Loki Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 There's a shitty flipside to all of this, which is that physical media can often have a longer lifespan than digital. There is a ton of music, books, publication, tv and so on that only still exist as physical copy - as an example, videogames whose source code has been lost but still exist on tape/CD/cartridge. I'm a massive hoarder of everything that I work on and even I lose stuff. As an example I was approached by a former client for an sfx session from a videogame I'd worked on 5 years previously, as they wanted it for an expansion pack. I had all the sessions on my backup server, but when I went to open it I found I'd manually copied it (drag-drop) and the copy had silently failed. The entire project's worth of edit sessions was corrupted and lost. In another instance, I was asked to provide a piece of music I'd written for a compilation CD, and couldn't find the DAT or a session or proper master anywhere, but I did have a CD I printed out in about 1998 with a version of the song on, so that's what I was able to give them. I know the WWE's digital archive is incredibly well looked after and preserved but I also doubt something of that size is backed up onto the cloud. Once there's only really 1 copy of everything, and they're no longer selling physical media, the likelihood increases of things being lost forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Coconut Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 The plus side is that all digital media is still pirated and those copies are lossless and won't deteriorate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 That's true @King Coconut, although again that relies upon tape trader types keeping those pirated copies. I guess that also goes some way towards alleviating my other thought, which is once everything is digital and streamed, it means revision of history is super easy. At any point the WWE can change the edit. Consider "The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" or the Chris Benoit Best Of DVD. Those things will never see the light of day again via WWE, they'll just exist on people's shelves. Or the edited version of Hulk Hogan's NWO speech, which I believe is different nowadays to the original broadcast. I'm sure there are better examples! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted December 6, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 6, 2023 It seems to me that the gradual shift towards digital started quite some years ago, particularly in music - physical media now has to have a lot more extra value than just being a carrier for data; the actual item itself has to have added value in design, materials, bonus content, etc. I do wonder if WWE will stop selling physical media completely and utterly, i.e. no commemorative DVD metal case box-sets with signed photocards, that sort of thing - between the rarity and the extra production value, they'd probably make a bit of cash from the more hardcore fanbase contingent. Well aware though that this would be a drop in the ocean of money they're drawing in, but there must be a reason why record companies do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted December 6, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 6, 2023 Would this be a good time to ask if any hardcore completionist wanted to offer me silly money for my copy of 1992 Year In Review? That’s never getting into the Network! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator Onyx2 Posted December 6, 2023 Author Awards Moderator Share Posted December 6, 2023 8 hours ago, Loki said: know the WWE's digital archive is incredibly well looked after and preserved There were some PPV shows where WWE's own masters were ruined or unavailable, therefore transferred from a home VHS copy. I can't remember which shows but I'm sure one of my old colleagues will chip in with what they are... So not everything is as well preserved as you would think in their archive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 14 minutes ago, Onyx2 said: There were some PPV shows where WWE's own masters were ruined or unavailable, therefore transferred from a home VHS copy. I can't remember which shows but I'm sure one of my old colleagues will chip in with what they are... So not everything is as well preserved as you would think in their archive. I can remember OSW Review mentioning about this in their Wrestlemania IX review and they had a side by side comparison of the Silver Vision version and the Wrestlemania Anthology version. I believe they described the difference as “like looking at a photograph from the 1700s” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 Is there anywhere to see old catalogues? I know there's a LOT of random crap on the Internet. Would be nice to see them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 3 hours ago, WyattSheepMask said: I can remember OSW Review mentioning about this in their Wrestlemania IX review and they had a side by side comparison of the Silver Vision version and the Wrestlemania Anthology version. I believe they described the difference as “like looking at a photograph from the 1700s” Which one of those is meant to be better? The Silvervision looks marginally worse... This was the article I recall, now a decade old!https://www.wwe.com/classics/inside-video-vault Th Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Xtreme_lives Posted December 6, 2023 Share Posted December 6, 2023 1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said: Is there anywhere to see old catalogues? I know there's a LOT of random crap on the Internet. Would be nice to see them! I picked some up off ebay a little while ago just to browse through. Happy to scan one over to you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted December 7, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 7, 2023 14 hours ago, Loki said: That's true @King Coconut, although again that relies upon tape trader types keeping those pirated copies. I guess that also goes some way towards alleviating my other thought, which is once everything is digital and streamed, it means revision of history is super easy. At any point the WWE can change the edit. Consider "The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" or the Chris Benoit Best Of DVD. Those things will never see the light of day again via WWE, they'll just exist on people's shelves. Or the edited version of Hulk Hogan's NWO speech, which I believe is different nowadays to the original broadcast. I'm sure there are better examples! Dusty Rhodes coming to the ring for his match against Savage at Mania 6 to the Wheel Of Fortune theme. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro_y Disco Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 9 hours ago, 2Xtreme_lives said: I picked some up off ebay a little while ago just to browse through. Happy to scan one over to you I'd also love to see one of the old catalogues. Especially from late 90s/early 00s when DVDs were just coming in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted December 7, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted December 7, 2023 There's a fair few knocking about on eBay with images to view if you fancy a reminisce. My "catalogue" experience picking up tapes came in two stages. As per the story I've told half a dozen times, my first exposure to wrestling came from my mate Simon and by proxy his sister's video shop. The first Christmas my parents decided that getting the tapes through Wendy at trade prices might be better than traipsing through Woolies or John Menzies hoping for the best, rather than just asking for tapes I knew existed, I received the catalogue that she could order from. So as well as browsing "Sports - General Interest" I was also able to fill gaps in my Red Dwarf collection, consider anything from any other sitcom or anything else I fancied, and have a laugh at some of the titles in the "Adult" category which I believe might have included Electric Blue. Imagine my confusion the first time I saw "US Rampage 91" "US Rampage 92" and "US Invasion 92 (sic)". These were obviously the first ones I ordered along with 2nd Annual Survivor Series because I already had scart to scart copies of 4th/5th/6th, and 3rd had been my first proper purchase from the aforementioned John Menzies. My delight when they started coming with Mega Mail catalogues inside, I can't sum up in words. They were rubbish initially, just black and white order forms that looked like this (but with 93/94 titles) ; Of course, the first time I ordered direct, I got "Mega Mail Exclusive" First Annual Survivor Series. The yellow box was the draw, I think they lost some charm once they graduated to colour print and images of the product! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2Xtreme_lives Posted December 7, 2023 Share Posted December 7, 2023 If anyone wants in that case, i've scanned in the March/April 2001 Catalog, it's on WeTransfer now if OK to post here Spoiler https://we.tl/t-OCad0O8bft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BigJag Posted January 1 Paid Members Share Posted January 1 Bye. Thanks for the memories. I'll cherish those that I have. Summerslam 88 was my first official VHS. I've always valued live recorded versions more highly. Still have stacks of VHS tapes going back to the mid 80s. I'll transfer everything to Digital, one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.