EARLY DVD MASTER DATES - Master List

[Koopa Luath]

LIST OF EARLY DVD MASTER DATES

Hey, I couldn't let Andrea have all the fun with master lists, now, could I? But being more serious, I felt I needed to do my part in guiding my fellow restorers to the right media for (potentially, anyway) the right materials, including original audio tracks and perhaps even open matte presentations (for those films shot flat, anyway) or color grades. In any case, the below is a growing list of master dates for the DVDs of old.

12 Monkeys (1997, Widescreen) (Germany - Concorde Video) - January 27, 1997
Amadeus (1997, side A) (USA - Warner) - November 19, 1997
Amadeus (1997, side B) (USA - Warner) - November 21, 1997
Army of Darkness (1997/98) (Germany "Die Armee der Finsternis" - EuroVideo) - November 11, 1997
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1999, widescreen) (Germany - Warner) - July 26, 1999
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - February 7, 1997
Blade Runner: The Director's Cut (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - February 15, 1997
Blazing Saddles (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - May 23, 1997
Blazing Saddles (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - May 23, 1997
The Devil's Advocate (1998) (USA - Warner - release with unaltered Sculpture Artwork) - February 11, 1998
The Doors (1997, THX-certified) (USA - Live) - July 25, 1997
Eric Clapton: Unplugged (1997) (USA - Warner Reprise) - July 31, 1997
Escape from New York (1998) (Germany "Die Klapperschlange" - Constantin Video) - February 7, 2036!?!?!?
The Fifth Element (1998) (Germany, BMG) - February 7, 2036 (again!?)
Goldfinger (1997, THX-certified) (USA - MGM/UA) - September 25, 1997
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1998) (USA - MGM/UA) - December 5, 1997
Goodfellas (1997, side A) (USA - Warner) - February 19, 1997
Goodfellas (1997, side B) (USA - Warner) - February 20, 1997
The Great Escape (1998) (USA - MGM) - February 26, 1998
Hang 'Em High (1997, fullscreen) (USA - MGM/UA) - October 16, 1997
Hang 'Em High (1997, widescreen) (USA - MGM/UA) - October 16, 1997
Michael (1997) (USA - Warner) - May 1, 1997
The Road Warrior (1997, fullscreen) (USA - Warner) - February 17, 1997
The Road Warrior (1997, widescreen) (USA - Warner) - February 17, 1997
RoboCop (1997) (USA - Orion) - September 19, 1997
Terminator (1998) (France - TF1) - October 30, 1998
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 16) - September 7, 1998
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 18) - October 24, 1998
Terminator (1997) (USA - Hemdale) - July 26, 1997
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1998) (France - TF1 - Theatrical Cut) - November 26, 1998
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1998) (Germany - MAWA) - February 7, 2036 (very curious, indeed)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1997) (Japan - Pioneer - PIBF-1001) - October 23, 1997
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1997) (USA - Live) - September 16, 1997
Zombie - Dawn of the Dead (1998) (Germany - Argento Cut - German Title Credits - Laser Paradise - Full Frame) - September 22, 1998

The intention of this list is both as a history lesson and to educate my fellow restorers on when the original DVD masters were pressed, based on dates I found on my DVDs when I ran them through MakeMKV (not the best way to rip 1:1 copies of DVDs, trust me). Anyone with an old DVD from before 2002 is welcome to contribute dates they find on their discs.

NOTE: All of the above is based on my best guesses from existing information I could find either physically or digitally; I am in no way 100% certain that those dates mean what I think they mean. As I look through more discs with ancient masters and newer packaging, however, I'm starting to become more and more certain to the affirmative.

[spoRv]

Interesting list! Keep it updates as much as you can!

[Koopa Luath]

I've just added some more old Warner and MGM DVDs that were right next to me. Next, I'll focus on the two old Live DVDs I presently have.

[Bigrob]

I'd love to get the very first DVD pressed which was Twister to demo what the format was capable of. It had 2.1 audio though

[Koopa Luath]

I'll be sure to look for that the next time I go shopping. I'm not sure what genre to look under, though (I'm pretty sure my local video store doesn't have a separate "disaster" genre).

Anyway, dates for The Doors and T2 are now up.

[MrBrown]

Maybe the country of the DVD would be nice to be added. So other countries firsts could be added with lesser confusion.
Like the German DVD Master for Terminator and Terminator 2 are completely different, not only due to different menu and added audio track.

[MrBrown]

Does MakeMKV show some differenbt Dates, compared to the File Dates?

(dates according to the creation/change Dates of the files)
Terminator 2 (1997) (Japan - Pioneer - PIBF-1001) - 23.10.1997
Army of Darkness (1997/98) (Germany "Die Armee der Finsternis" - EuroVideo) - 11.11.1997
Escape from New York (1998) (Germany "Die Klapperschlange - Constantin Video) - 07.02.2036 (!!! Yes, that is the Date on the files... so I wonder, if makeMKV would differ...)
Terminator (1997) (USA - Hemdale) - 26.07.1997
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 16) - 07.09.1998
Terminator (1998) (Germany - MAWA - FSK 18) - 24.10.1998
Terminator 2 (1998) (Germany - MAWA) - 07.02.2036 (and again.. mhm.. different companies.. same date... maybe same pressing and mastering facility?)

[spoRv]

Terminator 2 (1998) (Germany - MAWA) - 07.02.2036

Maybe the DVD came back from the future along with the Terminator itself...

[MrBrown]

Terminator 2 (1998) (Germany - MAWA) - 07.02.2036

Maybe the DVD came back from the future along with the Terminator itself...  

Yeah, and he brought a future Disc for GErman languaged Escape from New York, also.
Maybe that is the Quality of future home entertainment: Due to everybody Needs glasses, and nobody has Eyes that are okay, they just need the inferior SD technology with no well done mastering at all...

Zombie - Dawn of the Dead (1998) (Germany - Argento Cut - German Title Credits - Laser Paradise - Full Frame) - 22.09.1998
Terminator (1998) (France - TF1) - 30.10.1998
Terminator 2 (1998) (France - TF1 - Theatrical Cut) - 26.11.1998

EDIT:
Now for something really interesting:
Devil's Advocate (1998) (USA - Warner - release with unaltered Sculpture Artwork) - 11.02.1998

[MrBrown]

I just read that the first german DVD was 12 Monkeys in CD Jewel Case. Sold with the first Code 2 DVD-Player (Panasonic A 100).
It is also stated as europes first PAL DVD at all.