the USB connection. You just need the pre-amp (e.g., here's one) and an inexpensive RCA cable that plugs into the computer sound card.