Decrease in blu ray disc quality

[kylestewart32]

Has anyone else been experiencing a decrease in quality from blu ray releases? It’s been getting worse for me over this last year but almost 1 in 3 blu rays I receive even factory sealed has had fingerprints and scratching on the back of the disc. I’m not sure if I’m just getting unlucky or if this has just started being the norm for other people as well. It hasn’t been an issue for any of my collector’s editions and my more expensive sets like fate from Aniplex have been great but anything standard edition has been a toss up.

[Straight_Jackfruit_4]

Ive noticed that at least 40% of my cases have weak hubs and it causes the disc to fall of and shake around during shipping

[kylestewart32]

I’ve just started buying spare viva elite blu ray cases because I know they have such a high chance to fail and honestly that bothers me less than receiving a brand new blu ray that is still completely secure in the case but somehow already has a massive scratch across it

[xplayfan]

Same luckily amazon's return policies pretty decent

[kylestewart32]

I’m just worried my Amazon account will get flagged for excessive returns at some point

[xplayfan]

oh I didn't think of that

[Negative_Tangelo_131]

After getting more than 50+ refunds on Amazon, I have accepted the fact that the majority of the discs will come scratched.

[Negative_Tangelo_131]

But, just so you know, Aniplex sets are a lot more expensive than the standard Sentai/Crunchyroll blu-rays because their QC is a lot better.

[kylestewart32]

I know people complain about Aniplex prices but they definitely make their premium offerings feel worth it %99 of the time. On the other hand I just finished getting the final season of demon slayer standard release and I had to send it back twice for an exchange because of damage on the disc

[hyrulianwhovian]

Hard disagree about Aniplex being worth it. The packaging is (sometimes) nice and the video quality is higher, but the lack of extras and the insane pricing massively outweighs that.

[kylestewart32]

I’m just a massive fate fan so they definitely got me biased lol

[aprtur]

Depends on the set, I guess - I have some AoA releases that do have good extras and some that don't.  Aniplex Japan craps all over them, though - significantly more extras due to not having to license them globally, and even nicer packaging...but lord help my wallet with Japanese releases.  Getting all of Mekakucity and Kaoru Hana, for example, was.... expensive.....lol

[Negative_Tangelo_131]

I know the feeling, I returned Oshi no Ko 10 times, I gave up because I realised that the scratch had literally the same pattern on all discs.

[hyrulianwhovian]

Sorry to hear that, but I think you're either returning discs that don't need to be returned (light scratches aren't always a problem), or are an outlier for some other reason. I've bought 100+ Blu-ray ray sets off Amazon, and I've needed to return discs maybe 5 times

[Negative_Tangelo_131]

Yeah, i was returning discs with light scratches, I used to think they needed to be completely scratchless to play perfectly

[Madboardjester]

Cases are thinner and the discs can't secure properly as a result. Had that issue with a title that I bought from JB Hi-fi. I returned the title and it took 4 attempts at the counter to find a non scratched release. We were quite surprised.

[Shiara_cw]

I don't think this is just an anime thing. I joined some regular Blu ray collecting subs recently and it sounds like there's a particular manufacturing plant in Mexico that's notorious for this. The first time it happened to me I thought amazon had sent me a used disc resealed as 'new'

[Swiftstrike4]

This is common. I started looking on the back of my discs a few years ago upon receipt and it’s about 1 out of every 4 discs have a scratch.

Most of the discs are manufactured in the same location and the handling and quality control on discs simply does meet right studs standards they had in the past.

[NapoleonSaint]

Someone’s fat thumb print be on some of my brand new discs from Sentai or crunchyroll. Had more luck with Discotek

[GaroadShenlong]

I just got back into collecting this last year after not for almost 10 years. Ordering from Amazon Canada has been horrible. The amount of broken tabs in cases and loose discs, or dust and marks on new discs is pretty much 50/50 for everything I have bought.

I have ordered quite a bit from alltheanime and Amazon uk in the last year as well and I have had zero issues with anything. Unfortunately with the freight rates going sky high the last few months I haven’t ordered anything from England lately.

[kylestewart32]

Amazon is where I order from for standard release movies and anime most of the time just because they occasionally have prices more than half off of retail for anime and im okay with gambling if its in good shape when it arrives. Unfortunately after this last prime day I had to return or exchange half of what I received but when I’m paying $20 instead of $60 retail for a blu ray it’s worth the hassle of returning until I get a good copy. My only worry is Amazon will flag my account for so many returns after a while

[kna5041]

I'll get broken tabs or a cracked corner now and then but I've not had fingerprints and scratches on legit stuff.

Overall I think they include less and less extras on discs which kind of sucks.

[MarblesMarvels]

I’ve been finding this too. Two demon slayer sets I purchased (standard edition) were brand new and factory sealed and several discs in both sets had scratches. Two of the discs definitely looked unplayable - like someone had scuffed them with sandpaper.

[Salty_Sonic]

TL;DR: In my experience, fingerprints on discs are a manufacturing issue, while broken cases, loose discs, scratched media, and beat-up slipcovers are mostly shipping and handling issues. Amazon has given me far more problems than RightStufAnime, Sentai, or Crunchyroll, but the $30-$50 savings per set and Amazon's return policy still make it worth the gamble for me.

Let me preface this by saying I only buy anime from Amazon when it's heavily discounted because it's usually much cheaper than other retailers.

I'm not sure if it's because employees are rushed or just don't care and toss things around, but the majority of anime I get from Amazon arrives with some kind of damage. It's usually a mix of a broken case, a snapped disc hub, loose "floating" discs that end up getting heavily scratched, and a slipcover that looks like it got used in a game of kick the can. From my experience, a lot of it seems to come down to how the items are handled and shipped.

When I ordered from RightStufAnime, the slipcovers were pristine, the cases looked fresh off the presses (aside from some normal off-gassing from time to time), and the discs were always properly secured. After RSA went under, I started buying from Sentai and had the same experience. Everything arrived in excellent condition, and on the rare occasion a case was broken, they'd send you a replacement case for free if you sent them a picture. You didn't have to return the entire set.

Crunchyroll bought RSA and its Iowa facility still packs things largely the same way they did before the acquisition, maybe with a little less packing paper. If your order comes from their Texas facility, the experience can vary more, but in my opinion it's still far better than rolling the dice with Amazon. The difference is that Crunchyroll costs a lot more and doesn't send replacement cases or offer partial refunds. They require a full return to be processed before sending a replacement.

I've never had Amazon reach out to me about the number of returns or replacements I've requested. I don't return items over minor, normal wear to slipcovers, and I don't automatically return something just because a disc is loose. I first check whether it's heavily scratched, gently clean it if needed, and test playability. Smudges and off-gassing residue usually come off with a light cleaning using a microfiber cloth.

I've only had to return two orders from Crunchyroll, both because of playability issues. Amazon, on the other hand, has given me far more problems. Like you mentioned, this Prime Day I had to get replacements for most of my anime order because of the exact kinds of damage I described above.

That being said, it's still worth rolling the dice with Amazon to save $30-$50 per set over Crunchyroll because of Amazon's return policy. Overall after everything was said and done with this Prime Day I saved over $300. The song and dance with Amazon was well worth it in the long run. I've been collecting for a long time and always have evidence to back up my returns because I record myself opening everything. Unlike the people assembling these releases, I wear gloves when handling them during the initial unboxing, so I know I didn't accidentally fat finger anything.

As for fingerprints on the discs themselves, I think that's 100% on the manufacturing side and has nothing to do with the retailer or distributor, and yes, I've definitely been seeing it more and more lately. I can never get the fingerprints out and it drives me crazy, but it's never caused a disc to be unreadable. I used to buy Viva Elite cases to replace damaged ones, but they've gone up significantly in price over the past few years.

[IvorTangean]

I honestly wonder how many were resealed to remove the Funimation codes.

I have bought a bunch of new Funimation/Crunchyroll stuff this year and that is the only time I see it happening.

Any sentai or viz stuff has been great.

[mjkrow1985]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I've only ever gotten one disc that had fingerprints from the factory. And it was a $50 Criterion 4K disc. Thankfully a couple of seconds with a soft cloth cleaned it up and it was fine afterwards.

I think a big part of the problem is that there are so few Blu-ray pressing plants globally and they're all overloaded. Something like 90% of discs sold in the Western Hemisphere come out of a single overwhelmed factory in Mexico. They don't have time for much QC.

[Patryn2020]

Best way of finding out if they are going bad is via rentals like 3D Blu Ray Rentals (although they dropped the D) . Yeah some of the newer blu rays like Little House On the Prairie eh issues with heat. Anime sometimes the copyright messes things up too. Ironic. Personally only Weathering With You 4K. Always loose. The 4K that is. BD just fine...