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Do All That Heaven Allows and L'Eclisse come with booklets? It appears that there's no place for them in the new design. Otherwise, I'm pleased.

Jakamarak wrote:Do All That Heaven Allows and L'Eclisse come with booklets? It appears that there's no place for them in the new design. Otherwise, I'm pleased.

There has to be booklets according to the website. Plus, on the left side of the case, it still has those upper and lower clips to hold a booklet.

^^THIS. I just encountered a similar setup on Time-Life's third season "China Beach" set, with the booklet covering up the first of the six discs. I can't speak for the Sirk booklet, but L'Eclisse came with a 32 pg. staple-bound booklet, so it should fit no problem.

Ah fuck, that looks really bad/stupid. I'm a digipack fan- which was something I always loved from Criterion. I thought the two disc bluray amarays were bad enough ($70 Samurai Trilogy, and all you get is a plastic case).

Also sucks: Instead of nice artwork we just get a crappy blue insert.

Dear Criterion,

If you aren't going to put any artwork on the inside of the case, then pull an Arrow and put a reversible cover on the inside-with original artwork.

All of that said, I wonder if Criterion was getting complaints/problems with the 3disc digipack. Since I've gone through two copies of Fantastic Mr Fox and both had badly scratched DVDs (that wouldn't play without skipping). Looks as though they are addressing this problem directly - by putting the bluray in the most vulnerable location, and the DVDs in protected spots. I guess this design change is a lot better than scratched discs. So count me on the fence.

The booklets will be squeezed in there at an angle I'd imagine. To the people who sent angry e-mails to Criterion about the digipak packaging, good for you. Not a fan of the lifeless plastic cases myself, as they are dull compared to the Criterion digipaks. Funny how people want to hold Criterion to a standard when it comes to the total package, yet some completely rips them for releasing digipaks.

Looking closely at the picture, there appear to be raised bits of plastic under the clips to raise the booklet up so it's flush with left-side disc--pretty cool. I especially like the L'Eclisse one, which has a color scheme better suited to the plastic.

Shucks, though, I do like the bigger booklets that come with the digipacks.

...

Okay, that was my obligatory complaint--full speed ahead.

I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

cdnchris wrote:I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

Oh so another OCD issue then?

cdnchris wrote:I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

Are these DVD sized cases? I might have to say adios to Criterion now, if that's the case! I hope there is a slight class difference between TCM and Criterion.

I hope some size comparisons between regular BD cases and the new 3-disc BD cases are put out there. I assume they'll be thicker, but if they go taller thank your average BD digipak, then we may have a problem on our hands.
Because that's a total dealbreaker.

chatterjees wrote:

cdnchris wrote:I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

Are these DVD sized cases? I might have to say adios to Criterion now, if that's the case! I hope there is a slight class difference between TCM and Criterion.

No they're still Blu ray size.

I will put some comparison pic up later tonight.

cdnchris wrote:

chatterjees wrote:

cdnchris wrote:I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

Are these DVD sized cases? I might have to say adios to Criterion now, if that's the case! I hope there is a slight class difference between TCM and Criterion.

No they're still Blu ray size.

I will put some comparison pic up later tonight.

Thanks for saving my life \:D/

Still this Sirk would have made a beautiful digipak. Now we have a dull plastic case that could be thicker so the people that complained about the lack of uniformity between plastic and digi will have yet another thing to complain about.

I agree with you on the Sirk. I was actually a little disappointed when I opened the envelope and saw it was in a plastic case.

But yes, the cases are still BD height, they're slightly thicker than the regular cases (but far thinner than the digipaks,) and the booklets sit nicely in them. I have pics I'll put up of them and then I'll get some comparison ones up as well a little later.

Quit teasing already and tell us how many millimeters thicker these cases are.

Is that solid blue on the insert final? If so, that's pretty disappointing.

I much prefer the plastic cases personally. Much cleaner look, which I like on the shelf. No real reason to use a digipak going forward unless a release has a substantially thicker booklet or 4+ discs.

swo17 wrote:Quit teasing already and tell us how many millimeters thicker these cases are.

It's about 2mm thicker. (and sorry, still had my kids to herd off to bed.)

sir_luke wrote:Is that solid blue on the insert final? If so, that's pretty disappointing.

It's final.

And here:

Comparison to regular Blu-ray cases

L'eclisse
All That Heaven Allows

chatterjees wrote:

cdnchris wrote:I should mention the cases are a bit thicker than the regular ones. The booklets actually fit pretty well and they weren't damaged in any way.

Are these DVD sized cases? I might have to say adios to Criterion now, if that's the case! I hope there is a slight class difference between TCM and Criterion.

seriously?

people sure take this packaging thing seriously. i, for one, am happy to see the return of plastic cases, but only for space reasons. the digipacks are pretty and all, but too fragile and take up way too much space.

Whatever they use, YtMT is going to look hideous. blech.

sir_luke wrote:Is that solid blue on the insert final? If so, that's pretty disappointing.

In Criterion's defense, it's not as though there are any striking images in the film.

Thank god our long national nightmare of Digipaks are over.

You'll get your dumb digis when there's a large booklet but otherwise it's back to Scanavo and sanity.

The nightmare lives on with other things still not encased in plastic shells to protect the paper cover inside: books, record jackets... how does anyone tolerate such madness?

Fewer dented corners and dinged up spines and all the other things cardboard is infamous for... works for me. Now if they'd just get rid of those extra discs.

fdm wrote:Fewer dented corners and dinged up spines and all the other things cardboard is infamous for... works for me. Now if they'd just get rid of those extra discs.

There's a nice market on eBay for those extra discs.

ShellOilJunior wrote:

fdm wrote:Fewer dented corners and dinged up spines and all the other things cardboard is infamous for... works for me. Now if they'd just get rid of those extra discs.

There's a nice market on eBay for those extra discs.

Probably, but I don't like empty disc hubs/slots either, so damned if I do, not quite so damned if I don't.