A Few Words About A few words about...™ Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 -- in 4k UHD Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

Or you should get a rain check.

Exactly, I'm not unreasonable, I get that they could legitimately run out for a day, but everyone who shops there during the period it's advertised should have a chance to buy one. If it's sold out before noon on the first day of a week long promotion, that's pretty lame.

 

[Jason_V]

Let's keep in mind this isn't a new phenomenon. Stores running out of exclusives or "Limited Edition" discs goes back years and years.

Examples that come to mind: the Disney Treasures tins, United 93, Munich, War of the Worlds, Jarhead... Hell, I had a hard time tracking down Jaws and Next Gen S1 in the store when they first came out. And those weren't limited or special editions!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That's true, of course.

My point was kinda that this isn't advertised as a limited edition. If the Best Buy circular said "Each store only gets 50 copies! Act fast! Will sell out!" I think it would be different. But when it's promoted as a Weekly Special and the circular have dates for how long the sale lasts, it's reasonable for a customer to see that flier on a Wednesday and assume the disc will still be available. They advertise it for a week, yet only end up carrying it for the first couple hours of that week. It's like seeing "Prime Rib" on the specials menu at a restaurant, and when you go to order it, the waiter says "Oh, we haven't had that all week!" If that's the case, why is it printed on the daily specials?

 

[Jason_V]

I agree 100%, Josh. For those of us who have been on this particular carousel for a few years, we know what happens vs. what is advertised is quite different.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If the Best Buy circular said "Each store only gets 50 copies! Act fast! Will sell out!" I think it would be different.

Hate to quote myself, but just wanted to point out that Hi Def Digest just did an article about this release, and has pointed out that some Best Buy stories only received 1-2 copies. At a certain point, you're just lying to your customers. It's not reasonable to advertise something like this and then stock it in the single digits.

 

[Jake Lipson]

This is not my article, but it's a good one and I thought should be posted here.

http://savebluray3d.blogspot.com/2017/08/best-buys-guardians-of-galaxy-vol-2.html

 

[David Norman]

Well, it's a typical Fan Rant I'll give them that. Maybe a few unsubstantiated claims in there, but who knows

Again I wonder -- why is such a huge fan who apparently knows this is likely going to sell out quickly not pre-ordering it for shipping or storeup. There were weeks in July and early August, plus 8-10hrs on Tuesday before his stores opened that it could have been done

 

[Johnny Angell]

I picked up my steel book today. I found the 4K disc overs a feature called "Ultraplay". You can go to the movie instantly. I believe this is because there are no extras on the 4K disc. No commentary, making-of, deleted scenes, etc. that are on the blu ray.

OMG they are calling it a feature making you go to the blu ray to watch the extras. Maybe when I open the package there'll be a coupon to redeem for the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge.

I'll admit I hate forced previews and bloated menus which seem to be happening less often these days. Calling the lack of extras on a disc a feature is real advertising hutzspha. If it does auto play I will not like that.

 

[Johnny Angell]

This is not my article, but it's a good one and I thought should be posted here.

http://savebluray3d.blogspot.com/2017/08/best-buys-guardians-of-galaxy-vol-2.html

Well, it's a typical Fan Rant I'll give them that. Maybe a few unsubstantiated claims in there, but who knows

Again I wonder -- why is such a huge fan who apparently knows this is likely going to sell out quickly not pre-ordering it for shipping or storeup. There were weeks in July and early August, plus 8-10hrs on Tuesday before his stores opened that it could have been done

He didn't do it because he's human and also because he didn't think BB would have such inadequate inventory. I sympathized with his gripes and agree this exclusive deal BB has secured has nothing to do with serving the customer. I hope they stop doing it.

In his area, there was inadequate stock. While I don't know how many copies my Little Rock store got, I was able to order it online for pickup after 12pm on the Tuesday release date. I waited so long because I was dithering. I genuinely resented having to spend $35 to get a 3D disc.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The issue to me in the blog post that I linked to in the previous post isn't about the steelbook at all.

His point is that the 3D version should not be so limited in nature, and that if Best Buy is going to go through the trouble of getting exclusive rights to it, they should be prepared to stock enough copies to meet demand. If they still want to do the steelbooks in limited supply, then the answer is obviously to produce a regular Blu-ray 3D edition of the film, in normal packaging, in larger quantities. This could still have been exclusive to Best Buy.

By putting it with the steelbook exclusively, which are always in limited supply, they've created a problem for BD3D fans by limiting the availability of the movie in that format (unless you import), and that isn't right.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Again I wonder -- why is such a huge fan who apparently knows this is likely going to sell out quickly not pre-ordering it for shipping or storeup.

I'd basically say what Jake said -- Best Buy heavily promoted this. He assumed that it would be available for longer than an hour on release date, which shouldn't be an unreasonable assumption for something being advertised in the weekly circular as a weekly special.

 

[DavidMiller]

I'd basically say what Jake said -- Best Buy heavily promoted this. He assumed that it would be available for longer than an hour on release date, which shouldn't be an unreasonable assumption for something being advertised in the weekly circular as a weekly special.

It had Groot pushing the button on the cover I'm surprised it last an hour.

 

[David Norman]

I'd basically say what Jake said -- Best Buy heavily promoted this. He assumed that it would be available for longer than an hour on release date, which shouldn't be an unreasonable assumption for something being advertised in the weekly circular as a weekly special.

"The problem is, they decided to package in one of their limited steelbook editions, which are known for selling out very quickly and never seeing a second pressing"

You know it's an issue, yet somehow assumed that it will be different than the last 3-4 times (including Skull Island 4K/3D and BatB Steelbooks this summer, Doctor Strange and Moana Steelbooks earlier in the year), you know even the non limited edition Doctor Strange 3D and Moana 3D have been difficult to get and that Disney is pulling back on 3D print runs of every sort

You admittedly know SB are limited and sell out quickly even when they're not 3D or 4K, you know there isn't another 3D option, you know it's Disney's 1st 4K release and this will be the only 4K/3D in the world, you know you absolutely want the 3D item and aren't settling for another option.

The assumption should be to order it early just to cover yourself, not ignore recent repetitive history and then b/c you made a poor choice in the face of overwhelming evidence you then go nuclear on the Best Buy who likely had very little say in the number made.

Should Disney have made more -- probably/maybe, but there was no reason to believe they were going to be more aggressive since they certainly gave no indication of it. To ignore all the overwhelming evidence b/c you think it should be different and then act like there was no way to predict it was going to go down like this is disingenuous at best.

Should BBY have not advertised this since Disney was restricting the amount being made? Should it have have a big warning label on it " Super Limited Edition, Crunchy, Raw,Unboned Real Dead Frog"

I am not defending or condoning Disney (or to a lesser extent Best Buy since they can only play the hand they're dealt), but hoping and wishing things will be different this time does not negate the reality of how things have worked multiple times before.

I truly am sorry that people who wanted it couldn't get it, but I mostly sorry for international Disney Collectors who really have no option. Much like the people going ballistic on the police, DOT, other drivers on the road about Eclipse Traffic, some things should not be unexpected b/c you think it shouldn't work that way

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I don't know what made me hit up the Best Buy Web site weeks before release. I never order stuff from their site. But I did, and I'm glad I did, but why do I need to be an honest-to-God prophet in order to secure a copy of a popular movie?

*spots a Spider-Man Homecoming burning bush*

One second, excuse me...

 

[TJPC]

I seriously feel everybody's pain here. Random thoughts went through my brain! I am not in possession of such a device, just curious, is it possible to copy a 3D movie if one owned a Blu ray burner on a computer? Again, I am not advocating breaking copyright, just curious.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It's still a regular Blu-ray disc so I think it would be the same as copying a 2D BD. But I don't have a drive either so my knowledge is strictly theoretical.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Whether any particular person knew that it would be handled in this manner is, again, not the point. The guy who posted that blog even got one, but the base issue here is that it should not be a wild goose chase/enormous hassle to track down the BD3D of this film. If someone wants to pay money for an item, it should be easy for them to do that, ESPECIALLY on the first week of the title's release.

It's amazing that the studios and retailers make it so difficult to be a fan, since they should be willing and able to take money from as many people as possible and don't see the damage to their reputations that is done when exclusives are handled like this.

Importing it if you have to won't screw Disney, but it would screw Best Buy out of a sale they would have otherwise had if they had bigger stock.

As I've said before, I only needed the Blu+DVD combo pack and got it in normal keepcase packaging without an incident. I wasn't looking for the steelbook on this title, even the non-4K/3D one, because I don't have Guardians 1 or any other Marvel films in steelbook format and wouldn't want it to look out of place on my shelf next to the others. But I've been on the other side of this issue before with steelbooks and other premium items, and it sucks, and it makes me less inclined to try to buy those items in the future. But those are, ultimately, just cases. Bundling a whole version of the movie in with those cases which you can't get elsewhere is fundamentally going to cause a problem for consumers who love the film and want to support it with their dollars.

I moved across the country last year for personal reasons. When I left, my friend who I went to all the Marvel films with in the theater stopped going to the theater, because without me there to talk him into going with me, he is perfectly fine waiting for the movie to arrive on home platforms. He has a 4K TV and might have rented it on Vudu in 4K, but since Vudu is only allowing rentals of the HDX version, he decided to wait until the movie ends up on Netflix toward the end of the year as part of the Netflix/Disney deal. This doesn't have anything to do with the lack of availability of the 3D disc, but it still demonstrates the lager issue, I think.

As more and more people pull away from physical discs and toward streaming options, like Netflix, which doesn't cost anything beyond your subscription fee, you would think the studios would want to do as much as they can to encourage those of us who still want to make purchases to be able to do that as easily as possible, so that they can make the maximum amount of money possible. Instead, studios and retailers continue to create situations like this one where it becomes really hard to be a fan, ultimately to their detriment because the trust between the customer and the retailer and studio suffers, and thus repeat business suffers.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Whether any particular person knew that it would be handled in this manner is, again, not the point. The guy who posted that blog even got one, but the base issue here is that it should not be a wild goose chase/enormous hassle to track down the BD3D of this film. If someone wants to pay money for an item, it should be easy for them to do that, ESPECIALLY on the first week of the title's release.

It's amazing that the studios and retailers make it so difficult to be a fan, since they should be willing and able to take money from as many people as possible and don't see the damage to their reputations that is done when exclusives are handled like this.

Importing it if you have to won't screw Disney, but it would screw Best Buy out of a sale they would have otherwise had if they had bigger stock.

As I've said before, I only needed the Blu+DVD combo pack and got it in normal keepcase packaging without an incident. But I've been on the other side of this issue before with steelbooks and other premium items, and it sucks, and it makes me less inclined to try to buy those items in the future. But those are, ultimately, just cases. Bundling a whole version of the movie in with those cases which you can't get elsewhere is fundamentally going to cause a problem for consumers who love the film and want to support it with their dollars.

I moved across the country last year for personal reasons. When I left, my friend who I went to all the Marvel films with in the theater stopped going to the theater, because without me there to talk him into going with me, he is perfectly fine waiting for the movie to arrive on home platforms. He has a 4K TV and might have rented it on Vudu in 4K, but since Vudu is only allowing rentals of the HDX version, he decided to wait until the movie ends up on Netflix toward the end of the year as part of the Netflix/Disney deal. This doesn't have anything to do with the lack of availability of the 3D disc, but it still demonstrates the lager issue, I think.

As more and more people pull away from physical discs and toward streaming options, like Netflix, which doesn't cost anything beyond your subscription fee, you would think the studios would want to do as much as they can to encourage those of us who still want to make purchases to be able to do that as easily as possible, so that they can make the maximum amount of money possible. Instead, studios and retailers continue to create situations like this one where it becomes really hard to be a fan, ultimately to their detriment because the trust between the customer and the retailer and studio suffers, and thus repeat business suffers.

Your comment about the studios and retailers making it difficult to be a fan struck home with me. Sadly, they've been doing this since the first DVD. Remember DIVX? Forced previews, discs that won't resume play, surcharges on 3D theatrical and disc. This latest piece of bull crap is just another expression of the studios lack of respect for the customer.

 

[David Norman]

Assumption of course being that shutting down every physical disc purchase would hurt the studio bottom line.

I'm not sure it would hurt a bit and might even increase the overall net revenue. People would go back to the theater possibly, would change from purchasing an item to short term rentals or long term rentals under the guise of 'buying a digital copy' of the movie, it would push more people streaming services which might increase the leverage for negotiating fees from the multitude of streaming services.

SInce there is nearly a zero cost to Long term digital rental and not ownership at all applies then the secondary market would dry up immediately. No used copies, no cheap UV copies, Even if 'purchases' went down 80-90% compared to disc sales, the pure profit would likely even things out fairly quickly not counting any increase in revenue from streaming services. Collectors would still be collectors though without any actual ownership rights leading to some real potential for abuse. "We;re going to discontinue our permanent lockers and remove copies from the internet" "storage costs are so high in order to maintain your licenses we're going institute a per movie/per year charge to maintain your collection"

Since streaming is much less common overseas it would be interesting if discs would still be discontinued there, severe region locking would return, or if things would continue as it is now.

 

[George_W_K]

Assumption of course being that shutting down every physical disc purchase would hurt the studio bottom line.

I'm not sure it would hurt a bit and might even increase the overall net revenue. People would go back to the theater possibly, would change from purchasing an item to short term rentals or long term rentals under the guise of 'buying a digital copy' of the movie, it would push more people streaming services which might increase the leverage for negotiating fees from the multitude of streaming services.

SInce there is nearly a zero cost to Long term digital rental and not ownership at all applies then the secondary market would dry up immediately. No used copies, no cheap UV copies, Even if 'purchases' went down 80-90% compared to disc sales, the pure profit would likely even things out fairly quickly not counting any increase in revenue from streaming services. Collectors would still be collectors though without any actual ownership rights leading to some real potential for abuse. "We;re going to discontinue our permanent lockers and remove copies from the internet" "storage costs are so high in order to maintain your licenses we're going institute a per movie/per year charge to maintain your collection"

Since streaming is much less common overseas it would be interesting if discs would still be discontinued there, severe region locking would return, or if things would continue as it is now.

Thank you, now I'm depressed.