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Previously Viewed...Why Not? (1 Viewer)

ChuckDeLa

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I'm guessing this is at Hollywood Video, am I right? I was in there the other day and they had a nice selection of 2/$20 DVDs.
 

Bill>Moore

Second Unit
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Mar 28, 2003
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I've bought a few PV titles from Blockbuster. They were mostly in good shape. No scratches on the discs. The boxes were the hard plastic variety like they use on their shelves, but with the movie's actual cover. I wasn't too worried about that or any missing inserts for the couple of flicks I picked up.

Good idea to check on price reductions and the discs themselves.
 

Adam Brandner

Stunt Coordinator
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Feb 1, 2002
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One more important thing. Some used stores have a machine that can resurface DVDs. No, I'm not talking about that goofy thing with the handcrank that scratches the hell out of the disk's surface to "even it out." The disks look and play perfect when you get them back, and it usually costs around 3 bucks. Not that I would recommend buying scratched disks at one store and then paying to have them resurfaced at another, but it might help some of you like Brent, who discovered a problem long after the initial purchase. Glad to hear that it was only Crouching Tiger, by the way. That would have sucked if it was just one disk of an expensive set.
 

JohnRice

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Over the last several months I have probably bought as many as 30 used DVDs at Blockbuster. I've gotten things like The Others, Royal Tenenbaums CC, Panic Room, A.I., Spider Man, mostly bigger titles that they get a lot of copies of. Most of them have been just a few cents over $7 with tax and most of them were over $20 each new. I've only had to return 2. One was damaged by one of those hand crank "cleaners" and was enchanged and with the other, I didn't notice it was a stinking P&S, so they let me exchange it for a different title.
 

JeffPh

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Mar 18, 2003
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Just an update...I've answered my own question. I ended up buying ten PV DVDS, so far I've watched three. The third one was ATOC and it must of been hella scratched...it's going back.

90 day return policy so it's not a problem, what is a problem is having ten DVDs that I feel like I need to watch to make sure they don't have scratches...and then having to turn around and watch the exchanged ones to check them as well.

Overall opinion...I doubled my DVD collection for $100, so not bad. I'll just have to check them and deal with returns. I imagine "kid friendly" movies such as ATOC will be more subject to damage than others...we'll see.
 

Frank_Ber

Agent
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Mar 12, 2003
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How is the quality of PV DVDs in BlockBuster? I have been buying from Hollywood Video and so far all were perfect.
 

Stephen Orr

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I frequent a chain in our area called Cash Convertors. They get ALOT of PV stuff that it takes weeks for HV and BB to put on the PV shelf, sometimes getting stuff that's only a couple of weeks old. The most I've ever paid for a PV was 11.99, for Sum of All Fears, a week after it came out. Somebody bought it, didn't like it, and sold it to Cash Convertors.

I've got my eye on a gently used Band of Brothers set for 49.99.....
 

Mike Frezon

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I've got my eye on a gently used Band of Brothers set for 49.99.....
Stephen....jump on it!

That's about what I paid for my used set! That's about half what you'd pay new.

And viewing BoB has been one of the greatest DVD experiences I've had yet!

An awesome work!
 

Galen_V

Second Unit
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Apr 12, 2003
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352
I personally would not buy PV from Blockbuster. First of all, most of the time they are 15 dollars, plus tax, which is only 3 dollars or so less than it would be at Amazon or other DVD sites (on its initial release). Secondly, they put the DVD's in really beat up and ugly keep cases, sometimes with printed out cover art and tears in the plastic. Thirdly, instead of wrapping the DVD's in plastic again they simply smack the bar code onto the back of the beat up keep case, causing a hassle to remove the ugly thing. Not only that, but it NEVER peels off and ALWAYS leaves a sticky residue and glue smear all over the back of the case. Finally, some of the discs don't have any inserts or back cover art on them so you are blind guessing with Special Features and the like. The price of buying a new keepcase, as well as buying the paper and spending the ink on printing out new covers and inserts for it will further diminish the less than 3 dollar savings you had before. And if there is a problem with the disc, you get another beat up case, etc. So, I would avoid Blockbuster and try my luck at other stores until they get their act together.
 

Roger Rollins

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I've bought plenty of used DVDs from several retailers in my area, most notably WHEREHOUSE. I've never had a problem.
I think most reputable retailers will check a used disc out for defects before they'd put it up for re-sale.
 

Glenn_Jn

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Oct 14, 2002
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I've bought quite a few DVD's from Hollywood & BB with no problems. Another good place to check is the local pawn shop. I bought 6 DVD's yesterday for $7.50 each, 3 of them SE's with DTS. The advantage with pawn shops is the discs have usually only had one owner as opposed to rental stores which have had many different maulers. The disadvantage is the collections are not usuallly that great but it's a good place to check to pick up the odd bargain now and then.
 

Stephen Orr

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I've never paid more than 11.99 for a used DVD, and then only because it was only a week or so old. Even the stuff I've purchased from BB and HV has been 5.99 - 9.99. I ALWAYS look at the disks before I purchase, and turned down a used copy of JONAH for 7.99 because of a blemish that would not come out.
 

John Alderson

Supporting Actor
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I bought Amelie, A Beautiful Mind, The Man Who Wasn't There, Ocean's 11 and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone used for a total of $47 (or so) in one trip. Another time, I got A.I. for $10 and Vanilla Sky for $6. So long as they don't show any problems, they're as good as new to me :)

This was all at Blockbuster, who can be VERY inconsistent in their pre-viewed pricing because of their frequent and varied specials they have.
 

JamesKr

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Dec 25, 2002
Messages
27
I just bought "Harry Potter Chamber Of Secrets" from Hollywood Video as previously viewed. The insert was missing and the DVD is not in the retail case. It is a two DVD set and the second DVD which is supposed to be on a hinged cover is missing the hinges. They won't allow a return, only an exchange if the disk is bad. I won't be buying PV again.
 

Joshua_W

Second Unit
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Apr 22, 2003
Messages
477
I generally avoid buying former rentals. Every time I rent a DVD, it looks like it's been scratched to hell. Never had trouble playing one, but I wouldn't want to own it.

The only two rental places near me are Blockbuster and a grocery store chain. Blockbuster has a poor selection of PV DVDs, generally nothing I'm interested in at all.

The grocery store sticks their DVDs in these hard plastic cases for display on the rental shelves that absolutely SHRED the cover... it stretches and rips the clear plastic of the keepcase and rips the paper on the cover. No thanks.
 

Dave Scarpa

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Well The only downside is people treat DVD's like crap and even one that is rented 5 times usually comes backed Scratched to hell. Fortunately most DVD's still Play when they are scratched to hell. I find Hollywood video, at least in my area , is the best to by previously viewed. They have toms of copies and looks like they do not get rented much

That Harry potter you bought... Harry Potter was in aDigipack so Hollywood transferred it into one of their boxes. Here's my only problem with Hollywoods rental .. they recycle the cases so even new movies come out for rent in older crappy plastic cases, so when you get them used the cases are even worse. As long as you buy some replacement cases you should be ok
 

Josh Steinberg

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I buy used DVDs, but usually from places where a custumer sells or trades it directly to the store, rather than being a former rental. My big problem with Blockbuster, more so than the cases, is that their used DVDs (at least by me) cost close to, as much as, and even more than new versions, sometimes even at the same store! "Catch Me If You Can" used - $19.99. "Catch Me If You Can" new - $18.99. I don't want to spend more than $10 or so on a used disc, and all Blockbuster seems to offer are discs $15 and above. If they're asking less than $15, then it's something that retails for $15 or less. With retailers like Best Buy and websites like DeepDiscountDVD that offer very low prices for new stuff on initial release, that seems the way to go most of the time.
 

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