Are review copies the same as retail release copies? (1 Viewer)

[Paul_D]

I'm about to go into a trade with someone who wants to give me a factory sealed copy he got from MGM early, because he's on thier review product mailing list. Are these review copies exactly the same as the retail versions or do they have SAMPLE stamped all over them or any other marks?

 

[Adam Tyner]

It really depends on the studio. I don't remember MGM doing anything strange or unusual to indicate if a particular disc is a screener or not. Universal punches out UPCs, and Fox titles are generally marked as screeners on the discs themselves. I don't remember off the top of my head what other studios do.
------------------
My DVD list | My personal site

 

[Nate Anderson]

Better question! How do you get on a review copy list?
I've wanted to build my own DVD website, but having to buy my own software really has stopped me.
------------------
"This is not a drill. This is the apocolypse!"

 

[Mark McLeod]

I'm not sure how you get on the various review copy lists. If I knew how I'd be on one
M.
[Edited last by Mark McLeod on September 24, 2001 at 06:06 PM]

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Aside from a punched UPC code or the word screener on the actual disc, I've never seen any evidence that there are any differences on the DVDs.
------------------
Scott
Check out my Movie Reviews at Epinions. Help support my debilitating DVD addiction!
AOL IM: TheAngryJew29

 

[Kevin Clemons]

Only Dreamworks discs are different from those purchased in stores. Both my Chicken Run and What Lies Beneath discs are in jewel cases. The discs themselves say screener and the film runs with a subtitle that reads "screener only, not for retail use" then gives a phone number for violations of this. As others have said earlier, Fox also labels the discs as screeners. Others just punch out or cut the UPC.
dOc

 

[Joel C]

MGM rarely even punches out UPCs. The discs are identical.
As for Dreamworks, they experimented with special screeners, but I don't think they are doing that anymore.
------------------
Joel
[email protected]
"I've been very lonely in my isolated tower of indecipherable speech."
digitallyOBSESSED