rbf1138

I recieved my OOP Hitchcock Criterion boxset today, and while everything looks legit and sealed, the upc's all have a hole punch in them...What does this mean? As far as I can tell, this is definitely not a bootleg, but why would all the movies have had this done? Thanks.

dick_grayson

they do that with boxed sets that are also sold as singles, I remember reading. I'll try to find the thread that explains why.

rbf1138

That's what I assumed, but I called my friend who also has the set, and his set doesn't have that on any of the movies...

Johnny Zhivago

^ Yup... Seems to be that way for most.

Although, I purchased my set at Best Buy and it does not have the hole punches in the UPC codes.

dick_grayson

here's the thread I was thinking of....although it's not very helpful

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...light=presents

natevines

I guess I'm lucky; I bought my set on eBay and the UPCs are intact.
Great box also. I'd recommend anyone who doesn't have it to get it as it's OOP and being replaced by inferior MGM versions.

rbf1138

Bought mine on half.com from a reputable seller. I think everything's fine with it. Everything was sealed except for Lady Vanishes which was weird, but it seems untouched. Anything else I should be looking for to validate the authenticity?

dick_grayson

they open one to put the security thing in it, that's why one is opened. I'd bet it's legit. I haven't heard of a bogus one

rbf1138

Ok, yeah, it's the only one with a security tag. Thanks for the help!

ThatGuamGuy

It's definitely because they're in a box [I've bought other Hitchcock boxes too, and they all had that, and I bought a few singles from one of the Universal boxes which had obviously been taken from the box, since they had that], but I'm not sure why they weren't *all* done. I'd guess it's because Criterion put some leftovers into the boxes and then did a new run specifically for the box? Maybe to cut down on people selling the out of print ones seperately? I can't say why, for sure, but I would say the hole punched UPC is definitely because it was a box.

bboisvert

Most of the sets I've seen (brand new, in stores) have all of the individual discs sealed except Lady Vanishes. I have no idea why, but most of these have that particular DVD unsealed.

That unsealed DVD and any hole-punched UPCs are no sign for concern. In fact, it pretty much confirms that your sets are legit.

CriterionReview

It seems to depend on where your brought the set from.

Stores that need to open the set for security purposes generally have the holes punched in the UPC -- I assume to stop them from selling the individual discs at a higher price point than their box set value.

Most online stores have the UPC intact.

I still haven't found out whether this is a Criterion policy -- or a policy, depending on each store.

naughty jonny

Bought mine from Amazon some time back. Still in the box (sealed), so I haven't checked. Presume that they are OK though.

Cameron

they also do this frequently with screener copies...cds and dvd will have a hole punch or slash in the upc code...sometimes they will even cut a straight hole in the top of the case...they call this a cut out. it keeps people who get the product for free from taking back for an instore credit at retailers.

i have tons of cds like this, and even a few dvds...i prefer it over the screeners that cut from color to black and white and back to color.