Just one more reason why I open stuff as soon as possible- I just got Dukes of Hazzard Season 2 from Big Lots (the only copy at any of their stores in the area) and side 3's got a weird manufacturing defect. I'm not gonna have time to watch this for a LONG time, but I scanned it on my computer (I do this on anything I get that doesn't look quite right) and it couldn't read through it. I cleaned it a little and it seems to be working fine now, but I'll just have to find time to watch the 3 episodes on that side to make sure it plays with no glitches. I already sent an email to Warner asking if I can exchange the disc with them, since Big Lots doesn't have any more of these.

I usually open stuff right in the car before leaving, but when I get a whole bunch of stuff I can't do that. I did check "Roots" right away though since some people said they mistakenly came with 2 of the same discs with one missing.

I always keep them sealed until I want to watch them. It's only bit me twice, both times I had two of the same disk in a 2 disk set, and it was always the special features disk missing.

This reminded me of a post I saw on craigslist:


Insane Collection of DVD's - $4:
We have a collection of over 300 DVD's that we want to sell, for $4 to $8. Chances are if it's out we have it,...


This made me chuckle...if they think 300 is insane and "if its out there we have it" I wonder what they would think of Trevors DVD collection?

Not that it is much better, but I was referring to the number of physical discs I've opened over the years (with virtually no problems). I don't own 10,000 titles, only a few thousand. But at least half are multi-disc, plus all the rentals, friend's dvds, etc.

I will stand right at the cashier counter, open the package, and physiclly examine the play side of the disc before leaving. I know it would annoy me to get home and find a damaged disc and have to drive all the way back to the store, dealing with all the idiot traffic yet again, circle around the parking lot for a place to park, then stand in line at a customer service counter, by the time I get up to the clerk, I really dont want to take out my frustrations of them, and I know I would at that point, thats city life for ya.

I'm pretty much the same way, though I have made some mistakes ("mistakes" being those that I thought I would always look at, but then got bored with). "Dallas" was one of those mistakes, especially by the time of #5 (1981-82). I've gotten bored with it. "Marcus Welby, M.D.," on the other hand, is something that I knew I wanted, based on its reputation as a classic (ABC from 1969-76) and by good word of mouth.

I love me some Dallas, but the truth is it's not a series I felt compelled to own on DVD. Due to its serial nature, it's not the kind of show I could just watch on a whim. I remember in 1996, TNN showed it in the late afternoon with episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard and I think I watched both in their entirety at least twice that year (Dukes obviously had fewer episodes and therefore cycled back around sooner). Fun times.

Good point! "Get Smart" was another mistake of mine, in that I thought it would be very funny and fast-paced; I would discover later that not only was it glacially slow, but also that all the episodes, for the most part, had really the same story in common: Maxwell Smart learns about the problem and the villain of the week, he gets his assignment and works with Agent 99 to fix the problem/defeat the villain, and then he has a laugh with the Chief and 99. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Most TV series have been formulaic over the years. Sets are expensive, and actors are generally considered locked in once they're signed so those two aspects alone dictate a certain amount of storytelling limitations. Then factor in the harried schedule for writing, getting a script cleared by the network and studio...not much room for risk-taking.

The success of cable series like The Sopranos and the advent of the 13-episode season liberated storytelling quite a bit for more modern productions, but you're going to run into a lot of disappointment if you're going back more than fifteen years looking for a show that doesn't expose its paint-by-numbers structure.

I open mine as I catalog them into DVD Profiler and on my hand-written list prior to shelving them. That way, if there's anything at all wrong, I know about it right away instead of finding out the hard way later. -kd5-

Recently purchased 2 TV series in Target. One of the disc was not playing at all. The store manager told me that Christmas time the factories produce more than the usual amount of DVD's with increasing amount of defective ones.

I know I shouldn't, but...
I generally keep them sealed until/unless I'm ready to watch them. This is partially for collectability, but also because I live with a smoker, so I like to keep the factory seal on to keep them pristine for as long as possible.
Another reason is that I grab a lot of impulse buys - especially at Big Lots. If I keep them sealed at least until the receipt expires, then I have the option to return if I choose to.

EXCEPTIONS:

• If I get a mail delivered floater.
• If I feel an eco-pack case. I immediately replace those with a "full" case, and put the eco-pack in a pile of "to dispose of" cases I use if I sell anything.

I sold a brand new sealed copy of Saving Private Ryan 2-disc dvd set to this guy back on Jan. 15th. Mailed it out on the 18th because the 17th was MLK Jr. day. Tracking shown that he received it on the 20th. 13 days pass and he sent a message this morning that he just opened the dvd on Feb 2nd. He claims that there were 4 bugs inside (2 dead and 2 alive) and that the discs are scratched up. I contacted ebay about the situation and sent them the email that the guy sent me. The Ebay rep agreed with me when I told them that the bugs would be dead. Bugs can't survive but 2-3 without water. He also wants me to refund the money back, plus shipping he paid, plus an additional $3.00 to send it back to me. Who's this guy think he's scamming. He waits 13 days to open it.

He just sent a second email saying that he took 2 pictures of it and giving me 2 days to refund him plus $3. Then he'll file a claim. I told him to file the claim.

Chances are pretty good he'll win. eBay has become so pro-buyer that they're now anti-seller. This is why I've taken to trading in my used DVDs to Half Price Books. I get a lot less, but at least they're not going to come after me in a week and want their money back.

ebay is the worst place to sell i feel, i use amazon marketplace, in the 700 DVDs/blu-rays that I sold on Amazon I've had 3 issues....on ebay there were issues all the time, people are always out to scam someone and once a claim is issued its like they don't even read the e-mails, they just reward the buyer.

Instead of filing a claim with ebay, he changed and filed with paypal. They work closely together.

In some parts, I agree with you about being pro-buyer. I say the main chance I have is that he said that he found 4 bugs (2 dead and 2 ALIVE). Alive being the main thing. He said he opened the dvd on Feb 2nd. That's 13 days after he received it, 18 days after I taped it up in a bubble mailer and then mailed it. Who knows how many days after the manufacturer put the wrap on it in the first place. No bugs can survive that long.

He seems like the kind of person that would spend 30 minutes in his backyard with a jar trying to find bugs for that picture

Alway open when I get home and made sure if disc inside and the disc if are scratches or something with the disc.

Usually, I open them as soon as I can, even if I won't watch them for a while. The first thing I do is open the case REALLY slowly and carefully in case a disc is loose. I don't want it to slide around any more than it has to. Next, I'll look at the playing surface to see if there are scratches....especially with big box sets as those are often harder to replace. There are several scratched discs in my Fraggle Rock set which I'm in the process of watching. If they play in my main player, I'll keep them, but the company said that I could send the defective ones back in case they don't play. Of course, the last year or so, I have to handle the cases really carefully in case it's one of the those worthless eco cases. If everything's alright, the dvd (or set) goes into my "haven't watched yet" pile, which is quite extensive. I still have dvds from around May of 2010 that I haven't gotten to yet.

I do. It doesn't help that almost every disc I've bought lately has been scratched or had some other imperfection. I guess it's just a streak of bad luck or something. Really annoying though.

Paypal just sent the results back and have sided with me. They put the money back into my account.

Almost always, unless I'm unsure if I want to keep a DVD and return it to a store. In those cases, I won't open the DVD for a few days, but it's rare when that happens.

Plus, so I can inspect the inside contents of the DVD/BD case.

I open them and stick them in their proper places as soon as I can. Besides my OCD not allowing it, leaving shit in wrappers just looks tacky as hell.

I open them right away and remove all those nasty security stickers.

I open them right away because sometimes I don't get what I purchased, or because the disc is cracked.