XtraVison DVDs - No 5.1

Krusty_Clown

I have a beef with XtraVision DVDs at the moment. Over the last couple of weeks, I've rented both 'Wonderland' and 'Monster'. Both movies have been 'customised' releases for XtraVision, which feature advertisements for the company. The problem is that they (XtraVision) are not including the 5.1 soundtrack, just the standard stereo track. The films are also devoid of subtitles.

It might not sound like a big issue, but when you think about it, XtraVision are adding their own content to the DVD, and because of it, removing from your viewing experience (both movies have DD5.1 and DTS tracks listed on IMDB).

What happens if they decide to include ads at the end of the movie too? What will they remove from the movie to fit the ads onto the disc then? A couple of chapters? They must have the distributor's approval to do this.. But why don't they use dual-layer DVDs? Isn't this just a little bit unethical? Any opinions?

anthonymcg

That's ridiculous. I've just come from your shop, why the f*ck would you want to advertise to me!! Just installed a 5.1 system so will be well pissed off if this becomes standard policy.

Cabaal

tbh Xtravirsion is ****e and its your own fault for buying there own branded DVD, buy then from play.com and other sites there much cheaper and you get the full contents of the DVD

lodgepole

Cabaal wrote:

tbh Xtravirsion is ****e and its your own fault for buying there own branded DVD, buy then from play.com and other sites there much cheaper and you get the full contents of the DVD

Renting, not buying. It'll be a sorry day when rental companies finally exploit the extent of the advertising potential of their DVDs.

Cabaal

Lodgepole wrote:

Renting, not buying. It'll be a sorry day when rental companies finally exploit the extent of the advertising potential of their DVDs.

whoops my mistake,
I've heard with some Disney DVD's that you HAVE to sit through the trailers at the beginning of the DVD, I've also heard this is also the case with some copies of the 6th Sense DVD
yet to see any of these tbh

CuLT

That's pretty lame alright, stopped renting DVDs a while ago though when it became cheap to buy them online.

Doubt they'll cut out chapters, especially when all they have to do is recompress the films to a lower quality to fit extra stuff on.

lodgepole

Cabaal wrote:

whoops my mistake,
I've heard with some Disney DVD's that you HAVE to sit through the trailers at the beginning of the DVD, I've also heard this is also the case with some copies of the 6th Sense DVD
yet to see any of these tbh

Disney's Tarzan special edition has that on it. About 10 minutes of trailers that you can't skip (though you can fast forward them). I don't agree with having any advertisements on DVDs that you purchase and certainly not on high priced special editions. I'd accept a certain amount on budget titles though...

I've seen it a lot more on region 1 DVDs that i've watched, the idea of not only having trailers at the beginning of the DVD, but also lurking in the special features section. Again, you can kind of understand the likes of Hong Kong Legends, or other specialist DVD producers to have something like this, but some of the bigger studios seem to just grab four or five random trailers and throw them onto the disc.

smoke.me.a.kipper

alot of rental discs have no special features (despite what the box says). beware buying ex-rental discs too, unless your absolutly sure what your buying.

rabbitinlights

Ive noticed this too, Im very píssed off about it, i spent a half-hour checking my settings of my amp but then realised that it was Xtra vision being cheap?, If the Box that you bring up to the counter has the DD 5.1 or DTS sign on it then it could be legal matters afoot, but i doubt they would do something like this without consulting their legal dept? This obviously means they are printing their own DVD's? Wonderland really pissed me off, because it was an "Xtravision Xclusive" and i couldnt find it elsewhere?

Anyone here work for them or know somebody?

Sean

leeroybrown

Next time you end up with a dud DVD like this go in, ask for the manager and complain. Then write a letter to Xtra Vision complaining. Tell them that you are very unhappy with this and that you will not continue to rent DVD's that don't have the correct 5.1 sound and subtitles.

Krusty_Clown

I wanted to contact XtraVision about this, but as you know XtraVision is owned by the huge BlockBuster Franchise, and their web-based contact information points to info@blockbuster.com.

I'll mail them anyway, and try and get a postal address..

Cult: Doubt they'll cut out chapters, especially when all they have to do is recompress the films to a lower quality to fit extra stuff on.

Ok, my example was a little extreme, but I don't want to rent a compressed version of the movie either. A lower qualty movie, to allow extra space for XtraVision ads?!

smoke-me-a-kipper: alot of rental discs have no special features (despite what the box says)

A 5.1 sound-track isn't a speacial feature. It is a standard feature. A DTS track on the other hand, is a special feature. What about sub-titles? Are they special features?

Essentially, as I see it, XtraVision made a deal with the Distributor, which allowed them to re-author the DVD to include XtraVision specific content, at the cost of standard features such as Sub-titles, surround-sound tracks etc..

It sucks. I'm going to seek a response from XtraVision (which I'll share with you), and if I'm not pleased with the outcome, I'll be moving my business elsewhere.

smoke.me.a.kipper

Krusty_Clown wrote:

A 5.1 sound-track isn't a speacial feature. It is a standard feature. A DTS track on the other hand, is a special feature. What about sub-titles? Are they special features?

what i meant was there are an increasingly large number of stripped down rental-only version dvd's. this includes the non xtra-vision exclusives. although what their doing with their exclusives is a joke.

Krusty_Clown

smoke-me-a-kipper: what i meant was there are an increasingly large number of stripped down rental-only version dvd's. this includes the non xtra-vision exclusives. although what their doing with their exclusives is a joke.

Agreed. I wonder if these Discs are identical across video rental companies?
Do video shops have the option to purchase cut-down versions of the movies for rental, for greater savings? (which they subsequently don't pass on to the consumer).

Maybe I'm just on an anti-globalisation binge.

impr0v

Not a major point, but just to clarify, are they xtravision specific ads at the start or just standard trailers? Is it definitely Xtravision doing it, or does the distributor print special rental version disks?

lodgepole

impr0v wrote:

Not a major point, but just to clarify, are they xtravision specific ads at the start or just standard trailers? Is it definitely Xtravision doing it, or does the distributor print special rental version disks?

Xtravision specific. The trailers are strange too... Really **** titles and the like.

Krusty_Clown

impr0v wrote:

Not a major point, but just to clarify, are they xtravision specific ads at the start or just standard trailers? Is it definitely Xtravision doing it, or does the distributor print special rental version disks?

As Lodgepole suggested, they are specific XtraVision ads. Not dis-similar to their ads on TV. Movies include 'The cooler' and some others.. Probably other XtraVision exclusives..

I don't know who is printing the discs, but I would imagine that the distributor would have access to dual-layer technology, in which case, they wouldn't have to worry about ripping off bits of the product. So it's probably XV.

jor el

I've noticed on rentals lately that you can't skip to the main menu when it starts up. It automatically starts the trailer ads and the menu function is dissabled. You either sit through mostly crap trailers or fast forward, as in the VHS days of yore. Isn't modern technology brilliant, DVDs crippled by regionalisation and non skippable sections.

DivX

I've noticed all the ads that you can't skip and the missing extra features.

Any of the Exclusive XtraVision discs like this were usually dual layer i.e. they contained around 5-6gb, so it has to be dual layer right?

They were still missing the extras in spite of having the unused space on the disc.

Raoul Duke

I haven't rented from them in years (and don't plan on starting) so I haven't seen this. I'm very surprised it's happening though. I was curious about one thing....those DVDs with the surround sound taken out of them, were the rest of the extras still intact? I presume they must be because if the resulting DVD was indeed dual layer and both the extras and surround sound were taken out, there would be a lot of free space on the disc which would be pointless.

Also, under the sale of goods act (whatever year) the DVD that you rented should equate with the DVD as advertised. I.e. if the box says it has surround sound it should have surround sound an the same with the extras. I would demand my money back and I would threaten the manager with taking them to the Small Claims Court.

Miguel_Sanchez

There's a lot of rental DVDs out there at the moment that you can't skip the trailers on. It's not just XtraVisions ones either.

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(I like trailers though - *ahem* - it's true.)

smoke.me.a.kipper

id say its possibly the distributors putting stripped down versions (with trailers) for rental. maybe trying to make you buy the film with the special features + no trailers.

LoLth

Didnt Xtra-vision recently have an argument with one of the distributors about this? (whoever distributed eight legged freaks).

The xtra-vision head office for ireland is in tallaght if iirc.

XTRA-VISION HEAD OFFICE, GREENHILLS
ROAD, TALLAGHT, DUBLIN 24 Tel: +353-1-452-7772 Email: info@xtravision

Krusty_Clown

Thanks for the contact details, I'll fire them off an e-mail..

By the way, I had a look at a couple of the boxes in question in the store, and one of them did indeed list both DTS and 5.1 sound-tracks (although the afore-mentioned graphics were reduced to a tiny size). The other movie didn't list them.

Krusty_Clown

I'll let you know if I get any responses.

I've been an XtraVision customer now for approximately 15 years, during which period I have rented and purchased games and movies exclusively from XtraVision outlets in Ireland. As you can imagine, during this period, I have expended considerable amounts of my income on the afore-mentioned products, but have been happy to do so, given that I felt that the quality and service levels offered by XtraVision were of a sufficiently high standard to meet my needs.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case any longer. Over recent months, I have rented a number of DVD movies, the quality of which has not met my needs. Specifically DVD releases such as 'Monster' and 'Wonderland', which feature an XtraVision advert at the beginning of the movie, and have standard DVD features removed, such as Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS soundtracks, sub-titles etc. which are notable in their absence from the discs.

Given that non-rental releases of these movies do feature DD5.1 tracks, (and in some cases your rental product's sleeve's blurb makes reference to these features) I can only surmise that these have been removed as part of the exercise of adding the XtraVision advertising content. You might consider this a rather insignificant point, however, I'd like to draw your attention to the following issues:

Firstly, by including references to DD5.1 and DTS on the rental boxes of these products, you are advertising features for a product which do not exist.

Secondly, these rentals are of a sub-standard quality to those of your competitors.

Finally (and most significantly), because you choose to include your own advertisements in the product I am renting, I am subsequently presented with a lesser viewing (and auditory) experience.

Before I move my future business to one of your competitor's offerings, I'd like to give you an opportunity to offer me a reason why the above is happening, and convince me why I shouldn't move my families' annual spend on movie rentals, purchases and game rentals (approximately 1,000 euro) to one of your competitors organisations.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ciaran500

Keep us updated.

smoke.me.a.kipper

Ciaran500 wrote:

Keep us updated.

yes please do.

0utshined

Krusty_Clown,

Did they ever get back to you? I rented a film last night and was P.O.'d by 10 mins of trailers on it before the menu screen.

Blisterman

The simple solution is to rent from Independant stores. THe people working there usually know about film anyway.

radiospan

Krusty_Clown wrote:

But why don't they use dual-layer DVDs?

They don't use dual-layer DVDs? :eek:

If the Xtra-vision rental copies are single layer DVD-5's, could this mean that the film itself might be encoded at a lower bitrate too?

RuggieBear

Blisterman wrote:

The simple solution is to rent from Independant stores. THe people working there usually know about film anyway.

But how many Independent stores are there anymore....

tails2

ok ok ok. anyone wants to know anything about xtravision just ask me. i worked there for over two years so i know most of the ins and outs. first off anything that is an exclusive to xtravision means it was partily funded by xtravision or bought at script stage(meaning the rights where bought before the film was done) and there fore xtravision dont need any permission to reauthor anthing cos they own rights to it already. second... going into the store to complain about the content on a dvd with staff wont do any good we had no control over what was put on the dvd and nither did the manager. depending on the staff member you will get a different reaction. but the out come will be the same. you will have to get in touch with head office.

any thing else just ask me

oh and about the beef.. it was with warner brothers. the reason was because warner brother didnt want any dvd's to be resold. as in rentals stayed as rentals. there where a few other stories at the time going around about warner still owning the dvd's. kinda like xtravision renting from them then renting to us but i am not 100% on that as there where alot of stories going around the store.

genie

Sorry to kind of threadnap but I was wondering why in Xtravision Ballina, Co Mayo, DVDs are €5 to rent and in the Xtravision in Boyle, Co Roscommon DVDs are €5.25 to rent?

SoupyNorman

genie wrote:

Sorry to kind of threadnap but I was wondering why in Xtravision Ballina, Co Mayo, DVDs are €5 to rent and in the Xtravision in Boyle, Co Roscommon DVDs are €5.25 to rent?

larger towns = bigger bucks = "lets be a greedy little corporation and charge them 25c more for the exact same service"

i work for the c*nts, great place to work as its handy hours, a great laugh and its gettin me tru college but the sh!te the managment spout out is horrendous *spellcheck*.

their trying to be a big time player and their anything but.........its fecking gas when something goes wrong (i.e like some kind of offer dosnt take too well), the 'chain of blame comes along'

Head Office who are ultimately to blame for anything that goes wrong as they wouldnt know how to run a tap never mind anything else send a memo to the District manager who is told that he/she isnt doing their job properly, this district manager is now quite disgruntled as their healthy salary and shiney new company car maybe in jepordy.... a bollocking to the Store Manager ensues, store managers vary from store to store as some can make it out to be a career and suck corporate c**k and others are laid back and exploit the 'handiness' of the job....eventually the chain of blame reaches us oul faithful frontline soldiers who on minimum wage couldnt give feck what goes on above us cos wer there for a good time not a long time!

genie

Thanks for replying!

Boyle is way smaller than Ballina but the Boyle shop is only open a few months and I think they're looking to recoup their outlay in opening the new shop. The newsagent up the street has a video section and rents DVDs for only €4 per night. I know where I'll be going in future if I don't have a Pigsback voucher!!

TOPDAWG

bravestarr082 wrote:

larger towns = bigger bucks = "lets be a greedy little corporation and charge them 25c more for the exact same service"

i work for the c*nts, great place to work as its handy hours, a great laugh and its gettin me tru college but the sh!te the managment spout out is horrendous *spellcheck*.

their trying to be a big time player and their anything but.........its fecking gas when something goes wrong (i.e like some kind of offer dosnt take too well), the 'chain of blame comes along'

Head Office who are ultimately to blame for anything that goes wrong as they wouldnt know how to run a tap never mind anything else send a memo to the District manager who is told that he/she isnt doing their job properly, this district manager is now quite disgruntled as their healthy salary and shiney new company car maybe in jepordy.... a bollocking to the Store Manager ensues, store managers vary from store to store as some can make it out to be a career and suck corporate c**k and others are laid back and exploit the 'handiness' of the job....eventually the chain of blame reaches us oul faithful frontline soldiers who on minimum wage couldnt give feck what goes on above us cos wer there for a good time not a long time!

HA HA. dude i worked in Chartbusters for OVER 2 years and thats EXACTLY what its like. We had the store manager who thinks he's running a mega global corporation and then hes out dusting off playstation games, rearranging the porn section or cleaning sunbeds. Some tool. Bunch of useless knobbers from top to bottom!! Made the most of the pick and mix stand tho HA HA!!!

shabbyroad

Stopped using Extravision a long long time ago. Moved to www.screenclick.com (aka www.dvdrentals.ie) much better value.

Krusty_Clown

0utshined wrote:

Krusty_Clown, Did they ever get back to you? I rented a film last night and was P.O.'d by 10 mins of trailers on it before the menu screen.

The answer to your question is 'No' I never got a reply from my e-mails or snail-mails..

Oh and Tails2, I sincerely doubt that XtraVision has bought rights to a movie, I think it's more likely that they have purchased exclusive distribution rights in Ireland only. I guess it comes down to the contract that XtraVision have agreed with the main distributors. Is the main distributor aware of the fact that XtraVision is distributing a sub-standard product? I doubt it.

Must try and mail them again...

moshpit77

Xtravision has a plus point over independent stores in that it gets enough copies in stock of new releases so that you're not on a waiting list to see them. Independent places however have staff that are genuinely interested in movies and will have a chat woth you, instead of serving you while texting their mates or trying to watch shrek 2 on the inhouse for the 15th time.

If any of you are in or near Limerick City the Moviedrome on Henry St. is the best video rental store I've come across by far. Top staff and a huge selection