How to remove the wrapping from a DVD movie
 

After scores of relatively frustrating experiences (you've had them too, right?) I've finally perfected a method of unpacking DVD movies. I'm talking about your typical DVD:

1. Take a sharp blade (something like an Exacto Knife, or a razor blade) and run it along the edge of the rectangular case, on 3 sides (not the spine itself).

2. Open the clamshell case (it should spring right open after making those cuts).

3. Remove the slug protection device, if any, and trash it. That's optional, but I do this.

4. Remove the "Security Device Enclosed" stickers, which should be cut in two at this point. The two halves of each are best removed in one piece by peeling back from the cut-points - it's quite easy once you get used to it. I leave the top label intact (though it has to be sliced in half to open the case) because it usually has the name of the movie and I may want to store my DVD's at some point with that label showing.

I can do a whole DVD in less than a minute using this method.

I appreciate the sentiment, but I kinda think that most people who are sufficiently into DVD to go to a site like this have already figured out how to open them.

That said:

They actually make a device specifically designed for this, safer to use. Most CD stores sell them for under five bucks.

I never use 'em, because even with my over-bitten nails, I can always peel the labels off with no problem, but I also know they get a lot of use, because "those little labels on CDs and DVDs" are like the "programming your VCR clock" of the new millennium.

I'm supposed to stay away from sharp objects...

I just take my old SHARP swiss army knife or something similar, and cut along the folded celephane wrapping on either the top or bottom of the case. Once done, I just peel off the wrapper. Then I take same said knife and carefully get each sealing sticker started, without gouging the case's plastic sleeve, and then stick the tip of the knife to the sticker to further peel it back until I can easily grab it with my fingers. Then of course, with luck, I can peel off the entire sticker without it tearing. I just wished the top sticker didn't have those little, "pull here" lobes which actually make it more difficult to peel them off without tearing them.

Thanks Muse this is very helpful, but I have a follow-up question. I order most of my DVDs online. Sometimes they arrive in paper mailers which I can easily tear through, but usually they arrive in sealed boxes. I used to just stomp on the boxes until they disgorged my DVDs, but that often resulted in damage to the DVDS so for now I'm just piling the unopened boxes up until I come up with another solution. Any advice for getting those boxes open is appreciated as they've really been piling up over the years.

I seriously doubt that the overwhelming majority of people who come to DVDTalk use as effective a method of opening a case as outlined in the OP. Very seriously. Sure, they can open them, but can they do it in less than 60 seconds? Most cannot do it nearly so fast and anywhere near so painlessly. It took me maybe 60-80 disks to arrive at this method. I thought I could save a lot of people a lot of frustration. People will always say, "thanks but no thanks" and crap like that. So, leaves will fall in the Fall. What else is new?

oh, so that's how to do it!! now, i don't have to keep taking my false tooth out!!

no offense, but maybe you are just slow. and thanks for giving us "majority" the benefit of the doubt!

and who needs to open in 60 seconds anyway, plus i highly doubt that you can even slit the sides, pry the sticky's off of the DVD, pry them off your fingers and throw away in 60 seconds...unless of course you are "The Flash", but even then he can prob do it in less than that and see you just open up a whole nother can of worms and well...

No need for a complicated 4-step procedure. I just boil my DVDs on the stovetop like they were pasta... the wrapping tends to just slide right off.

Huh? You get the DVD's out, right? They're not just sitting in the boxes?? Opening cardboard boxes depends on the box. Every case is different. Sometimes I tear them open if I can get a grip. Other times I will use a knife, judiciously. Of course, you don't want to risk hurting your merchandise, so you have to be careful, and you don't want to cut yourself, naturally.

Trust me, I opened a DVD today and timed it - 54 seconds, and it was completely liberated from the maddening packaging, nothing more to do, all the crap in the wastebasket, 54 seconds flat. And it's the only one I've ever timed. I didn't practice for this. I just developed this method a couple of days ago.

Gotta love it when the case artwork isn't totally inside the clear plastic and you have no choice but to watch the tape seals tear off part of it. :(

Oh, yeah. And a nice soup for those cold winter days.

You know, the procedure isn't at all complicated, but breaking it up into a 4-step procedure was the best way I could describe it. Once learned, it's very easy to do and remember without having to look at the "instructions." Try it out. "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it."

I've been using a letter opener on the top edge, seems to work pretty good.

Next time you want to open one, take a good look at my procedure and follow it and you will never have those troubles again. The "pull here" lobes won't bother you again.

It took you 54 seconds to get a DVD out of a wrapper?

Did you use your feet?

I think I've got it sorted without using tools. Although I've seen how my friends open dvds and its pretty pathetic.

I usually just throw my new DVDs at any random wall over and over again until it finally opens up.

I've been using C-4 on my DVDs for quite some time now. It used to take several weeks (ordering from contacts in third-world countries, routing the shipments through Canada, surveilling the drop-point, etc.), which was OK, because I'm pretty patient. But I've got enough of it saved up by now that I've got the entire process down to about 3 1/2 hours (for the most part, the time it takes to evacuate my building, because hey, safety first).

I'm working on a diagram that I hope to be able to post relatively soon. -cracker-

Of course, I haven't yet figured out how to get the DVD player out of it's box, but, like I said, I'm pretty patient.

danol?

Please create, then post a link to the file, a power point presentation. I could then take it around to all of the offices in town to help everyone else who do not see this thread.

I think it was just one foot, hence the delay.

Best thread ever ! :)

SO, anyone got a good way of removing security stickers from underneath the clear plastic on hubs ? Im just cursing Warner every time I take out my brand new Gone With The Wind DVD...and there is it...the little black f**ker...just sitting there under the plastic...oh, how I HATE it !!!

What I've been using for years and years is an Olfa touch knife, so if anyone out there comes across them in the hardware or craft stores, jump on one. Small, fits on a keychain and runs less than 2 bucks. Stays razorblade sharp for years.

A little off topic...but do you guys get the same problem with FOX DVD's in that when you peel the wrapper of you still have some of it still on the spine...it's happens to me ALL the time with FOX DVD's....

Best I can say for that is that you can usually pry the clear plastic off of the case itself, because it's usually stuck on there with that glue that doesn't quite stick ... so you can pry up the one corner nearest the sticker, and then stick something inside (a letter opener or something) to jimmy the sticker off. Then you can push the plastic back on to the glue and it will stick again (albeit not great).

It's not a great solution, though, because the security tag usually (I've found) rips a piece of the picture in the back off. I gave up on getting rid of those, because it seemed more of a hassle than it's worth, but I do know exactly what you mean.