Twilight Time Discussion Thread

[P@t_Mtl]

Nice cover for Lost Horizon. I hope that the 1937 one will be on Blu-ray soon as well, not enough Capra on Blu-ray

[vocalhouse]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Yes, i believe too Ranchipur will hold a lot.. And i can check regularly the copies left on Enemy Mine.
The thing is that until February, many TT releases will pile up, since I want to definitely buy Black Lagoon and Nicholas and ALexandra too..

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you check the number of copies left? Is the information available to anyone?

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by vocalhouse

Pardon my ignorance, but how do you check the number of copies left? Is the information available to anyone?

it has been answered a few times.
You put 3000 (or a larger number) in the quantity of the item in your cart (or wish list), press update and then you see the exact number of copies left!

[Lorenzol]

I'm in for the Blue Lagoon.

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by Lorenzol

I'm in for the Blue Lagoon.

Will the preorder be on 12th of November?

By the way, i wanted to ask:
is everyone ticking the registered mail option?
Because if you don't tick it, you don't get a refund in case the package is lost.
Now, I have made purchases from screenarchives 10-15 times, and I never had a problem, but now I'm thinking of making a purchase of over $100 and I'm afraid something may happen..

I wonder if anyone's package was lost anytime (with the unregistered mail)

[Lorenzol]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

Will the preorder be on 12th of November?

By the way, i wanted to ask:
is everyone ticking the registered mail option?
Because if you don't tick it, you don't get a refund in case the package is lost.
Now, I have made purchases from screenarchives 10-15 times, and I never had a problem, but now I'm thinking of making a purchase of over $100 and I'm afraid something may happen..

I wonder if anyone's package was lost anytime (with the unregistered mail)

Another board member has indicated that the pre-order might be up either on the 9th or 16th since it's always has been on a Friday.

I do the registered mail option since I'm in Canada and do not even want to think about if something happens with my delivery and the hassle I have to go through if it get lost.

[Dex Robinson]

Originally Posted by Lorenzol

I do the registered mail option since I'm in Canada and do not even want to think about if something happens with my delivery and the hassle I have to go through if it get lost.

Just remember that peace-of-mind can be very expensive.

I've had 11 Blu-rays mailed from SAE all using regular $4.60 First Class Mail and every one has arrived safely and in perfect condition.

The two registered mail options are $15.00 and $25.00. So, to date, I've saved almost $115.00 by using cheaper shipping. That's a lot of Blu-rays. The savings will buy you 3 more Twilight Time BDs shipped to Canada with $10.00 to spare.

I do appreciate that people get nervous about stuff in the mail but, having never lost a package to Canada in my life (54 years with my first mail order for a Batman telescope placed in 1966), I like the odds and I love the savings.

[vocalhouse]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

it has been answered a few times.
You put 3000 (or a larger number) in the quantity of the item in your cart (or wish list), press update and then you see the exact number of copies left!

Thanks filmmusic! I tried that and it seems hit and miss for some titles.

[Show spoiler]

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by vocalhouse

Thanks filmmusic! I tried that and it seems hit and miss for some titles.

[Show spoiler]

The cart is much less reliable than the wishlist. My wishlist shows 775 for BBC.

[filmmusic]

hmmm.. I don't know why it didn't work in Bell, Book and Candle.
It worked for me!
It shows me 775 copies left!

edit: Ok, as rdodolak says.
better put them in your wish list and see there..

(strange though, for ranchipur, it doesn't work. or noone has ordered a copy! :-)
Maybe it doesn't work for preorders)

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Just remember that peace-of-mind can be very expensive.

I've had 11 Blu-rays mailed from SAE all using regular $4.60 First Class Mail and every one has arrived safely and in perfect condition.

The two registered mail options are $15.00 and $25.00. So, to date, I've saved almost $115.00 by using cheaper shipping. That's a lot of Blu-rays. The savings will buy you 3 more Twilight Time BDs shipped to Canada with $10.00 to spare.

I do appreciate that people get nervous about stuff in the mail but, having never lost a package to Canada in my life (54 years with my first mail order for a Batman telescope placed in 1966), I like the odds and I love the savings.

Yeah, you can save as you say..
Well, i live in Greece and I dread the day that something might get lost..
(although as I've said, i've never used the registered mail option. And by the way, that option wasn't there from the start from what i remember.
Just the last 2 years or so I think)

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by filmmusic

it has been answered a few times.
You put 3000 (or a larger number) in the quantity of the item in your cart (or wish list), press update and then you see the exact number of copies left!

...except that trick doesn't always work, with some titles, it only works for awhile, and with others, not at all.

Coincidentally, I've been tracking all of TT's Blu-ray titles in my Cart/Wish List since the middle of September to see how SAE's remaining stock counter actually works, trying to answer the recurring question once and for all: "Are the SAE Cart/Wish List Totals Accurate?".

FWIW, here is what I've observed during that period, falling into 3 categories:

1. Apparently accurate countdown - from day one, starting at 3000, and steadily declining by regular, realistic amounts. In this category would be Enemy Mine, plus its companion release last month NOTLD90 (now sold out and no longer showing on the site). However, there are two variations on this type of count:
   a) automatic updating whenever the page is loaded/refreshed (e.g. The Egyptian and Demetrius and the Gladiators plus a few other titles).
   b) no updating until you manually click the "Update" button (e.g. Bye Bye Birdie and Bell, Book, and Candle, plus most other titles).
2. Intermittent countdown eventually stalling at an unrealistic number - for awhile, SAE's stock counter will *seem* to be working, but then one day just stops dead, usually at a suspect or unrealistic number. In this category would be The Big Heat (hasn't budged from 170), Rapture (hasn't budged from 297), and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (hasn't budged from 609). SAE has shown no action on any of these titles over the past month or so, and yet we know buyers right here who have purchased all or some during that same period. Furthermore, the counts for The Big Heat and Rapture are way below the threshold for a "500 remaining" message, if those counts were, in fact, true, which clearly, they are not.
3. No countdown at all - zero, zilch, zip movement, even from day one. The only titles in this category are the two current releases, The Rains of Ranchipur and Bonjour Tristesse. Doesn't matter what you do, even updating manually or re-adding them to your Cart/Wish List, both titles still show 3000...i.e. no sales. That kind of blows the theory that during the first month of pre-orders, you always get a Cart/Wish List count to prevent overselling the title. Although this was true for NOTLD90, it's just the opposite this month. Total fiction. Useless.

So...to anyone who might think that someone willing to track SAE cart behaviour clearly has too much time on his hands...well..."touché". I guess that's just one of the odd benefits/curses of semi-retirement.

However, for an IT vet with considerable experience in online/offline billing systems, there was also some professional curiosity driving this little experiment. I mean, we never seem to get through more than 3 pages here without someone asking for the umpteenth time how to 'game the cart', and someone else stating with great confidence "Just do this..." But it's all wishful thinking combined with an act of faith. Even during Redman's last visit, he admitted that the owners of TT themselves were not quite sure how it all worked. So this little SAE Cart/Wish List test might not be entirely without value.

What I learned, in black and white, via hard numbers over a 90 day period, was what whitesheik has claimed practically from the get-go: "SAE's cart is unreliable". Sometimes it works more or less correctly; but just as often it doesn't; and in some cases, not at all. For many titles, you can't even rely on it as a "guestimate"...because it's that far off.

SAE's Cart/Wish List easily wins my eCommerce "WONKY" award of the year.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by ROclockCK

...except that trick doesn't always work, with some titles, it only works for awhile, and with others, not at all.

Coincidentally, I've been tracking all of TT's Blu-ray titles in my Cart/Wish List since the middle of September to see how SAE's remaining stock counter actually works, trying to answer the recurring question once and for all: "Are the SAE Cart/Wish List Totals Accurate?".

FWIW, here is what I've observed during that period, falling into 3 categories:

1. Apparently accurate countdown - from day one, starting at 3000, and steadily declining by regular, realistic amounts. In this category would be Enemy Mine, plus its companion release last month NOTLD90 (now sold out and no longer showing on the site). However, there are two variations on this type of count:
   a) automatic updating whenever the page is loaded/refreshed (e.g. The Egyptian and Demetrius and the Gladiators plus a few other titles).
   b) no updating until you manually click the "Update" button (e.g. Bye Bye Birdie and Bell, Book, and Candle, plus most other titles).
2. Intermittent countdown eventually stalling at an unrealistic number - for awhile, SAE's stock counter will *seem* to be working, but then one day just stops dead, usually at a suspect or unrealistic number. In this category would be The Big Heat (hasn't budged from 170), Rapture (hasn't budged from 297), and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (hasn't budged from 609). SAE has shown no action on any of these titles over the past month or so, and yet we know buyers right here who have purchased all or some during that same period. Furthermore, the counts for The Big Heat and Rapture are way below the threshold for a "500 remaining" message, if those counts were, in fact, true, which clearly, they are not.
3. No countdown at all - zero, zilch, zip movement, even from day one. The only titles in this category are the two current releases, The Rains of Ranchipur and Bonjour Tristesse. Even when updating manually or by re-adding to your Cart/Wish List, both titles still show 3000...i.e. no sales. That kind of blows the theory that during the first month of pre-orders, you always get a Cart/Wish List count to prevent overselling the title. Although this was true for NOTLD90, it's just the opposite this month. Total fiction. Useless.

So...to anyone who might think that someone willing to track SAE cart behaviour clearly has too much time on his hands...well..."touché". I guess that's just one of the odd benefits/curses of semi-retirement.

However, for an IT vet with considerable experience in online/offline billing systems, there was also some professional curiosity driving this little experiment. I mean, we never seem to get through more than 3 pages here without someone asking for the umpteenth time how to 'game the cart', and someone else stating with great confidence "Just do this..." But it's all wishful thinking combined with act of faith. Even during Redman's last visit, he admitted that the owners of TT themselves were not quite sure how it all worked. So this little SAE Cart/Wish List test might not be entirely without value.

What I learned, in black and white, via hard numbers over a 90 day period, was what whitesheik has claimed practically from the get-go: "SAE's cart is unreliable". Sometimes it works more or less correctly; but just as often it doesn't; and in some cases, not at all. For many titles, you can't even rely on it as a "guestimate"...because it's that far off.

SAE's Cart/Wish List easily wins my eCommerce "WONKY" award of the year.

I agree with your observations and they seem to match mine, ROclockCK. In terms of point #2 I've noticed this can be an indication that SAE didn't have the full 3000 copies to begin with and they've since received additional inventory. For example, in terms of The Big Heat I'm showing 1023 copies remaining. Try updating the quantity to 3000, hit the update button, and you should see the new quantity. The Big Heat has been declining steadily since SAE received more inventory on that title. For Rapture I'm seeing 2266 copies in stock and 1502 copies for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

I agree with your observations and they seem to match mine, ROclockCK. In terms of point #2 I've noticed this can be an indication that SAE didn't have the full 3000 copies to begin with and they've since received additional inventory. For example, in terms of The Big Heat I'm showing 1023 copies remaining. Try updating the quantity to 3000, hit the update button, and you should see the new quantity. The Big Heat has been declining steadily since SAE received more inventory on that title. For Rapture I'm seeing 2266 copies in stock and 1502 copies for Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines.

You're absolutely right rdodolak. My original count from 3000 had totally stalled for all 3 of those titles, but when I did what you suggested, now suddenly TBH shows 1023, R 2266, and TMMITFM 1502. I guess that's one little mystery solved, and also further proof of something else whitesheik claimed, "Not all TT Blu-rays are in SAE's stock from day one."

As for point #3, this month's pre-orders for TROR and BT are still totally non-com...heck SAE's Cart/Wish List actually allowed me to enter 5000 units of both!

[EddieLarkin]

I haven't been on the SAE site for a while now, and maybe this has been discussed already, but has anyone noticed all the new Blu-rays on there?

Big selection of stuff from Kino, Olive and Flicker Alley. Some of it is overpriced compared to Amazon et al, but Flicker Alley's stuff can be gotten at a pretty decent rate. I'll be adding Most Dangerous Game and Trip to the Moon to my next TT order I think!

[filmmusic]

about point 2:
Where do you see the "500 remaining" message?

[filmmusic]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

I haven't been on the SAE site for a while now, and maybe this has been discussed already, but has anyone noticed all the new Blu-rays on there?

Big selection of stuff from Kino, Olive and Flicker Alley. Some of it is overpriced compared to Amazon et al, but Flicker Alley's stuff can be gotten at a pretty decent rate. I'll be adding Most Dangerous Game and Trip to the Moon to my next TT order I think!

yes, they made a deal with all those companies from what I've understood, and now these blurays can be purchased from SAE too.

[LucasM2012]

Originally Posted by EddieLarkin

...the SAE site....

"SAE"? Sorry, I'm kinda' new around these parts, so I don't know what that site is. Some help, please? Thank you!

[ROclockCK]

Originally Posted by LucasM2012

"SAE"? Sorry, I'm kinda' new around these parts, so I don't know what that site is. Some help, please? Thank you!

SAE = Screen Archives Entertainment, the exclusive distributor for Twilight Time's catalogue.

[Belloche]

Originally Posted by Dex Robinson

Just remember that peace-of-mind can be very expensive.

I've had 11 Blu-rays mailed from SAE all using regular $4.60 First Class Mail and every one has arrived safely and in perfect condition.

The two registered mail options are $15.00 and $25.00. So, to date, I've saved almost $115.00 by using cheaper shipping. That's a lot of Blu-rays. The savings will buy you 3 more Twilight Time BDs shipped to Canada with $10.00 to spare.

I do appreciate that people get nervous about stuff in the mail but, having never lost a package to Canada in my life (54 years with my first mail order for a Batman telescope placed in 1966), I like the odds and I love the savings.

I agree, I've had hundreds of packages shipped across borders and have never lost one. The math just doesn't work out for the extra cost.