DVDBeaver

Discuss internationally-released DVDs and Blu-rays or other international DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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TMDaines
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 1:01 pm
Location: Stretford, Manchester

Re: DVDBeaver

#676 Post by TMDaines » Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:03 am

CriterionPhreak wrote:
Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:45 pm
I would've thought the biggest threat to Gary is the possible shutdown of AnyDVD, which did get shut down once. Without AnyDVD, no captures can be made, and there goes Gary's site.
There's literally several alternatives to AnyDVD.

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Donald Brown
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:21 pm
Location: a long the riverrun

Re: DVDBeaver

#677 Post by Donald Brown » Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:11 am

CriterionPhreak wrote:
Tue Oct 22, 2019 11:45 pm
I would've thought the biggest threat to Gary is the possible shutdown of AnyDVD, which did get shut down once. Without AnyDVD, no captures can be made, and there goes Gary's site.
There have long been alternatives to AnyDVD, such as DVDFab.

CriterionPhreak
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:57 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#678 Post by CriterionPhreak » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:28 am

Altair wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:24 am
Just to chip in, I would imagine a substantial amount of that $3,000 goes towards hosting the website, maintaining it, and so on, and probably represents a significant amount of the costs.
Web hosting costs only about $100/year for unlimited storage and bandwidth at Winhost, which is what I use. Site maintenance is relatively straightforward for a leisure site like his (whereas shopping sites and the likes are much more high maintenance and costly). I suspect disc cost is Gary's biggest cost, like he alluded to. Whatever the cost, if it disrupts his everyday necessities like heating (and who knows what else), then he gotta take care of the necessities first, and review and buy fewer discs.

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: DVDBeaver

#679 Post by tenia » Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:41 am

CriterionPhreak wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:28 am
review and buy fewer discs.
Which you'd think to be easy for him since he always seemed to be reviewing 10 discs per week, which should leave plenty of margin to do just a bit less.

CriterionPhreak
Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:57 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#680 Post by CriterionPhreak » Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:26 pm

tenia wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:41 am
CriterionPhreak wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:28 am
review and buy fewer discs.
Which you'd think to be easy for him since he always seemed to be reviewing 10 discs per week, which should leave plenty of margin to do just a bit less.
He'll have to forgo some discs in whichever way he can to make it financially feasible for him. I've always found discs that he hasn't reviewed, so what's a few more.

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Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: DVDBeaver

#681 Post by Drucker » Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:42 pm

Just checked his page and it says that he has 639 Patreons! If he's getting $3 from everyone, he's pulling in nearly $2k a month. I do feel for the guy and enjoy the website (and am a Patreon!) but it seems like that should be more than enough to cover the expense of the discs. If he spends $40 per disc, that covers 47!

kekid
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 9:55 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#682 Post by kekid » Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:19 pm

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Gary? Ever since the expiration date on my credit card changed, Patreon does not work for me.

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Drucker
Your Future our Drucker
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: DVDBeaver

#683 Post by Drucker » Wed May 20, 2020 11:33 am


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Luke M
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:21 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#684 Post by Luke M » Wed May 20, 2020 12:02 pm

Who among us didn't have a Geocities website dedicated to Monica Vitti?

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Luke M
Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:21 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#685 Post by Luke M » Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:48 pm


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Telstar
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:35 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#686 Post by Telstar » Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:24 am

What's up with Gary's site? I've just been getting a blank page for the past day or two.

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MichaelB
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:20 pm
Location: Worthing
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Re: DVDBeaver

#687 Post by MichaelB » Sun Dec 20, 2020 9:12 am

Drucker wrote:
Wed Oct 23, 2019 2:42 pm
Just checked his page and it says that he has 639 Patreons! If he's getting $3 from everyone, he's pulling in nearly $2k a month. I do feel for the guy and enjoy the website (and am a Patreon!) but it seems like that should be more than enough to cover the expense of the discs. If he spends $40 per disc, that covers 47!
I imagine hosting charges are his biggest ongoing expense, considering that every page has multiple high-resolution images.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: DVDBeaver

#688 Post by FrauBlucher » Sun Dec 20, 2020 11:35 am

Telstar wrote:
Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:24 am
What's up with Gary's site? I've just been getting a blank page for the past day or two.
Try this...
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/new.htm
Seems like the homepage is down

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: DVDBeaver

#689 Post by Finch » Sun Jan 03, 2021 9:31 pm

Rough Night in Jericho
great to see Jean Simmons still looking sweet and sassy at almost 40

Oh Gary....

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: DVDBeaver

#690 Post by Finch » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:28 pm

A disbelieving LOL at the Beaver patrons for giving second spot of their boxset vote to the WKW set. The faulty Blu-Ray and dodgy packaging of Citizen Kane seems to have bothered more people than WKW fucking around with his films to their detriment and presumably forbidding Criterion to include the originals. O dios mio.

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domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#691 Post by domino harvey » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:32 pm

The set has many defenders on the Blu-ray.com forums and the Criterion subreddit. Most defenses boil down to "I never saw these before so I don't know what's been changed, so I don't care"

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soundchaser
Leave Her to Beaver
Joined: Sun Aug 28, 2016 12:32 am

Re: DVDBeaver

#692 Post by soundchaser » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:38 pm

I do like that both of the pull quotes on the DVDBeaver list mention that the set is "controversial" and capable of producing "displeasure," but it's still in second place.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: DVDBeaver

#693 Post by Finch » Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:39 pm

Actually, did they revise their mission statement last year? Currently, it reads:
Since 1984, the Criterion Collection has been dedicated to publishing important classic and contemporary films from around the world in editions that offer the highest technical quality and award-winning, original supplements. No matter the medium—from laserdisc to DVD, Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD to streaming—Criterion has maintained its pioneering commitment to presenting each film as its maker would want it seen, in state-of-the-art restorations with special features designed to encourage repeated watching and deepen the viewer’s appreciation of the art of film.
Emphasis mine. Am I misremembering or did it not say in the past that historical preservation was a key priority for them?

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#694 Post by yoloswegmaster » Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:25 pm

According to the Wayback Machine, that part of statement has stayed the same since at least 2018. So you're most likely misremembering.

Glowingwabbit
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 1:27 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#695 Post by Glowingwabbit » Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:40 pm

I can't believe the quotes calling.Criterion the benchmark of boutique labels. In 2021?!! Are these Criterion employees?

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yoloswegmaster
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2016 3:57 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#696 Post by yoloswegmaster » Sat Jan 01, 2022 11:09 pm

I only see one comment on there that uses the term "benchmark" and they are using it by saying that they set the benchmark for home video boutiques, which I see no problems with. Also, saying something positive about them makes them a Criterion employee?

I don't usually care for these lists but it's kind of amusing to see Kino Lorber at the top of this list, especially when it doesn't seem like they've done anything differently in 2021 than they did in any of the previous years.

Nw_jahrles
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 1:52 pm

Re: DVDBeaver

#697 Post by Nw_jahrles » Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:28 am

Finch wrote:
Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:28 pm
A disbelieving LOL at the Beaver patrons for giving second spot of their boxset vote to the WKW set. The faulty Blu-Ray and dodgy packaging of Citizen Kane seems to have bothered more people than WKW fucking around with his films to their detriment and presumably forbidding Criterion to include the originals. O dios mio.
I’ve been seeing the WKW set on numerous best-of 2021 home video releases lists. Believe me when I say this forum is the minority.

Brian Tallerico of Rogerebert.com called it “one of the best blu-Ray box sets in the history of the form”

I’m sure I could easily pull other pull-quotes lavishing praise on the set.

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Finch
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2008 5:09 pm
Location: Edinburgh, UK

Re: DVDBeaver

#698 Post by Finch » Sun Jan 02, 2022 2:36 am

I saw the Tallerico review as well and shook my head at that one, too. It was like a big majority of reviewers collectively either weren't bothered by the absence of the films as originally presented or didn't dare to speak up or felt that it wasn't going to make a difference given WKW's reputation as a tinkerer to the end. Doesn't bode well for the future. Made me all the more appreciative of Arrow's stance that they didn't seek Michael Mann's approval for their Thief release and insisted on having the original grade included, and Spielberg allowing original and new cuts of his films (ET etc).

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tenia
Ask Me About My Bassoon
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 11:13 am

Re: DVDBeaver

#699 Post by tenia » Sun Jan 02, 2022 10:43 am

It's not even a particularly loaded set in terms of extra features, and it obviously misses Ashes of Time. I can't imagine stating it's one of the best box sets ever.

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swo17
Bloodthirsty Butcher
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:25 am
Location: SLC, UT

Re: DVDBeaver

#700 Post by swo17 » Sun Jan 02, 2022 12:19 pm

He already issued Ashes of Time Redux. This is everything else redux

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