The Criterion Collection

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Antonmassacre1

Not sure if we're still talking about Melville's first film here but it is region free and was less than $20Cdn to purchase directly from MOC.

I'm talking about importing in general. Not all titles are region free, and not everyone wants to bother with importing. I have no issues with importing, but I'm just thinking of some who prefer to order from Amazon Prime and have their items the next day.

Also, the releases might be cheap, but players aren't as cheap. People prioritise stuff differently. They might have money for a 20 dollar Criterion, but not money for a 20 dollar MoC and a 80+ dollar player at the time they want to purchase.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I'm talking about importing in general. Not all titles are region free, and not everyone wants to bother with importing. I have no issues with importing, but I'm just thinking of some who prefer to order from Amazon Prime and have their items the next day.

Also, the releases might be cheap, but players aren't as cheap. People prioritise stuff differently. They might have money for a 20 dollar Criterion, but not money for a 20 dollar MoC and a 80+ dollar player at the time they want to purchase.

I don't understand why some people would consider it a "bother." I can order from Amazon UK just as easily as I can the US site. I guess if by bother you mean they have to take 5 minutes to make an account...

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think I just set a world record for the most patient customer in the history of online ordering

My Eclipse SIlent Naruse is here in my hands.

I place the order during the last B&N sale and yes I did receive an email from them that it would be delayed but they would send it to me as soon as it became available but three months

It's funny cause I order from Amazon.ca and I get it within 3-5 days.

I order from Amazon.com and Amazon.uk and I get it within 7-10 days.

I order from Hong Kong and I get it within 12-14 days.

I order from B&N and it's 30 days+

In any case I am use to it so I never really panic about it, I mostly find it funny now. Well just want to share it with you guys, I suppose I better go check the movies now after waiting so long.

I wish I were more patient. I ended up sending a nasty gram to Chapters because they held back one book I ordered in September with the book pre-orders that just came this week.

Between now and when I had placed the order for the book, Chapters dropped the price on it, and it sold out. The kick to the teeth is that they are saying it's because of the warehouse it was in, and my credit card won't be charged once they cancel that item in my order. I purchased it with a gift card, and they took the money on the gift card for it, and it's supposedly in-stock in the stores in my area. If the item had remained in stock, they wouldn't have lowered the price. I also no longer have the physical gift card, as the item was bought in September, and this is now February.

So essentially, Chapters is stealing my gift card money, and has told me that I have to drive to a store to buy my item, and pay for it out of my own pocket, as well as my time and gas, because their warehouse can't flag items to put aside in a queue like any other retailer does. That's all pending on whether or not their in-store stock check is accurate, as it never is.

This is why I usually don't buy from them, but I was given a gift card.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by DetroitSquirreL

FYI ... Eureka / MoC ship FREE worldwide And you can get a region free player for under $80

Last week I ordered two of their titles, direct to US for $35. Pretty fair deal for imports that are supposed to be on-par with Criterion. Unfortunately Le Silence De La Mer was not on the list of titles to choose from. I added it to my wishlist anyway, maybe next time.

This will be my first "import" order of blu-rays. Kind of a test run. Never really looked into imports of DVD's either. I don't know if I'll ever look into a multi-region player, not unless I had a display that could take care even of PAL SD signals and the 1080/50 content - which is not really on the horizon for me. I'm not even sure how many region free imports I will eventually look at. Criterion and Kino (mostly Kino Classics line) are relatively recent discoveries to me, so their catalogues will probably keep me busy for awhile.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by retablo

I don't understand why some people would consider it a "bother." I can order from Amazon UK just as easily as I can the US site. I guess if by bother you mean they have to take 5 minutes to make an account...

And you can get refurbished region free players for under $100, so that really isn't an issue, either.

It doesn't even take that. All you do is sign in with your original account you made with your country's own Amazon site. It automatically moves your shipping and billing information over. I'm just stating that some people do feel that way for numerous reasons. I don't, I import all the time. Mind you, I'm only doing it from US to Canada on a regular basis, but I have done UK to Canada from time to time.

[Antonmassacre1]

Originally Posted by retablo

I don't understand why some people would consider it a "bother." I can order from Amazon UK just as easily as I can the US site. I guess if by bother you mean they have to take 5 minutes to make an account...

I don't even think I had to do that. If I remember correctly, I just went to .uk and used my .ca password. Everything I've ordered from the UK has been delivered about 3 times quicker than purchases from Barnes & Noble.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by Antonmassacre1

I don't even think I had to do that. If I remember correctly, I just went to .uk and used my .ca password. Everything I've ordered from the UK has been delivered about 3 times quicker than purchases from Barnes & Noble.

Yes, there is no need to make a new account, whatever Amazon email and password you have will work for any of their International sites.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Thank you for that report. Next up: the weather, and then sports.

I was responding to P@t, not you. You could have just ignored it instead of making a snarky comment.

People make enough comments on B&N shipping them stuff in plastic bags, not being able to use a coupon, or Amazon using padded envelopes. that was no different. I'm sorry if it was a book, y'know, instead of a Criterion. Would it have made the story any better is it was, although I can't imagine anyone ever buying Criterions from Chapters because they're ridiculously overpriced.

I'm envious that P@t is so patient.

[BohemianGraham]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

Yes, there is no need to make a new account, whatever Amazon email and password you have will work for any of their International sites.

Originally Posted by Antonmassacre1

I don't even think I had to do that. If I remember correctly, I just went to .uk and used my .ca password. Everything I've ordered from the UK has been delivered about 3 times quicker than purchases from Barnes & Noble.

Exactly. That's all I had to do, and if you change your password for one, it changes them for the others. It's only a bother to some people because they have to check for region frees, might have to do some math, might have to wait, and might have to put money out of pocket for a region free player. For some people, that might be considered to be a bother.

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by BohemianGraham

I'm envious that P@t is so patient.

Yeah! I can be very patient almost to the point of looking like I am lacking a back bone My wife goes nuts sometimes over how patient I can be with things. It's funny as I usually always end up with want I wanted and I never lose it or scream or anything. It's just my nature.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

Region coding is always the concern of the licensing party, as it is supposedly a way for them to protect their property. Non-Hollywood studios and smaller American studios will tend to license their product to different licensees in different territories -- generally, the highest bidder. MoC doesn't encode unless contractually obligated to. Kino also has a number of region-free titles, like the Keaton films. And major studios don't usually bother because they are the licensor and distributor in all territories.

I don't think it's that Criterion is "aggressive" in that regard. They may have a policy to region-lock, I don't know, but the fact is that since they aren't a studio they don't own any of their titles, so the decision really isn't up to them. The studios they tend to work with are the kind that tend to license territory-by-territory, so Criterion's reliable region-locking is likely attractive to them. It's in these companies' best interests to maximize their profits by exercising multiple licenses for the same product throughout the world.

(Arguing from the studios' standpoint, you understand -- I would think making a Criterion product region-free would be more attractive than some of the stuff that gets released in its place in other regions because it would sell better overall, but that makes too much sense.)

I'm just speculating.

I was just thinking it was Criterion's doing as literally *ALL* of their titles (on blu-ray) are region locked. That is regardless of where they are acquiring the rights from. Whereas the European brands at least have a mix of region free, and region locked - and examples coming from all different licensees. Yet when it's something that is licensed to Criterion, the Euro version automatically gets slapped with a region B lock. Of course it seems the same way with Kino, and there's European/UK examples like BFI where almost all of their titles are locked as well. Maybe there's just no rhyme or reason to it...

I understand that ultimately it's the studio/property owner that gets the final say. I just wonder who is actually PUSHING that region lock on the Criterion licenses. It could be Criterion demanding it of these studios in order to sign the deal (i.e. protecting their interests). I could be completely off base on that, but like I said I was just speculating. I really don't see how anyone can lose on region-free. Most people aren't going to bother importing if the title is available in both regions. But if something isn't going to be released across multiple regions, then region free would at worst be a small incremental boost to sales.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by Antonmassacre1

I don't even think I had to do that. If I remember correctly, I just went to .uk and used my .ca password. Everything I've ordered from the UK has been delivered about 3 times quicker than purchases from Barnes & Noble.

Then it's not a bother at all, and anyone who think so is making up excuses, I guess.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Joe Dalek

I don't think it's that Criterion is "aggressive" in that regard. They may have a policy to region-lock, I don't know, but the fact is that since they aren't a studio they don't own any of their titles, so the decision really isn't up to them.

I wonder if Criterion has a more active role in the region locking than we might sometimes think. They seem pretty averse in general to any kind of overseas commerce. They won't even ship replacement cases outside the US.

Maybe they just don't want the headaches (though that seems less and less likely as our global village shrinks) but maybe there are some tax or regulatory benefits to being completely domestic.

I'm sure they have to region lock a lot of their releases but I wonder if they choose to region lock the rest.

[P@t_Mtl]

I think (pure speculation here of course) that region lock is impose on Criterion. The way I see it I think they would always prefer to have region free since that would increase the sales. Criterion as a very good reputation on retoration (from most people) so a lot of customes from Europe or Asia would probably go for the Criterion version if it were available instead of another one.

Like I said, pure speculation on my part however.

[DetroitSquirreL]

Originally Posted by retablo

I don't understand why some people would consider it a "bother." I can order from Amazon UK just as easily as I can the US site. I guess if by bother you mean they have to take 5 minutes to make an account...

not even 5 minutes as your account info transfers over to the UK site when you just log in there

[blg]

Originally Posted by DetroitSquirreL

not even 5 minutes as your account info transfers over to the UK site when you just log in there

Yep, I order quite often from .ca, .uk, and .fr and don't understand why it would be a "bother" either. I still haven't picked up a region free player. There's a part of me that thinks I'm better off without one since not having one keeps me from spending even more money on region B movies.

[retablo]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think (pure speculation here of course) that region lock is impose on Criterion. The way I see it I think they would always prefer to have region free since that would increase the sales. Criterion as a very good reputation on retoration (from most people) so a lot of customes from Europe or Asia would probably go for the Criterion version if it were available instead of another one.

Like I said, pure speculation on my part however.

That brings up a question I don't know the answer to: does a worldwide license cost the same for a company like Criterion as just a Region 1 license?

[rkish]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

I think I just set a world record for the most patient customer in the history of online ordering

My Eclipse SIlent Naruse is here in my hands.

I place the order during the last B&N sale and yes I did receive an email from them that it would be delayed but they would send it to me as soon as it became available but three months

It's funny cause I order from Amazon.ca and I get it within 3-5 days.

I order from Amazon.com and Amazon.uk and I get it within 7-10 days.

I order from Hong Kong and I get it within 12-14 days.

I order from B&N and it's 30 days+

In any case I am use to it so I never really panic about it, I mostly find it funny now. Well just want to share it with you guys, I suppose I better go check the movies now after waiting so long.

Hey Pat! ENJOY the Silent Naruse...a great collection of films!

If you like those films (and I know you have a region free player), you should consider the BFI Naruse DVD set (still available). Unfortunately, the MoC Naruse set is OOP and you'll only find it on EBay for big bucks.

[DetroitSquirreL]

Originally Posted by blg

Yep, I order quite often from .ca, .uk, and .fr and don't understand why it would be a "bother" either. I still haven't picked up a region free player. There's a part of me that thinks I'm better off without one since not having one keeps me from spending even more money on region B movies.

I DO have a region free player

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by retablo

That brings up a question I don't know the answer to: does a worldwide license cost the same for a company like Criterion as just a Region 1 license?

That is a good question. I think only a person who as ever deal in these type of negotiation might now. It's possible studios might impose a higher fee for an International code since it prevent them from making a deal with another distributor somewhere else. I think a studio would prefer making multiple deal in order to make more money. One deal with Criterion might limit the amount of money they make. Unless studios get a cut for each sales of a Blu-ray made? If that is the case it does not matter.