Its neither dishonest, nor incorrect. I agree with Matt, though, that some consumers might get fooled. But most regular consumers probably don't care or know what it means anyway, and those that are into this hobby shouldn't be confused.
The term 'transfer' is used (misused) for quite a few things in regard to DVD, but the basis meaning in the industry is the 'transfer' from film to a HD master (D5, 1920x1080), the digitalization.
The D5 HD master is than either encoded for HD broadcast, or:
- downconverted to 720x480 and 'transfered' to D1 (uncompressed)
- D1 is then 'transfered' to Digibeta (approx. 2,4:1 compression ratio)
- Digibeta tape to the authoring house for MPEG encoding
- MPEG stream stored on DVD
The term 'transfered' in these 2 intermediate steps above is valid and not a mis-nomer, but a bit confusing. Whenever 'a new transfer', 'new 16x9 HD transfer' etc. is mentioned on a DVD or a press release, the actual film-to-HD transfer is meant.
The biggest confusion comes from the fact that the term 'transfer' is usually (mis-)used in DVD reviews when describing the picture of the DVD.
"The transfer on this DVD is great..."
"The new superbit transfer of XYZ is much better than the old non-SB transfer"
Basically everyone uses the word 'transfer' in this context, including me, because its convenient and its difficult to find a better suiting word instead. "The authoring of the disc is great..." doesn't fit because it also includes the navigational component of the DVD. "The compression of the disc is great..." is a proper term, but it implies that only the 'compression' of the disc (meaning blocking artefacts and the like) is meant. But the term 'transfer' usually means PQ in general in DVD reviews, thus including any step that are done before the actual compression. Low-pass filtering, aperture correction (EE), DNR, etc...
So the term 'transfer' is used to describe the whole pipeline. From the film to the DVD. Its much more convenient for the DVD reviewer.
A good example is the SuperBit line:
"The new superbit transfer of XYZ is much better than the old non-SB one."
That would be a good and easy description. In reality, the actual 'transfer' (film-to-HD) was the same for the SB titles, the same D5 HD master was used to produce both versions (except for Desperado, where a new HD transfer was done). Only the pre-processing (filtering, etc) and the compression differs on the SB titles.
Anyway, the point is, MGM is not 'dishonest'. They use the proper term. CTHV and others use similar keylines since the very beginning and rightly so.
Yes, it could confuse a few. But again, there are those who don't care and those who do. Those who DO care should know or learn about the (mis-)nomer 'transfer'.
Regards
Bjoern