In late 2008, the Navarre Corporation announced that, due to the current economic "downturn", they would discontinue their line of BCI/Eclipse DVD titles from distribution. Being the exclusive distributor of titles from such companies as Deimos and Ink and Paint, it was a big blow to the DVD industry. 

Before this, however, there was Brentwood, a small company that would put together budget titles which comprised primarily of titles that were public domain or "grey market" material. While quality was never a strong suit, price and selection seemed to keep them alive. Further, the continued repackaging of their titles in various ways made them appealing to multiple demographic groups who might otherwise miss them under another title, which accounts for Brentwood's survival in a market saturated by companies releasing many public domain titles.

They were later bought out by BCI and merged with Eclipse, a music distribution company to form BCI/Eclipse. At this time, they eventually were bought by Navarre to be exclusively distributed. Once this happened, many high end titles would come to them with titles like Savage Streets, He-Man and Wanted Dead or Alive. At ths time, only Code-Red and a few small companies will not be affected by Navarre's decision.

While not every title is a bonafide hit or desireable even for the most ardent DVD collector, and so I decided to assort the BCI collection into "series" according to their package design. Many of the titles have been republished and put into different series, usually without any restoration or change to the edition, however, the packaging might be more appealing under a different name.

So over the next few days, I will be posting various collections released through BCI/Eclipse under various headings. Today I open with this Brentwood series under the banner of Digital Media Experience. These are mostly low grade public domain releases. Many of these are not restored from their VHS days, but are probably straight ports from the VHS counterpart. Needless to say, they are rare unto themselves, and in some instances, the only releases available.

DIGITAL MEDIA EXPERIENCE