Was just thinking about this tonight... The obsession most of us DVD collector's have with DVD Slipcovers. First off, when did DVD slipcovers first start to come around? 2002? Anyway, I wonder what the first mainstream DVD with a slipcover was? Now a days it's seems as though 75% of new DVD releases come with slipcovers... You know what's funny, and I know I'm not the only one that does this, when ever you go to the store to buy a new DVD with a slipcover, you find yourself picking up a whole stack of like 10 of the same DVD, just to find the DVD with the most MINT/Perfect Shape Slipcover, and people are looking at you like...ahhh...dude there all the same DVD, why are you looking at 10 copies of the same movie...lol.

One thing I've always wondered though about slipcovers...why is it that when a new release comes out the slipcovers only seem to be on the first printing...For example try going to Wal-Mart NOW and find a copy of Pan's Labyrinth (2-Disc) with a slipcover, there all gone... it must save DVD companies money if the eliminate the Slipcover after awhile.

I don't know if this is the reason, but I think it's to get more sales at the higher price.

I've never understood the appeal of DVD slipcovers. I usually toss 'em.

Rob

someone in another post mentioned 2002, so i think that's about right. the first slipcover i can recall was for disney's platinum edition of "beauty and the beast." don't know if that was the first slipcover ever... i'm quite curious to know what it might be...

yea... i do that with just about every dvd, slipcover or not. i make sure cover insert isn't all jacked up and/or being touched by the security tape. i try to make sure all my TV on DVD boxes are clean and don't have some huge bend in them or haven't been dropped, leading to those smushed corners. i know i look like a freak too, so i try to make sure i'm the only one in the dvd aisle when i do it that's one of the things that's most annoying about the whole slipcover phenomenon is that they're QUITE EASY to damage. sigh. and for someone as anal as me, it can be quite a time-consuming task to make sure everything is in good condition.

i think that certainly is the case. i think most DVD collector's are aware now that DVD prices drop pretty quickly. i mean, most new releases will be part of a 2/$10 or $6.99 or $9.99 sale or whatever within a few months of release... casino royale, released in march, was on sale at fry's the other week for $8.99! just three months later and it's pretty much half price what it was on release day. so yea, i think the slipcovers are an "incentive" to collectors to get the DVD asap, which allows the studios to make more money. i think they're really targeting collectors, because it seems most "regular" dvd buyers don't care about the slipcover. even some dvd collectors don't! (see a post above)

as for general thoughts on slipcovers, and why collectors (read: me, myself & i) care about them, i've copy/pasted a comment i wrote on another thread:

Since they STILL refuse to put fucking shrinkwrap on the slipcovers, I've been buying far fewer new-release DVDs than I was before this started. If a store has a price tag or security sticker on the slipcover, I won't buy it, period. If it's a title I really want, I'll get it at a store that doesn't use price tags, or order online, but if the best price is at a store that puts price tags on it and nobody else can beat the price, I just won't buy the damned thing at all.

I don't buy used DVDs, why the fuck should I pay full price for something that isn't sealed???

If I were a federal judge I'd give you up to 5 years probation + some correctional labor

googone will be your friend. It gets rid of the sticker easily

But then your DVD collection smells like an Orange-ish smelling Meth Lab.

Why should I have to use Googone on something I purchased brand-new? Seriously, I would like to punch in the face the people who think it's good to ship DVDs like this. Think of whoever hates snapper cases the most, multiply that by a billion and that's about how much I hate slipcovers with no shrinkwrap.

i think it tends to come down to the quality of the slipcover when determining the ease of sticker removal as well. like i mentioned, the disney slipcovers are glossy and slick and store stickers are easily removeable with no leftover residue. it's the cases of the cheap, thin cardboard slipcovers where the stickers tend to adhere to the paper itself and ruin the slipcover. but shrinkwrap over the slipcover would be an excellent practice. and i've seen them do it on a few discs, like mgm's "some like it hot" special edition and lionsgate's "l.a. story" anniversary edition. two random instances, but maybe eventually it'll become more common.

I do the samething lol I once had a situation with a cashier, it was for Casino Royale at BB with that car and I spent a few minutes finding the mintiest slip. The guy who opened the case, sliced the blade through all of the slipcover spines but I found a few that didn't have this slice. I went to pay, the cashier grabbed the DVD but the amaray began to slip out of the slipcover and she slammed the entire thing down and chipped and bent the slipcover. I didn't want to seem crazy so I just said I wanted to pick something else up, and went to exchange it for a new one.

I agree with stickers, they are difficult sometimes.

i have had this happen to me several times. many cashiers treat the dvds like s***!! if they would spent their hard earned money i bet they would have more respect. in situations like that, where the cashier caused damage i always refused to take that one!! of course they gave me major "don`t be anal you psycho" looks, because they probably dont get reactions like that often, but i dont care! i pay for a NEW dvd and i want it in perfect condition...no ifs ands or buts!!
i understand that most cashiers dont make much cash and probably hate their occupation, but it still infuriates me to see their "i dont give a f*** attitudes!!
i am from vienna, austria, where customer service or friendly cashiers barely exist, but it surprises me to see this happen in the states as well, where people have been fired for much lesser reasons.

I do that. My boyfriend looks at me like I'm nuts.

Don't slipcover now a days have a clear recetangular sticker in the corner that is easily removed? So you can take it and the price sticker right off without damaging the surface?
Later

some do. off the top of my head, i can think of the original release of fantastic four and sideways.

some don't. such as the extended edition release of fantastic four and this week's release of the 2-disc 300.

stores don't always place their price tags on that sticker though. like generally, borders stores place their tags on the bottom right corner of the dvd. and in some cases, like with best buy, some of their stickers are partially on the sticker and then partially off. not a huge problem with slick covers, but when it's just standard cardboard, you still gotta be careful when you're removing the sticker.

Gotta vent some more- I absolutely HATE this packaging trend and wish a painful death upon those who've made it so prevalent! Best Buy has "I Robot" on sale for $3.99, but every damn copy in the store had a price tag right on top of Will Smith's face (it's a very nice clear plastic slipcover, and the front cover artwork doesn't make much sense without it) I tried taking them off but they didn't come off smoothly and left residue, so even for the ridiculously low price I decided NOT to buy it, for the same reason I don't buy used DVDs no matter how cheap they are.

To the people who came up with this- here's a big FUCK YOU!

That's too bad because I picked up second hand copies of seasons one through three of The Sopranos and season one of The Wire for 80 bucks AUS...

I find something else almost as annoying as price stickers. How about when the artwork has slipped outside of the plastic cover and gotten stuck to the back of the DVD seal at the top or bottom of the case? I check every time I buy a DVD now to make sure the artwork is not stuck to the sticker. I went back to Fry's and got a new DVD after I ripped the top of my artwork on my Swimming Pool DVD.

I like slipcovers so much that I consider buying something I already own that doesn't have a slip-cover (MONSTER) and returning it without said slip-cover... still wrapped.

And yes, most people look at you like you're crazy, but these are the people who get annoyed when I won't lend the boxes out to people who borrow stuff. Sorry, my friend gave someone his DVD set of CARNIVALE: Season 1 and it was returned covered in dents and water damaged "Um, it was raining!"

People treat stuff like DVD covers, etc. like garbage most of the time, and I don't care if I'm the one who likes my stuff to look nice...

I will only keep the slipcover if the artwork is DIFFERANT from the case artwork. If it's the EXACT picture, I toss it.

When THE GRUDGE 2 came out, I bought the single-disk from Walmart WITH a slip-cover, went to Best Buy and bought the tin-case 2-disk GRUDGE 2, and took teh slipcover off teh Walmart one, and sliped it on the TIN CASE and returned the walmart DVD without the slipcover.

Now my GRUDGE 2 Tin case has a cool slipcover with a completly differant artwork on it.

Anyone recomend a site to find scans of slipcovers or the inside content pages of multidisc sets? I found cdcovers.cc, but it did not have what I was looking for. Thanks.

I usually only worry about getting a slipcover if it's a Disney film. Sure, slipcovers on other kinds of movies are fine, but I'm mainly into the Disney ones....until the shiny stuff starts chipping off.

I love collecting slipcovers. Blu-ray slipcovers, DVD slipcovers and HD DVD slipcovers. I want them all.