Quality of Blu-ray movie releases going down?

[moviebooked]

Maybe it is just me, but when I compare my older blu-rays to my more recent ones today, it seems quality control among the distributors is going down and creativity is gone.
For example: it seems all the warner bros films these days have the same bland menu on all their new films and the special features are slim to none
A lot of my blu-rays from earlier have hours of special features, nice menus and play/pause visuals. Even the blu-ray disc art that used to be nice and visual are now just a template that distributors use to stamp on the movie name. What happened to the early days of blu-ray when distributors actually put in the effort with their releases? Is it the pressure to release films sooner from theaters or is it just cost cutting?

[Sky_Captain]

Cost cutting in a response to people that refuse to pay more than $10 for anything, or are happy to stream.

[xander]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Cost cutting in a response to people that refuse to pay more than $10 for anything, or are happy to stream.

This. The endless brigade of members here who "will wait until it hits the bargain bin" have won, now everything is designed for the bargain bin.

Congrats?

[lilboyblu]

You guys must not buy Warner Archives Collection discs? Quality on those have consistently improved. Same with Arrow, Shout, and Criterion.

[klauswhereareyou]

Most catalog releases from non-specialty labels have been pretty much devoid of extras for years now.

[thatguamguy]

If simplified menus makes discs cheaper for the consumer, why would anybody want more complicated menus? What's the gain that makes it worth paying extra for?

[Batmon77]

I like great menu presentation as well as clean Criterion no frills menus, but what really gets me are half-assed extras.

Forced & faked Gag Reels need to disappear.

2 minute interviews stacked together are useless as well.

[solaris72]

Originally Posted by thatguamguy

If simplified menus makes discs cheaper for the consumer, why would anybody want more complicated menus? What's the gain that makes it worth paying extra for?

Ditto with play/pause visuals. A/V and substantive special features are really the only things I care about.

[MifuneFan]

I don't think I've ever really been impressed by Warner's menus, nor Universal's for that matter. They seem dated, and a little clunky, but still serviceable enough. I do think the phenomena of getting less and less robust releases is partly a product of the life cycle of the format. I'm pretty sure the same kind of thing happened with DVD's too.

The industry has shifted to boutique labels predominantly now (for catalog titles that is), so we, for the most part, are still seeing some quality releases coming out from Arrow, Criterion, Kino, TT, Indicator, etc.

[The Great Owl]

I'm about 15 years past the point where I used to be captivated by elaborate menus, Easter eggs, back-slapping making-of documentaries, and deleted scenes.

As as wise person once said, "Ain't nobody got time for that."

These days, I'm happy to see a BD-50 with the space maxed out by the movie itself.

[Batmon77]

I popped in a BD recently and was asked if I wanted to upgrade BD Live???

[Gargus]

Originally Posted by xander

This. The endless brigade of members here who "will wait until it hits the bargain bin" have won, now everything is designed for the bargain bin.

Congrats?

Im good with it.

I don't need tons of bonus material, fancy packaging, booklets, fully remastered from the original negatives and fully tweaked everything. I don't care about that stuff.

As long as the picture and sound is good then I'm happy. I don't need "definitive editions" of everything, all I want to do is watch the movie and enjoy it. And to me I'd rather see the movie sooner and pay less vs paying more and waiting 6 months or a year longer.

Like for instance Christine. The audio and video were solid, the best looking version yet and it had a affordable price. I've watched it twice since I bought and I'm happy with it. Don't care about extras and if it had them and came out at 25 or 30 bucks I wouldn't have bought it.

Or popcorn. I don't have any desire for a steelbook or the stuff that made it like 50 bucks. I can't afford that so I had to pass on it. All I want is to have the movie.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by moviebooked

Maybe it is just me, but when I compare my older blu-rays to my more recent ones today, it seems quality control among the distributors is going down and creativity is gone.
For example: it seems all the warner bros films these days have the same bland menu on all their new films and the special features are slim to none
A lot of my blu-rays from earlier have hours of special features, nice menus and play/pause visuals. Even the blu-ray disc art that used to be nice and visual are now just a template that distributors use to stamp on the movie name. What happened to the early days of blu-ray when distributors actually put in the effort with their releases? Is it the pressure to release films sooner from theaters or is it just cost cutting?

What is it with people always complaining about Warner's "bland menus"? Who cares? They're clean, simple and functional. I don't have to move around looking for different options like half the DVD menus used to make me do. In contrast, I like the fact that Warner's releases don't automatically play the movie like they used to. I like putting the disc in and grabbing snacks or drinks, or going for a quick bathroom visit while all the FBI warnings and crap play. It's nice getting back to see the movie all cued up and ready to go instead of having to flip back to the beginning because the movie has already started.

[ArrestedDevelopment]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

Cost cutting in a response to people that refuse to pay more than $10 for anything, or are happy to stream.

Originally Posted by xander

This. The endless brigade of members here who "will wait until it hits the bargain bin" have won, now everything is designed for the bargain bin.

Congrats?

What's wrong with wanting to pay lower prices? The only way a lot of us can build collections and maintain our hobbies is by penny pinching and taking advantage of sales.

Hell, the cost of goods and services in Canada compared to the US equates to overall higher prices. All of our new blu-ray releases are priced $5 higher than the USA's standard $19.99 day one prices. I can't justify paying $24.99 for a movie on day one of it's release, especially if I've seen it one or more times in theaters.

[Batmon77]

Originally Posted by ArrestedDevelopment

What's wrong with wanting to pay lower prices? The only way a lot of us can build collections and maintain our hobbies is by penny pinching and taking advantage of sales.

[baheidstu]

Originally Posted by Batmon77

People have been purchasing items at discounted prices in sales for decades. The reason B&M record and entertainment store are going bust is a result of the boom in streaming of both music and movies, as well as people shifting towards online purchasing.

[steve_dave]

Warner's menus are better than Universal International's pictogram menus. As for the supplementary packages: talent availability, unions, contracts, and now sadly, brand/talent reputation dictate quality.

[klauswhereareyou]

Anybody think the simplified menus may be in response to some players glitching freezing on the menus of various studios and labels discs? If a movie only has as a trailer as an extra, I don't really need elaborate menus. Heck when I pop in a lot of my older dvds and see how cheesy some of the menus are I wish they weren't there!

[ArrestedDevelopment]

Originally Posted by Batmon77

[Show spoiler]

[dcfan88]

I don't mind menus being basic and if the special features are decent I don't mind if there are few.
What I do hate is that not all movies and TV shows are getting Blu-ray releases.