Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[garyrc]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Moratorium is a fact of life in video, and has been since the VHS days. Typically they'll come back 6-12 months later.

Have there been any studies providing scientific evidence that moratorium increases sales over time, e.g., over a 5 year period? Where might I read the journal articles describing these studies, and how they were conducted?

[Jeff Kleist]

Have there been any studies providing scientific evidence that moratorium increases sales over time, e.g., over a 5 year period? Where might I read the journal article describing these studies, and how they were conducted?

It's less to do with sales, and more with warehouse space. By constantly cycling a certain percentage of your catalog out of print, you give time to bleed off extra copies till the next promotion on the title, and you don't have to maintain as big of a warehouse, which then saves you money.

[Nick Graham]

I heretofore must recant my previous posts about Predator being a good looking move if it would just get the proper treatment. I was talking out of my butt and did not know it at the time.

That said, a little less DNR in some spots and the new BD would be about as good as that movie is gonna get.

[HeavyHitter]

Originally Posted by merrick97

I mean I find it funny that when a title is announced I see so many posts of "preordered" or "I cancelled my preorder" for whatever reason.

For games I can understand since they nowadays come with a lot of preorder bonuses, even if they are usually meaningless, but still they ARE there.

I never pre-order usually because 99% of the time a better deal happens once it's released. However, I've always looked at pre-ordering of BDs as something more psychological for the fan/customer of the movie. I mean since you cannot actually order it at that moment, why not pre-order it! It's the next best thing!

[Nick Graham]

Chains like Gamestop live and breathe based on their preorders. It is literally the measuring stick they use to gauge how business is doing. I've never understood it.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I never pre-order usually because 99% of the time a better deal happens once it's released. However, I've always looked at pre-ordering of BDs as something more psychological for the fan/customer of the movie. I mean since you cannot actually order it at that moment, why not pre-order it! It's the next best thing!

The only time I preorder is when its coming out during the same month. I get paid only at the beginning of the month and I usually preorder from amazon and buy a gift card to cover the balance since amazon doesn't charge you until it ships. Amazon does have a preorder price guarantee, but its almost ALWAYS at its cheapest right at or before release date.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Nick Graham

Chains like Gamestop live and breathe based on their preorders. It is literally the measuring stick they use to gauge how business is doing. I've never understood it.

Oh god they annoy the hell out of me with it.

[MerrickG]

If 20th Century Fox is reading this forum I have a simple request:

Please announce the Alien Anthology for bluray and SOON!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Please announce the Alien Anthology for bluray and SOON!

Will their announcing it sooner mean you will have access to it any sooner?

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by merrick97

The only time I preorder is when its coming out during the same month. I get paid only at the beginning of the month and I usually preorder from amazon and buy a gift card to cover the balance since amazon doesn't charge you until it ships. Amazon does have a preorder price guarantee, but its almost ALWAYS at its cheapest right at or before release date.

I generally do the opposite. I pre-order from Amazon when a title I really want is announced, especially if it is a long time away. It is not uncommon for Amazon to have a brief drop in price in the interim, usually a price-matching thing with some other companies promotion. This works best with box sets, TV series and "big event" titles, and rarely works with more obscure features.

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by merrick97

If 20th Century Fox is reading this forum I have a simple request:

Please announce the Alien Anthology for bluray and SOON!

Better yet, announce Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray soon. Screw this Anthology crap.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

Will their announcing it sooner mean you will have access to it any sooner?

No. It just means that it will quell my fears of there being a delay since sooooooooooooooooooooo much stuff got delayed last year in gaming AND bluray releases.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by wallendo

I generally do the opposite. I pre-order from Amazon when a title I really want is announced, especially if it is a long time away. It is not uncommon for Amazon to have a brief drop in price in the interim, usually a price-matching thing with some other companies promotion. This works best with box sets, TV series and "big event" titles, and rarely works with more obscure features.

Im referring to amazon here.

Yeah, but those price drops usually occur around the time of release and I'm all set in that case. I see no point in pre-ordering something MONTHS in advance, especially when the price only goes down between the first moment a preorder is put up vs the time its actually released. There are occasional moments when the price I've paid for a bluray release ended up being cheaper than the release day price thanks to the preorder guarantee, but that has happened maybe twice on the over 100 blurays Ive ordered from amazon. When it comes to pre-ordering 99% of the time the amazon price will always be cheapest on release day. Another problem with preordering is amazon will occasionally ship out a tuesday release on a thursday from the previous week and there have been instances in which it was at the end of the month and i was out of money and i would get charged before I got paid and would end up with a negative balance in my account.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by Paul Arnette

Better yet, announce Alien and Aliens on Blu-ray soon. Screw this Anthology crap.

That's the one.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Doctorossi

That's the one.

Won't happen. Its all or none. The 3rd and 4th aren't THAT bad. At least not for a little while.

[Jeff Kleist]

Chains like Gamestop live and breathe based on their preorders. It is literally the measuring stick they use to gauge how business is doing. I've never understood it.

Because they do small margins on new games. Like $5 or $6, so they don't want to get stuck with a thousand dollars in games they can't move. So pre-orders allow them to target their orders and store distribution to move them out faster. In addition, a not-insignifigant number of peopel forget they HAVE pre-orders, and then GS keeps their $5 deposit.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Because they do small margins on new games. Like $5 or $6, so they don't want to get stuck with a thousand dollars in games they can't move. So pre-orders allow them to target their orders and store distribution to move them out faster. In addition, a not-insignifigant number of peopel forget they HAVE pre-orders, and then GS keeps their $5 deposit.

Yeah, thats why I don't preorder until the games have an announced release date.

Gamestop took preorders for Duke Nukem Forever for a long while. I wonder how many people even remember they have a preorder for that.

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Won't happen.

Of course it will! Don't buy the box if you only want the first two.

I have extra disincentive, as I only want the first one.


"Use the patience, Luke!"

[Braktastic]

Originally Posted by merrick97

Won't happen. Its all or none. The 3rd and 4th aren't THAT bad. At least not for a little while.

I know it won't. I just wanted to put it out there that not everyone is waited with bated breath for Fox's 'lipstick on pig' Anthology edition. No amount of bells and whistles are going to get me to purchase two films that I think are garbage, so I'll wait. More power to you if you can sit through them though.

Hopefully, the exclusivity window will be short like the time between the Mel Brooks boxset and (some) of the individual films.

[Jeff Kleist]

I suggest you watch the assembly cut of Alien 3 before you write it off, those 45min really help it

The fourth one, well,the French messed it up, what can I say