First DVD to be released before VHS?

[toolman46and2]

I was just wondering what the first movie to be released on DVD before it came out on VHS? It would be nice to see that some time soon for Blu-ray, I think if Blu's came out a week before thier DVD counterparts it would sway a lot of folks to get a blu-ray player.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by toolman46and2

I was just wondering what the first movie to be released on DVD before it came out on VHS? It would be nice to see that some time soon for Blu-ray, I think if Blu's came out a week before thier DVD counterparts it would sway a lot of folks to get a blu-ray player.

I think it was The Matrix?

[atomik kinder]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think it was The Matrix?

Actually, at the time, almost all VHS videos were rental priced at around $100 or more. you could buy them, but weren't generally available for purchase. Disney was about the only one to do sell-through pricing along with a few ohter very popular titles. You usually had to wait 6 months to a year before the prices were dropped for the comsumer market. DVD was always meant to be a sell-through item and were released the same time the VHS for rental only came out. The did this so that the video rental businesses could get as much out of renting the movies before people could generally purchase them. They also delayed the pay-per-view availabilty on cable so that it didn't interfere with the rental chain's profits. I am not sure about The Matrix, I still think the VHS was released as rental only at the same time.

[meckel]

Originally Posted by atomik kinder

Actually, at the time, almost all VHS videos were rental priced at around $100 or more. you could buy them, but weren't generally available for purchase. Disney was about the only one to do sell-through pricing along with a few ohter very popular titles. You usually had to wait 6 months to a year before the prices were dropped for the comsumer market. DVD was always meant to be a sell-through item and were released the same time the VHS for rental only came out. The did this so that the video rental businesses could get as much out of renting the movies before people could generally purchase them. They also delayed the pay-per-view availabilty on cable so that it didn't interfere with the rental chain's profits. I am not sure about The Matrix, I still think the VHS was released as rental only at the same time.

The Matrix is credited as the title that brought DVD to the masses. Meaning that poeple went out and got a DVD for or because of this movie. If I remember correctly The Matrix was priced at a sell-throught price in VHS at release. Most new release movies were "priced to own" on DVD months before they affordable on VHS. It was a completely different model back then.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by meckel

The Matrix is credited as the title that brought DVD to the masses. Meaning that poeple went out and got a DVD for or because of this movie. If I remember correctly The Matrix was priced at a sell-throught price in VHS at release. Most new release movies were "priced to own" on DVD months before they affordable on VHS. It was a completely different model back then.

The funny thing is that DVDs were going to follow the same model as VHS but Blockbuster refused to agree to the same terms with DVD that they had with VHS so studios decided to sell DVDs at lower prices from the start.

[Disky76]

If they release Blu-Ray and Rental only DVD's at the same time, and then release DVD's for purchase three months later, that would really help with getting Blu-Ray to the masses.

Another way is to continue to slash prices. The average consumer is not going to pay $30-$35 for a single movie...remember the Laserdisc days of the 1990's? I was only a young guy then, but I still saved up and bought $49.95 Laserdiscs of my favorite films to the open-mouthed horror of my friends. (My family understood, my father owning a Laser player at that point too). And Laserdiscs, as we all know, never got beyond our market.

The average consumer is not as discriminating as we are, and aren't going to plunk down as much as we will for 1080p, especially when DVD is still pretty darn good.

I feel that, owning a Blu-ray collection, that I am part of an elite group. I like it that way. But if Blu-ray must sell to the masses like DVD to survive, then owning Blu-Ray must have an advantage other than quality. We should have the privilige of getting our movies first, etc and the titles have to keep coming out fast, with true 1080p quality, and at reasonable prices.

I will get off my soap box now

[atomik kinder]

I do recall there were rumors that DVD would eventually follow a rental pricing structure also. I read about that at the Digital Bits back in the day. Never happened though. If it had, I believe DVD wouldn't have taken off as quickly as it had.

[Rhylliam]

I remember a Blockbuster ad in 1999/2000 that stated Detroit Rock City was being released on DVD a week before the VHS. Always thought that was strange and never found out if it was true.

[Jeff Kleist]

The funny thing is that DVDs were going to follow the same model as VHS but Blockbuster refused to agree to the same terms with DVD that they had with VHS so studios decided to sell DVDs at lower prices from the start.

DVD was originally supposed to replace Laserdisc, so it followed LD pricing structure. When DVD took off, it was thought that they'd switch it over, but it was too late

[dwesson]

I'm pretty sure The Matrix VHS came before the DVD, because I bought it on VHS the day it came out, and I had a DVD player. I want to say it was 2 or 3 months later that it was released on DVD, but I may have the whole thing backwards.

[Jeff Kleist]

Matrix came out 3 months after on sellthrough VHS. It was one of the fastest windows this is true

[BluLuzzo]

i was just a kid when laserdisc was breaking through....

Is Blu already bigger than laserdisc was?

[ryoohki]

Originally Posted by BluLuzzo

i was just a kid when laserdisc was breaking through....

Is Blu already bigger than laserdisc was?

Laserdisc never broke anything. It was a Cinema Fan format and not a consumer level product. I knew 1 or 2 store in Montreal who sold them and price were between 50 and 150$ depending on the editions..

according to WikiPedia

It was estimated that in 1998, Laserdisc players were in approximately 2% of US households (roughly two million)

'Laserdisc was first available on the market, in Atlanta, on December 15, 1978,'

So from 1979 to 1998 it sold about 2 millions player in US....

[kndy]

Hmmm...that would be interesting to know. I know that probably the oldest DVD I own is "Air Force One" and it came in a CD jewel case.

Originally Posted by Disky76

Another way is to continue to slash prices. The average consumer is not going to pay $30-$35 for a single movie...remember the Laserdisc days of the 1990's? I was only a young guy then, but I still saved up and bought $49.95 Laserdiscs of my favorite films to the open-mouthed horror of my friends. (My family understood, my father owning a Laser player at that point too). And Laserdiscs, as we all know, never got beyond our market.

Purchasing my first LD player was one of the best purchases I made in my young 20's and Tower was the only place near me that sold them and I still have mine. From 30-45 min. anime from Pioneer releases that were so expensive to imports that were double or triple the cost. But having an LD player was like one of those rare privileges back then that you were part of that group who wanted quality video and audio (at that time) and of course hoping your LD player didn't mess up or your LD's didn't suffer from rot. But I never expected LD's to catch on. In fact, those who did buy one, it seems family and friends used theirs just for karaoke.

Coming from a different standpoint for watching things on LD, among my friends back then, LD was the only way to get quality imports from Japan and many of the fan subtitling groups grew from the anime clubs that bought LD's for fan subbing and showing them at anime club meetings.

Blu-ray is a totally different story... My gawsh...finding Blu-ray's for $10-15 right now at your local Wal-Mart or Target. Heck, a deal back then for LD was if I can find it for $24.99.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by toolman46and2

I was just wondering what the first movie to be released on DVD before it came out on VHS? It would be nice to see that some time soon for Blu-ray, I think if Blu's came out a week before thier DVD counterparts it would sway a lot of folks to get a blu-ray player.

As has already been explained, Back during the VHS days, many movies would come out for rental first then for sale several months later (with the only option to buy them beforehand being at huge prices through distribution houses, or when places like Blockbuster would start selling used copies). There would be a handful of exceptions, such as huge summer blockbuster movies (like the Batman films) being sold in stores at the same time as rental, and Disney movies, etc.

When VHS would come out for rental, the DVD would be sold in stores (and I believe before that, you could buy the Laserdisc right away while the VHS was rental only).

I actually did enjoy that during the early days of DVD, when I was part of the then-niche market. I was able to buy a movie that most of the masses could only rent.


But there is pretty much no way to do this now with BD and DVD. DVD quickly became a collectors medium that peope actually bought more so than VHS, hence why all movies now come out for sale at the same time as rental. VHS was lossy and would degrade over time, and there were no extras to speak of. DVD changed that with a medium that would last for a long time with no gradual loss in quality, and by having extras that could be randomly accessed.


At this point, if they were to try and force DVDs into a rental-before-sale business model to help out Blu-Ray, it would just upset more people than anything else.

Originally Posted by Disky76

If they release Blu-Ray and Rental only DVD's at the same time, and then release DVD's for purchase three months later, that would really help with getting Blu-Ray to the masses.

That wouldn't work now, though. Like I said above, DVDs have been sell-through from day 1 at the same time as the rental for almost the entire time the format has been around (there may have been a few exceptions during the early days of the format, but not many).

The masses are now used to being able to buy the movies right away. If the studios were to force it back into the old model, it would just cause more anger than it would to encourage people to jump on board with Blu-Ray.

[P@t_Mtl]

[QUOTE=ryoohki;1486084]Laserdisc never broke anything. It was a Cinema Fan format and not a consumer level product. I knew 1 or 2 store in Montreal who sold them and price were between 50 and 150$ depending on the editions..
QUOTE]

I was getting them only at Sam The Record Man, where was the other place? And yes they were rather expensive, it never was a format for the masses.