Dallas To Get Remastered In HD

[lost-in-time]

My issue with all of this is WB released a press release back in May(?) saying they had big plans for TV on BD this year to celebrate the 100th. Even if Dallas wasn’t on the cards where is ER, Two and a Half Men, Friends extended episodes etc etc?
They definitely said something about 20 shows being celebrated on BD this year, I wonder if plans fell through?

 

[AndyB2008]

I don’t know why you believe WBD would make a “killing” from Dallas on Blu Ray. There is no evidence of this. None of the previous boxsets made much of a profit, if any.

There is also no “guy” who needs firing. Decisions are made by the board. WB merged with Discovery in a way that put execs from Discovery are overall in charge. Like it or not, Discovery was one of the most profitable media businesses and its way of doing things is being implemented across the newly merged WBD.

All of that aside, WBD is not treating physical media any differently to other media companies.

Knots Landing had the first 2 seasons released on DVD, but they sold poorly for Warner Bros to continue with releasing more.

The Young Doctors has had the same problem - ViaVision were hoping for the same success as Sons and Daughters, but clearly the sales were weak to justify releasing further volumes.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

Knots Landing had the first 2 seasons released on DVD, but they sold poorly for Warner Bros to continue with releasing more.

The Young Doctors has had the same problem - ViaVision were hoping for the same success as Sons and Daughters, but clearly the sales were weak to justify releasing further volumes.

I wonder how the ViaVision big boxset of Return To Eden has sold.

Since there was only a mini series and a sequel series which didn't get picked up for a second series I'd be interested to see how popular the show actually is on DVD?

 

[AndyB2008]

I wonder how the ViaVision big boxset of Return To Eden has sold.

Since there was only a mini series and a sequel series which didn't get picked up for a second series I'd be interested to see how popular the show actually is on DVD?

View attachment 49194

Return to Eden ran for 25\26 episodes - so maybe ViaVision aren't too bothered. Not to mention there's less hassle remastering episodes.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

I'm really disappointed we're not going to get a Blu-ray complete series collection release of Dallas.

Such a shame.

 

[Rove]

I'm really disappointed we're not going to get a Blu-ray complete series collection release of Dallas.

I don't believe this has been confirmed. But as Warner Bros undergoes a restructure someone there may have crunched the numbers and thinks it might not be a viable return to release Dallas on Blu-Ray. For a series fast approaching 50 years it would be a small niche market wishing to purchase it. I could be the only customer in Australia for example. The only possible Blu-Ray option I see is if Warner Bros decides to make it available to purchase directly through their own online shop. I also don't see many bricks and mortar stores buying stock only for it to sit on the shelf...collecting dust. But this is just my gut feeling.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

I don't believe this has been confirmed.

Why do they have to confirm that they won't release something, hat was never even announced anywhere?

This video sums up the home video market situation quite well and shows, why the major studios don't want to release things on physical media anymore. And sheer denial of some won't change these facts.
Some have even stopped releasing ANYTHING on discs already, like Disney (incl. all Fox content) in Australia and Sony in whole Europe, the others will follow very soon. Don't get me wrong, i'm a huge fan of collecting Blurays and physical media in general and have a whole room dedicated to that. But I tend to be realistic and accept the facts, instead of being blinded by wishful thinking, as that keeps the disappointment at a manageable level.

If you watch carefully, you might even catch Patrick Duffy at some point of this video!

 

[knots4309]

Since the reduction in demand of optical media, there is only one replication plant left in operation for all of North America for CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, and 4K Blu-Ray. It takes about two years to get on the schedule. So if nothing by WB was in the works to get pressed Blu-Rays of the remastered Dallas in wide retail release, it isn't likely coming anytime soon. The only way that it would come sooner is by MOD (manufacture-on-demand) release.

In optical media manufacturing, there is basically two processes, replication and duplication. Replication refers to the officially pressed media that gets wide retail release. This is the manufacturing process in which the data is pressed or stamped onto the disc (all at once) in a replication facility which enables much greater numbers to be produced. Duplication refers to copying the disc, usually on writable media, using a laser to write the data linearly. Usually this is done by a DVD/BD-R writer or a bank of them writing a run of them at a time. This is usually for smaller runs as not as many copies can be produced as in replication because the process takes much longer per disc.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

Duplication refers to copying the disc, usually on writable media, using a laser to write the data linearly. Usually this is done by a DVD/BD-R writer or a bank of them writing a run of them at a time. This is usually for smaller runs as not as many copies can be produced as in replication because the process takes much longer per disc.

But is that still a thing? I know Amazon Germany offered that for some titles some time ago, but they stopped that "made on demand" service already years ago.
Maybe because they need to actually pay persons to manually burn all those discs individually and it was getting too expensive, as "MOD" never was an automated process and sold just very, very few numbers and i guess it was just not worth the effort for them.
Don't know about the US Amazon though.

 

[knots4309]

But is that still a thing? I know Amazon Germany offered that for some titles some time ago, but they stopped that "made on demand" service already years ago.
Maybe because they need to actually pay persons to manually burn all those discs individually and it was getting too expensive, as "MOD" never was an automated process and sold just very, very few numbers and i guess it was just not worth the effort for them.
Don't know about the US Amazon though.

Yes very much still a thing, especially in corporate video and smaller production houses. This is ideal when you only need less than 2000 copies of something. Yes there are automated systems that use robotics to remove discs from writer to printer for label and to place the next disc.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

I mean ... it's all pure calculation. I used to work for the german label "Turbine" as a product tester (latest project was the Knight Rider Anniversary box with the first time worldwide uncut episodes and restored all original music on the show) and so I do have a little insight there. The four season set was sold for 200€, and that was already the lowest price we could take, unless we wanted to lose money. If we did Dallas with 13 seasons, the complete Set would have cost more than 700$ for consumers.
A bluray glasmaster, which is needed for pressing/mass production of each bluray costs around 1000$ per unit. If you want to put the whole show on blurays, you need about 85 of those glasmasters (if you wanna have decent kompression and go with 4 episodes per disc).
That comes to 85.000$ already. Then you need to pay the AACS copy protection fee per disc, which is another high factor and adds a huge amount to that price.
Then someone has to do the mastering, noone works for free. Package design and material. Then shipping costs.
You will have to sell hundreds of thousands of complete Box sets to make a profit out of such a massive episode count show.

And if you are a smaller label like Turbine Germany and want to licence the show to publish it yourself, it's even way more expensive, as you have to pay like 30.000 per season just for the licence and then on top of that about 30% of the profit to the licence holder (Warner in that case), so forget about that as well, not going to happen.
You won't find enough buyers worldwide to make this project profitable for Warner or any other smaller label, unless buyers are willing to pay 500+$ per complete set.

From a pure business standpoint Dallas on Bluray is just not-going-to-happen, and that's that. Period.

 

[knots4309]

I mean ... it's all pure calculation. I used to work for the german label "Turbine" as a product tester (latest project was the Knight Rider Anniversary box with the first time worldwide uncut episodes and restored all original music on the show) and so I do have a little insight there. The four season set was sold for 200€, and that was already the lowest price we could take, unless we wanted to lose money. If we did Dallas with 13 seasons, the complete Set would have cost more than 700$ for consumers.
A bluray glasmaster, which is needed for pressing/mass production of each bluray costs around 1000$ per unit. If you want to put the whole show on blurays, you need about 85 of those glasmasters (if you wanna have decent kompression and go with 4 episodes per disc).
That comes to 85.000$ already. Then you need to pay the AACS copy protection fee per disc, which is another high factor and adds a huge amount to that price.
Then someone has to do the mastering, noone works for free. Package design and material. Then shipping costs.
You will have to sell hundreds of thousands of complete Box sets to make a profit out of such a massive episode count show.

And if you are a smaller label like Turbine Germany and want to licence the show to publish it yourself, it's even way more expensive, as you have to pay like 30.000 per season just for the licence and then about 30% of the profit to the licence holder (Warner in that case), so forget about that as well, not going to happen.
You won't find enough buyers worldwide to make this project profitable for Warner, unless buyers are willing to pay 500+$ per complete set.

From a pure business standpoint Dallas on Bluray is just not-going-to-happen, and that's that. Period.

Agreed...at least not in wide retail release. I still think there is a very small chance the Warner Archive could do a MOD release of it. That is how Night Court got released in the US.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

But wasn't NC released like 10 years ago on DVD? Is that MOD not just a burned version of that OOP-release with just a different cover?
And if that's just DVD, there is no need for expensive AACS copy protection fee per disc. With HD content blurays, that would be a whole different case and not comparable in costs at all.
What's the latest Bluray-on-Demand release of a multi season HD-TV show in the US, is there any? If not, guess why.

 

[knots4309]

But wasn't NC released like 10 years ago on DVD? Is that MOD not just a burned version of that OOP-release with just a different cover?
And if that's just DVD, there is no need for expensive AACS copy protection fee per disc. With HD content blurays, that would be a whole different case and not comparable in costs at all.
What's the latest Bluray-on-Demand release of a multi season HD-TV show in the US, is there any? If not, guess why.

I'm not sure what the latest Blu-Ray release as MOD was, but V: The Original Miniseries (2019) and V: The Final Battle (2020) were released that way from Warner Archive Collection as MOD Blu-Ray in the US. The Blu-Rays from Warner Archive are still manufactured-on-demand, they just do limited run replications (pressed discs). They are not sold at mass retail.

 

[Rove]

Very informative. Thank you @Matthew Blaisdel and @knots4309

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

I'm not sure what the latest Blu-Ray release as MOD was, but V: The Original Miniseries (2019) and V: The Final Battle (2020) were released that way from Warner Archive Collection as MOD Blu-Ray in the US. The Blu-Rays from Warner Archive are still manufactured-on-demand, they just do limited run replications (pressed discs). They are not sold at mass retail.

Yeah, but "V - The original Mini-Series" is just a single MOD-disc with TWO episodes and goes even now in 2023, after 4 years, for 16$ on Amazon.com ... so calculate that price times 85 and see, what a Dallas-Set would cost as MOD. No way that's ever going to happen. Hell will freeze over first, as JR would say.

 

[Yesterday from the Beatles]

Urbi et orbi: from today Dallas (2014) is available to stream on TUBI.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

So I suppose we're not going to get the remastered Dallas on Blu-ray.

I don't suppose they would entertain putting it out on DVD again?

It's such a shame, I'd really like the remastered show on DVD or Blu-ray.

 

[Garry]

We all loved those Balls.

 

[Matthew Blaisdel]

I don't suppose they would entertain putting it out on DVD again?

Yes, that would be WAY cheaper for them and a far more realistic option. If there will be any kind of release, i'd bet all my Ewing Oil shares on DVD format.

Although i would not buy that (and rather download the HD files "somewhere" on the net), as that is not the fully HD resolution, but i can imagine, that many others would and that would be the only way to make a profit from it.