Scream Factory Blu-ray Discussion Thread

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

Again, what alternatives are there for people who love the films that Shout Factory has exclusive rights to?

I understand what you're saying. Obviously a lot of people are having issues. Not only getting scratched discs but then having issues with CS to get replacements. How many times are those people going to keep ordering discs before they decide to spend their money elsewhere? If a company is selling poor quality product and they keep on buying anyway, then that's on them.

[Mike0284]

All this talk about scratched discs got me to check my last 3 4K releases.

Nothing on Army of Darkness, Platoon, & Bubba Ho-Tep.




Suck it nerds.

[Resident Evil Labs]

I was legit just making a post with pure curiosities sake, because I legit don't get scratched disc's. It was in no way to come off as snarky or rude or dismissive whatsoever. I was just making a statement in good faith trying to understand how I've gotten so lucky, that's all.

[AKORIS]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

Also, to those who've never received a scratched SF disc and are seemingly having a difficult time understanding how that's possible, or how they got that lucky, I'd like to say that I am happy for you, but you should probably consider what those posts look like to those who have, in fact, received damaged discs from SF. MMB touches on it here, and they aren't wrong.
I've seen many posts that imply that those who've received scratched discs are either lying, or exaggerating, or don't know how to clean a disc, and a number of other equally dismissive things, and I really wonder why this is necessary and what exactly it's supposed to accomplish. I, myself, as I said, had not received a scratched SF disc until my latest batch, but I've been well aware of the issue going back to at least their Friday the 13th Deluxe Collection. I've had no reason not to believe fellow collectors (a select few of whom are friends) when they mentioned they received damaged discs, because there are simply entirely too many of such accounts, and too many images of scratched discs, and too many responses from SF that do, in fact, make it painfully obvious that this is a legitimate problem that not only affects many of SF's customers, but also SF themselves.

As a collector in a situation like this, you have no reason whatsoever to come to the defense of SF (or any other label) because you don't owe them anything, and should instead try to put yourself in the place of your fellow collectors who shell out good money for these things, and end up getting burned. One day it might be you, and we all know that, instead of being confronted with dismissive posts and thinly veiled snark, you, too, would rather be taken seriously by those who share your love of film and physical media.

why don't you quit being so defensive... I was very careful to say I wasn't accusing anyone of lying or exaggerating (at least in my case). It's legitimate to wonder why some have discs with no issues and others seem to have problems with 75% of the discs they buy.

It makes you wonder what's going on. Is the issue with certain companies? Are there bad batches of discs? I don't want scratched up discs anymore than you do and I fully understand the frustration as I would be PISSED...

[DaveyJoe]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

I understand what you're saying. Obviously a lot of people are having issues. Not only getting scratched discs but then having issues with CS to get replacements. How many times are those people going to keep ordering discs before they decide to spend their money elsewhere? If a company is selling poor quality product and they keep on buying anyway, then that's on them.

How is it on them? All of your disks played fine, shouldn't everyone else expect the same when buying SF releases?

[Mushi Minion]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

How is it on them? All of your disks played fine, shouldn't everyone else expect the same when buying SF releases?

And it’s not as if we always have other options should Shout get the rights to a movie you’d like to own.

[yourmomcalled]

I have to reiterate the effect lighting can have when looking for scratches. If I check a disk in my second bedroom, I might not find anything. Looking at the same disc in the living room, I might immediately see scratches. Checking it with a flashlight, and the scratches look even worse.

[DaveyJoe]

Originally Posted by Mushi Minion

And it’s not as if we always have other options should Shout get the rights to a movie you’d like to own.

That's why I'm struggling with the suggestion to just stop buying their disks. Shout Factory losing customers over an issue they're not directly responsible for wouldn't be good for SF or collectors. Shout needs our support to continue releasing awesome genre films on UHD and brulay.

[russweiss1]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

How is it on them? All of your disks played fine, shouldn't everyone else expect the same when buying SF releases?

Even though I agree with you it seems like you want to argue. If I buy from a company and they continually send me poor quality product I would stop purchasing from them after it happened a few times. If I continue to buy from them knowing I'm going to get inferior product then I am making that choice and it's on me.

[Nameless Ghoul]

I've bought around 100 Shout discs over the last year, about half UHD and half Blu-Ray. A lot of the 4Ks have had at least a tiny scratch, but the only one that had any trouble playing was Candyman. It skipped in a few places on the unrated version.

Didn't bother contacting them about it, but I hope the theatrical version is better.

[pikwik]

Originally Posted by yourmomcalled

I have to reiterate the effect lighting can have when looking for scratches. If I check a disk in my second bedroom, I might not find anything. Looking at the same disc in the living room, I might immediately see scratches. Checking it with a flashlight, and the scratches look even worse.

That's a good point. I found sunlight can really help highlight hard to see scratches.

[DaveyJoe]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

Even though I agree with you it seems like you want to argue. If I buy from a company and they continually send me poor quality product I would stop purchasing from them after it happened a few times. If I continue to buy from them knowing I'm going to get inferior product then I am making that choice and it's on me.

The product is good, the problem is that it's arriving damaged through no fault of their own. Their replicator is the issue, not Shout Factory.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by yourmomcalled

I have to reiterate the effect lighting can have when looking for scratches. If I check a disk in my second bedroom, I might not find anything. Looking at the same disc in the living room, I might immediately see scratches. Checking it with a flashlight, and the scratches look even worse.

[yourmomcalled]

Originally Posted by DaveyJoe

The product is good, the problem is that it's arriving damaged through no fault of their own. Their replicator is the issue, not Shout Factory.

What’s stopping them from using the same replicator or quality control standards as Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome? I get that cost is an issue, but I’d gladly pay the extra $5 or lose a couple of interviews with the makeup guy, if it meant less damaged discs.

[A Tortured Duckling]

Originally Posted by yourmomcalled

What’s stopping them from using the same replicator or quality control standards as Arrow or Vinegar Syndrome?

That is the question, isn't it? Considering they've been aware of the problem for so long now, and have had to replace such an obscene amount of discs, you'd think they'd get a move on and either have the current replicator fix their issues, or move to a different one.

Again, this was posted last December, and we'd already been dealing with this shit for years by that point. Just how long could it take to make a change?

[cakefactory]

Since first reading posts about this issue about a year ago I've always inspected shout releases when I get them, and played them back immediately if I saw a scratch. It's really draining TBH. I like putting things in my huge backlog and not watching them for 6 months!! I'd had none in the limited few I bought (Cat People, Black Christmas, Carrie, Alligator, Species).

Anyway, in my last sale order I finally had two with (light) visible scratches - The Fog, and The Company of Wolves. I watched The Fog all the way through and had no playback issues at all so I'm not going to worry about it. Still haven't gotten around to watching Wolves, but I guess I better quick or they'll tell me some window expired!

I'm mainly concerned now that I see this issue started back in 2019. I definitely have a lot of other Shout discs I bought since 2019 that I never examined. Many of them are still sitting on the shelf sealed! Guess I'm SOL now, huh? Ex, the Friday the 13th set (I watched a few discs out of it but definitely didn't look at the other bunch). Haven't watched Halloween 4K either, but did watch They Live and Prince of Darkness and The Howling and they were fine, along with a bunch of blu-rays.

Possible issues I now have to examine, apparently, because Shout uses an awful replicator and I have backlog issues:

5 CM per Second
8MM
The Abominable Snowman
The Brain
Captain Kronos
The Dead Zone
Devil Rides Out
Eight Legged Freaks
The Fly collection
Frankenstein Created Woman
Friday the 13th collection besides 1/9/X/FVJ
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
The Lost Continent
Lust for a Vampire
M Butterfly
Masque of the Red Death
Night Creatures
Perfect Blue
Plague Dogs
Quatermass 2
The Tenant
This Island Earth
To the Devil a Daughter
Vampire Lovers 2.0
Willard 2003
X the Unknown

Exhausting! I might have to just stop buying from these guys until this is addressed.

[TimeBandit]

I have all of the Scream Collector’s Editions and Shout Select 4Ks but only open them as I watch. In case it helps, no playback issues or scratches on the following: Alligator, Black Christmas, Cat People, Evil Dead, The Fog, The Funhouse, Halloweens 1-3, The Howling, Piranha, Rollerball, The Sword and the Sorcerer, WarGames.

All bought at Amazon in NJ.

[LanceL]

[Show spoiler]

Originally Posted by A Tortured Duckling

Also, to those who've never received a scratched SF disc and are seemingly having a difficult time understanding how that's possible, or how they got that lucky, I'd like to say that I am happy for you, but you should probably consider what those posts look like to those who have, in fact, received damaged discs from SF. MMB touches on it here, and they aren't wrong.
I've seen many posts that imply that those who've received scratched discs are either lying, or exaggerating, or don't know how to clean a disc, and a number of other equally dismissive things, and I really wonder why this is necessary and what exactly it's supposed to accomplish. I, myself, as I said, had not received a scratched SF disc until my latest batch, but I've been well aware of the issue going back to at least their Friday the 13th Deluxe Collection. I've had no reason not to believe fellow collectors (a select few of whom are friends) when they mentioned they received damaged discs, because there are simply entirely too many of such accounts, and too many images of scratched discs, and too many responses from SF that do, in fact, make it painfully obvious that this is a legitimate problem that not only affects many of SF's customers, but also SF themselves.

As a collector in a situation like this, you have no reason whatsoever to come to the defense of SF (or any other label) because you don't owe them anything, and should instead try to put yourself in the place of your fellow collectors who shell out good money for these things, and end up getting burned. One day it might be you, and we all know that, instead of being confronted with dismissive posts and thinly veiled snark, you, too, would rather be taken seriously by those who share your love of film and physical media.

I seem to remember many posts by a certain slimdude who would go about suggesting that if the scratched disc plays, one shouldn't complain. I think that person wasn't too nice when it came to these things. But I will always side with those who have received negligible items. I haven't received a scratched disc yet, but I believe everyone when they say they have had a lot of problems.

If the disc is damaged in any way, shape or form, it should go straight back to the manufacturer. A new item should never be damaged. I don't care if it plays. It should go back.

[Mike0284]

Originally Posted by LanceL

If the disc is damaged in any way, shape or form, it should go straight back to the manufacturer. A new item should never be damaged. I don't care if it plays. It should go back.

[Damonstein]

If I get a disc with a scratch but it plays perfectly I honestly don't care about returning it. That's just not a hill I'll die on. They shouldn't send out scratched discs but I'm not gonna go through the effort for something that'll never actually effect me.