WHo reviews all the new BR movies on this site?

[mj79]

Always pretty good in depth reviews with a good rating system, just wondering if anyone on the board is the actual reviewer

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by mj79

Always pretty good in depth reviews with a good rating system, just wondering if anyone on the board is the actual reviewer

I believe that there is a group of individuals that handle the reviews. It isn't just one person in particular. I review for a website myself and it would be an impossible task for one lone individual to handle that type of content in-flow. A proper review of any specific title takes anywhere from 6 to 20 hours when all special features, audio commentaries, and the writing of the review itself comes into the equation.

It's not as glamourous as everyone thinks. Especially if you don't get first pick of the material that you will be reviewing!

[DMC86X]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I believe that there is a group of individuals that handle the reviews. It isn't just one person in particular. I review for a website myself and it would be an impossible task for one lone individual to handle that type of content in-flow. A proper review of any specific title takes anywhere from 6 to 20 hours when all special features, audio commentaries, and the writing of the review itself comes into the equation.

It's not as glamourous as everyone thinks. Especially if you don't get first pick of the material that you will be reviewing!

Do you get paid for being a reviewer?? Theres no way I would do it for free.

[dvdwatcher]

Originally Posted by DMC86X

Do you get paid for being a reviewer?? Theres no way I would do it for free.

I don't believe anyone online gets paid to write a review they do it to improve their skills.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by DMC86X

Do you get paid for being a reviewer?? Theres no way I would do it for free.

No pay for me. I'm not sure about reviewers on sites such as this with higher levels of exposure.

Originally Posted by dvdwatcher

I don't believe anyone online gets paid to write a review they do it to improve their skills.

I don't do it to improve my skills... I do it to share my love for film and for the free Blu-rays!

[mj79]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

No pay for me. I'm not sure about reviewers on sites such as this with higher levels of exposure.



I don't do it to improve my skills... I do it to share my love for film and for the free Blu-rays!

perfect reason

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I believe that there is a group of individuals that handle the reviews. It isn't just one person in particular. I review for a website myself and it would be an impossible task for one lone individual to handle that type of content in-flow. A proper review of any specific title takes anywhere from 6 to 20 hours when all special features, audio commentaries, and the writing of the review itself comes into the equation.

It's not as glamourous as everyone thinks. Especially if you don't get first pick of the material that you will be reviewing!

Originally Posted by mj79

perfect reason

Not always a perfect reason. As I stated in my previous post (which I quoted in this response) it takes a lot of time to review one Blu-ray. When taking that into consideration, in the best case scenario, I spend 6 hours reviewing one film on Blu-ray. At an hourly wage based on the price of a Blu-ray disc, that works out to approximately $5/hr. Obviously that fluctuates based on how many extra features are included and the varying prices of the releases themselves. I've broken it down to $2/hr on some occasions. However, by comparison, I make upwards of $15/hr at work for my time. Sometimes I just feel better spending the money and not having to put all of the effort into it...... ESPECIALLY IF I DON'T GET FIRST PICK OF THE MATERIAL TO BE REVIEWED. My Editor-In-Chief obviously keeps all of the major blockbusters for himself.

P.S. The above value calculations are based on Canadian retail pricing and wages. $30 is the average retail price of a new release BD and $8/hr is minimum wage for any employment opportunity.

[EvilshenaniganZ]

Well to the person/people behind the reviews I have been through on this sight------
Thanks! I really have enjoyed this site the few months I have been on. Lots of great info and good place to blow off time.

[DrrnHarr]

I used to review movies and DVDs for a major newspaper chain and I can attest to the points made by Petra Kalbrain. I remember it took me a whole weekend to do proper justice to a review of a season for one particular television series.

Imagine trying to plow through all the featurettes, commentaries, and a fair share of the actual episodes of a television series you have no interest in.

Thankfully I did get paid for writing the reviews and did get to keep the DVDs.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by mj79

Always pretty good in depth reviews with a good rating system, just wondering if anyone on the board is the actual reviewer

The reviewer's name is listed at the top of each review. I beleive there are 6 reviewers on Blu-ray.com, but I'm not 100% sure.

John

[kamiller42]

Most only worry about reviews at blu-ray.com is bias. Would they rate a movie higher than it should be because it's on blu and wish to do-no-harm to blu-ray? Even if it's just half a point, that would be wrong.

My worry is probably unwarranted. I just need to take the time to compare their reviews with some of the movies I have and compare what they say with what I see.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Originally Posted by kamiller42

Most only worry about reviews at blu-ray.com is bias. Would they rate a movie higher than it should be because it's on blu and wish to do-no-harm to blu-ray? Even if it's just half a point, that would be wrong.

My worry is probably unwarranted. I just need to take the time to compare their reviews with some of the movies I have and compare what they say with what I see.

If anything, the reviewers here tend to be very critical (and rightly so) when it comes to PQ and AQ.

[aramis109]

Originally Posted by kamiller42

Most only worry about reviews at blu-ray.com is bias. Would they rate a movie higher than it should be because it's on blu and wish to do-no-harm to blu-ray? Even if it's just half a point, that would be wrong.

My worry is probably unwarranted. I just need to take the time to compare their reviews with some of the movies I have and compare what they say with what I see.

Who's "most"? I have never worried about that. We're all here because we love the format, but when something is screwed up you definitely see it all over the website. Hell, just take a look at the Gladiator review and threads for that.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by Petra_Kalbrain

I believe that there is a group of individuals that handle the reviews. It isn't just one person in particular. I review for a website myself and it would be an impossible task for one lone individual to handle that type of content in-flow. A proper review of any specific title takes anywhere from 6 to 20 hours when all special features, audio commentaries, and the writing of the review itself comes into the equation.

Some films might take a very long time to get through (especially ones with multiple cuts, multiple commentaries, etc.), but most don't have anywhere near the special features to warrant it taking very long. And those write-ups aren't very long either. No offense intended, the reviews are good and all, I just don't see how it could take as long as all of that to write about the material. Couple hours for viewing material and couple hours for writing is all I'd expect is necessary.

TV series box sets are a whole other thing, though. I could buy 20+ hours on one of those easily.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

Some films might take a very long time to get through (especially ones with multiple cuts, multiple commentaries, etc.), but most don't have anywhere near the special features to warrant it taking very long. And those write-ups aren't very long either. No offense intended, the reviews are good and all, I just don't see how it could take as long as all of that to write about the material. Couple hours for viewing material and couple hours for writing is all I'd expect is necessary.

TV series box sets are a whole other thing, though. I could buy 20+ hours on one of those easily.

2-4 hours to watch a movie and extras + a couple hours to write the review = around 6 hours.
Isn't that what Petra said?
I think he's saying 6 hours is the minimum, fairly bare bones release, whereas 20 hours would be the high side for something with tons of special features and commentary. Considering that many people are wondering if an upgrade over the DVD is in order, the special features have to be reviewed and given as much consideration as the movie and PQ/AQ.

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

Some films might take a very long time to get through (especially ones with multiple cuts, multiple commentaries, etc.), but most don't have anywhere near the special features to warrant it taking very long. And those write-ups aren't very long either. No offense intended, the reviews are good and all, I just don't see how it could take as long as all of that to write about the material. Couple hours for viewing material and couple hours for writing is all I'd expect is necessary.

TV series box sets are a whole other thing, though. I could buy 20+ hours on one of those easily.

But, to do the material justice, some titles have 3 audio commentaries. That's watching the film 4 times! That's 8 hours right there before any other extra features and the writing itself. Even with 2 commentaries, that's 6 hours. And a lot of releases come with 2 commentaries. I've heard of reviewers that only listen to 10 minutes of the commentaries and judge the quality based on those 10 minutes alone. But, I can't justify my opinion based on such a small portion of the track. I feel compelled to listen to the whole track for the sake of those reading my reviews.

It is still a very time consuming process no matter how little there appears to be on the release. Remember too that most "average Joes" don't even consider watching certain types of special features. They don't take the full experience into account when thinking about the review process. I know people that literally don't see "commentaries" listed on packaging or in menus because they would never listen to them. They have literally trained themselves unconsciously to ignore their existence.

Next time you get a 2-disc special edition (NOT INCLUDING 2nd DISC AS A DIGITAL COPY) of a BD you really like, I dare you to take the reviewers challenge and spark it up as though you had to critique EVERY millisecond of footage/information on the discs. You will see how time consuming it really is.

[aramis109]

Seriously, if you think anyone is watching every single commentary and every single special feature all the way through when they review it...

It ain't happenin'. At best I bet most folks glance through most of the special features and commentary tracks. I personally only expect them to watch the entire feature and check out the audio tracks.

[kamiller42]

Originally Posted by aramis109

Who's "most"? I have never worried about that. We're all here because we love the format, but when something is screwed up you definitely see it all over the website. Hell, just take a look at the Gladiator review and threads for that.

Most is the official survey I took. It included me, myself, and I. It was 3 out of 3 surveyed who worry.

Seriously, "most" was supposed to be "My."

As I said in my post, it's just an irrational fear of bias.