Well there are few nuts out there, but those are mostly cranky French companies. rights holders do not want their stuff to die, the smaller ones ( non studios) and especially filmmakers, want very much for their material to be available. However it costs serious money to remaster and release material. I think the problem is students, faculty , IT and administration people, not librarians. This group does if fact think films should be free, and available at the press of button on their computer. Some of them may be OK letting a library buy one copy if it is roughly $25 and they can stream it, but feel anything more is a "waste".
With all due respect no library is "preserving" a film by making a digital copy from a VHS.They are actually getting an inferior copy that is down a generation of an already vastly inferior image. The only way to "preserve" a copy is using the best available elements and this is why I am so angry about this. Duping VHS to DVD and calling preservation and archiving is not only a joke, it does as I keep pointing out literally make it harder for the material to ever be properly mastered and distributed. Dubbing might cost a library a few bucks to pay a student worker to do it, real preservation or mastering is thousands and in some cases tens of thousands of dollars so you can see why rights holders might be just a wee pissed at institutions dubbing films they themselves can't afford to do, into crappy copies. I don't know if I was more upset at UCLA illegally streaming thousands of films or using a 30 year old VHS copy of THE TIN DRUM for example, a title which has been available on DVD for at least 15 years. It is nice to know everyone here is happy to buy a new copy, but until distributors know they can sell enough copies to cover the very high cost of making a decent DVD, they simply can not afford to put them out. This is why I have always wanted to focus to be on co-operation between distributors and libraries on finding ways to make it that work, making cheap DVDS of their films is not going to help. On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 5:39 PM, Ball, James (jmb4aw) <[email protected]> wrote: > “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without.” > > > > We can do without if we have to. There is always other content that > students and faculty can use. But again, I find it hard to believe that > rights-holders would really rather their work just die than have someone > take on the responsibility of preserving it, at their own expense, so that > people could continue to see it? > > > > M- > > > > ______________________________ > > Matt Ball > > Media Services Librarian > > University of Virginia > > [email protected] > > 434-924-3812 > > > > From: [email protected] > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] > Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 5:14 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [Videolib] videolib Digest, Vol 46, Issue 27 > > > > We are a small distributor of many many short art films, and it would hardly > be worthwhile for anyone to pirate our stuff. Where would they advertise it? > > And yet I have a dog in this fight. Because every so often we get an inquiry > about a title and I respond with an order form, and the line goes dead. > Why? Because we don't charge $10, we charge $50. And I think they figure > well let's see who has that, borrow it, and run off a copy. > > This whole discussion is really about having something that either you can't > have or that costs more than you want to spend. Parsing and splitting the > copyright laws is just a proxy argument. > > If the XYZ Production Company ever does make a DVD of that title you want, > you can buy it. And if not, not. > > May I quote what is sometimes referred to as the New England credo? > > Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without. > > Stephan Chodorov > Creative Arts Television > www.catarchive.com > > > VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues > relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, > preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and > related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective > working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication > between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and > distributors. > > -- Jessica Rosner Media Consultant 224-545-3897 (cell) 212-627-1785 (land line) [email protected] VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.
