Yes, this should have been in the covers forum, and I've already apologized for posting it in the wrong forum and asked the mods to move it. However, yet again, a DVD is indeed "screwed up" if something has been changed like the cover, the insert, or the disc art, IF that's something you care about. If it's not, go away.

No, but if it's a thread about making sure you get the insert and the original disc art, what the FUCK are a bunch of people who claim they don't give a shit about those things doing here???? Don't I have a right to start a fucking thread that not everyone is going to want to read??? Why is that it's MY fucking problem and not theirs for threadcrapping simply because this thread is not meant for them???? THAT's my fucking problem!

No, that's what you read into it. I said "screws up DVDs", and a DVD is not just the disc itself, it's the whole package. If all I cared about was the disc and what's on it, I wouldn't have bothered (nor would I have if I'd known a bunch of assholes were gonna fuck with me). However, if I need to play it your way, Paramount not only dumped the insert but changed the artwork on the disc, so regardless of whether the content is the same, just getting an insert doesn't fix the problem for me -- I need to replace the disc itself.

Got it NOW????

Yes, which would completely defeat the purpose of throwing them away. For years, I've been inundated with extraneous crap I was either gonna sell on eBay, trade to people locally, or post about online to see if anyone needed it. I've got too much shit of my own to do that now. Besides, I never said "please oh please, can somebody give me an insert?", I simply wanted to start a thread so people could get it right the first time, since I was unable to. So you see, just trying to help others by starting a thread got me nothing but a bunch of shit from people who aren't even affected by this change, so I can't imagine the bullshit I'd have to put up with if I actually held onto stuff to see if anyone else wanted it. I can see it now -- 35 replies all saying "Who the hell just wants the COVER of a DVD... what are you smoking, Mike?" Yeah, that'd go over real fucking well.

That's... great, Mike. I *totally* understand... *backs away from keyboard slowly*

All the universal dvds have a silver disc with a black text version of the movies logo. Whether it's a rogue pictures, or anything under universal.
All the dreamworks have the grey with the silver logos. Now

Why does the disc art matter? I guess if it is in display in a binder. You should complain that flippers don't have 'artwork' in the small 1 cm ring around it that says the movie title and ws/fs side(reverse)

-chile

Really? Are HD versions planned by any chance? If you can't answer I'll understand.

As far as inserts are concerned, they are trivial, but I'd rather have them than slipcovers.

Okay, now before I continue, let me stress that if you DON'T CARE about getting original disc art or inserts, READ NO FURTHER. If you do choose to read further, DO NOT flame me for posting information you don't care about... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Now, here's an update on the Coming To America situation. I found a used copy for $5.99 at fye that didn't have the proof-of-purchase tabs on the back and asked to see the disc. Sure enough, it was the original silver disc with the film's logo in purple (and contrary to popular belief, not all Paramount DVDs are like that, because Trading Places and Best Defense both have full artwork on the disc), but still no insert. I figured that was to be expected since it was used, but the disc was in such bad shape that I decided to pass. They had new copies for $9.99, and I noticed that they also had no proof-of-purchase tabs on the back, so I bought one of those instead.

I opened it up in the car, and to my delight, it had the original artwork on the disc (and yes, a purple logo can indeed be called artwork, especially compared to the silver-on-silver of the new version). Unfortunately, there was still no insert, just a white piece of paper with one of those flat square security decals on it. To complicate matters further, once I got home I noticed that there weren't any proof-of-purchase tabs on the back of the one I got at WAL-MART either, so that "look for the proof-of-purchase tabs" thing doesn't always work, and there was no outward sign that would indicate that the disc inside was a re-pressing with a different label surface.

The only indication on the new one at fye was that the barcode had a sticker over it with a new barcode on it. This still probably isn't gonna help you find one with an insert, but here's the UPC information I've gathered so far:

new copy at fye with original disc art:

0 97363 21572 1 (on sticker over original barcode)

new copy at WAL-MART with crappy revised disc art:

0 9736-32157-7 6 (actually printed on cover)

The latter may actually be the original UPC, which may cause you to pass over an original pressing, and the two numbers are more similar than they seem (look at them closely, ignoring the spaces and dashes), but I felt it was worth posting the information for... say it with me... those of us who CARE.

Thanks for reading, and if anyone has something RELEVANT to add, please share your info.

Oh, and P.S. - I completely forgot that I do have the insert for Trading Places, even though it also came from the $5.50 bin at WAL-MART, and I did finally find the Ellen Degeneres DVD I was looking for when I found that widescreen copy of Hero. I'm sure you're all happy for me.

You paid for the right to watch the movie.

You now have that right.

Whether you paid $4 or $400, you got what you paid for... the right to watch a copyrighted piece of art/entertainment in your home.



Anything else (covers, colors, fancy boxes, etc) is gravy.

Mike, if you have any video stores in your area, that rent DVD's and display the boxes, go in and check to see if they have Coming To America for rental and if it's not from Blockbuster (which believe it or not used to have inserts when they had their display covers) or Hollywood video and they have it on display check and see if there is still an insert and kindly ask them if you can take it home. Some places might not let you do it, other places would and could care less since it's just an insert.

I'd say keep checking GameStops...they only take out the disc and leave the insert inside. Usually they let you have it...

Oh, okay, thanks. Geoff, close the forum -- GuessWho has explained it all to us... nothing matters except what's on the disc. Tell me, oh wise one, do you also just rip stuff off the discs and burn DVD-Rs for that same reason?

Look, I've said this a million fucking times -- if you're just here to threadcrap, get lost. Some of us actually CARE about getting fancy boxes (Superman Ultimate Edition tin, anyone?), and DEFINITELY about getting the original version of the disc, no matter what we paid for it. If you don't give a shit about anything but watching the movie, you're in the wrong forum, and sure as hell the wrong thread. This was started for anyone who wants to avoid buying the movie twice like I did.

Thanks to dvd_luver and Sabrett for the advice. "Ed the ripper" has volunteered to send me his, and I've taken him up on his very generous offer. I'm very hesitant to ask rental stores for inserts, and even though a Gamestop or something would care even less, I'd rather not ask for an insert I didn't buy. My thanks once again to Ed.

Incidentally, the guy at fye gave me a hard time about wanting to see the disc from the used copy of Coming To America, and even though this particular guy is known to be the "asshole" of that store, it's pretty typical for employees around here to be less-than-accomodating with picky DVD geeks like myself.

If you cannot take someone else’s opinion on a topic, you need to just get out of online forums. These are discussions. We all have the same rights and stating how we feel is not a threadcrap. Your title is at best misleading and thus bringing a bunch of people in here that are not concerned about inserts or disc art. I have been on this forum over six years longer than you have and many of the other people you have attacked for posting a comment have been here that long as well. In all that time in all the threads about politics, religion, HD-DVD vs. BD and a load of other topics, I have seldom if ever seen anyone get so bent out of shape. You really need to just get over it. Paramount cutting cost has not done anything to screw up a single DVD - it has affected the packaging. The thread title indicates a problem and a lot of people disagree with that declaration.

P.S. If you don't like me posting this in "your" thread, I don't really care.

In all fairness, I've posted in a thread before because I didn't agree with the OP and I got yelled at for threadcrapping. I was told that if I didn't agree, then why was I wasting my time posting. So...it's a two-way street, ya know.

Well, lots of people start yelling threadcrap when there is a dissenting opinion. The forum has become cluttered with junior mods I think. My post did have a comment about me not really worrying about inserts but I also addressed his comment about silver disc in my post. He got what info I had that I felt was relevant and my opinion. That was what I viewed most of the posts Mike got bent out of shape about. He would really freak out if he started a thread in HD Talk. Or imagine if he had been in the Halloween Horror movie debate with us.

Yeah, I get what you mean. It's very easy to get overworked on here, though. You can't show emotions over a computer, and sometimes it's hard to type out exactly what you mean. Get frustrating sometimes, but oh well...there are worse things.

perhaps this topic should be moved to the Covers subforum, which may help lessen the amount of threadcapping.

Mike, i feel the same way as you regarding original artwork. but there's nothing you can do except hunt down the original somewhere. the studios have a right to tighten their wallets when mass producing stuff. if it means saving some pennies here and there by leaving out inserts or disc artwork, they're entitled. we're collectors, so if we really want something, it up to us to find the copy we want. kinda fun sometimes.

Absolutely, I wish that had been done... hell, I wish I had put it where it belonged in the first place, but we've been over that already.

Yeah, but if studios want to put out an anti-SE (like Monty Python's The Meaning of Life), go right ahead. Just don't leave it in the same old box as the original version. Anyway, this thread was about avoiding the cheap-ass reissues from Paramount, not necessarily about bashing them in general.

Look everyone, obviously some people here haven't read the official description of "threadcrapping", so let me go over it one more time.

I did not ASK for anyone's opinion. The title of this thread is NOT "Who here thinks getting the original insert and/or disc artwork is important?" -- the thread is about making sure you GET the original insert and/or disc art if you WANT it. If you don't care, you shouldn't be here. The difference between expressing an opinion and threadcrapping is pretty clear -- if someone asks everyone's opinion and gets mad when they don't agree with him, sure, he shouldn't have asked in the first place.

Let me make it clear that the lack of an insert and original disc art was NOT NEARLY as important an issue to me as you people think it is. It was easily solved by purchasing another copy elsewhere, and thanks to Ed, I'll be getting the insert as well, and my total expenditure is only around $15, so this is NOT about price!!! Originally, it was about the fact that I finally broke down and bought a film I've had on my "want list" for years, only to find that in order to get the DVD I actually wanted, I'd have to buy it yet again. THAT is why I posted this thread -- after having the same experience with Forrest Gump and now Coming To America it became clear that Paramount was making some changes, and KNOWING that a lot of people here are as picky as I am, or even more so, I thought it'd be a good idea to start a thread about this practice, much like the thread about Sony going to single-sided discs, which has resulted in some titles ending up fullscreen-only, but in the same box they've always had.

The reason I'm so pissed off about the comments that have been posted in this thread is that people have repeatedly chimed in with shit like "What's the big deal? I don't care about inserts, or even what the disc looks like!" Well that's not the point of this thread, and since I'm not after people's opinions, it's a blatant threadcrap, just as surely as if someone had come in and said "Coming To America sucks anyway, I wouldn't pay $1 for that piece of shit." The important point is that this is NOT a "Who likes inserts?" thread -- it was SUPPOSED to be a thread containing information about how to tell if a certain Paramount title has an insert or not, and the only two pieces of information we have so far is that sometimes (although unfortunately not in this case) there are proof-of-purchase tabs on the back cover tipping you off to the fact that there's no insert, and the actual UPC codes of two different versions of the DVD. Both of those bits of information were posted by me, whereas everyone else has either been bitching about the fact that they don't give a shit about inserts, or defending my right to start a thread about something whether everybody cares about it or not, neither of which contribute to the actual idea behind the thread!!!

In the same way that someone who would have posted "Who gives a shit? I don't mind fullscreen at all!" in the Sony single-sided vs. double-sided thread would have been accused of threadcrapping, all the "veterans" who think they know the forum much better than I do because they've been here longer are blatantly threadcrapping, because this thread is NOT about whether anyone cares about inserts or not!!! It's for those who DO care, so they can try and determine whether there's an insert BEFORE THEY BUY A DVD!!!

Is... that... clear... now.... ????

Mike Adams has a minor beef here with Paramount, here are some examples:

Example 1 - Look at the 1st pressing of Black Rain, and the CE, clearly to the left a cost effective print used.


Example 2 - Just look at how nice the disc art from this studio used to be, nice and lovely.


Example 3 - Fine example of Paramount's DVD's and how they used to be, both disc art and regular print.


Example 4 - And now where they are headed, you can clearly see how cheap and cost effective these prints are on the newer DVD's, the B&B DVD and An Inconvenient Truth are how this studio prints they're DVD's now. All of them.


So, you tell me, would you rather have the nice disc art or some cheap cost effective print used for your $$$'s. I don't blame Mike for complaining at all.

how long has paramount been doing this? I noticed my copy of Trading Places I bought in 2004 has the crappy disc art.

Just so you know, this is my first post in this thread. First problem I saw was the title of the thread. I think this is where a lot of these posts are coming from. Next problem was you asked "any advice" and that's what people gave. It wasn't entirely clear what you wanted based on the thread title and the OP.

Okay, how can I.... a person who has over 950 DVDs... able to help out? I have no idea, if the DVD I just bought, is missing disc art or an insert. Now give me a list to check and I can do that and post what I have. I only want a clearer direction to arrive at what you'd like to see posted.

If it reduces the price of the dvd, then I would rather have the cheap cost effective print. I don't look at the discs themselves that often. They are either in the case or in the player.