# Anybody Know How The "Disney Vault" Operates? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381 "2012-10-01T12:17:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/21 "2012-10-01T22:25:11Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Most people already know this, but just in case. . . > It was legally released on VHS in the UK, and on Laserdisc in Asia. So there are legal copies of it out there. šŸ˜ƒ > I think Disneyā€™s offical position on SotS is ā€œNo comment.ā€ > . Some Disney executive (maybe Eisner) said a few years ago that it was just too problematic to be released in the US, even though theyā€™d like to do it otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/22 "2012-10-01T23:26:29Z")
If I recall correctly, in the early days of the VHS era, Disney refused to sell any of their movies for home video, and had special, exceptionally expensive, bright red VHS tapes for the rental-only market. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/23 "2012-10-02T01:03:20Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > And weā€™re seeing a new wrinkle in this w/ the re-released 3D versions of movies like Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, and Finding Nemo (and Iā€™m sure there are more to come). Interestingly Pixar do not have this policy, and Iā€™d be curious if John Lasseter (if he has influence over this) will retire it within Disney too. It does seem counter-productive considering it doesnā€™t happen almost anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/24 "2012-10-02T01:30:24Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Remember, Iā€™m talking VHS. And Disney VHS had that technology which made copies flash bright and dark and generally look like crap. I forget what it was called, but it really did make copies - at least copies that people could make at home - not very desirable. There are at least two simple ways to avoid that (Macrovision). Both work perfectly, and I have used both repeatedly. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/25 "2012-10-02T02:02:14Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Remember, Iā€™m talking VHS. And Disney VHS had that technology which made copies flash bright and dark and generally look like crap. I forget what it was called, but it really did make copies - at least copies that people could make at home - not very desirable. You sure about that? Maybe that was the case in the later VHS era, but when I was a kid, I had a friend whose parents would dub rental movies all the time using the two-VCRs method. I would go over to his house sometimes to watch movies, including Disney cartoons like Pinocchio and Lady and the Tramp, and they always looked just fine. I mean, the picture quality wasnā€™t as good as the original of course, but they didnā€™t really seem to have any problems either. This was 1980s through early 1990s. I did have the bright to dark problem when I bought my first DVD player - not because I was trying to dub movies. Rather, I had a TV/VCR combo at the time, and tried hooking up the DVD player to it. I guess some internal mechanism assumed I was trying to copy movies, and whenever I tried watching anything on it, the picture would go from bright to dark to bright again. Didnā€™t have that problem though, once I hooked the DVD player to a standalone TV. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/26 "2012-10-02T02:24:49Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > There are at least two simple ways to avoid that (Macrovision). Both work perfectly, and I have used both repeatedly. Then you apparently missed your fortune making opportunity in the mid-90ā€™s. All you need now is a TARDIS and a copy of The Little Mermaidā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/27 "2012-10-02T04:59:15Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > You sure about that? Maybe that was the case in the later VHS era, but when I was a kid, I had a friend whose parents would dub rental movies all the time using the two-VCRs method. > > ā€¦ > > I did have the bright to dark problem when I bought my first DVD player Macrovision was introduced in the [mid 80s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrovision#History), so VCRs built previously, and those manufacturers who just didnā€™t adhere to the recommended guidelines, could avoid that. I believe all DVD player manufacturers kept to the guidelines (though considering there are many that bypassed region coding, perhaps not). Thereā€™s a more recent system for HDMI called [HDCP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection), but that seems to be an unnecessary safeguard as nobody uses that route to rip BluRays anyway. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381/28 "2012-10-02T05:38:12Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > _Song of the South_ is kept out of circulation due to fears that it would be considered racist by todayā€™s standards. > > I imagine that _White Wilderness_ will probably never again see wide release, now that itā€™s public knowledge that the lemmings were killed for no good reason. I saw Song of the South in a theater in Montreal when I was a kid. Probably around 1973 or so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-how-the-disney-vault-operates/636381.md?page=1)