DVDs: A suggestion

Making people wait for DVD releases is a pain. Or, more accurately, it's a holdover from older days. That's my opinions, anyway.

Obviously the companies involved would disagree. They want to make maximum money out of a property, so why release something "Good Enough" early when it would stop people buying the "Full Product" later?

Well, maybe 'cos these days it really pisses people off.

1 - Movies
Who honestly has time to go to the cinema for every movie release? I know I sure don't. Plus, more importantly, I don't currently have any people to go with. And solo cinema trips are both dull and stressful. Being on my own in a room full of complete strangers? Bugger that! I just want to see the story. Especially fims which get reveiwed on sites I follow, but have a UK release weeks (or months) after the US release.

2 - Anime
I like Anime, especially in the original Japanese through the use of English subtitles. So a show gets licensed. We then have to sit though at least half a year before even the first episodes come out.

Mainly what takes the time is the English Dialogue version. When i only care about the subtitled version that involves waiting for a process to be completed that I won't even care about.

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Makes as much sense to me as when video games have their UK launch several months after the American/Canadian/Australian launch because the distribution rights are often for Europe, so even the English-speakers have to wait for the game to be translated out of English.
...and then they wonder why do many people download dodgy copies.

• Version on shelves: 6 months from now
• Version on servers: now

I don't condone it, but I'm hardly surprised people do it.

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But in the DVD situation I have an idea. Of course seeing it's great for the customers and eats profits a little I bet it'll never fly.

Slimline Quick Releases

Think about it:

For movies having the film come out on a cheap DVD/VHS whilst still in the cinemas - though maybe a few weeks in to placate the beancounters. No surround sound. No special features - except HOH Subtitles. Heck, even minimal chapter-stops. Oh, and no inflated price-tag.
But for people who just want to see the damn film, they can. And legitimately. And when the full-featured DVD comes out you'll still get a bucketload of sales. Mianly for the extra features.

Then for Anime why not release a sub-only similarly-limited DVD as soon as you've got the script done. Don't penalise/turn-off the people who prefer subtitles. Plus waiting half a year or more simply for the first episode of a series you're halfway through (or more) is a pain. It might give lower profits but I'd sure pay for a sub-only DVD of the rest of a series I've addicted to. But sometimes by the time the latter half of the series comes out I've either lost interest or simply don't have the funds available.

If someone doesn't buy your DVD it doesn't matter whether it'd because they've got a copy off the Internet or down the market, or whether it's because they simply gave up waiting and decided not to watch it at all. Both are sales lost due to making people wait longer than they want to.[*]
Give the customers what they want when they want and more people will actually spend their money.

[*] Personally I'd suspect the latter of being more of a "lost" sale - in some cases anyway. People who obtain copes through other means may well not have intended on ever paying to watch, os it's not a "lost sale" as it never would have been a "sale". But someone who loses interest is a lost sale, as they were probably waiting for the legit copy.