Mill Creek releasing He-Man

[BCI Guy]

Why must Blueray be only for HD stuff? Why have 2 DVDs when they can fit on 1 Blueray? Even more can fit on a dual-layer Blueray.

Because Blu-ray is still a hard sell for a large portion of the public, and studios are very afraid that if they put SD content on Blu-ray discs, people will get confused and think that they can't see the quality difference in HD.

Then add in how many fewer people have Blu-ray equipment, and you end up putting out SD programming that many, many people can't play.

I agree. I hate digital media with a passion. DRM crap preventing things from moving from one device to another*, device crashes (losing your files), having to constantly pay for some service to get them (like Netflix...which is impossible to use in certain areas...like mine).

I like my CDs and DVDs I can turn into digital media and put on whatever device I like. If there's a crash or whatever, I still have my stuff. It's also much cheaper because retail stores put things on clearance. I just got the Smokin Aces 1 and 2 Blu-Ray 2 pack at Wal-Mart for $7.


* I got my digital copies of Wall-E and Wonder Woman from my Blu-Rays and put them on the computer. PC crashed, but I saved the files to DVD. They will not work on anything because of DRM. You have to put in this code and it checks online to see if it's the same system you had it on or some bogus nonsense. So, yeah. Bye bye digital copies of both films. *thumbs down*

Clearly if we ever go to an "all digital" format, it won't work under the same rules that apply today. We're a long ways away from the end of physical media.

[Grimbot]

Because Blu-ray is still a hard sell for a large portion of the public, and studios are very afraid that if they put SD content on Blu-ray discs, people will get confused and think that they can't see the quality difference in HD.

DVD wasn't much of an easier sell either in the beginning. There was a lot of talk about DVD discs being useless after having even one SLIGHT scratch. High prices didn't help either.

Well if it says "material on this disc is presented in SD quality" on the cover then there won't be any confusion. Unless studios think that buyers are bunch of idiots...

Then add in how many fewer people have Blu-ray equipment, and you end up putting out SD programming that many, many people can't play.

How many had DVD in the beginning? Not many.

Did studios stopped selling stuff on VHS once DVD showed up? No.
By the time they stopped, lots of people owned a DVD player.

[BCI Guy]

DVD wasn't much of an easier sell either in the beginning. There was a lot of talk about DVD discs being useless after having even one SLIGHT scratch. High prices didn't help either.

Well if it says "material on this disc is presented in SD quality" on the cover then there won't be any confusion. Unless studios think that buyers are bunch of idiots...

People don't read disclaimers, and yeah, studios do gear things for the lowest common denominator. And with Blu-ray sales still struggling, studios aren't going to start putting SD content on discs so they can sell less SD than if they left it on DVD.

How many had DVD in the beginning? Not many.

Did studios stopped selling stuff on VHS once DVD showed up? No.
By the time they stopped, lots of people owned a DVD player.

BD is a harder sell. VHS to DVD was revolutionary. DVD to BD is evolutionary.

You not only had an absolutely massive uptick in quality going from VHS, but you added bonus features, instant scene access, no need to rewind and tons of other bells and whistles.

Add in that the majority of people are absolutely thrilled still with how DVDs look and sound on their HD TVs and it becomes a much harder sell. The problem is the average consumer just doesn't see the difference enough to justify it. Heck, I still see tons of people that stretch 4:3 content to fill their 16:9 TV and it doesn't bother them at all.

[Emiliano]

---Very Shameless Plug---
Homepage updated with the exclusive cover art!
Check the news here!

... And Val forgot to mention his awesome coloring job!
We teamed up once more to make a new MOTU cover, it was like the old days!

[JVS3]

Emil did a Sicilian Super Swing on the cover then I pinned it. Tag team for the win!

[Pixel Dan]

You guys are awesome!!!

Even though I already have all the BCI sets, I think I want to buy this...

[KUZEH]

Looks really nice!
But I already have the set... wish they would sell prints of the art...
that I would buy!

[Darkspecter]

---Very Shameless Plug---
Homepage updated with the exclusive cover art!
Check the news here!

... And Val forgot to mention his awesome coloring job!
We teamed up once more to make a new MOTU cover, it was like the old days!

That's awesome! I like it. It's like the epic battle to end the series!

[Captain Marvel]

Amazing work on the cover Emiliano and Val -- it looks fantastic!

Heck, I still see tons of people that stretch 4:3 content to fill their 16:9 TV and it doesn't bother them at all.

I've never understood why people want to distort the picture like that; trying to watch a stretched 4:3 image has always been a bit distracting to me.

[Penny Dreadful]

Great cover guys!!

[Mr. Shokoti]

I wasn't going to get this since I already have the BCI releases, but I'm tempted to now. That cover is simple yet still extremely epic looking. Great job!!!

[He-Man123]

You mean that they had you do this as freelancers? they didn't require you to apply?

[Tallstar]

Nice! I really like that cover.

[cringer75]

Another great job guys! I must own this set!!!

[bskcase]

I will definitely be picking up the DVD. I can't wait.

[triklops1]

You guys are awesome!!!

Even though I already have all the BCI sets, I think I want to buy this...

me too !!! thats just another MASTERpiece !

---Very Shameless Plug---
Homepage updated with the exclusive cover art!
Check the news here!

... And Val forgot to mention his awesome coloring job!
We teamed up once more to make a new MOTU cover, it was like the old days!

good job emil !!

[krosfyah]

any newson what the extras are? is it just what's on the BCI discs?

[Firefly]

On Mill Creek's sell sheet for Season 1, it had sale figures for the past He-Man sets which I found pretty interesting.

units sold:

Best of He-Man (BCI): 75,803
He-Man S1V1 (BCI): 96,140
He-Man S1V2 (BCI): 46,584
He-Man S2V1 (BCI): 34,044
He-Man S2V2 (BCI): 28,519
He-Man 2002-Origins (Mill Creek): 35,618
He-Man 2002-Complete (Mill Creek): 20,827
He-Man 2002 V1 (BCI): 28,786
He-Man 2002 V2 (BCI): 21,784
He-Man 2002 V3 (BCI): 17,694

They also shows these two titles:
Thundercats S1V1 (WB): 123,055
Transformers S1 (Shout): 115,972

[Darkspecter]

Interesting info there, Firefly. Any information on PoP DVD sales?

Also, I'm FLOORED that Thundercats sold more than MOTU! I mean, I bought them used and am loving them, but I never imagined they would sell more than MOTU. NEVER!

[Penny Dreadful]

Interesting info there, Firefly. Any information on PoP DVD sales?

Also, I'm FLOORED that Thundercats sold more than MOTU! I mean, I bought them used and am loving them, but I never imagined they would sell more than MOTU. NEVER!

Me too! I was really surprised to see that. However, I wonder if the fact that ThunderCats was being put out by Warner Brothers factors into it. WB is a huge company. They may have gotten the T-Cats DVDs out to more places than BCI did with MOTU & POP.

[Tallstar]

That's pretty cool, Firefly. It's especially interesting to see the units sold on the 2002 series volumes. Don't think that's even been shown before.

Interesting info there, Firefly. Any information on PoP DVD sales?

Some of the sales sheets on Angel Mangels' site show sales numbers on POP sets, but that information is waaay out of date by now. Last sales numbers on the Best of She-Ra set was something around 37,000 units.

[Firefly]

official press release for Season 2 SDCC version:
http://www.he-man.org/news_article.php?id=1991

Interesting info there, Firefly. Any information on PoP DVD sales?

According to the sell sheet on Andy Mangels website for She-Ra season 2 which would be around midish-2007, "quantities" (same as units sold?) for He-Man Seasons 1 & 2 V1 & V2 are 154,193 (compare that to the Mill Creek 10/24/2010 total of 205,287 for those 4 titles combined), Jem Seasons 1&2 (which was 1 volume) 34,070, and Best of She-Ra 35,758.

[demiscy]

Any news of the .org getting some copies for us, international fans of the SDCC exclusive?

[BCI Guy]

On Mill Creek's sell sheet for Season 1, it had sale figures for the past He-Man sets which I found pretty interesting.

units sold:

Best of He-Man (BCI): 75,803
He-Man S1V1 (BCI): 96,140
He-Man S1V2 (BCI): 46,584
He-Man S2V1 (BCI): 34,044
He-Man S2V2 (BCI): 28,519
He-Man 2002-Origins (Mill Creek): 35,618
He-Man 2002-Complete (Mill Creek): 20,827
He-Man 2002 V1 (BCI): 28,786
He-Man 2002 V2 (BCI): 21,784
He-Man 2002 V3 (BCI): 17,694

They also shows these two titles:
Thundercats S1V1 (WB): 123,055
Transformers S1 (Shout): 115,972

One thing to point out is those are VideoScan numbers. They represent most of the brick and mortar and major online sellers, but Wal-Mart does not report to them, so their sales are not included.

[zodak74]

In general, it seems like the first releases do really well, and sales then drop off for the subsequent volumes.