Criterion & Eclipse Cover Art & Packaging Babble-on Vol. 7

[tenia]

Well, when you can buy something like Microwave Massacre and it has superior packaging, there’s something wrong. That’s a little tongue in cheek, but if their goal is to go for the definitive, it helps to not make your product look like the porno bargain bin

I'm surprised I have to make my point clearer, but I would never factor the cellophane in as part of the packaging and can't even understand how one could. To me, Microwave Massacre is about the same kind of packaging than Bull Durham, not superior one because one might have a crappy cellophane I couldn't care less about.
But if we're now factoring in cellophane, wow, we reached a new level in packaging fetichism !

[Morbii]

I’m not sure why you think you need to make your point clearer, but there’s a real, tangible/visible difference between the two. Nevermind that the cheaper stuff, over time, starts “ripping” easily and won’t protect against even a mild liquid accident (especially for digipacks!)

I’d agree that if you’re only buying online/have familiarity with the product and your intent is to open and watch, it really makes little difference. But if you’re a customer that doesn’t know much about the products offered, one’s going to just feel cheap. And if you’re a collector, your product is literally not as safe.

[tenia]

I do open every single of my purchase, probably hence my perplexity over why cellophane could be perceived as an intrinsequial part of the packaging instead of a purely logistic or industrial one (as in opposition to the choice of case or cover art, etc).

[zedz]

I’d agree that if you’re only buying online/have familiarity with the product and your intent is to open and watch, it really makes little difference.

So we're all agreed that what kind of cellophane is used is irrelevant, then?

[Morbii]

I’d agree that if you’re only buying online/have familiarity with the product and your intent is to open and watch, it really makes little difference.

So we're all agreed that what kind of cellophane is used is irrelevant, then?

Sure, if you’re opening it and don’t mind that it looks and feels cheap in the store!

[fdm]

Wrinkled cases, I mind those.

[Roger Ryan]

If we're talking about cellophane that gets melded to the spine and can't be fully removed without damaging the plastic liner then, yes, it bothers me...more than the glue remnants left from the stickers that seal CD cases!

[tenia]

Sure, if you’re opening it and don’t mind that it looks and feels cheap in the store!

I suspect that roughly 99% of the buyers buy these to open them and watch them. I also suspect that about the same amount of people don't incorporate the type of cellophane into how premium or not a release feel, but stops at what's inside it, like the type of case, presence of a booklet, cover art, etc. That's probably why Chris here have more pictures of unwrapped stuff in his packaging section, for instance.

If we're talking about cellophane that gets melded to the spine and can't be fully removed without damaging the plastic liner then, yes, it bothers me...

It's not so much a question of type of cellophane than industrial sealing process. I also believe that the cellophane using the problematic side sealing method isn't the cheap softer one Morbii refers to.

[Roger Ryan]

...I also believe that the cellophane using the problematic side sealing method isn't the cheap softer one Morbii refers to.

Okay, I'm good with the "cheap softer" version then.

[Morbii]

I suspect that roughly 99% of the buyers buy these to open them and watch them. I also suspect that about the same amount of people don't incorporate the type of cellophane into how premium or not a release feel, but stops at what's inside it, like the type of case, presence of a booklet, cover art, etc. That's probably why Chris here have more pictures of unwrapped stuff in his packaging section, for instance.

I’m guessing 99% of people don’t care about the packaging at all.

[tenia]

That's indeed very likely !

[fdm]

If we're talking about cellophane that gets melded to the spine and can't be fully removed without damaging the plastic liner then, yes, it bothers me...

(I wasn't. That bothers me hardly at all, except while I'm trying to remove it.) Oh by the way, the last one I opened with cellophane wrapping didn't do that, so progress?

[fdm]

...I also believe that the cellophane using the problematic side sealing method isn't the cheap softer one Morbii refers to.

Okay, I'm good with the "cheap softer" version then.

This is the kind I don't like, but only when the case (the front and/or the back) is melted/wrinkled when that sort of shrinkwrap is applied. (But more than enough of that.)

[Luke M]

[Gregory]

I'll wait to get excited until I find out what kind of cellophane it comes in.

[fdm]

Slots... don't get me started. :p

[domino harvey]

Doesn't matter with Blu-rays due to the coating, so slot away I say

[fdm]

Mine end up in real cases once I've played them, sometimes before if I get around to it. The coating isn't totally impervious to damage. Nor are the slots.

[domino harvey]

I have been buying Blu-rays for over eight years, thousands of titles, and not one Blu-Ray has ever had so much as a speck mark. They'll be fine in slots

[tenia]

I believe I actually have a few BDs that have tiny scratches on them, and they might actually be some that are in a slot-type packaging. Might actually be the Zatoichi ones, but I'd need to check.
But this is out of 3000 BD releases, and even so, these scratches haven't prevented full readability.

[fdm]

To add to tenia's post, as that's a good example, I did have one such disc not play (fortunately caught during return period), and I have several others like that, yet unplayed, some of them having some not so tiny scratches as well. Whether they all will play okay remains to be seen. (Whether I will ever get to them all remains to be seen.)

[Feego]

To add further, my Dietrich-Von Sternberg box just arrived the other day, and at least three of the Blu-ray discs had small scratches. I tried wiping with a soft cloth to see if they were just scuffs, but they would not come off. Obviously that has nothing to do with slots, but they are not the first Blu-rays I've ever bought that were scratched.

[Cinephrenic]

That's why I hate digipacks. My boxes come with dents, bent booklets and scruff on discs, and sometimes with broken slots.

[Graphist]

To add further, my Dietrich-Von Sternberg box just arrived the other day, and at least three of the Blu-ray discs had small scratches. I tried wiping with a soft cloth to see if they were just scuffs, but they would not come off. Obviously that has nothing to do with slots, but they are not the first Blu-rays I've ever bought that were scratched.

The other day I opened the set to examine the disks and the packaging like I always do, and the Morocco disk had a small crack on the inside hole. All others seemed to be ok. Now I will have to check against the scratches too. Also, I noticed the individual cases had some minor scuffs and rubs. Those I can live with, but I will have to contact Criterion to get a replacement for the first disk. It is annoying because we pay so much money for these.

[swo17]