The Criterion Collection

[hainesdogg]

A set of Hong Kong films? Wishful thinking on my part.

[dkelly26666]

I do know, that one way or another, that f***ing "After Hours" release better be part of the November slate, dammit!!!!

[JoelGoodsen]

Originally Posted by dkelly26666

i do know, that one way or another, that f***ing "after hours" release better be part of the november slate, dammit!!!!

^^^ this

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by tom_flyingv

Re this year's big announcement:

Criterion find a way to issue blu rays and UHDs without bloody great scratches/fingermarks over their discs. Got Raging Bull and Okja UHD, and like Shaft, Hard Days Night etc, looks like someone dragged nails over the disc or eaten their lunch of it. Waiting for response from Jon Mulvaney who normally wants photos - some chance of capturing fine scratches!

“A Message from Criterion:

We’re writing this message to relay to our customers our awareness of some of the recent manufacturing issues that have caused our products to leave the replication plant in suboptimal condition. Rectifying the problem will not be easy, but we assure you we are searching for solutions. In the near future, we will be changing replication facilities, which will not come without financial repercussions on our end. On that note, we’d like to forewarn you in advance that in order to maintain our current pricing model we’ll have no choice but to announce fewer physical releases on a monthly basis, and there may be longer wait times between print runs. The Criterion Channel model will be unaffected by these changes. We wish you an excellent summer and happy viewing.

Best Regards,
The Criterion Team”

One can always dream.

[trobrianders]

Originally Posted by mande2013

“A Message from Criterion:

we’ll have no choice but to announce fewer physical releases on a monthly basis, and there may be longer wait times between print runs.

All because of the difficulties in finding reliable replication facilities in this hugely technical age? Frankly unbelievable.

[JasonMichael]

Originally Posted by mande2013

“A Message from Criterion:

We’re writing this message to relay to our customers our awareness of some of the recent manufacturing issues that have caused our products to leave the replication plant in suboptimal condition. Rectifying the problem will not be easy, but we assure we searching for solutions. In the near future, we will be changing replication facilities, which will not come without financial repercussions on our end. On that note, we’d like to forewarn you in advance that in order to maintain our current pricing model we’ll have no choice but to announce fewer physical releases on a monthly basis, and there may be longer wait times between print runs. The Criterion Channel model will be unaffected by these changes. We wish you an excellent summer and happy viewing.

Best Regards,
The Criterion Team”

One can always dream.

Is this actually a message from Criterion, or did you write this? The "One can always dream" makes me think you wrote it?

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by mande2013

[Show spoiler]“A Message from Criterion:

We’re writing this message to relay to our customers our awareness of some of the recent manufacturing issues that have caused our products to leave the replication plant in suboptimal condition. Rectifying the problem will not be easy, but we assure we searching for solutions. In the near future, we will be changing replication facilities, which will not come without financial repercussions on our end. On that note, we’d like to forewarn you in advance that in order to maintain our current pricing model we’ll have no choice but to announce fewer physical releases on a monthly basis, and there may be longer wait times between print runs. The Criterion Channel model will be unaffected by these changes. We wish you an excellent summer and happy viewing.

Best Regards,
The Criterion Team”

One can always dream.

You did share that you recently messaged Criterion about the issue, so please don't leave people here hanging about whether this is a real response from Criterion or fantasy.

[DukeTogo84]

Originally Posted by JasonMichael

Is this actually a message from Criterion, or did you write this? The "One can always dream" makes me think you wrote it?

Pretty sure it's made up.

[dvining]

Gullible isn't in the dictionary.

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Possible big announcement coming in the next few weeks?

The past 4 summer announcements outside of the typical 15th of the month:

Criterion goes UHD: 8/11/21
Essential Fellini: 8/11/20
Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975: 7/25/19
Ingmar Bergman's Cinema: 7/12/18

The big announcement will be that Disney bought Criterion and every MCU film will be released in its definitive edition.

[Rayjg]

Originally Posted by mande2013

“A Message from Criterion:

We’re writing this message to relay to our customers our awareness of some of the recent manufacturing issues that have caused our products to leave the replication plant in suboptimal condition. Rectifying the problem will not be easy, but we assure we searching for solutions. In the near future, we will be changing replication facilities, which will not come without financial repercussions on our end. On that note, we’d like to forewarn you in advance that in order to maintain our current pricing model we’ll have no choice but to announce fewer physical releases on a monthly basis, and there may be longer wait times between print runs. The Criterion Channel model will be unaffected by these changes. We wish you an excellent summer and happy dumpster diving for scratched discs.

Best Regards,
MifuneFan”

One can always dream.

Fixed that up a little for ya.

[dkelly26666]

Originally Posted by Scottie

The big announcement will be that Disney bought Criterion and every MCU film will be released in its definitive edition.

Surely the suicide rate will skyrocket...

[mande2013]

Just me indulging in some wishful thinking folks.

I wrote it myself.

[mande2013]

I suppose the question is are you willing to buy a European UHD release with an encode say 85-90% as good as a Criterion UHD's of the same film would be if it means there's a greater chance of avoiding the scratch issue...? Carlotta just announced Antoine Doinel UHD standalones, due in September, so I probably won't concern myself with forthcoming Criterion editions of those anymore. I'm not sure what I'll do about Véroniqe and The Three Colors Trilogy, which are also available here in France on UHD.

[koberulz]

The French UHD of the Colors Trilogy was encoded so badly it looks worse than the first ever YouTube upload.

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by koberulz

The French UHD of the Colors Trilogy was encoded so badly it looks worse than the first ever YouTube upload.

Fair enough, but in the case of The 400 Blows, the encoding issues on the Carlotta UHD seem to be source related to some degree.

[Brad1963]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Possible big announcement coming in the next few weeks?

The past 4 summer announcements outside of the typical 15th of the month:

Criterion goes UHD: 8/11/21
Essential Fellini: 8/11/20
Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975: 7/25/19
Ingmar Bergman's Cinema: 7/12/18

I'm thinking it will be the Infernal Affairs Collection UHD.

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by mande2013

I suppose the question is are you willing to buy a European UHD release with an encode say 85-90% as good as a Criterion UHD's of the same film would be if it means there's a greater chance of avoiding the scratch issue...? Carlotta just announced Antoine Doinel UHD standalones, due in September, so I probably won't concern myself with forthcoming Criterion editions of those anymore. I'm not sure what I'll do about Véroniqe and The Three Colors Trilogy, which are also available here in France on UHD.

Or pray for a UK release encoded by Fidelity in Motion!

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

Or pray for a UK release encoded by Fidelity in Motion!

I don't have high hopes for a FiM-encoded UK or French(FiM does work with Carlotta in France, as well) UHD of something like 8 1/2. Seven Samurai is certainly possible once things are sorted with Toho though. BFI will probably release it as soon as Toho does one of their own in Japan.

My only point though was is one able to sacrifice minor discrepancies in encode quality if it means assurance of getting a scratch-free disc. By minor discrepancy, I mean the difference between the Criterion and StudioCanal UHDs of Mulholland Drive just to use one example.

[Sifox211]

I suppose one ought to do something like boycott Criterion until they fix this problem - but on the other hand, they seem to have no problems replacing disks when they are faulty, even for overseas customers, even when the disks are old. On that basis, do scratches really matter? If it causes a playback issue, get it replaced. If it doesn't, does it matter?