UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ CITIZEN KANE -- in 4k UHD (1 Viewer)

[David Wilkins]

Anybody else experiencing a delay getting their CK edition from B&N? My order has listed an expected arrival date (to me) of Nov 30th, but it still hasn’t shipped. My pre-order was placed about three weeks ago, and this delayed expected arrival time has been in place for a week.

Going to their website, there’s a notice stating that the Blu-ray Discs of all the CK’s are defective, causing a lack of contrast starting at the 30 minute mark, but that the UHD’s are unaffected. They indicate that Criterion is hurrying to make new BD’s available. I wonder if this problem has caused them to hold off shipping anymore stock until swaps can be made.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Anybody else experiencing a delay getting their CK edition from B&N? My order has listed an expected arrival date (to me) of Nov 30th, but it still hasn’t shipped.

Going to their website, there’s a notice stating that the Blu-ray Discs of all the CK’s are defective, causing a lack of contrast from the 30 minute mark, but that the UHD’s are unaffected. They indicate that Criterion is hurrying to make new BD’s available. I wonder if this problem has caused them to hold off shipping anymore stock until swaps can be made.

My 4K order shipped on time from B&N and I watched it last week.

 

[JoshZ]

Anybody else experiencing a delay getting their CK edition from B&N? My order has listed an expected arrival date (to me) of Nov 30th, but it still hasn’t shipped. My pre-order was placed about three weeks ago, and this delayed expected arrival time has been in place for a week.

Going to their website, there’s a notice stating that the Blu-ray Discs of all the CK’s are defective, causing a lack of contrast starting at the 30 minute mark, but that the UHD’s are unaffected. They indicate that Criterion is hurrying to make new BD’s available. I wonder if this problem has caused them to hold off shipping anymore stock until swaps can be made.

I placed an order with bn.com on Friday and got a shipping confirmation the next day. The tracking number currently says "On Its Way" but has not updated with a delivery date yet.

 

[JediFonger]

I placed an order with bn.com on Friday and got a shipping confirmation the next day. The tracking number currently says "On Its Way" but has not updated with a delivery date yet.

i did get it a few days ago, but i ordered it first or second day of the sale on B&N cause i didn't know amazon was going to price match, i mean they typically do, but i guess it was FOMO for sure. i ended up bundling it w/Uncut Gem 4k for free shipping... but they shipped both packages separate anyway hahaha. when amazon pricematched i wanted to use my amazon prime for $30shipped cause that's all i wanted. but i couldn't cancel it from B&N. it took them 3-4weeks to package, prepare and .... SHIP? i have no idea why it took them so long... but i couldn't cancel it after it entered in this this restrictive state. i still haven't received gem but plan to return that.

 

[Luke Pacholski]

Anybody else experiencing a delay getting their CK edition from B&N? My order has listed an expected arrival date (to me) of Nov 30th, but it still hasn’t shipped. My pre-order was placed about three weeks ago, and this delayed expected arrival time has been in place for a week.

Going to their website, there’s a notice stating that the Blu-ray Discs of all the CK’s are defective, causing a lack of contrast starting at the 30 minute mark, but that the UHD’s are unaffected. They indicate that Criterion is hurrying to make new BD’s available. I wonder if this problem has caused them to hold off shipping anymore stock until swaps can be made.

FYI for me:

- Ordered on 11/1, along with 4 other in-stock Criterion titles.
- In-stock titles shipped 11/2, delivered 11/4.
- Kane shipped 11/19, delivered 11/26.

 

[Reed Grele]

I did watch the movie with the new commentary by James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum and it was ok and learned a few things about the movie that i did not know before. They did talk about "the hatred of Orson Welles" a few times and got the impression that alot of folks hated Orson Welles?

I was listening to an audio book read by Billy Crystal on my 4 mile walk the other day. He recounted a story about meeting Orson Welles during the taping of one of the Dean Martin Roasts. It seems that Mr. Welles was sitting alone studying his speech when Billy Crystal approached him and tried to strike up a conversation, but was immediately rebuffed and told to F**k off!

I guess everyone has a bad day now and again!

 

[B-ROLL]

I ordered my CK 4K disc on 11/27 and received it on 11/28. I spot-checked the 4K on my Sony X800 4K and played from 40 minutes in to 55 minutes in with no errors. I then took blu-ray disc 1 (of 3) and fast forwarded to the 25min mark and watched as something happened to the picture at about the 30 minute mark. I suspect the Sony may have been trying to correct it - and I may be mistaken- but it looks like the black levels were there but the white level went way up. It was similar to what I see in some monochrome TV shows being broadcast on the subchannels. Luckily it appears the Blu-ray Disc 1 has the same features/commentaries as the 4K disc so I wouldn't loose anything.

After a while I figured the packaging out -after removing the slipcover, the letters on the flaps spell KANE and that is the reverse order you need to fold the flaps down in order to close the package an get the slip cover back on. I have already put all of the discs in paper disc sleeves and put them back into their slots for easier removal. The slipcase still fits over the package and I put that package into a quart sized Ziploc(R) Freezer bag for protection.

Here is a picture of the packaging with the discs removed and placed to the side> The 4K is beige /tan

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Anybody else experiencing a delay getting their CK edition from B&N? My order has listed an expected arrival date (to me) of Nov 30th, but it still hasn’t shipped. My pre-order was placed about three weeks ago, and this delayed expected arrival time has been in place for a week.

Going to their website, there’s a notice stating that the Blu-ray Discs of all the CK’s are defective, causing a lack of contrast starting at the 30 minute mark, but that the UHD’s are unaffected. They indicate that Criterion is hurrying to make new BD’s available. I wonder if this problem has caused them to hold off shipping anymore stock until swaps can be made.

Mine shipped on time and arrived last week.

 

[Gerani53]

Defective disc issues aside, I found it interesting that ordering the KANE 4K set from Amazon at their release price is actually cheaper than going the B&N "fifty per cent off" route. That 50% B/N price reduction pertains to Criterion's original, insanely inflated price of sixty bucks-plus, as opposed to the general date-of-release price of thirty bucks-plus. So the price winds up being pretty much the same, although the B/N shipping costs make going with them more expensive. Most of us film nuts have 2-day shipping with Amazon to begin with, so ordering from Amazon instead of B/N gets you your item cheaper AND faster. This is a weird case because of the defect, of course, but I'll keep it in mind as a valuable lesson the next time Barnes and Noble has a "50 percent off sale," and I again have a choice of which company to choose. Live and learn...

 

[JoshZ]

Defective disc issues aside, I found it interesting that ordering the KANE 4K set from Amazon at their release price is actually cheaper than going the B&N "fifty per cent off" route. That 50% B/N price reduction pertains to Criterion's original, insanely inflated price of sixty bucks-plus, as opposed to the general date-of-release price of thirty bucks-plus. So the price winds up being pretty much the same, although the B/N shipping costs make going with them more expensive. Most of us film nuts have 2-day shipping with Amazon to begin with, so ordering from Amazon instead of B/N gets you your item cheaper AND faster. This is a weird case because of the defect, of course, but I'll keep it in mind as a valuable lesson the next time Barnes and Noble has a "50 percent off sale," and I again have a choice of which company to choose. Live and learn...

B&N has free shipping if your order comes to more than $35. Buying two discs during one of these sales will meet that criteria.

Yes, if Amazon price-matches, you could also order there with Prime shipping for the same total if you'd rather, but Amazon doesn't price-match every Criterion disc during the sale period.

 

[Gerani53]

Thanks, Josh. The "fifty percent off!" thing is guaranteed to get one's attention, and I still feel a real 50% reduction should mean 50% off the price most human beings are paying for this thing, not the cutting-in-half of a crazy "twice as much" original number that no buyer takes seriously anyway. From now on, I'll compare B&N sale prices with Amazon prices for the same item, and we'll see which company provides the better deal.

 

[Luke Pacholski]

Thanks, Josh. The "fifty percent off!" thing is guaranteed to get one's attention, and I still feel a real 50% reduction should mean 50% off the price most human beings are paying for this thing, not the cutting-in-half of a crazy "twice as much" original number that no buyer takes seriously anyway. From now on, I'll compare B&N sale prices with Amazon prices for the same item, and we'll see which company provides the better deal.

It’s 50% off the normal price. Why is that crazy?

 

[Gerani53]

Because "the normal price" from Criterion/B&N is twice as much as the item would cost you elsewhere, so 50% off simply puts it in the same ballpark as Amazon, rather than providing a meaningful reduction. As pointed out, paying Amazon's street-date price for this item actually comes out cheaper than ordering from B&N during their big sale. I thought that was worth mentioning.

 

[Luke Pacholski]

Because "the normal price" from Criterion/B&N is twice as much as the item would cost you elsewhere, so 50% off simply puts in the same ballpark as Amazon, rather than providing a meaningful reduction. As pointed out, paying Amazon's street-date price for this item actually comes out cheaper than ordering from B&N during their big sale. I thought that was worth mentioning.

Twice as much right now, but won’t it go up to full price later?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Because "the normal price" from Criterion/B&N is twice as much as the item would cost you elsewhere, so 50% off simply puts it in the same ballpark as Amazon, rather than providing a meaningful reduction. As pointed out, paying Amazon's street-date price for this item actually comes out cheaper than ordering from B&N during their big sale. I thought that was worth mentioning.

Amazon is price matching the B&N sale price. Amazon has been doing that with B&N Criterion sales for a while now. The B&N sale is over with tomorrow. I expect Amazon's sale price to go up too.

 

[Gerani53]

So the lesson here is to order right away, if the title is important to you. And it's a little cheaper and faster, as I've just discovered to my surprise, if you order from Amazon rather than B/N. That's pretty much that.

 

[Luke Pacholski]

So the lesson here is to order right away, if the title is important to you. And it's a little cheaper and faster, as I've just discovered to my surprise, if you order from Amazon rather than B/N. That's pretty much that.

I thought the lesson was buy when there are Criterion sales.

B&N and Amazon were both $29.99, so Amazon is no cheaper. Yes, shipping is included with Prime, but...you have to have Prime. And B&N ships free over $35 anyway.

 

[Gerani53]

Since I wasn't prepared to buy two titles to get Criterion's discount, Amazon was the right choice for me. And I think all the pertinent points have been made here.

 

[dpippel]

And B&N ships free over $35 anyway.

Amazon gives you free shipping with a $25+ purchase of eligible items.

Order with Free Shipping by Amazon - Amazon Customer Service

Orders shipping to an eligible destination with at least the stated minimum threshold of eligible items, qualify for Free Shipping by Amazon.

www.amazon.com

 

[JoshZ]

Because "the normal price" from Criterion/B&N is twice as much as the item would cost you elsewhere, so 50% off simply puts it in the same ballpark as Amazon, rather than providing a meaningful reduction. As pointed out, paying Amazon's street-date price for this item actually comes out cheaper than ordering from B&N during their big sale. I thought that was worth mentioning.

Amazon's typical discount on Criterion titles is 25-30% off MSRP. They will drop many of those titles down to 50% off to price-match B&N during the sale period, because Amazon is cutthroat about making sure that nobody else gets a sale that could have gone to them, even if they have to lose money in doing it. But the prices will go back up after. Also, as noted, they do not price-match every Criterion title.

During this sale, I bought three discs. Two of them were the same 50% price at at either B&N or Amazon, but the third was not price-matched and was $5 more at Amazon. Because buying them all at B&N put me over the free shipping threshold there, it made the most sense for me to do that, rather than buy at Amazon

Since I wasn't prepared to buy two titles to get Criterion's discount, Amazon was the right choice for me. And I think all the pertinent points have been made here.

That's totally fair. No shame in that.

To be honest, I only buy from B&N during the Criterion sale. During all other times of the year, their normal retail prices are ridiculous. They either charge full MSRP or only slightly below, while pretty much anywhere else will have better regular discounts.

I understand that they have a lot of overhead maintaining all those brick & mortar stores, but I've got to do what's best for my wallet.