Sinister Cinema message concerning "other movie companies"

Recently, I received this e-mail from Sinister Cinema, as I'm sure many of you also did. Just wondering what everyone's thoughts on this were as it's usually a pretty hot topic.

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Howdy.

By now you should have received the new 2008-2009 Sinister Cinema Catalog. If you haven't, please let us know. Also let us know if you received last year's catalog by mistake. There are hundreds of titles to peruse through including well over 100 brand new and recent DVD releases. The mailing of the catalog also marked the return of the $98 Special, which you can find more info on by going to the Sinister website at www.sinistercinema.com.

We have had a number of supportive comments regarding our statement regarding other video companies, which was found on the first page of the new catalog. One thing we did not mention in this statement is that it appears that some of the video companies we referred to are now actually burning their own logo over the top of the Sinister "sc" logo when they use Sinister VHS and DVD product to make their own DVD masters from. This was brought to our attention over the last few days and it does indeed appear to be true. At any rate here is our original statement in case you missed it...

A word about other video companies

We have had many people call or write, asking us if we license our film materials to other video companies. This question arises after they purchase videos from other companies that sometimes display the little Sinister Cinema "SC" logo at the bottom right of the screen at certain times during the movie. The answer to this question is no, we do not generally license our materials to other companies with the occasional exception of our friends at Rhino or Retromedia (there are also certain companies we wholesale Sinister product to like Movies Unlimited or Filmfax). The reason you are seeing our logo on non-Sinister product is because over the past several years two or three video companies in particular have been taking store-bought Sinister Cinema titles—often old Sinister VHS copies—and using them to make their own DVD masters. In many cases they make no attempt to hide the fact that they have used Sinister Cinema product to make these masters. That is why you see our logo. These masters are one video generation down from the original Sinister product (let alone the original Sinister masters) and are of inferior quality. In many cases, these companies have laid down a black bar to hide our logo, but the quality loss cannot be hidden. We estimate that one company in particular has used literally hundreds of Sinister commercial VHS and DVD copies to make DVD masters from. Keep in mind, because we use largely public domain titles, their usage of our product in this manner appears to be legal. We ourselves have occasionally used out-of-print VHS titles, old laser disc titles, or obscure foreign sources to make masters from—most PD companies do this from time to time—but this is the exception rather than the norm. However, these other companies have taken this practice to an astonishing level in recent years, and Sinister Cinema appears to be their favorite source for low cost mastering materials. It is regrettable for film collectors that these companies choose to spend much of their money on colorful, professional packaging while spending so little on obtaining quality film elements for the actual movies they intend to release. So if you prefer to pay only a few dollars for movies that have great packaging, but are generated down from their original source materials, then companies like these will be to your liking. We hold no ill will toward these companies. As we said before, this practice in most cases appears to be legal thus far, but we have had so many inquiries and comments that we thought we should make a statement.