1104 Citizen Kane

[black&huge]

They should have held a contest to see who could take the most interesting photo of their broken disc. Dibs on a blurry snowglobe in the background.

terrible idea because you know someone out there would have done the disc version of the MLP cum jar.

[jsteffe]

What a PR disaster.

In what way? They are responding quickly with a replacement program and offering people an alternative that does not require mailing the disc back. (I'll go for the broken disc option.)

Granted, the whole thing is unfortunate but it's not the first defective disc that required a replacement program.

[therewillbeblus]

My first thought was to send them a video of breaking the disc, which seems like a more ideal contest than photography. They could make a video collage of hands breaking their discs and upload it to the site, as a lighthearted and humorous self-own

[Glowingwabbit]

But you have to take a photo of how you've broken it in half?

No. Just the disc after you've snapped it in half.

[HinkyDinkyTruesmith]

Imagining someone recreating the final scene from Kane, culminating with throwing the disc into a fire.

[Finch]

What a PR disaster.

In what way? They are responding quickly with a replacement program and offering people an alternative that does not require mailing the disc back. (I'll go for the broken disc option.)

Granted, the whole thing is unfortunate but it's not the first defective disc that required a replacement program.

Admittedly this doesn't affect me as I chose to wait for next spring's sale even before news of this mess broke, but the combination of the faulty Blu-Ray, the bad packaging and only offering alternatives to mailing back the disc after enough people complained isn't good optics. Yes, they responded quickly and courteously, but I can't fathom why they couldn't have accepted a screenshot of the paid orders upfront. First you botch the QC on the most celebrated film of all time no less and ship the film in terrible packaging and then ask people to mail the faulty disc back when a screenshot of the order with the address should have sufficed to make customers eligible for a replacement.

[cgm13]

Criterion is now offering the option of providing proof that you destroyed the disc as opposed to mailing it in.

If you would like to exchange your disc, you now have two options:

1. Break or cut the disc in half. Then take a photo of the unplayable disc, with your name and the date written on a slip of paper included in the image, and email the photo to orders@criterion.com. Be sure to include a mailing address that will be valid for the next 1-2 months in the body of the message. Please use “CITIZEN KANE BD REPLACEMENT” as the subject line.

2. Mail the disc back to us. Please be sure to include your name and mailing address with your copy of Citizen Kane Blu-ray disc 1 only (no packaging). Send to:
The Criterion Collection
Attn: Jon Mulvaney / KANE
215 Park Ave South, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts ... 1-replaced

[therewillbeblus]

What a PR disaster.

In what way? They are responding quickly with a replacement program and offering people an alternative that does not require mailing the disc back. (I'll go for the broken disc option.)

Granted, the whole thing is unfortunate but it's not the first defective disc that required a replacement program.

Admittedly this doesn't affect me as I chose to wait for next spring's sale even before news of this mess broke, but the combination of the faulty Blu-Ray, the bad packaging and only offering alternatives to mailing back the disc after enough people complained isn't good optics. Yes, they responded quickly and courteously, but I can't fathom why they couldn't have accepted a screenshot of the paid orders upfront. First you botch the QC on the most celebrated film of all time no less and ship the film in terrible packaging and then ask people to mail the faulty disc back when a screenshot of the order with the address should have sufficed to make customers eligible for a replacement.

They corrected that with a more flexible option pretty quickly though (within 48 hours time?) and are still offering the $10 certificate. I'm going to buy it from Amazon now, spend a few seconds snapping and sending a measly picture, and take the charity- I don't see a reason to wait til the spring now

[therewillbeblus]

For what it's worth, the last few times I've emailed Mulvaney the responding email and subsequent support has been from named people outside of the guise of the moniker, so that personal peeve may be alleviated in your future

[jsteffe]

What a PR disaster.

In what way? They are responding quickly with a replacement program and offering people an alternative that does not require mailing the disc back. (I'll go for the broken disc option.)

Granted, the whole thing is unfortunate but it's not the first defective disc that required a replacement program.

Admittedly this doesn't affect me as I chose to wait for next spring's sale even before news of this mess broke, but the combination of the faulty Blu-Ray, the bad packaging and only offering alternatives to mailing back the disc after enough people complained isn't good optics. Yes, they responded quickly and courteously, but I can't fathom why they couldn't have accepted a screenshot of the paid orders upfront. First you botch the QC on the most celebrated film of all time no less and ship the film in terrible packaging and then ask people to mail the faulty disc back when a screenshot of the order with the address should have sufficed to make customers eligible for a replacement.

Point taken. At least they are now allowing people to send photos of the destroyed discs, as mentioned above.

Destroying the disc may seem drastic, but it removes any ambiguity about which is the faulty disc. I stupidly kept my 4K disc of PSYCHO while waiting for the replacement with the corrected soundtrack to arrive, then let the original sit around too long and got confused about which was the corrected pressing.

[schellenbergk]

At least the new email option removes the malarkey of mailing and going to the fucking post office to say nothing of the cost.

Sorry, I’ve got to point out - the postage cost me $1.10. Are you seriously complaining about $1.10?

[BirdLives]

What a PR disaster.

My hunch is that the 4k release of Citizen Kane on disc was a prelude to announcing that the Criterion Channel will soon (January?) be available in 4k (for an additional few dollars per month, like Netflix). Thus I suspect the biggest PR damage is from taking some of the pizzazz away from that announcement.

But in the end I don’t think it matters that much because the audience for a 4k Criterion Channel is, I’ll bet, a lot bigger than the audience for a 4k disc of Citizen Kane.

[therewillbeblus]

At least the new email option removes the malarkey of mailing and going to the fucking post office to say nothing of the cost.

Sorry, I’ve got to point out - the postage cost me $1.10. Are you seriously complaining about $1.10?

The older I get, the more I understand the old line of 'time is money'. A dollar doesn't matter, but taking time out of a workday to add an extra errand in going to the post office is definitely irritating when there's another option they've honored already in the past (see my post upthread). But they did decide to offer this option, so we're all good now!

[FrauBlucher]

But you have to take a photo of how you've broken it in half?

They should've asked for a Three Reasons: Breaking Disc video

[Finch]

It also bears mentioning that for anyone outside the US (like davidhare) the postage would have amounted to more than $1.10.

I'm only waiting until spring so I can buy from Criterion directly for half the price and accrue credit for the $50 gift card (I'm sitting out Amazon's Criterion sale and ditto the B&N).

I'm most concerned about the effect of the packaging on the discs and hope that for future flagship titles, Criterion choose safe and practical packaging over fancy design. I'd certainly welcome The Piano and The Red Shoes being issued in standard keepcases instead of a digipack.

[FrauBlucher]

Robert Harris really posted this on the HTF,

There seems to be continuing confusion, as the Blu-ray and 4k sets are totally different. I'm unaware of any combined set.

It seems to be either a Blu-ray 3-disc set or a 4k, but not both.

[Saturnome]

Time to dust my CGI skills and model a broken disc, send a pic of it, keep my faulty Blu-ray and sell it at a premium collector price in years

[mteller]

Granted this isn't an option for everyone (especially apartment dwellers), but I can stick an outgoing envelope in the mailbox and the postal worker will handle it. The only time I ever go to the post office is if I have to send something that doesn't fit in the box.

[tenia]

I don't understand what is the point of asking the disc ti be destroyed. They never asked for this for their Bronzed discs' replacements and these were unplayable discs (which I'd argue is a bigger issue if it's a question of preventing reselling the bad Kane disc).

I'm saying this because they haven't stated the validity of the replacement programme for international customers, and I'm a bit wary breaking in half my main feature disc only to be told international customers aren't covered by it (though I doubt it won't, but still).

Robert Harris really posted this on the HTF,

There seems to be continuing confusion, as the Blu-ray and 4k sets are totally different. I'm unaware of any combined set.

It seems to be either a Blu-ray 3-disc set or a 4k, but not both.

As I often say, Harris really isn't reliable when it comes down to the aspects of a release directly related to video (in opposition to judging things from a photochemical and cinema experience) and seemingly, this now extends to knowing there's a DF release for Citizen Kane.

[EddieLarkin]

Yeah, the HDR (or Dolby Vision) pop up will appear whenever the TV switches to that mode.

So - it seems to be the disc. (Heavy sigh)

UHD caps are up at caps-a-holic and the black level is broadly the same as the old Blu-ray, but a bit deeper. So if this is looking washed out and sepia tinted on your set then I suspect something is going wrong. What TV is it, and are you watching in HDR10?

[Glowingwabbit]

Yeah, the HDR (or Dolby Vision) pop up will appear whenever the TV switches to that mode.

So - it seems to be the disc. (Heavy sigh)

UHD caps are up at caps-a-holic and the black level is broadly the same as the old Blu-ray, but a bit deeper. So if this is looking washed out and sepia tinted on your set then I suspect something is going wrong. What TV is it, and are you watching in HDR10?

I guess I don't know enough about HDR.to.know what your talking about. Is there some setting for that? Perhaps I missed something and that's why I'm seeing what I'm seeing (although my other 4K discs have looked.great)

[Drucker]

I don't understand what is the point of asking the disc ti be destroyed. They never asked for this for their Bronzed discs' replacements and these were unplayable discs (which I'd argue is a bigger issue if it's a question of preventing reselling the bad Kane disc).

I'm saying this because they haven't stated the validity of the replacement programme for international customers, and I'm a bit wary breaking in half my main feature disc only to be told international customers aren't covered by it (though I doubt it won't, but still).

Robert Harris really posted this on the HTF,

There seems to be continuing confusion, as the Blu-ray and 4k sets are totally different. I'm unaware of any combined set.

It seems to be either a Blu-ray 3-disc set or a 4k, but not both.

As I often say, Harris really isn't reliable when it comes down to the aspects of a release directly related to video (in opposition to judging things from a photochemical and cinema experience) and seemingly, this now extends to knowing there's a DF release for Citizen Kane.

I would assume they don’t want to run the risk of some bad blu-rays on the secondhand market.I’ve seen used Criterions with photocopied art sold in a local used DVD store before.

[EddieLarkin]

So - it seems to be the disc. (Heavy sigh)

UHD caps are up at caps-a-holic and the black level is broadly the same as the old Blu-ray, but a bit deeper. So if this is looking washed out and sepia tinted on your set then I suspect something is going wrong. What TV is it, and are you watching in HDR10?

I guess I don't know enough about HDR.to.know what your talking about. Is there some setting for that? Perhaps I missed something and that's why I'm seeing what I'm seeing (although my other 4K discs have looked.great)

I was responding to schellenbergk who reports the opposite you do, that the image is washed out. The caps support what you're seeing, that the blacks are a bit deeper and that there is a bit of crush going on.

[Glowingwabbit]

UHD caps are up at caps-a-holic and the black level is broadly the same as the old Blu-ray, but a bit deeper. So if this is looking washed out and sepia tinted on your set then I suspect something is going wrong. What TV is it, and are you watching in HDR10?

I guess I don't know enough about HDR.to.know what your talking about. Is there some setting for that? Perhaps I missed something and that's why I'm seeing what I'm seeing (although my other 4K discs have looked.great)

I was responding to schellenbergk who reports the opposite you do, that the image is washed out. The caps support what you're seeing, that the blacks are a bit deeper and that there is a bit of crush going on.

Sorry my bad. I'll have to check those screenshots out then (thanks for pointing them out). Like I said it really only stands out to me in scenes that are darker in general. Otherwise it looks great most of the time. I just don't tend to notice stuff like that so it just felt jarring.

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver has added the 4k screencaps