26 minutes ago, Catgirl said:

Platzierung	Land	gesetzliche Feiertage
9	Schweiz	4
8	Vereinigtes Königreich	8
7	Deutschland	9
7	Irland	9
7	Niederlande	9
6	Belgien	10
6	Frankreich	10
6	Mazedonien	10
6	Griechenland	10
6	Luxemburg	10

 

https://www.fti.de/blog/allgemein/feiertage-europa/

 

Okey. DAS ist es mir nicht wert. Nur ein Tag mehr? No, merci. Je ne suis pas francais. You French are as worse as we!

Wo gibt's denn noch mehr Feiertage? War nicht irgendwas mit Schweden wo sie, weil's im Winter immer so dunkel ist, im Sommer alle Kollektiv die Sommermonate frei haben, oder so? Blöd nur: Je ne parle pas suiede

We are the Borg....

Pour le petit dejeune, je mange le baguette avec le fromage et un vin blanc. Et pour dejeune, un soup de Froschschenkel, s'il vous plait!

9 minutes ago, icewire said:

Solange du nicht nach Frankreich umziehst, ist alles gut 🤣

Pourquoise no? Je parle un pettite peu francais, ce n'est pas problem. J'adore les pain au chocolat et les croissants, aussi!

Aber im ernst: Kommt auf die Feiertage an. Für so nen Monat mehr frei, als hier im besten Feiertagsbundesland könnt ich mir das französische Leben schon über mich ergehen lassen. Als Informatiker sitz ich eh nur vor dem Rechner, und wenn ich dann feierabend hab, mach ich hier weiter mit dem vor'm rechner sitzen. Das passt schon  

13 minutes ago, RAK said:

@pygospa @CAYENNE-FAHRER are you saying if I order one it’s a crap shoot which one I get. I may not get the one I ordered?

We don't know yet. All that I know (read also the other thread) is that Amazon shipped out the wrong cover. They apparently got the ones that where supposed to be the Media Markt/Saturn ones. I don't know if they are still sending out, or if they stopped, how many they send out already, and if all the people getting the wrong Cover are returning them (at least one guy on Facebook stated he didn't care, and opened his up to make pictures, etc.). It could affect the MediaMarkt/Saturn Cover C orders (because they must have gotten Cover A then). Cover B should be unaffected. I would think that MediaMarkt and Amazon will switch their stocks, if Amazon didn't screw that up too hard already (i.e. send out all the Cover Cs and didn't get all of them back from customers). So we can just wait and hope that everything goes well! Worst case scenario: Everyone who ordered Cover A will get Cover C and vice versa. Cover B should be unaffected. But who knows. Maybe they'll reprint the missing covers. We'll see. Up to now, everything beyond "Amazon customers getting the wrong cover" is still speculation.

1 minute ago, Ripper said:

Gute Einstellung! Und nächste Woche ist ja auch schon wieder ein Feiertag👍

Öhm... wir haben da keinen!? Der nächste Feiertag wäre hier der 03.10., aber das ist leider ein Samstag. Genau so der darauffolgende 31.10. (wieder ein Samstag). Und dann kommt bei uns nurnoch der 1. und 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag - und rate mal: Richtig! Freitag + Samstag.

Sprich für dieses Jahr sind wir hier in Bremen durch mit den freien Tagen zwischendrin Ich muss echt mal in ein anderes Bundesland ziehen! Den nächsten Umzug mach ich nicht nach dem Job, oder wo die Freundin grad hinmuss etc. Nein. Der nächste Umzug wird nach Anzahl der Feiertage entschieden!

*seufsz* Sonntag = letzter freier Tag. Woche Urlaub ist schon um, so ein mist. Naja, ich lass mir den Sonntag trotzdem nicht vermiesen.

Same for me. I would have gotten Cover A if I wouldn't own the Zavvi Steelbook. But I do, and I love it, especially because it looks so excellent, using the different design possibilities that Steelbooks offer (the moon is fully reflective, the background is partly reflective and unsharp, while the foreground is unreflective and sharp, giving a wonderfull 3D illusion). I don't think the Mediabook in the same design can beat that. I loved the design of the "flimsy digibook" though, so I was thrilled for that Mediabook design. I was a bit hesitant and wanted to wait for in hand pictures/unboxings first, due to it not being one of the well known excellent Mediabook labels, but rather a major label that often release the greatest disappointments. But, well... I didn't I don't have the space for any figures, but I'd love to see them, so please share them, if you find them

@Grendel I think you should be fine. I explained it here and in the other thread: Saturn/MediaMarkt had postponed the release date, so I guess they haven't send their packages out yet, maybe they even checked the parcels they received? But anyhow, to me it looks like they mixed up the Covers A and Covers C - especially as Universal stated that all three covers were produced (so they did not change the design or anything). Cover C is the one that all the Amazon customers are getting right now, where they should have been getting Cover A, so probably somewhere in the Logistic chains someone exidentally routed all the Cover C Mediabooks to Amazon and all the Cover As to MediaMarkt/Saturn.

Cover B should therefore - hopefully - not be affected by this. I myself also ordered a Cover B, and up to now there was no delivery update from MediaMarkt. As Cover B buyers, I wouldn't worry too much, yet

Are there any international buyers for this one? If so, and if you need help (e.g. translating mails from/to the German Amazon help service, or anything). Please let us know. Maybe I or other German users of this forum can help :)

It's still hidden and needs to be checked by an admin/moderator, but once it's permitted, here is an update on the situation. Most interesting for you guys: There is an official statement from Universal that all three Covers exist, non have been cancelled, and this is probably an logistics error. What I'm wondering is, what will happen with all those editions that Amazon customers do not return. If it is sold out at MediaMarkt / Saturn (I don't know if it is, but the Amazon cover is on Amazon), then this should be a problem. On facebook some guys have already opened their order and stated that they don't care and are keeping theirs...

Hope this will not be a problem, and that everybody here gets what he/she ordered. Fingers are crossed for you, guys!
 

There's an Update on the situation, as the site collectors-junkies.com posted:

Quote

Update: Die ersten Mediabook Editionen wurden bereits von Amazon ausgeliefert. Wie einige Leute berichten, stellt sich jedoch heraus, das es sich nicht um das erwartetet "Cover A" sondern um "Cover C" handelt, welches bislang gar nicht über Amazon angeboten wurde. Bislang waren Cover B und C nur über MediaMarkt und Saturn bestellbar.

Wo genau der Fehler liegt, lässt sich aktuell noch nicht sagen. Seitens UPHE (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) existieren nach wie vor alle 3 Cover Varianten und keine davon wurde offiziell gecancelt.

Eine Möglichkeit wäre, das Amazon das falsche Cover geliefert bekommen hat und den Artikel, ohne darauf zu achten, für den Versand freigab.

Translation (by me):

Update: The first Mediabook editions are already shipped by Amazon. But according to many people, it's not the expected "Cover A", but "Cover C" which wasn't even offered by Amazon. Covers B and C where only available via MediaMarkt and Saturn.

The reason for this error isn't known yet. But according to UPHE (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) all three Covers are existant and non of the covers where officially cancelled.

A possibility for the current situation could be that Amazon got the wrong Cover, and send it out without checking what it is that they are sending out.

Quote

Update 2: Die direkte Antwort-Nachricht von Amazon:

"Der Fehler ist nicht bekannt und habe auch gerade nachgefragt es muss ein Fehler im Lager vorgekommen sein, durch die Abteilung habe ich es weitergegeben so bald es wieder verfügbar ist, wird so weitergegeben wie es beschrieben ist.
Es tut mir sehr leid, dass solch ein Fehler vorgekommen ist.

Kunden können die Erstattung beantragen in dem Sie sich mit den Bestellnummer bei uns melden."

Translation (by me - this time it's a bit harder to translate because the guy answering this is using wrong grammar and wording in German, so I am not entirely sure what he is trying to say - I'll try to be as accurate to the wrong German grammar as possible, so it's wrong in English as well, but you can try to figure out the different possibilities of meanings without me interpreting it the one way [and he meaning the other]):

Update 2: The direct Response from Amazon:

The error is unknown and I have been asking around it must be an error in the warehouse, through the departments I have shared as soon as it is available again, will be handed on as described.
I am sorry, that such an error has happened.

Customers can claim a refund by contacting us with the ordering number.

Btw. there is no information yet on why this is happening. Maybe it's just a logistics mixup and Amazon got the paracels that where supposed to go to Media Markt/Saturn. Maybe, they just changed the covers without information. Maybe there are only two covers, or maybe even just this one? We'll probably find out soon. I'll keep you posted, as soon as there is something new on this.

There is something really strange going on here. Media Markt/Saturn delayed their releases, Amazon is already sending thier edition out. HOWEVER, it's not what you are getting when you ordered via Amazon. Instead you are getting the second Cover of the Media Markt/Saturn release. There is no Information yet, on why this is the case. Maybe there was a mixup in the logistics and Amazon got the packages that where supposed to go to Media Markt/Saturn? Maybe there is no Amazon exclusive Cover? This is, for sure, messed up, as there is - up to this time - no official information on what is going on. I'll keep you posted as soon as there is something more. This is - as of now - only FYI for you, as you are not directly affected (at least up to now).
 

_WARNING!_

It was announced that there are three artworks, and artwork A is the Amazon exclusive one, and B+C Media Markt/Saturn exclusives. While Media Markt/Saturn delayed their releases, Amazon is sending out these ones and the first are getting their releases already, BUT apparently, this Amazon exclusive artwork is not being send out by Amazon 😡 I haven't ordered it, but a few people on social media are pissed, as they ordered this supposedly amazon exclusive cover artwork, but in the end, what they got was this; even though Amazon is still listing Artwork A and there was no information that the Artwork would be changing (pictures not by me, but found on socila media):

Hey Criterion Lovers. Not sure if you know this, but there is a Criterion Sale on Zavvi right now. You get 2 for £25, which allows you to save from £6,50 to up to £12 (and same of course in Dollars and Euro). So after sharing this with you, here is my question: Out of these titles which would you recommend to get?

Here's a top 10 list I found on YouTube:

• Only Angels Have Wings
• Les Diabolique
• Cat People
• Dreams
• It Happened One Night
• Stalker
• Desert Hearts
• Tampopo
• Death in Venice
• Kiss Me Deadly

I already watched the trailers to all of these, plus to a few that I found interesting (due to them being from Japan), but here's what I was considering:

• Ugetsu
• Stalker
• Les Diabolique
• Tampopo
• Kiss Me Deadly
• Cat People

What do you think? Good titles? Titles you would warn me about? Any good titles I am missing that I should definately get from this sale? Happy to hear your thoughts - this would be my first Criterion order :)

So much is happening here! I am not sure if I manage to answer everything I'll do a multi-quote to not forget anything

12 hours ago, Grendel said:

I'll respond to your Haunted Palace review in a bit pygospa but wanted to append some comments first to the 4K and Region Free discussions.

I can totally empathize with your rationale on delaying adoption of 4K as I find myself in similar circumstance.

I currently have a fair investment in my entertainment media equipment and have no desire to upgrade fully functioning machines just yet.

I have a Panasonic 3D / 65in television, an HD Yamaha Receiver for picture/sound pass through to TV and surround system and 2 Panasonic Blu-ray players, one Region A, the other Region ALL.

That's a fair amount of coin already but then also as you mentioned, I have a collection of about 3000 films in Blu-ray (about 2 dozen in 4K) that serve me well enough.

I'm also a bit long in the tooth and my vision has deteriorated over the past 10 years where the benefits of the improved resolution would not be either noticed nor appreciated.

So, like you, I'm in no hurry to 'upgrade', heh.

It's nice to hear that you can relate. Unfortunately most people cannot, and think that I am stupid for not going 4K. But as you can see, I've actually spend a lot of time thinking about it, and I even took a yardstick to a Media Markt and tested out different screen resolutions and sizes with the distance that I have at home, to see if and how these things would change. The only thing that I could actually see a difference in is the brightness of color, but even that rather depends on the technology of the TV (LED, QLED, OLED, etc.) rather than it's resolution. I do believe that it will be visible if you have a UHD vs a BD in direct comparisson, and I know that there are people who actually also see a different on a FullHD TV if the source is either UHD or BD. But I cannot - I tried it with my XBox and one of the 4K discs I own, and there is no difference. I guess it's more a psychological thing and I'd also love to get a new TV just because it's a new TV and mine is really old (approximately 10 years?), so it's definitely going to die rather sooner than later. But as long as it still works...

12 hours ago, Grendel said:

Now, I cannot champion the benefit of having a player that handles all region coding highly enough (I actually started with them in the dvd era).

Far too often in the past was I dismayed to see an outstanding edition being offered in another country that would be pointless to purchase, so in order to get the film, I'd need to settle on a mundane amaray cased offer. In some cases, the film wasn't even available in North America. I had to fix that dilemma pronto.

 

As to which is the better route to go, a different Region player or an ALL region player, the choice comes down to availability and reliability for each of us.

I am fortunate in the respect that in NA, we have a few, fully licenced dealers that sell modified players capable of region all play.

I've purchased 2 from "220 Electronics" in the USA. Both Panasonic and both still functioning impeccably.

I'm right now in the market for a 3rd, that I intend to send to my children, who live in Florida.

I do not know for certain what their shipping restrictions are (they state they ship worldwide though) but here's a link regardless for you.

At the very least, it will provide you a significant amount of info to read as to what exists on the market for these machines, 🙂;

Link: 220 Electronics:

https://www.220-electronics.com/

note: they also provide an international phone number (top of their page) and they have been quite cordial with me in the past when I deluged them with questions on the phone.

Thank you for the tipp. I looked them up and the cheapest model is 99$, and factoring in the weak US Dollar (I'm so sorry, but I love it, when that happens ), it's even cheaper (more than 10€ off that number). So including shipping (I guess) I would be around 100€ for a player, that's a great deal. And if they really work as good as you say, this is definitely a consideration. I'll ponder on this one. Thing is, I don't need Region C, and I got rid of all my non-region 2 DVDs, so I am not looking for that either - so all in all, a cheap Region A would be sufficient. Then again, having multiple devices and the need to predecide if the disc goes in this device or in that... I see myself doing it wrong all the time, and be pissed (yes that is as first-world-problem as you can get, I guess, but that's actually a factor I need to consider as well 🤪).

12 hours ago, Grendel said:

Purchasing a different region's player (i.e. an NA one in your case) and a power converter is of course the other option. However, you will need to ensure if you go that route, that either the player or your television, can adapt the signal from NTSC to PAL. Region ALL players are designed to do it on the fly, so ensure that whatever you purchase can do so as well, it's not just the voltage that is a concern.

Uhm... isn't this problem done with digital TV and the HDMI standard? At least I thought so. PAL and NTSC used to be different frame rates plus the question of interlacing vs. fixed images - if I remember correctly, NTSC used higher framerates + interlacing, while PAL had lower uninterlaced frames. These used to be fixed on TVs and VHS-Sets, but also Blu-ray. But having FullHD, TVs and players need to be able to do both, as there is  720/1080p and 720/1080i with different framerates and interlaced/uninterlaced. At least, that's what I always thought...

But thanks for the pointer, I'd probably spend some time reseraching this, before making a wrong decision

10 hours ago, Grendel said:

Indicator has been doing an absolutely incredible job, putting together box sets of some lesser known Hammer gems but not yet the biggest titles (i.e. Horror of Dracula / Curse Of Frankenstein / The Mummy) due to licenses held by Studio Canal and sigh, Mill Creek. Indicator just released Box 5 with no signs of slowing down yet...🙂

 

Mind, Hammer made more than just "Dark Fantasy" films like Dracula. They made a number of thrilling adventure films as well that don't receive the same amount of love as the considered 'classics' . Indicator is making great strides in correcting that oversight!

 

Regardless, some Studio Canal releases and the ones from Shock Entertainment (Australian) are quite decent, so I purchased them as well.

 

Below is an OLD pic from my collection gallery here of my Hammer collection.

I do need to update it though, as I've made a few purchases since that was taken, heh.

 

 

note: The large "Dracula" box, contains a 12 in. figure of Lee as Count Dracula, licenced by Hammer ( a wee bit pricey to track down today)

note 2: some of the boxed eds are brimming with nice releases!

- Hammer Film Edition (top left) from Studio Canal Germany (English friendly) 7 films

- Hammer Horror (black box with gold lettering, far right) from Shock Ent (Australia) has 17 films in it

- The Hammer Collection (black box red lettering furthest right) from Studio Canal, U.K. has 21 films!-

- The Indicator sets (UK) each contain 4 films and a plethora of extras!

- Hammer Horror (flat, left) by Universal, holds 8 films

- Hammer Horror Classics (flat, far right) by Warner Bros has 4 films

- Hammer House of Horror ( flat, front centre) holds the TV anthology series.

 

p.s. when time permits I'll take a quick pic of my Hammer books as well (oh and yes, that's a real stuffed cobra you see far left rising outta the basket of leaves) 🥰

 

Wow, that's a really beautiful collection, you've got there. Lovely! To go far afield: As a kid I was a vampire fanatic, and I loved reading and watching everything vampire related. So obviously I stumbled upon these Dracula movies by Christopher Lee. Now, I cannot remember which where the ones I watched and which I hadn't (I am pretty sure Dracula A.D. 1972 was among them). But that was about it. I never saw all of those Hammer movies, only the Dracula one (which I guess in Germany where the most famous. I cannot remember any of the others running on FreeTV, at least the Vampire ones I would have watched, if I had catched them). So I didn't even know what the Hammer sutdios where. I just stumbled upon these due to the fact that I met people who loved the Anolis releases and who where always talking about them and hoping for another release soon, and speculating which titles could be coming next. And because of this, I looked Hammer up, realized that it had these Dracula movies that I totally forgot about, and though: Why not give them a try? The first one I got was "The Vampire Lovers", and to be quite honest: I didn't like it too much, thinking to my self: Well, I tried, maybe this isn't for me. Then I started watching the extras, and a funny thing happend: This movie got more and more interesting to me, the more I found out about the background, the problems they had, the things they tried to convey, the tricks they used to pass things past the British censor office. I watched it once more and this time, seeing it with a different perspective, it was more interesting and fascinating.

I could have gotten any of the German boxsets, and it would have saved me a ton of money (with ~30€ per title, all of them cost a lot of money as it is, but a couple of them where rather hard to track down, and set me back quite a bit), but I decided to go just for the Anolis releases, due to this special experience I had with this first title. So up to this date I just got the Anolis releases, because they come with all these extras and every movie you watch is not just the movie, it's an entire evening, that you can spend with a couple of audio commentaries, the text in the booklet, plus all the interviews and featurettes. It's like a small lecture on one of these titles. And that's what I really love about these releases, and what I would miss on any of those Boxsets. However, that's probably not true for Indicator. And to be quite honest: I have eyeballing these releases for a while now, as they also don't have this focus on Horror that Anolis has, but go through the entire program; I only heard about Indicator a few months ago and never knew them before. Unfortunately the first of the Hammer boxsets was already sold out, so where a couple of titles that I would have gotten without a second thought (e.g. Christine, Vampires, Night of the Demon, See No Evil,  Happy Birthday to me, Sinbad-Box). So I am a bit hesitant, because I know myself. When I get into it, I get into it for good, and try to hunt those titles down - and prices that these titles are sold for on the second market are absurd. But yeah, I'd probably get those Hammer box sets sooner or later.

Maybe you can shed some light on the extras? I think that would be worth it's own thread maybe in the UK-Section forum. I'd love to see more of those, if you had the time for doing some photos and writing up some information on the release

But to sum it up: Here is my (nearly) entire Hammer Horror collection. Missing are the two titles Wicked did (Kiss of the Vamprie and House of Horror - which I btw. totally loved. Great stuff that Hammer did there).

9 hours ago, Grendel said:

^^ As I suspected, some great titles there @Veum 🤩

 

One you would find interest in picking up that was just released about half a year ago, is "Lust For A Vampire".

Not because it was such a great film but because it is Part 2 of what is called "The Karnstein Trilogy".

The other two being;

Pt-1: Vampire Lovers

Pt-3: Twins Of Evil

Both of which you have.

The films are not sequels mind in the true sense. Just that the same 'bad guy' is in them and they take place in the same 'world'.

Plus, the "Hammer Glamour" Hotties are in full view in this one, heh. 😛

Haha, that's the one I'm still missing as well. Anolis didn't release that one, yet. I hope it'll happen soon. It would be interesting to see how exactly these three connect; up to now I just saw Vampire Lovers. Twins of Evil was especially hard to track down, but I got really lucky and had a fair offer (45€) for that title as well as Curse of the Werewolf. These are two of the hardest titles to get from Anolis, nowadays. Together with their very first title, that unfortunately I am still missing (one of the Quatermas titles).

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

Oh, I completely glossed over the info you provided on the Blaxploitation releases @pygospa.

Not much more to say, they are good campy fun!

I do hope you were able to pick up the recent Kimchi release of "Jackie Brown" ?

You mentioned your affinity for Tarantino so I suspect you did...🙂

 

Uh, unfortunately I didn't. Hadn't watched for new KimchiDVD releases for a while now - wasn't too fond of the things they did lately. So another one I need to track down I've got all the other titles they did, though. I've got the NovaMedia releses though: Kill Bill 1+2 and Pulp Fiction in their one click boxsets, Reservoir Dogs just one of the Fullslips (I didn't like those designs too much, and therefore did not want to pay that much for the one-click). Plus the one-click from Kimchi, but that was decades ago. And of course I've got all of the titles in the Quentin Tarantino XX Boxset, and before that I had all of the DVDs

6 hours ago, Grendel said:

^^ Oh no ya don't @Veum !

Ya ain't gonna lay the blame on me when the missus comes lookin' at the CC balance !

Y'all bought this coffin to fit one bod. Ain't no way yuz draggin' me in there wit ya varmint! 🤠

@Veum I think we need to unite against him. You know, 'cause I'm a victim, too. Remember how I was not planning anything evil and only did some friendly presentations on some Wicked Vision titles, and "swoosh" in comes @Grendel, and a day later I am owning a copy of The Haunted Palace and The Masque of the Red Death. Still also with me, he denies any responsibility! Unbelievable!

Hey @Veum, two good questions, that I have also thought about a lot, and I have two good answers to them (at least I think so ).

1 hour ago, Veum said:

With all the movies 🎥 you want/like, why do you not invest in a region-free blu-ray player, (...) 🤔

For a region free player: I've been looking for one for a while now. I had one for DVD, and that was done in a shop that (illegally) fixed them for a small amount to be region free (they even did VHS copies which of course are illegal as well, if you think about it). However, these little TV shops that could do such things are becoming really sparse these day, you only have the big discounter chains that survived (Media Markt, Saturn, etc.), and these don't offer such services. Even more, these shops also don't carry any region free players, because, well, apparently that's not allowed? Or not wanted by the market? I don't know. So the only other solution is to look them up online. There are a hand full on Amazon, by third party sellers, but all of these seem a bit shady. They cost far more than the model would usually cost, e.g. there's an LG player (that I own), that cost 50€, nowadays, and the same version in region free is offered for 300€. Now, if there's everything okey with it, I would still consider it. BUT: most of these have bad reviews, e.g. they break easy and then there is no warranty, because it was tempered with and the company doing the tempering is not reacting anymore. Or, once you connect it to WLan/the Internet, the region free capability is instantly lost. Or you need to upgrade your player due to some Blu-rays not playing, and - you guessed it - that cancels the region free capability.

I've been asking around, what other German collectors do, and the best solution seems to be: Get a cheap player from the US, get a power adapter and use that for your region A discs. I was planning on doing that, and I was waiting for some offers at Amazon.com, e.g. black friday offers. But I've always missed that opportunity. Still, that's what I am planning to do. It's cheaper, you keep your warranty, and nothing can go wrong. I already own a couple of region A discs, though (Mondo X Steelbook's Looper, Ex Machina and boyhood, Mantalabs Logan, Fight Club and La La Land, and a US Steelbook of It Follows, plus the Slipcover version of Black Swan (in Amaray).

1 hour ago, Veum said:

(...) especially a nice 4K one? It is absolutely one of the best investments I’ve made, besides a good 4K TV 📺

 

This one is a bit more complex. While I have a XBox that allows playing 4K and I was keeping this in mind when I bought my AVR, I am not yet willing to switch to 4K. And there are a couple of reasons. Most easiest one: I was a late adopter of Blu-ray, and shortly after I switched to Blu-ray, spending a lot of money to replace a large portion of my DVD collection, UHD was announced. So I was at the point of saying: Blu-ray doesn't make any sense, I'll switch to 4K right away, vs. I'll wait with 4K and but don't get any Blu-rays anymore, because it's not worth it, vs. I'll stick to Blu-ray and leave out 4K. One reason why I decided the last one, was (but not exclusively) that I already spent a lot on Blu-ray, and it would have been "ill spend" if I had decided to switch to 4K right away. But that's just one aspect of it. There is another, and this is probably the most important one: For my current living situation and my TV needs that I am comfortable with, it doesn't make any sense. I've talked about the science behind it in great detail here, so here I can be shorter and just say: I have a viewing distance of round about 2m~2.5m. More is not possible for me, because my flat is too small, or to be more accurate, my Blu-ray collection is so large that we moved the couch away from the wall and into the middle of the room, so that I can have more shelves with Blu-rays just behind the couch . I also have a 40" TV, and I'd love to go 45" or 50". Anything above feels too large to me for that viewing distance. Consulting these charts, 4K will start making sense at arround 65", which I personally feel not confortable to watch anymore, because I cannot focus on the whole screen without moving my eyes. This is the main reason, but again, it's not the only. There are two others and that are: Prices and Prices vs. Value on the one hand, and Availability on the other. So, given that I have a large Blu-ray collection of nearly 1000 movies anyways - if I'd go for 4K, I'd probably start preferring 4K over Blu-ray; I mean, it wouldn't make any sense to get 4K and not use it, now, would it? Now, back in the days when I started thinking about 4K, I looked up 4K releases, and they where easily 50€-60€, in the typical black 4K UHD Amaray packages (which by the way I totally love - alone for these black boxes I would switch to 4K, because I really detest these blue cases ); it's become better since then. Current Amaray releses are cheaper. Take 1917: it's 15€ for the Blu-ray Amaray, vs 30€ for the 4K Amaray. Still there are things I don't like about these packages, for instance they don't come with a reversible cover and they have all the uglyness on them - the stripe at the top of the cover, stating it's a 4K release (even though that's also printed with silver printing on the black Amaray), the FSK seal, the HDR-sticker. All these things, that collectors have been fighting to get rid of on standard Amaray packaging and that is finally removed by more and more reversible cover releases, all these nastiness is getting back in 4K. So to me, this further reduces the value. 4K Steelbooks are even more expensive - however, in 80% of the cases a 4K UHD release will also be available with the same design, absolutely identically, in HD. I can get the Bad Boys for Life Steelbook either for 20€, or for 40€. Difference is just the Disk, nothing more, nothing less. Now, if I factor that in, say at least 15€ more per Disc, and I get around 17 Editions on average per month, that'll make 250€ additionally to what I already spend. Now, factor in, that I wouldn't have much benefit from it anways, as either my TV is too small for my taste, or my viewing distance too small for perfect image, that are 250€ I'll pay without getting any value back from it. If I do had the money to spend, I'd rather get 10-15 more movies a month; that would give me so much more value than having 4K discs that due to my living conditions wouldn't even add much value to my viewing experience, anyways. And that's not adding the one-time costs of a new TV, BD-Player, cables and AVR. And last but not least: Most movies I get, lately, are those classic releases. I do also get modern movies, of course, but it's far more movies pre 2000s. And none of those are available on 4K anyways; new Cinema blockbusters are, but other than that? Anolis' Hammer and Phantastic Classics series aren't releasing 4K, Wicked isn't, Arrow, Indicator, Eureka!, Criterion aren't. Even most of the Filmarena still aren't. It's getting more, yes, but it's still a pretty limited selection. If I take my Media-Markt as a reference: Out of 20 aisles, 10 are DVD, 9 are BD and one is shared by 3D and 4K.

So, summing up all these reasons above, I don't see any value in spending a lot of money on a new TV+BD+AVR+Cables to upgrade to 4K. I am not saying that I am against 4K, and I believe that it'll be the future. But with every new technology, the later you get it, the better but also the cheaper it will be. And from DVD->BD it was quite a large step, that was a huge improvement. But BD->UHD won't be for me, so spending large amounts on money for a technology that I cannot really utilize to the maximum, both due to my living situation, but also due to the availability of things I would want to get. Therefore I am not in a rush to update. I will, as soon as it gets urgent for me, say my TV breaks - of course then I would spent my money on 4K, no sense in getting FullHD anymore, that would be a waste of money. Same for BD-Player or AVR. But as long as they work and do their jobs, I am happy with my setup as it is right now Btw. if the price-up isn't too steep, I am already getting the BD+UHD combo, if offered, instead of just the BD version (which is why I already own 42 UHD discs that I cannot play ). But for most releases, I'll guess, I'll get a used UHD Amaray of eBay once I have updated my setup to 4K, and add those discs into the editions I own,  once they become available.

Of course the region free player is a totally different thing, and maybe this year I'll get around buying a cheap Region A player from the US together with a power adapter I am a bit scared though. That would mean I could finally get all those Criterion titles I'd been flirting with. Another money sink

Ahh, totally forgot to add these two screenshots, comparing Anolis and Warner/Hoanzl's releases. The 25 Frames is the Warner/Hoanzl (which is the way to find out if its 1080p (24fps) or 1080i (25fps)). You can also see, that they have slightly different color grading (I have to confess that I like the Warner/Hoanzl a bit better), and different level of Details you can see, if you look closer at the eagle, or the structure of the rock (here again, the Anolis release is far better).


 

8 hours ago, Grendel said:

I'm certainly dismayed to hear that once again, you have discovered (for us all) that some companies do not have the thoughtfulness or dedication to put out quality material.

Well, it isn't the first time. I luckily never bought Inked Pictures (that's the criminal label I was talking about in another thread where you where asking who they were - here's your answer now I won't mention them by name anymore ), but I got a few "Mediabooks" from other companies that were totally not worth their money. Here's just a selection of two examples for companies that I found most loveless and also pretty sad, because the movies deserve better (if you ask me):

First off: The Blaxploitation titles that "Studio Hamburg" released. I was pretty excited about this, because I have heard Quentin Tarantino in countless interviews talking about how Blaxploitation films influenced his youth, so I looked those movies up a while ago, because I had never heard of them. I read the wikipedia article and watched a documentation on YouTube and I thought this was really fascinating and interesting. It's an important part of film history, and as you might already guessed I'm that kind of guy that likes history (kind of a hobbyist historian if you will ), and especially movie history. Plus, I am a huge Tarantino fan, and so I am always interested to see those movies that inspired his films, just to get all the references, etc. (I feel like the more other (especially classic) movies you watch, the more you can get out of an Tarantino movie). And I mean, it's a no-brainer to have at least watched Foxy Brown, given the tribute that Tarantino gives to this movie and Pam Grier with his 1997 movie Jackie Brown. So I looked up those titles and found out that they are rather hard to get - a few US Blu-rays, but those are again region A locked, and if you are lucky there's a British release from one of the typical labels I always mention, usually out of print. Plus, usually I try to avoid Amaray releases (this was much stronger in the past, though today I'd rather have a good Arrow/Eureka/Criterion/Indicator release than a badly done Steelbook or Mediabook). In Germany? Nothing. So I was like a little kid when they announced these titles, I even wrote the label asking if they plan to do more Blaxploitation titles and that I really appreciate it that they do these titles and that they do them in a premium format.

However, this premium format is a facade; they look good, yes. They have a coherent look, they even have a limitation to 1000 copies, that are individually numbered. But, well, that's it. There are zero extras, not even subtitles, not even the original trailers of the movie, nothing (they have advertisment trailers for other titles they own, all right). Vanilla film disk. This disk is so vanilla, I don't understand why they bothered doing a menu for the blu-ray. And for the booklet: There's a listing of cast and crew in it. Rest of it is black and white imagery. One of the saddest releases. Just for this post I looked up the extras on the Arrow release of Foxy Brown:

• Audio commentary with director Jack Hill
• From Black and White to Blaxploitation Actor Sid Haig speaks about his long and influential friendship with Jack Hill
• A Not So Minor Influence An Interview with Bob Minor, the first African-American member of the Stuntman s Association, and co-star of Foxy Brown­
• Back to Black Legendary actors Fred The Hammer Williamson (Black Caesar) and Austin Stoker (Sheba Baby, Assault on Precinct 13 ), alongside Rosanne Katon (Ebony, Ivory, and Jade) and film scholar Howard S. Berger speak about the enduring popularity of the Blaxploitation film
• Photo gallery of behind-the-scenes and publicity images
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Trailer Reel Trailers for all the major works by Jack Hill including Foxy Brown, Coffy and Switchblade Sisters
• Collector s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Josiah Howard, author of Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide, a new interview with Pam Grier by Jack Hill biographer Calum Waddell, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

I mean, I wouldn't expect that much of extras from a release, anyways. But at least a couple of information working out the importance of these movies in the history of Cinema, and especially in the history of Hollywood which was in a crisis and was saved by Blaxploitation movies (the only reason those where produced in the 60-70s). So, Studio Hamburg "Mediabooks" is something I would avoid.

Second example is an interesting one. You might already know that I am a Hammer Horror movie fan (that's how I got in touch with all that classic movies in the first place! Before that I was only watching recent Hollywood movies! So huge shoutout to the Hammer Studios, and especially to the label Anolis!), and in Germany there is this company that all got me started with Hammer: Anolis. They don't make the best Mediabook packaging - hell I wouldn't even call it a Mediabook but rather a Digibook, because it's a 1-Tray release, and the media (not medium) in Mediabook referes to different media in the same book (I mean that's how this "trend" got started in the first place. When there was just DVD we all called this things Digibooks, and the rest of the world does it to this day. But In Germany, once Blu-ray hit the market, and adaption rate was far below that of the US [even today the DVD has the major market share in Germany], companies in Germany started these dual releases, as they did not want to lose half their customers by making it Blu-ray- or DVD-only; so they came up with the DVD-sized DigiBook that housed both: DVD and Blu-ray, and called it Mediabook. Nowadays most people seem to have forgotten this fact, and they start calling DVD-only releases a Mediabook, or G2-sized Blu-ray-only Digibooks Mediabooks as well, but in my book that's plainly wrong. But I am disgressing so much right now... sorry ). In my book it's okay if it is just another Blu-ray disk, or an Audio-CD, or a UHD, instead of DVD. But if it's missing at all, I'd rather call it DigiBook - which for me is totally fine, I don't see any less value in a good DigiBook - especially those from Anolis are better than a lot of Mediabooks out there

But let's finally get to the point: So Anolis is buying all those Licenses from old Hammer Horror movies, they have 25 titles in their portfolio already, but everyone is always asking one question: What about Dracula. And Anolis will reply: Well, we're trying, we're working on it, we'd love to, but it's hard to get the license from Warner. Nearly a decade passes, and all of a sudden, Warner starts a cooperation with Hoanzl, to release the first four Dracula titles themselves! Luckily in Mediabooks. And they bring out all four together, limited to 1000 copies each, and everybody is thinking: "Finally!" but also: "Okey, so Anolis won't get them, then." So everybody buys these Mediabooks, they are sold out during pre-order time, and eBay asking prices rise 100% - bear in mind that no one has them, yet! I get them as well, unfortunately a bit too late, but I only pay 18€ more (130€ for all four books, instead of 112€). But getting those I realized, that these where not worth their money at all. Again, on first glance everything looks fine. Individually numbered copies, high gloss clear artwork on the front. However, once you look closer, you'll see, that production of these Mediabooks is already bad. The cover is printed on really thin paper, so in those places where one of the paper layer is glued over another, you can see hard edges. Also, the glue wasn't applied perfectly, resulting in air bubbles underneath the cover artwork! And they didn't even care how they sticked in the numbers on this field. I am still lucky, my one is just crooked. I've seen pictures from other collectors, where the number was totally misplaced, not even in the field, and one of them had the number upside down! That's how you promote your love for movies! But it still get's worse. The 12 page booklet is totally worthless, as it is a Beginning to end summary of the entire movie. That's it. Who do they think actually reads something like that?! Where is the value of reading the entire story if you can watch the movie? And it's not like it's a good written novel or something. It's a four page resume, that's it. Disc is of course, vanilla, but it has subtitles and the original trailer. Then again, even though it says "Full HD" on the back, the movie is only 1080i, so not the best quality you can get. And, even worse, it's not even the longest version. Take the first title, Dracula: 78 Minutes on 25 fps, while another release (see below) has 82 Min. on 24 fps!

Now this release is so interesting, because, guess what: half a year later, Warner gave the licenses to Anolis anyways. Normally it would be stupid to bring another Mediabook release in such a short time. But Anolis can afford it, and here is why:

They did each edition one after the other, because they did new restaurations, plus collected old extras and bonuses and recorded new ones. Just as example, for the firs tmovie they did yet another scan, from a film found in Japan that to this date is the longest version of the movie, even longer then the latest and greatest releases from the UK that was restored by the British Film Institute. BUT, they also include the BFI restauration as well, two versions in one movie. Plus so many further extras on the Disc:

• 2 Audiocommentaries (one in English with Marcus Hearn and Johnathan Rigby)
• "Dracula Reborn" - The Making of Dracula
• "The Demon Lover" - Christoph Frayling on Dracula
• Dracula censorship
• "The Restauration of Dracula" (Featurette)
• Janine Fraye reading Dracula
• Super 8 edition
• Three picture galleries, collecting old advertisements, critics, programm informations, and photos and pictures

and of course a 36 paged booklet with an essay by Dr. Rolf Giesen, and another by Uwe Sommerlad, featuring a lot of rare artworks, e.g. movie posters from Spain, Netherlands, Japan, US, UK, France, and Greece. Things you wouldn't even find on the Internet! Plus, of course, different cover artworks to choose from, which are partly newly comissioned, and different to the things you already know and have seen for decades. Here are my cover choices - one title they promissed is still missing. Hopefully this year... (big problem with Anolis - they live in their own timeline, so between announcing, and planned release date on the one side, and actual release on the other side, there might lie years in-between However, you only get to buy these, if they are finish, so no long waiting on your pre-ordered and prepaid release!).

To see these two releases of the movie being like night and day, and realizing that the bad release is the one where Warner actually put's its label on, with this movie being Warners intellectual property, and a small German label doing so much better on a release by something that is not even theirs. Well, that's something to process

To sum up this really long rant that has nothing to do with this topic what so ever. There are really a couple of bad Mediabook labels. The one you should remember to avoid are:

• Inked Pictures
• Studio Hamburg
• Warner/Hoanzl
• HanseSound

List might grow in future. Let's see

PS: Maybe, if wanted, I can present all my Anolis releases as well, if there's interest for these kind of releases. Unfortunately alot of them are already out of print, and some of them expensive as hell - I myself am also still missing one release, which I am really looking for for years now.

Das sind doch super Neuigkeiten. Freut mich für uns alle, dass am Ende doch alles glatt lief und wir uns um sonst sorgen gemacht haben! Danke für Deinen unermüdlichen Einsatz für uns, lieber @forenhase

 Very much appreciated!

1 hour ago, Veum said:

🥤Hi @pygospa,

 

I have The Masque of the Red Death in this fantastic VP collection!😊

 

The Vincent Price Collection Blu-ray

The Fall of the House of Usher a.k.a House of Usher / The Pit and the Pendulum / The Haunted Palace / The Masque of the Red Death / Witchfinder General / The Abominable Dr. PhibesShout Factory | 1960-1971 | 6 Movies | 521 min |

 

   $486.70  Used - Very Good

 

I also own these VP collections!!😘

 

The Vincent Price Collection II Blu-ray

The Last Man on Earth / The Comedy of Terrors / Dr. Phibes Rises Again / The Tomb of Ligeia / The Raven / Return of the Fly / The House on Haunted HillShout Factory | 1959-1972 | 7 Movies | 588 min |

 

    $63.98 + $3.99 shipping Used - Very Good

 

The Vincent Price Collection III Blu-ray

Master of the World / Tower of London / Diary of a Madman / Cry of the Banshee / An Evening of Edgar Allan PoeShout Factory | 1961-1970 | 5 Movies | 420 min |

 

    $105.99+ $3.99 shipping  Used - Good

 

 

 

 

 

Loveley, however the prices are a bit too steep for my taste :D . I guess, they are currently out of print? And unfortunately Region A locked, as all Shoutfactory releses are? I'll guess I'll be on the lookout for something from Criterion (UK), Arrow, Eureka! or Indicator. But having 18 movies, and probably with tons of bonus material (?) is still far better than this mediabook, which has nothing more to offer than it's package.

47 minutes ago, Grendel said:

Hi @pygospa , @Veum and others; 🙂

 

Thanks for taking one for the team pygospa !

I'm saddened to hear the experience was not a happy one.

Indeed, the Blu-ray offers for Masque are few, far between and leave much to be desired.

Those are very lovely Shout! sets you purchased @Veum. 🙂

I've been hoping they would re-print set 1. It's been 5 years, I don't know what the delay is?

 

I do appreciate all the info you provided pygospa, a very thorough examination and revelation.

At the least, the film is in watchable quality, I do hope you enjoy it.

Likewise, I do hope you have fun with The Haunted Palace! 🙂

Sure thing. I love Mediabooks and therefore would have gotten this anyways. However now I am thinking if I should just return them... I'll probably keep them, for now. But I'll probably be on the lookout for a better edition from one of the above mentioned. I'm currently going through my collection alphabetically, so it'll be a while till I get to these titles. But I am looking forward to it. I saw a few extracts and the trailers, and they look like my cup of tea :)

Btw. totally forgot to attach a trailer, so here you go :D (better late then never, no?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCUtm7mCF4I

Oh, and last but not least, don't break with a good tradition Here's the trailer, for everyone not knowing this movie (including myself ) :
 

Release: 27.09.2019

Link (Amazon.de): https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07W7GZ4QH

Price: 16,99€

Limited: ?

This is the second release I got, due to this list by this guy @Grendel, and the second release that I got (together with the other one) from this label "HansaSound", that I never heard of, before. If you are interested in the background of the label, please look into my other post. It might explain why these mediabooks, though they look stunning at first glance, do not get the love that other companies, who are with their whole heart into producing movie releases, give. "The Haunted Place", or what we Germans literally call "The torture chamber of the witch hunter" is yet another collaboration of director Roger Corman and actor Vincent Price in a story based on Edgar Allen Poe (which is why I got it, because that is what we talked about in the other thread ) from 1963.

The Mediabook has the same quality as the other one, so I won't repeat myself - it looks stunning, but it's not the best quality. On the booklet side, we get less pages than form its successors. 16 pages, again written by Nando Rohner, but this time that's it, no annoying Wikipedia copies. Again its about 8 pages text, the other 8 pages are images, and this time I have to say the images look really stunning, it's a great print with sharp images and strong colors. But again, that's it, on the positive front. Negative, I have to say is the missing extras - this time the back says that there are German subtitles, but there aren't! English and German audio, and that's it. We get a Trailer as extra, plus this time also another three extras - turns out, these extras are the missing Wikipedia texts. This time they are digitally on the disk. You get 19 (?) text cards alone for Vincet price, i.e. you get a text card, and can read it, then you press your "next chapter" key on your remote and there you go, next text. While I think it's great that they did not print it on the booklet, and used the space better, I still wonder, who they think would read that? Especially if you could just open your Browser and read it directly in Wikipedia, much more comfortably.

On the plus side, one could argue that the German Amaray release from 2012 also did not have any extras, neither did the criminal label (Inked Pictures) Mediabook-release. But taking a look over the pond (the small one, to the UK not the US), and we'll see what this release could have been having:

• Optional isolated music and effects track
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by Vincent Price s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho
• Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work
• A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman
• Stills and Poster Gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer

That's what you get from the Arrow release. So in the end once more I have to say, even tough I like this Mediabook slightly better than the one for "The Masque of the Red Death", you get much more for your money if you get another release. I would probably go with the Arrow release, it also has a booklet plus all the extras on the discs. If you are not a hardcore package collector going for everything mediabook, you'd probably be better off.

Here are some pictures:

 

Release: 06.12.2019

Link (Amazon.de): https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07ZWBH92L

Price: 17,98€

Limited: ?

End of last year HansaSound published this 1964 Roger Corman classic "The Masque of the Red Death", that has a rather strange German title: "Santanas - Castle of the bloody beast". I've never heard of this label before, so I searched for them, but couldn't find out too much; they have 37 movie releases, most of them Amarays (I counted 11 Mediabook releases), all of them classic titles, but without thematically any focus (Sayonara, The Vampire Lovers, The Wonderful Country, Pocketful of Miracles, etc.). According to their website they are a Hamburg based company of three people, that concentrates on buying licenses for music, movies and software and produces discs, but also does Rackjobbing, and is also responsible (or owns?) the Poco Möbelmarkt, which is a German furniture discount chain that sells really cheap quality furniture, and therefore has a bad reputation. Rather odd mixture. A little further digging and I found out, that they bought up Caroland which is a 1970s music company that filed bankruptcy in 2011. HansaSound was founded buying this companies assets.

Like with most of their titles, this one is a re-release, of a title that was previously licensed to another label - apparently that's something this company does (maybe because the licenses become cheaper this way?); the first edition was brought out by Koch Media in an 2-disc amaray edition in 2013 and is out of print and sold out. HansaSound is the first to bring it in a Mediabook, and optically this is rather good. It's not the best quality, it's a bit thin, and a bit shorter than usual Mediabooks, paper quality is also quite cheap (rather thin), but it comes with 24 pages of text, an unusual artwork on the Cover and BD and DVD included. If you look a bit closer though, you might get a bit disappointed: From these 24 pages, there are only four images (not counting the cover pages), rest ist plain text in white font on black pages with absolutely no design. Even worse: Only 7 pages are written for this mediabook itself (by Nando Rohner). The text of the remaining 11 pages is copied 1-to-1 from Wikipedia! That's rather dull? Especially considering a 3-page listing of the filmography of Vincent Price. All imagery is from the film itself, all of the promotional picture set from Koch Media.

Watching the disk, we get pretty beautiful and clear image, which is nice - there are some parts that are blurry, but I guess that's due to the age of this material. As this is a re-release it is the same master that Koch used (and I guess they licensed it form somewhere else), I did some screenshots, where you can see that for most parts it is a bit grainy but rather sharp, showing all details (e.g. look at the heads and you can make out every single hair). That's pretty decent. What's rather frustrating is the rest of it: On the disc you'll find English and German audio (PCM 2.0) as well as an image gallery. This image gallery to be exact: https://www.moviepilot.de/movies/satanas-das-schlo-der-blutigen-bestie/bilder/307408. That's the Koch Media promotional pictures set. And that's it. No further extras. Why this is especially frustrating? Look what Koch had to offer when they released this (using the same Master):

• TV-Special: "An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe" (55 Min)
• "Interview with director Roger Corman" (19 Min)
• "Interview with dubbing director Arne Elsholtzs" (19 Min)
• Cut scenes (1 Min)
• Super 8 version (18 Min)
• Picture Gallery with rare advertisement material and pictures from Set of the Poe TV-Special
• Original Comic from the film as ROM part on the Disc.

So the Amaray, that probably was much cheaper, has so much more to offer than this set. That's a shame. Worst of all: Even the English and German subtitles that the original had, are missing!

To sum up, I'd say this is a rather loveless release, that was done with the minimum effort. On the outside it looks all good, but digging into it, you'll see that this is just make-believe. Given the price of nearly 20€, I cannot recommend this edition, if you care about more than just the MB packaging. I'd probably only get this, if it was in a sale below 10€. You're better off getting an Amaray version and printing out the Wikipedia text in booklet size so you can fit it into that Amary --> Much better version.