And just to add one more point, instead of throwing them away why not make a point that the studios will see? Take a knife, cut out the clear plastic where there's not a plastic case, and ship them back to the studios with your thoughts? Hell, if you don't care about slipcovers, through those in there too and make a point about which one is more wasteful.

Bingo. That's exactly why there are no real 'inserts' in Blu-ray cases anymore (not counting their promotional crap that goes right into the garbage) - to save a penny here and a penny there. If they could make the case any more lighter/cheaper they would.

Here's Jeff Kleist's comments regarding the eco cases:

"The recycled cases use something like 30% less plastic, they are less weight to ship around, less gas, less oil used to make them etc

No, no one likes them, and it's gone all the way up the PR depts when they first started hitting.

When it comes to cases, outside of expressing a preference for a certain kind, it's up to what the replicator has in stock

I think they'll stop using them when they get a lot of retailer returns for damaged artwork

But that will probably take 6 months at least. In the end they will probably come up with a way to take the plastic out without cutting holes in it, personally I wouldn't mind sacrificing that waste of space blu-ray bump, but I guess that's here to stay"

I don't see how this is more harm. Seems like it wouldn't be any different then before as far as fuel costs.

Just received Silence Of The Lambs in this stupid packaging. JFC. I hope the idiot(s) who came up with this in their marketing meetings get FIRED. What a stupid design.

Because:

a) a certain segment of the buying public (myself included) will buy replacement cases and throw these eco cases right into the garbage, meaning that a lot of unneccessary extra cases will have to be produced to service this new demand.

b) the incidence of transport and shelf damage will increase (especially punctures to the artwork) thus increasing return rates which means more fuel used on the back end, shipping back all this damaged product. Plus even if returns only increase by 1%, that's still 1% more copies they'll have to press up and ship back again to replace the damaged ones.

and, finally

c) since these cases are so much flimsier they'll fall apart faster, so you'll have a bunch of cases that end up the landfills years ahead of schedule compared to the old ones.


Think of it like this. A company builds refrigerators. Their original models are built tough, utilizing high quality virgin metals. They decide to start building them lighter, replacing a lot of the steel and copper with recycled plastic and aluminum. They herald this as an environmentally responsible initiative since the new manufacturing process will dramatically decrease the need for so many virgin materials (minerals mined from the ground, etc.) and will cut carbon emissions since the product being shipped will be lighter, etc. But these new refrigerators end up only lasting for an average of 20 years compared to old ones which typically lasted for 40. And they require more frequent parts changes, since the plastic moving pieces break easier. So all that savings on the front end winds up being gobbled up on the back. People end up needing to replace their refrigerators twice as often, buy twice as many spare parts, drive back and forth to the appliance store twice as much...meaning twice as many need to be built and shipped, and the landfills end up seeing discarded refrigerators twice as often. Environmentally speaking, there is no net gain. The only gain is seen by the manufacturer since they get to sell you a refrigerator twice as often and save on manufacturing and shipping costs.

Most new releases are shipped one week before release date by next day air. Why pay more to get product to stores that still cannot sell it for almost another week.

Honestly, I don't think enough people will be throwing these away to result in a noticeable increase in the production of replacement cases. Just my opinion though. Also, I think it's too early to guess on the durability of these. While they certainly look like they'll break quicker, I don't think i've heard any major reports of damaged products in stores after about a week of release. I know all the ones i've seen/felt on store shelves have looked fine.

Just wanted to say I got my copies from Amazon and they were also in normal cases. This was the 2-pack not single releases. Maybe that's the difference.

Finally saw these new cases today. What's the big deal again?

Dude, these are DVD/BD collectors. We've complained about inserts (or lack thereof), slipcovers, holes in said slipcovers, security stickers and the residue they leave behind, snapper cases, and digipacks with the anti-theft device stuck where you can't remove it without leaving a mark on the image. Some of us will go to the trouble of printing custom cover art because the supplied art is unsatisfactory.

It's a special form of OCD.

Mine were technically the single version. I did not get the paper slip ring like I've seen other Uni multi-BD packs have. Review copies may also be different though (they are packaged with a white sticker over the UPC and then shrinkwrapped). I should be getting another Universal BD soon and I'll let you know if they have changed (Tales of Desperaux & 8 Mile for instance are in a normal BD case)

Scenarios B and C are pure conjecture on your part, and are in no way valid, not yet anyway.

Well, I for one hate them too. Just got QoS and the case is so flimsy I thought it was going to break when I tried to open. Also, due to space constraints, I store them in boxes to make room. How will they hold up then?

To me one of the biggest drawbacks to these cases is the potential for damage to the artwork. You're going to have a lot of wrinkled or torn art if someone stocking these or otherwise handling them presses hard on the case where there is nothing firm behind the art.

And in this case they just was a smaller case. It's seems the only footprint they are worried about is the space on shelves. More products on shelves means more sales.

EDIT: I also want to say that getting rid of slip cases would be a better way to go to cut back on waste. Nowadays the slip cases are used as a theft deterent as opposed to an artistic choice. There are a few rare cases but for the most part it is true.