Interesting chat with BlockBuster

[bignige]

Rented out Bourne Identity from Block Buster, took it back 3 times because it wouldn't play on my Xbox. All 3 discs were scrathed to buggery, I was told by the employee, games consoles are the cause & not just Xbox.
He also mentioned plans were under way to stop rented DVD films working on games consoles. Is this possible? Or is it just hot air?

[Hidden Character]

Why would they want to limit their customer base in that way? Sounds like he's talking rubbish to me.

[nonny]

That is complete bollox.

[MD]

Although consoles can scratch discs, idiot customers are the main cause (thats about 99% of the people that visit Blockbuster then).

You can stop DVDs being played on consoles however that would probably stop them being played on legit DVD players too in the same way that those smart people thought that making a CD in a non standard way so PCs couldn't play the disc meant that lots of CD players wouldn't play the CD...

[Super Stu]

I can't think of any technical method how they might produce a custom dvd that won't play on consoles. As has been stated, however, that isn't the problem. I once rented out Rez, to give it a whirl before buying it, and found the disc covered in so much ****e I could only assume someone had used it as a plate to eat their dinner off.

[Concept]

One thing which bemuses me at Blockbuster is the rate at which the discs get mucked up. What do some of these people do? literally wipe them on their arse?

Even brand new releases (such as when I rented Donnie Darko about three days after it came out), usually look skankin mankin. Unfortunately, my PS2 used to refuse to run some of these DVDs.

My XBox isn't quite as bad though. Yet.

[Afterbirth]

Its easy to ruin a DVD. Just drop one one a carpet and you'll gain scratches. People just put the fingers all over them, hold them wrong, grab them whilst eating crisps, and chocolate, food. Coke. Most of them have gots kids, and if the kids get them. Game over.

[MD]

Makes you wonder why they didnt bother to put DVD Media into Caddies. That would save DVDs from most scratches.

[Popo]

One thing which bemuses me at Blockbuster is the rate at which the discs get mucked up. What do some of these people do? literally wipe them on their arse?

Unfortunately, I can easily imagine people scratching disks just out of badness, ie, ruin it for other people even though they don't stand to make anything out of it.

Some people are real bastards.

[metal_mutley]

Caddies look crap, that's why.

Own this shiny DVD. Look, it's like a mirror. How sophisticated.

Own this video-like brick.

Easy choice.

[Afterbirth]

Lasers do not scratch DVDs, people do. Blockbusters are terrible for selling that ****. They shold try to clean them
Then the laser motor gets damaged trying to read the DVD. Its takes come time but can kill a machine.

[replicant]

Its down to idiots renting them, and not looking after them.

[Molloy]

One associate of mine (because he was rich and had lots of games ) used to tire of his rented PSOne games rather quickly. He would then bend them, just to the point before they'd break in half and then take them back to the shop complaining they didn't work and get a full refund. Those kind of pricks are pretty commonplace.

[John Beaulieu]

is it just me or do dvds scratch a lot more easily than cds - thankfully none of my games are scratched beyond repair yet (few feather scratches are there but nothing major) but some of my movie dvds have developed some large scratches which make the movie jump or skip a chapter etc

Caddies should be optionable for all console games -- i would rather keep all my games in caddies than in the cases where scratches can occur each time you take them out to play (no matter how careful you are)

going back to the blockbusters situation - has anyone any idea how many times they expect to rent a game out before it is 'binned' (so to speak) - i think its about 14-20 times but i am probably wrong

camps

[Lyris]

I'm not sure about this, but I think that if a DVD couldn't play on all DVD players (that includes consoles), under the DVD Consortium rules it wouldn't be allowed to be called a real DVD. I think the DVD spec states that you can play it on all devices with the DVD logo on.