22:03 Jan 16 

Thanks to all for a very educational discussion!

21:39 Jan 16 

@ Benjamin
Yes, as it describes the media format. Thank you. I knew I hadn't quite found the word! (After all the stuff I translated for my brother years ago... he works in the music business).

21:33 Jan 16 

It's easy to think that "support" in French means the same as "support" in English. In my opinion, "support" here means the type of format on which something exists (example: le support de cette vidéo est un DVD).

21:26 Jan 16 

No-one is suggesting that the websites you cite are all wrong; however, they need to be interpreted with care, since 'a support DVD' in EN means something quite different from 'un support DVD' in FR — faux ami alert!

To be conclusive, we'd need a bilingual ref. where these terms are used as direct translations between the 2 languages, rather than just fortuitous collocations.

21:21 Jan 16 

In this sort of context, 'support' often equates to 'media' (or more properly 'medium'!), in the sense of a (more or less) physical substrate on which the content is carried.

It's vital not to overlook the significance of the word order difference between FR / EN, and also, the different way the word 'support' is used, which is at times almost a faux ami.

@ MarK H.

But I doubt they just bought 'a DVD of the film' — hence my request for more context; I think it is much more likely that they either bought a whole stock of DVDs, or perhaps just the rights to produce them.

21:20 Jan 16 

They bought a copy of the film on DVD.... French just elaborates this, meaning "a DVD recording medium" which in English is a DVD.

21:18 Jan 16 

In educational terms, you find : support papier (book, magazine, print-outs), support audio (audio CD, music), support visuel (image on a DVD, photos in whatever format... this is quite a general category). In the context we have here, this is simply describng the type of medium on which the film is available: "DVD".

21:06 Jan 16 

Interesting point - it is "un support DVD" in the French, and the text involves a film claimed to have entered into the public domain some time ago. The text leads me to think it's possible to market the film from the "support DVD," which must mean it has a viewable copy of the film on it. Unfortunately, I can't be more specific.

21:05 Jan 16 

I understand that this is a dvd as support material...do you mean to say that all the websites I posted are wrong and they basically don't know how to state this in English (being English websites)...I'm only trying to help and my research and links are valid. What is your suggestion?

21:00 Jan 16 

For one thing, the word order would usually be reversed FR > EN, so it might have been 'DVD support' — except I don't think that means anything sensible in this context.

I'm not quite sure what they mean; could it be that they have simply bought a stock of DVDs of this film? Or is it that they have bought just the DVD release rights (but not, for example, the theatrical or VOD rights)? Do we know if this film has been released yet (theatrical and/or DVD)? Or is this a future event?