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DVD disc art - missing in action? (1 Viewer)

Charles_Y

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Can anyone explain why many of the companies are increasingly releasing DVDs where the discs have only a solid neutral light gray background and the title? It doesn't appear to be relegated to one company.

Chapter guide inserts, admittedly not a big thing, are also missing in many cases. It all seems to point to a cut back in production costs, though I really can't believe they are saving that much money. DVDs don't have much of a per unit cost I would imagine.

I just hope they are not putting all of their resources into HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Talk about a losing game there. Consumers should wake the hell up and not back either until ALL the studios back BOTH or a single format is devised (no chance in hell).

Magazine and on-line reviewers certainly aren't helping by giving these formats legitimacy.
 

MarcoBiscotti

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That's nothing... I finally found a brand new copy of the out-of-print "Once Upon A Time In Italy" collection today from Artisan, and to my surprise, they didn't even print directly on disc -- they used stick-on labels!

Apart from the outer box packaging, the whole thing looks like a pretty decent Ebay bootleg...

That was the first time I've encountered any disc from a somewhat "major" independant studio that utilized paper stock stick-on labels. I'm guessing this must have been a very early release...
 

RickER

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Without pictures to see what titles your talking about Charles all i can say is it sounds like bootlegs. Marco i bet yours is a bootleg. I have 900 DVDs going back to '97, and never saw anything (legit) like what you two have.
 

MarcoBiscotti

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Well I would've definitely thought the same had I recieved it online or from Ebay... but this came directly off a retail shelf of one of the largest and most popular local DVD chains in the city. I've purchased thousands of movies at this place over the years, and it's not exactly a backdoor operation. It's smack in the middle of one of the largest shopping malls int he central downtown area and I know for a fact that they recieve their product directly from the studios and distributors. I'm sure it's legit, just took me by surprise a little.

I'm just glad I didn't touch the disc, with wet hands! (it was raining today)
 

AnthonyC

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I haven't seen any discs like what Marco is describing, but I've seen plenty of discs which merely contain the title on them; no pictures or color.
 

Frank@N

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Well, I'm disappointed with the lack of good disc art on at least a couple of new titles.

The new Bladerunner DVD basically has nothing on it.

The new Grease DVD is even worse as it only has some basic lettering on a mirrored surface.

We're going back to 1998 Fox-style! Ugggh...
 

David Allen

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Lots of retail DVDs lack paper inserts- nothing new about that. As for the disc labels, sounds like you bought a rental disc maybe?
 

Charles_Y

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No, no. These are all legit titles - major releases from Universal, Paramount, etc. bought through DVDPlanet, DVD Empire & Tower Video. I'm really surprised there are people out there not aware of this practice as it is clearly a significant trend.

I just bought a few so called "boot legs" for the first time recently as those were titles that will never see the light of day in the US. I know the difference.

I don't think the outlets I mentioned above are stooping to releasing dups or some other illegal products. I will try to dig up a few of these titles to give specific examples.
 

Jon Martin

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What I don't understand is why more companies don't do what many R2 companies do, use clear DVD boxes and then have the artwork double sided. So, you open up the case, and the chapter listing is on the back of the cover. Makes a lot of sense and is probably easier, production wise, than doing an insert.
 

Bonnie*F

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My copy of The Final Countdown is like that. Pale blue Amaray with metallic/prism artwork on the outside and what would be the insert on the other side. Yea, printing on two sides is more costly that one but think of the reduction in paper costs. And environmentally friendly too! *grin*
 

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