Starcade is coming to DVD!

[Postermen]

http://www.jmpc.com/Starcade/BackO/store/default.asp

$40 for 5 episodes sound a bit too much, even if it does include a T-Shirt.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Y'know, I was willing to shell out $40 for Howard Scott Warshaw's "Once Upon Atari" on DVD. But this? I dunno. I could see maybe $30 for the DVD-and-shirt package, and they could keep their Branded Dustbunnies for themselves...but I'm just not encouraged by the production value I see on their page. I've made better-looking DVD case inserts for my resume reels.

Other opinions? Maybe I'm being way too harsh here. I know a lot of people are up for Starcade DVDs. I'm just not sure I'm $40 up for one of 'em.

[Flack]

It reeks of a deal to make as much money as they can and not of "hey, here's something cool for the fans," which is where I like to normally drop my cash.

The whole "Collection #1" scares me too -- I'm sure the thought process is, if people will pay $40 for 1, what will they pay for the next one? At $8/episode, that's gonna figure out to be a whole lotta cash.

[Darth Sensei]

It's just another way to cash in on the 80's Nostalgia craze. That being said, I'll most likely buy one from eBay in a year or 2 for around $12.

D

[Sniderman]

I really, really, really want a t-shirt, but there'd better be a shitoad of extras on that DVD for me to shell out $40. And considering the show runs regularly on G4, episodes aren't exactly hard to find anymore. *Before* those regular airings, yeah, I would've paid anything for this on DVD. Now? I can record 10 hours worth of Starcade eps in a week if I so desire. (That would be $160 worth of episodes by their $8 per episode figure.)

[PongHit]

It reeks of a deal to make as much money as they can and not of "hey, here's something cool for the fans," ...

You may be right -- but isn't it POSSIBLE that the price is so high because the demand is low? In other words, how many Starcade DVDs will sell? Not many, I'd guess. Therefore the quantities must be small, which means they probably have considerable overhead.

As for the quality, I emailed them & suggested that future DVD collections contain more than 5 episodes. They responded & explained that in order to include more than 5 eps the compression would reduce the quality of the sound/video. So, I guess they're concerned about quality...(?)

-PongHit

[Arcade Antics]

isn't it POSSIBLE that the price is so high because the demand is low? In other words, how many Starcade DVDs will sell? Not many, I'd guess. Therefore the quantities must be small, which means they probably have considerable overhead.

I doubt it. Given the ease and low expense of authoring DVDs today, plus the low costs of the materials, they could sell them for half that and still make a profit. It's not like they're having them THX certified and authored at the most expensive Hollywood studio. At $20, the price is perceived as more reasonable and would definitely lead to a higher number of sales and ultimately an increased profit. At $40, they're killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Probably even before it gets going.

Like others have said, I like the idea of being able to buy all the episodes on DVD, but they should take a cue from other TV shows and do the "Complete First Season" thing where you'd pay $40 for 3-4 discs. If they can't do it right now for whatever reason, they ought to wait until it's feasible instead of putting out 5 (random?) episodes on 1 $40 DVD.