I ordered the 5-disc non-briefcase BD from the Warner online store in October, with free shipping, and it arrived on release date. Assuming my workprint disc actually contains the workprint, I guess I got lucky. . .
Totally agree about Amazon being great -- that "Super Saver" free shipping doesn't always deliver on release date does not equate to poor customer service!
Based on the corresponding thread on AVS, it appears this is more an issue with Canadian copies than US ones. I have been through three US sets trying to put together one without any scratches (yes, I am the reason none of you can find this BD ), and all three Disc 5 have had the Workprint. Still, it is sound advice to check anything you buy, but especially HDM lately.
Just received the (Blu-Ray) "Blade Runner" 5 Disc Complete Collector's Edition from Amazon.com .
The e-mails that Amazon sent me about this set were very confusing. Yesterday at 2:27 PM I received an "Order Update" e-mail that said the "Blade Runner" (Five disc Complete Collector's Edition) I pre-ordered on August 25, 2007 would not ship as soon as they originally expected. Then at 4:50 PM I received another e-mail saying the "Blade Runner" set was shipped 'no charge' "Next Day Saver" with tracking # and the set had been charged to my card. (The order was originally placed as free 2 day shipping via Amazon Prime.)
Doug, I'm Amazon Prime as well. My HD-DVD set (not the Ultimate) shipped Monday and I had it yesterday. Watched the Final Cut last night and started watching Dangerous Days.
Right now I'm not sure what the Blu-Ray problem is. It could very well be unexpected demand, could be retailer stupidity, or it could be replication issues as Ron worried.
I suppose with the format war and the percentage of HD customers to SD customers, we're going to experience some teething pains for a while.
Well Amazon promised to ship my HD-DVD set on the 24th, but I just got another email saying they shipped today. Looks like I know what's on the player for New Year's eve.
IIRC one of the supposed "advantages" of HDD over BRD was that it was supposed to be easier to replicate and that they could use modified SD-DVD machines to do so. I wonder if that is what's going on here.
A cynic may think that Warner is so tied to Toshiba that they only decided to sell parallel BRD releases in order to intentionally drag their feet and annoy BRD customers into switching to HDD. Hey what are conspiracy theories good for? After all, Lee Harvey Oswald was paid by Lyndon Johnson.
My HD DVD copy from Amazon is slated to be sent to me after Dec. 25th and I preordered this a good while ago. I usually dont have problems with discs arriving on time from them though. I've always been pleased with them being on time.
However I thought about canceling this and buying it from the local Best Buy but they are charging $34.99 as opposed to $25.15 from Amazon. I guess I can wait until after the 25th. I have other discs to watch until then...
I'm going to tell you something that is going to make you angry. Today, I decided to buy the HD DVD version as a Christmas present for a friend and bought it from Amazon earlier today with one day shipping and have received a notice that it shipped and will be here tomorrow.
I would not buy any HD titles from BB as I find them to be to pricy. I have found better deals at Fry's Electronics and buy all my HD titles there. And Fry's usually has a better selection than BB.
My local Future Shop had three of the BD briefcase sets and three of the HD DVD briefcases. I saw a couple of 5 disc HD DVD sets but there were no 5 disc BD sets. I bought one of the BD briefcases and the number on the case was xxxx/2500. I guess that number is a Canadian thing.
I'm just going with what people have reported - There's definitely no way there are 103,000 sets for both BD/HD - Something like 10k each for BD and HD is far more likely, if the Canadian number is strictly that, I won't have my briefcase until Saturday at the earliest to see what my # is.
Just think, a huge release like Pirates sells what, 150-200k? So there definitely aren't going to be 103k of each format of the briefcases; either the numbers are included in the total production run for the US including standard def, or people are checking regular sets and not the HD and Blu sets.
Now this is multi format, and 60 dollar set for one film, and it's entirely reasonable that the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD Ultimate Collection's are extremely limited.