MSCL.com

A word of warning to those who get the Twilight Zone set. It looks like it is comprised of DVD-Rs:

http://www.mediaracer.com/

Here is a list of players that won't be able to play the gold edition:

http://www.mediaracer.com/index.php?sub=players

It looks like the non-gold edition product will have a distinct advantage over the gold edition, namely compatibility.

I think the AU site should mention this, no? And this is a $400 product! This is a situation where the standard edition will have none of the compatibility issues.

V3Media, the DVD manufacturer, is listed on the Gold Edition box. Their focus is just-in-time manufacturing of DVD-Rs.

Jason

For those of you who didn't entirely follow Jason's logic (it took me a bit to figure this out):

1) There is a logo on the cover of the AU TZ box (bottom middle); the logo is for a company called V3 Media.

2) If you go to V3MEDIA.COM, you will see that their "thing" is to deliver "just-in-time" DVD-R's (and CD-R's) of special-made products, as long as the license-holder can provide the master that they should work off of.

3) Clicking on "Visit our E-Commerce Site" at V3Media.com will take you to MediaRacer.com, where they show you examples of stuff they've pre-manufactured for other clients. Doing a search on "Twilight Zone" comes up empty. But looking through their examples, I mostly see things I would find in the "Special Value" section at Best Buy.

4) Clicking on the "Player Compatibility" link on the MediaRacer.com home page (1st item under "Information" in the lower right corner) shows a long list of players that may or may not work with the DVD-R's that these guys release. They provide "Y" or "N" results from 3 different testing outfits. For my main player, one says Y, one says N, and the 3rd didn't test.



Having said all of that, I should point out that there isn't any proof yet that THESE discs (the AU TZ discs) will be DVD-R's. However, it *is* a logical deduction.

In the event that a customer purchased this product and found it incompatible with their player, it would serve them well to recall that the MSCL customers found the main hang-up with AU's customer service to be a slowness or reluctance to issue refunds and credits. A purchaser of the AU TZ discs who had an incompatible player might wait a long time indeed for a refund!

Oh, and for those of you who don't even have a clue what we're talking about, or why, read this

David Lambert wrote:Oh, and for those of you who don't even have a clue what we're talking about, or why, read this

Should probably wait until there's a bit more confirmation before passing this warning along. I agree with David in this respect.

Howard Price
Conway, AR (David's neighbor!)

What do you think the chances are that the MSCL bonus discs will be DVD-Rs?

Just wondering.

Jim

Jim wrote:What do you think the chances are that the MSCL bonus discs will be DVD-Rs?

Just wondering.

Jim

Wouldnt that just be the icing on the cake.

Well i guess it would be a step up from VCDs (which wouldnt surprise me either)

fnordboy wrote:Wouldnt that just be the icing on the cake.

just when we thought that Ross would run out of ideas how to screw customers

I can just imagine the reaction to double and triple $400 charges.

I just fear the horror Twlight Zone fans who didn't even follow the MSCL fiasco will have to go through if they order this through AU. Who is heading the project? Somebody needs to send them a wake up call and have them go to another site. Or give all the fans a wake up call at various Twilight Zone boards.

There's a message board devoted to The Twilight Zone on the website located at http://www.thetzsite.com.

I don't know how popular it is, but I just posted a message there about AU, with a link to this forum.

Hey, it's a start.

Jim

We received an email from the President of V3 Media:

Subject: The twilight Zone set

To whom it may concern
I am responding to the comments on your site regarding previous sales of My So Called Life, Another Universe and the problems that occurred.

With regard to the DVD-R format, yes we are using this format of disc in our product offering. We understand that there are players still out in use that have trouble with these discs and are maintaining a list on our site http://www.mediaracer.com. This list will continuously be updated as new models are marketed. Working with the major consumer electronic companies as they develop more products for home video use, we are fortunate in seeing the improvements in technology to the DVD players and in participating in the forums that review the DVD formats. The introduction of DVD is going through a cycle much the same as VHS/Beta or early CD-R, except that it is being accepted by consumers at a faster rate. We stand by both the format and our customers that rely on us to provide a quality video. For that reason and the fact that any transactions are being managed by our own staff, we at V3 Media will stand by our refund policy of 100% if any customer has a problem with our product.

Our representatives have spoken to Another Universe about the other matters and we have been informed that they will be resolved. I applaud your efforts to provide information about potential issues and have told my staff to benchmark your site.

Sincerely
Robert Hayes
President

There's the proof.

You see, to reauthor 49 discs would cost between $50K (very LOWBALL) and $200K. The reauthoring would only be putting the shows in chronological order, so it would not be too complex, but it would still be time consuming.

Let me just say that I applaud the President of V3 Media for sending that response. I do believe that what they offer is a very cool service. Imagine being able to buy DVDs of your kid's school play, or Universities being able to offer its lectures on DVDs for distance-learning students.

Or. . . for TVs shows for which there is not enough demand to manufacture a huge batch.

I think that this company should speak with the Museum of TV and Radio. There are many recorded events that they have in their archives that people would just love to be able to buy on DVD.

Compatibility issues don't mean that their service is not a useful one. In fact, they are very upfront about it. If you look at their site, they include a link to the DVD players that might be problematic. They obviously did a lot of testing. You cannot get a DVD-R that works on all players. There are still DVD-R/DVD+R compatibility issues that have to be hammered out.

Shame that AU cannot be as honest and tell the customers of a $400 set the same thing. But I guess they have no incentive to do this. AU will sell the sets, and if they don't work, V3 will get stuck holding the bag (as they guarantee the compatibility of their discs).

Jason Rosenfeld wrote:I think that this company should speak with the Museum of TV and Radio. There are many recorded events that they have in their archives that people would just love to be able to buy on DVD.

Like, say, a group interview with the cast of MSCL?



I know, I'm so selfish! I'm sure they have lots of other great stuff at the MTR.

I have never heard of V3 Media, but from the letter they sound like a very honest and classy company. That's a good example of the way a company should be run.

I don't know if we can handle that after AU. It might be akin to a diabetic going into sugar shock.