AV Forums expresses concerns over R2 studio policies

[Phil Hinton]

AV Forums’ DVD review editor Phil Hinton explains why some region 2 studios are hindering our efforts to review (and therefore publicise) their DVDs.

AV Forums prides itself on having an independent DVD review area amongst the numerous forums. Reviews are written by talented contributors who closely scrutinise the quality of the picture, audio mix and bonus materials. They also examine the film content and pass their opinion over such. These high quality and lengthy reviews are published on the forums allowing the 80,000 registered members and over 160,000 unique visitors a week, the chance to read about the biggest DVD releases. We also have an active news section which features all the latest information on DVD releases worldwide.

For many years, large numbers of film enthusiasts have been importing US region 1 DVDs, yet the UK market has in the last few years started to catch up not only with the release dates, but also in terms of quality, extras and good presentation of audio and video.

For a long time we have advocated that published magazines which are available in the newsagents do not feature the relevant information required for proper evaluation of DVD discs. We have also stated for a long time that paper based magazines are now a dying breed, as more and more people find the internet and in turn find quality review websites (like AV Forums), which offer current, quality, free reviews. We believe in this approach so much that in a few months we will be launching our very own online DVD review magazine which will be a sister site to AV Forums.

Like all quality review websites, our reviewers are passionate about movies. They are professional in their reviewing and writing and offer their time and talent at no cost to our readers. We never turn down product sent to us for review and in the case of region 1 DVD, we have access to any title we choose. In these instances the discs are provided in their finished retail state free of charge from sponsors who gain advertising in return. However the real issue we are having at this moment in time is the region 2 UK market and its utter disregard for reviewing sites like the AV Forums who offer the film companies free publicity for their product.

It is true that we receive review product from some of the big labels in the UK and in the past there have been no real problems with this arrangement. However certain companies have changed their stance on supplying discs and they are citing piracy as the main cause of these changes. We have no problem with film companies and studios fighting against piracy. After all we only ever review legitimate official releases and actively promote DVD through our news pages. However it has recently begun to worry us that studios are implementing policies which we do not agree with. To help you understand our argument let me explain how things used to work.

If a studio or film company are releasing a DVD on region 2 within the UK, like their American counterparts they send us a press release detailing the title and contents. There is usually an option to request a review disc and with certain PR houses, AV Forums rates highly and we are automatically sent product to review. We promote this material for the film studio free of charge, the reviewer gives his time free of charge and we publish the review for our readers free of charge. The check disc sent for review is then kept by the reviewer as a thank you for their time and effort. All PR companies are aware that the reviews are independent and impartial – we will not have reviews “bought” and certainly won’t be “swayed” as to the content or review score for the product. Some studios, Columbia Tri-Star for example, send us review check discs with a freepost return envelope. After reviewing the disc, it is sent back using freepost and when the disc is finally released for retail, the PR house send the reviewer the finished article as a thank you for the time and effort of reviewing and for the promotion of their product. As you will see from those examples, we as a website offer the readers what they want at the same time as promoting product for the film studios. This works well and the time and effort is rewarded by the gesture of the film studio in keeping the disc or having a finished copy sent to thank the reviewer.

So, now to the point of this article. Please bear in mind that we are not being disrespectful to any PR company or any of their clients, in fact we are trying to point out that what they are doing (or demanding) is going to effect not only how we operate here at AV Forums, but also our other online friends who are very much in the same boat as us.

As a reader of this forum you will be aware that you can own any film you want on any region you like, by using reputable online retailers. In fact, online sales of DVDs are the highest they have ever been and are likely to grow further in the next 12 months. As this is the case, we, as an international site, cover releases from all over the world. This is achieved by using sponsors to help source and supply product for review. These arrangements work very well.

So you would imagine that a site like ours would be able to source material from the country we are based in and at the same time help promote region 2 DVDs fully. After all, the studios are now realising that improving the quality of the picture and sound options (on a par with those from other regions), as well as featuring the same (if not more) special features, improves the product identity and thus helps sales. Look at the release of Finding Nemo where the region 2 version had a DTS track but the US version didn’t. This fact should have been promoted by the region 2 distributors. So if someone is looking at the region 1 release and then looks for a comparison against the region 2 to decide which to purchase, their decision should be easy. But as a website keen to promote this approach and hopefully give region 2 product the best possible chance, we are prevented from doing so by the very people whose interest it is to help us out.

The sole reason given for this stance? Piracy!

The studios (in particular Universal) are now asking us to review content within 4 days and to send it back to them at our cost, because there are not enough check discs to go around and the company fears piracy. In the last few days, we have been sent Magnum P.I. Season 3 and Northern Exposure Season 3 on the same day and told these discs have to back with 4 days! That’s 96 hours to review 12 DVDs. The studio are getting 96 hours (or more) work from our reviewers, free publicity from our news pages on the release and a review of the product posted on Europe’s top AV Forum, yet we then have to return the DVDs at our expense (remember some of them are box sets) and there is no sign of a ‘thank you’ from the studio.
Let’s just look at their piracy issue for a second.

DVD review websites like the AV Forums are, in most cases, run by volunteers who give their spare time to produce reviews. Many of these websites are exceptionally good at producing reviews and their readership numbers reflect this. But the main thrust is that these people are film and DVD fans. They have no interest in creating or watching pirated material. But if they were so inclined, would they copy region 2 product? Let’s face it almost all releases in this country (bar a small percentage) are released well after their American or Asian DVD releases. So if someone were a pirate would they not source material from these regions?
We then have the case of the screener. A disc produced for academy members around the world so they don’t have to inconvenience themselves by going to a movie theatre. They sometimes receive the screener before theatrical release, and who sends it to them? Well that will be the same film studio, of course.
I mean tell me if I am wrong, but didn’t such a scandal happen only months ago regarding such an academy member who was ripping a screener disc? Only last month, “Memoirs of a Geisha” was available for download from the net. Are these film companies seriously suggesting it was a region 2 DVD reviewer who did this?

So where am I going with this? Well I just wish there could be some common sense shown by the film studios when it comes to one of the most important parts of their market, the internet user. We want to promote region 2 material, we want to continue reviewing that material and we want to help push official product over the inferior quality pirates. All we are asking is for some common ground so all the internet review sites are treated as the important in-depth resources they so rightly are. The reviews of DVDs on the internet are considerably better than their magazine counterparts. They have more copy space to explore the film content, they have the technology to assess audio visual content and the talented reviewers to provide the content.
We cover DVDs from other regions, that is true. But this opens up an ability to help the customer get the right product and if that is region 2 then let us have the retail material so we can say so.
The sole company, to date, who has this common sense approach, is Columbia Tri-Star and I applaud them for their forward thinking and rewarding approach. I just hope the content comes in greater numbers in the future so we can give the readers what they want to see. Columbia realise you get nowt for nowt and reward the reviewer for sending back the check disc by sending them a finished DVD.

We are not saying that we deserve rewards for our work, but what other industry can claim free advertising through the news stories and then expect someone to sit for hours and write a review of their product and then give nothing in return?
It’s not just the piracy stance which is worrying us, either. For example, did you know that some PR companies and studios ask us to review a DVD by sending us a VHS copy? Or even worse, no movie at all! Maybe just a press release or just an extras disc on which to base a review! (This was the case with Back To The Future and Jurassic Park box sets).
We’ve even had them tell us, (as in the case of Green Street recently), not to focus on the violence in the film, when the film is about violence! As you would expect, we at AV Forums will refuse to follow such guidance as we pride ourselves on being an independent site with a professional and honest approach. I just wish the UK branches of some of these major studios would show a little more pride in their product and a little more respect and trust towards the people trying to support them. To reiterate - we are independent; we don’t take demands from studios to construct reviews based on a press release; we have integrity and above all work on behalf of our readership. It’s about time these studios realised that we can be their friend and treat us with the respect we deserve.

Sadly until Universal change their stance on check discs to a fairer overall approach, we will not be sending discs back to them and as such will not feature their product. The same applies to those other studios (Dreamworks/Paramount) who expect us to attend screenings of DVDs in their London offices. The problem with this is that the review cannot be done within our test systems. We have no way of evaluating the finished product. Besides, our reviewers are spread all over the country. I also want to reassure our readers that we will also not review any content on VHS, or where the company name and “Do not Copy” is typed over the print, we cannot assess the video content in such cases and it is not indicative of the final retail product. Sadly some publications and websites do review in such conditions and within such restrictions.

Finally while AV Forums wish we could support the UK DVD industry totally, we will sadly not be covering any review discs with the above conditions attached.

[unique]

i think the r2 market in the uk is very much 2nd rate or worse, and as a result i prefer to buy imported r1 titles for a number of reasons such as earlier release date and better price, not to mention the movie running at the right speed and pitch (a more personal issue). if i knew the r2 discs were better in some way, or coming out sooner, i would perhaps consider getting those instead (war of the worlds and minority report came out in uk 1st i think), but i'm not going to know about this if the discs aren't reviewed in advance of the release of the r1 discs

it just sounds like the uk industry is shooting itself in the foot. i agree with the comments above about piracy in that the r1 discs are usually in stores before the r2 discs, so *** wants to copy an r2 disc? and it only takes a few minutes to copy a disc, not 4 days, so putting a time limit isn't going to stop piracy

and regards to green street, if you ignore the violence in the movie, the rest of the movie is utter crap. bad acting, bad story and bad accents. was the vocal coach deaf? i presume it was the same guy who taught sean connery to speak irish in the untouchables

the r2 industry needs a kick in the arse, its screwing things up for the customers who are turning against them and buying r1 online, they need to think of a way to get the customers back before it backfires on them. i'll only buy r2 discs in the sale when cheap, or if there is no other option, if the companies are going to dick around like this

[robbleiper]

Keep up the good work... I for one am very thankful to came across these forums. This happened originally as I was looking for info on buying a plasma, but now use the DVD/Source Material section most frequently! It great to be able to get comprehensive reviews, covering all aspects of a dvd's content.

Also, I like not having to 'divide' the actual rating given 'by' the number of advertising inches purchased...

[General Skanky]

Right behind you on this one.

[laser]

I find your region 3 reviews invaluable and have bought many Asian films from your sponsers, so the reviews, in my opinion, certainly create additional sales which the film companies would not have got from me otherwise.

If film distributors don't want their films reviewing then so be it! As I buy many DVD's after reading a review, they won't get my business.

Perhaps they realise that their products are not that good and they don't want independant reviews so show the lack of features, mediorce film transfers and poor storylines (not always the case).

I sometimes wonder if they use piracy as an excuse. I did read an article that stated the majority (not all copies) tend to originate in the far east or russia and are often camcorder recordings. Not copies from proper R2 DVD's.

[Flimber]

Bizarrely, are you not more pressured to just rip the damn things to a hard drive if they want them back so sharpish ?

Mike.

[hornydragon]

good man phil avforums reviews are somewhat more technical than those you may get in a local paper (no offence steve) or freebie magazine perhpas you need to let the PR companies know you are not Movie reviewing but disc reviewing, very different aspects of a release, the plot may be great but if the cinematography and sound are poop i dont think it should it be a 5* product, worth renting or seeing at the local flea pit but worthy of shelf space......????

[shabba]

Seems to me that the studios are just making a stab in the dark to combat piracy rather then applying some intelligence to solving the problem. I do not support movie piracy in any form as I would much rather pay for a HQ genuine product (otherwise what was the point in spending hard earned cash on a large screen and surround sound system?). I have been a long time reader of AVForums (and very little contributer) and have many times used the DVD reviews to help make the decision on wether to purchase a disc or not.

Having young children it's not very easy for me to get to the local cinema to see films so DVD is important to me (before kids was 2-3 times per week, now 2-3 times per year!). Without a review of the film and disc I am less likely to purchase or rent so the studios are shooting themselves in the foot. I don't purchase printed magazines anymore as I can't stand the pages of adverts so reading online is the way I get my information.

I'm with you all the way.

[Alaric]

What a pile of ****. I've never realy understood the point in watching a piracy on a home cinema set-up. Spend £££££ on the greatest AV system and feed in junk, no thanks, and anyone with a similar attitude to promoting the best in AV systems isn't going to pass on crap pirates, promote them, let alone actualy create them.

Discs these days are so cheap that pirates are a con anyway.

However since when has it been an R2 pirate, its dodgy asian things that have little in the way of copy control that are rife.

If anything to stop pirates they should release movies world wide at the same time, cut the market, kill the pirates. Get the same content and publiscise the fact.

Cya,
Lee

[Tejstar]

Well I think the dvd reviews on this forum are a credit to the whole site. It's a shame to see the company's being so short-sighted regarding their policies. Keep up the good work, fully behind you on this one.

[LFCRules]

Here here, another person here giving AVForums my support (and nothing to do with me being a mod!). Thanks to the reviews over the last few days, I have 5 DVDs on order, to be delivered over the next few days

Keep up the great work Phil and the rest of the reviewers, you are all doing a superb job

Cheers

Andy

[Miniholic]

Interesting article Phil, I can't beleive the shortsightedness of the studios - can't say I'm surprised though. I can understand their concerns about piracy, but how many enthusiasts would spend enough on their systems to buy a small car (ok large car according to some peoples kit lists) and then put that rubbish through it.

Can I just add to what has been said above, and give my thanks to the whole review team who do a great job. In my opinion, the reviewers on this site put all the so-called professional reviewers to shame, and long may they continue.

100% behind you.

[wizbongre]

I'm gob-smacked...

I now have to add Film studios to my list of "Do these people live in the same world as us