The shockingly bad quality of 4K cases (WARNING! ANGRY RANT)

[Twinrehz]

So this thread is mainly to vent my frustration over what by now seems to actually be a problematic trend rather than an accident, and that is the abysmal quality of the newer, black cases for 4K discs.

In the last 6 months, out of the four 4K releases I've bought that were shipped via mail, no less than three of them arrived with a damaged case. I've also bought a ton of regular Blu-Ray releases. NONE of those have arrived with a broken case, despite being shipped in the same box.

Have a look at these



This was the state that my order of "Color out of space" arrived in. It came in this travesty of a box that's made of plastic so soft and so mushy that I could probably crush it together to a small ball with just one hand.



Same for this one, brand spanking new, same type of disc cover and abominable quality.

Out of my entire collection of BD movies - which isn't huge by any stretch, but still - I've only ever had one BD cover go bad on me, over 10 years. And I noticed that all these covers have something in common:

They're all branded with the name Elite. I've looked through a lot of my collection, pulled the wrapper off a bunch of movies I haven't watched yet, to check the box quality. I'm sure most collectors here are familiar with Amaray, which have all been outstanding quality, fairly rigid and sturdy-feeling box, and almost every box I come across that is Elite, I can basically FEEL it just by opening the cover and seeing how badly it bends before the catches give in. There's a bunch of unbranded covers that are better quality than this trash that breaks just because someone had the sheer nerve to send it by mail.

I can't be the only one upset by this. It's such a waste, I'll have to send out for new covers, and these will get trashed. It angers me to see such cost-cutting measures get taken when there are people out there still willing to buy physical. It's a waste of resources and a waste of production. I know Amaray don't make covers any more, but what do you recommend? It doesn't have to be black covers, I actually like transparent undyed ones better.

[goldmonkey]

I was going to say Europe is going the way of the States, light weight, rubbish eco cases BUT... Amaray don't make cases anymore? Who, what, where, when did this happen?

[Canada]

I've never gotten a broken case, but tons of my cases are greasy. All my cases are from the North American region.

[Twinrehz]

Originally Posted by goldmonkey

I was going to say Europe is going the way of the States, light weight, rubbish eco cases BUT... Amaray don't make cases anymore? Who, what, where, when did this happen?

It seems I've gotten this a bit wrong; after a bunch of searching, from what I can tell, Amaray are still making cases, however here in the Nordic countries, suppliers seem to opt for the slimmer Viva Elite 12.5mm case for 4K releases. This of course is a problem because no one else makes 12.5mm cases; Amaray have 11mm ones, and they have 14mm ones.

It really just proves that the nordic countries are more of an afterthought in the market in general; guess I'll just go exclusively for import, since that's where the releases seem to have some thought put into them. For the most part, the broken case for my Akira 4K Special Edition (which was a terrible release in the first place) was in fact published by Manga Entertainment UK.

[UnionJackMix]

I get plenty of broken blue cases from the US (let me just call them slim, I have no idea about the size, as I'm at work) but incidentally the big cases from the UK, which I dislike because they are so unnecessarily big and a waste of space, are seldom broken.

[Jackie Scanlon]

I'm sure this is more luck than judgement, but I've still yet to receive a damaged case, or one with that gunk in it. I've had them from various sellers here, in the States and elsewhere, and with various different packaging types used.

But some of the pics I've seen thrown around on here are indeed shocking.

[Twinrehz]

Originally Posted by UnionJackMix

I get plenty of broken blue cases from the US (let me just call them slim, I have no idea about the size, as I'm at work) but incidentally the big cases from the UK, which I dislike because they are so unnecessarily big and a waste of space, are seldom broken.

Honestly, I prefer the UK ones because they're wider, but I've always been more of a quality-over-quantity kind of person. Additionally, the UK seems to have very specific requirements to their cases, how much oil etc. can be in them. I guess this raises costs somewhat, but it also seems to have the effect that the cases are just overall more durable, which I suppose in the long run could reduce plastic waste.

(I have to note that I don't have the necessary sample size or info to justify such a claim, these are based on information I've read in various forums, and some speculative conjecture).

I also have to point out that the only US movies I've imported was "Color out of space", because I didn't see the fine print about it being a Region A release (and for the 4K movie, this doesn't really matter anyway), but the case is still the same one that's used for local releases here.

Straying a tiny bit off-topic, the absolutely worst release I've seen is the nordic release for the complete series of Lost, which while it came in a nice box, each disc was packaged in a paper bag sleeve; you know, the kind that bundled software usually comes in when you're buying electronics. Who thought THAT was a good idea??