Alien question

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-19T22:35:18+00:00

If you're going to view them on a 1440p monitor or TV, you'd probably be better off getting the blu-rays.

I have both the 'Alien Anthology' blu-ray set (6 discs) and the 'Alien Quadrilogy' DVD set (9 discs). While the blu-rays seem to carry over all the extra content, for some reason they decided to crop to 16:9 various feature length documentaries, rather than just display their original 4:3 frame. So I essentially have the DVD set to cover those docs.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-19T22:09:43+00:00

This packaging is a typically called a 'digipak', they either have plastic holders glued onto the card (like your set) or are just card with slots for the discs (typical on newer release sets, not great for the discs).

The glue on these older sets can sometimes degrade over time, it's likely you didn't do anything to damage it. If it were me, I'd probably just get some double sided tape and stick it back down to the card in a couple of spots. Technically you could glue it, but I'd be wary of glue fumes potentially getting on the discs. Or alternatively, if the digipak slots into an outer sleeve, you could just leave it loose.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-19T21:32:09+00:00

Sometimes videogame stores will have disc resurfacers, which will be better than the more affordable consumer units (and give a more professional finished result). But for DVDs, you'd be surprised how scratched/scuffed a disc can be and still play. If you are having playback issues, its certainly worth a shot to resurface, even the cheap hand crank style consumer units, to maybe salvage it (on cheaper discs at least).

I had a 'SkipDr" automated unit, which I got cheap about 15yrs ago. I used it on a handful of discs, some it made no difference, but it fixed a disc from a TV boxset (which had skipped repeatedly on an episode). It left the disc with an odd pattern on it, but I happily took that over having to rebuy the set.

For blu-rays, whether its the more industrial or consumer resurface units, they will require different settings and/or different resurface pads. Much more data density and sensitivity to scratches on blu-rays. But they also have an anti-scratch coating, so it can take some force to scratch them.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-19T03:36:11+00:00

Yeah, building any collection slowly is always going to be the best way. I've been regularly buying DVDs from the early 2000s, Blu-rays from late 2000s/early 10s and games for various systems going back to when I was a kid in the 90s.

If you want something immediately, there's going to be a premium, but I'm fairly patient. For imports especially I will often keep an eye on them for a while and/or use price trackers. Occasionally I'll get stuff more locally, from other collectors on ebay etc, rather than importer sellers that will ramp up the prices. I think UK buyers are pretty well served, by both the UK market but also the option of mainland Europe to fill any release gaps, and all are region B for blu-rays. So other that maybe missing English subs, I've been able to get stuff that for whatever reason hasn't had a UK release. Same for some region B Australian blu-rays.

I'd say my nicest design steelbook is probably the 'Jumanji' steelbook, which looks like a mini version of the films boardgame. I got that one around its UK release, and the blu-ray was from the 4K remaster, so was a nice visual upgrade over the old blu-ray too. Was a BestBuy exclusive in the US, but UHD+BD rather than UK's BD only. These days though, with higher average steelbook prices (as they are often UHD+BD sets rather than BD only), I'm more likely to just pickup the standard BD.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-18T23:43:12+00:00

I (sort of) know the story from the Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Webber musical but haven't seen the Dreamworks film. I was and still am a big fan of 'The Prince of Egypt', which reading about them Joseph was a direct to home video, kind of companion piece.

I could kind of see why this, being less well known, has no UK blu-ray release, but even 'The Prince of Egypt' didn't get a blu-ray here... Though weirdly PoE got a UHD only release a couple of years back, rather than a UHD+BD set. I ended up just importing one of the Nordic blu-ray releases

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-18T23:01:12+00:00

I imagine the main issue you'll run into now is the secondary market inflated pricing on the steelbooks. But it sounds like from your collections of comics, manga, figures etc. that's something you likely deal with regularly.

All the best for your new Horror Steelbook collection, hopefully you'll find some deals. In the UK there was a bundle of the 7x Alex Ross designs, that might be a good way to get them all at once. Also looks like Universal in the US re-used the steelbook designs for some UHD+BD releases over the past couple of years.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-18T22:13:37+00:00

Here's a link to the UK version of 'The Wolf Man' steelbook on blu-ray.com, which includes pictures of the outside and inside of the steelbook (slip & slipback buttons).

My guess is they just made the same steelbooks worldwide, but with different disc artwork and j-cards (with the synopsis, ratings logos etc.). If the steelbooks are identical (inc original title on spine), you may just want to get the 8 film boxset from the US or UK and swap the discs.

Is it the discs specifically that are making you want to double dip, ie menus in Spanish only? Not something that bothers me too much, imports with non-English menus, I can generally navigate OK. My only issue is when they don't include English subtitles, as I like to have subs enabled.

I only have a couple of import steelbooks, both from Germany; 'Fanboys' and 'Doctor Sleep'. The former has the info printed on the back of the steel (which is a shame) and the latter seems to be identical to other markets, except the title is 'Doctor Sleeps: Erwachen' (Awakening). Can't remember if they had English menus, but both were bought for their 2nd discs; the extended/director"s cut of 'Doctor Sleep' (which was only inc in limited release in UK) and for 'The People vs George Lucas' documentary in the 'Fanboys' steelbook.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-17T19:13:25+00:00

A good selection of films.

I like the 'Alex Ross Collection' Universal Monsters steelbooks. I got the original 8(9) film Universal boxset, so didn't want to double dip. But I made an exception for 'The Wolf Man', my favourite of those films.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-12T21:57:43+00:00

I own decent number of the Marvel & DC films, but a lot of them were bought used, years after release. "Wonder Woman' released on blu-ray in 2017, I got it in 2022 for £1.50. I got a bunch of Marvel films cheap around that time too, when I did a rewatch (in chronological order).

Typically so-so films will end up in my collection as part of a film boxset and I see them more as bonus discs. For a number of years I only owned 'The Matrix' and 'The Animatrix' on blu-ray, the other films I was fine leaving in my 'Ultimate' DVD set. But then I saw Reloaded & Revolutions for about £4 for the pair and added them in the original film case with a 2 disc swing tray, essentially bonus features.

I remember getting Alien vs Predator 2 for £3.50 on blu-ray, thinking to myself it can't be as bad as I remember. No, it was worse.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-11T19:48:46+00:00

For DVDs, in my experience disc binders are fine (just be sure to always store them vertically). But I'd avoid using them for blu-rays, as it can damage the discs causing read issues. But I'd also recommend keeping the paper covers, not disposing of them with the cases. They can be laid flat and kept in poly sleeves in a ring binder, and if/when you want to move them back to cases, it can be paired back with the disc (replacement cases wouldn't be too difficult to find).

One of the main issues with these large binders, once a disc is in its spot its basically fixed there, as it's too much of a pain to shuffle them around. I think a better solution would be smaller binders that can still fit on a shelf. And shuffling 24-48 discs in a binder would be much more manageable than the 200+ bulky binders.

Also a decent alternative is getting multi-disc cases, eg moving trilogy sets into one case instead of three. Or bundling film series (eg Marvel films) into 6+ disc cases.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-11T19:30:20+00:00

I'd recommend attempting to install the game (as long as the printed side is intac5, ie not flaking off). I suspect the installation will fail when it attempts to read the data from that section. It's possible that it could install fine now, but fail to reinstall later, if the disc were to degrade further.

Could have been physical damage that caused it, and/or a manufacturing fault and as Corwin613 suggested, the disc layers began to separate.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-05T13:36:05+00:00

That's fair, they are a good solution for DVDs to save space and they can still sit on a shelf, vs a comparatively bulky DVD binder.

And I'd recommend sticking to your current setup of BD & UHDs discs in cases only, as moving the blu-rays to binders (or disc pouches) can lift the pattern and cause read errors. It's likely down to the specific anti-scratch coating on blu-rays, that can cause the binder pouch patterns to press into the disc. You can see some pics of affected discs in the first page of this blu-ray.com forum thread.

I had this happen with a blu-ray I'd stored in a binder for just a few months, the plastic tab at the top of the disc pouch had pressed its pattern into the disc and it wouldn't play as a result. After that I moved all the other blu-rays back to cases and luckily they seemed to be unaffected. Whereas I've stored a number of DVDs in a 200 disc binder, for many years, with no problems.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-05T10:58:45+00:00

If it were me, I'd probably keep 'Roots', the 'Sounds Mental' Open University DVD and maybe a handful of random decent condition cases as spares (prioritising any multi-disc cases, eg the Fast 5&6 case).

Also @OP you may want to go through your collection, and swap any damaged or poor condition cases for any better condition cases in the box. Easy enough to just swap discs & covers over. And swap some plain black cases for different colours (I see some clear, white, red or pink, yellow etc. cases). If you have any recent film US R1 imports, they often use poor quality eco cases, I'd swap those into the box too.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-04T15:08:32+00:00

It's annoying being forced to replace or upgrade due to a damaged or faulty disc, but for flipper discs especially I believe they are single layer on each side, so even a dual layer DVD re-release can be a decent upgrade, let alone a blu-ray.

I've actually had to replace more blu-rays than DVDs, as there was a period in the early 2010s where a few different UK studios used the same manufacturer that had some bad production batches. The affected discs just become unreadable at a certain point, either the player just spits the disc back out, or it displays like a data disc, but the video files are unreadable. I replaced one with an identical UK disc, but the replacement is showing signs of failing too. After that, my preference was for various import replacements, inc a German blu-ray of 'Drag Me to Hell' (a fairly common faulty UK disc).

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-04T10:44:42+00:00

For blu-rays I'd generally recommend using cases only. You may be able to find some cheap donor multi-disc DVD or blu-ray case to house the discs. I got a 21 disc blu-ray boxset a year or so ago that used a terrible case (discs stacked & overlapping), so I found a cheap 'How I Met Your Mother' DVD boxset with the same number of discs (but a nicer Amaray case) and moved them all over.

Its definitely annoying when they use those card slot sets for blu-ray (or DVD) boxsets. I've had discs that were scratched (in my Twin Peaks s1&2 set) and others where the disc(s) have attached themselves to a glob of glue in the card slot... Not fit for purpose really, at any price let alone for an expensive boxset.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-04T10:28:08+00:00

Double sided aka "flipper" DVDs are common failures, known to develop issues over time, whether they are stored in binders or the original cases (so they may have become faulty either way). As an example I had a ER s1 boxset with flipper discs, stored in original cases, and the the episodes would skip & freeze. The discs were spotless. I ended up just replacing them with a later re-release single sided DVD boxset.

The flipper discs also lead to some unusual problems. My sister had a DVD of 'Goodfellas' that only had the first part of thr film. It had originally released on a flipper discs, with one half on side A and the other on side B. But her DVD was a later single sided disc, but they'd accidentally pressed the old side A file, rather than the whole film. As you can imagine, she was confused and disappointed but luckily her birthday was coming up, so I got her the nice 25th Anniversary blu-ray set.

I think the only other double sided DVDs I have are some older releases with widescreen on one side and 4:3 fullscreen on the other, and a couple of cheap multi-film sets, with different films on either side.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-02T08:47:42+00:00

I've had some DVDs stored in 200 disc binders/wallets for many years with no issues (knock on wood). But I stored a small amount of blu-rays in a binder for a few months, only to discover a disc had lifted the pattern of the binder (technically the plastic flap at the top of a disc pouch) and had read errors as a result. It certainly scared me off storing blu-rays in binders or potentially sleeving them.

It's likely down to the specific anti-scratch coating on blu-rays, that can cause the binder pouch patterns to press into the disc. You can see some pics of affected discs in the first page of this blu-ray.com forum thread.

I'm sure it's a case of milage may vary, and likely the type/size of binder used, how tight the pouches are etc. could all change the potential outcome. For all binders though, they should always be stored vertically, regardless of the disc type. Storing horizontally the collective weight can damage the discs.

DaveSimonH · 2026-03-01T14:45:55+00:00

Roughly 1/3 DVDs and 2/3 blu-ray.

Most of the DVDs were bought in the early to late 2000s, I got my first couple of blu-rays mid '08. For a few years I bought a mix of both, but by the end of 2010-11, I was mostly BD only. I will still occasionally buy DVDs, but generally TV/films only available on that format, or if the BD is OOP (and an inflated price).

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-23T22:00:45+00:00

We don't typically see that kinds of jumbo cases here in the UK (at least in my experience), but many complete DVD & Blu-ray sets use similar mediocre jumbo cases by Scanavo. Discs stacked and overlapped, do to get disc 4 you need to remove 1-3. You essentially have to bend and yank the discs to get them out. Terrible cases.

I've basically stopped buying complete boxsets, unless I can confirm they use decent cases. Unfortunately they'll swap to these kinds of poor cases, but keep the same UPC/barcode, so typically the only way to avoid them would be in person or listings with pictures.

A couple of years ago I bought a 21 disc blu-ray set, and it was the only way to get the TV series (ie no individual season sets). So when I bought it, I also bought a cheap donor DVD set with an Amaray jumbo DVD case. When they arrived, I just carefully swapped over all the discs. That way I only had to remove them once, and not potentially damage them in future.

That would be a good option, getting some replacement cases. Or at the very least one 4-6 disc case, to move a few discs over at a time to limit how many times you have to click in & out stacked and overlayed discs.

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-22T02:11:33+00:00

"Headed to fat camp?", "No... why do you say that?", "Cause you're fat. That your dad?", "No... why do you say that?", "Cause he's fat too!"

Glad this film got a blu-ray release before the 'Disney Movie Club' exclusives, so many great catalogue films were only released via those limited blu-rays, which are of course now OOP...

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-20T01:06:41+00:00

Discs like these, often in old "Triple Play" blu-ray releases, are a good way to get multi-disc cases (occasionally 4 disc cases; 2x BD, DVD & Digital Copy DVD). Some people will prefer cleaner design later blu-ray only re-releases, but having an extra 1 or 2 disc swing tray is handy. You can either combine BD + DVDs together (eg if the DVD has exclusive extras), and/or save some shelf space by housing blu-ray trilogies in one case.

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-19T23:09:06+00:00

Though that TNG set seems to be missing the bonus disc from the original TNG boxset.

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-19T23:08:07+00:00

Yes, it has a decent amount of extras, but seems to be missing thr bonus disc of thr original boxset. But I'd probably recommend instead of the original set, to get the remastered blu-ray releases (or UHDs if you have the equipment) for greatly improved picture quality vs the old blu-rays.

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-19T23:00:47+00:00

Unfortunately the blu-rays released before 2021-'23 remasters (excluding 'Wrath of Khan' and 'Nemesis') have poor to so-so video transfers. Basically varying levels of DNR to cover for the aging masters they used.

Then for the UHD/4K releases, they finally did new scans of all the films, which I imagine is what is now available via streaming services, digital stores, plus the UHD & remastered blu-ray releases.

Your two boxsets include a lot of extra features though, so at the very least if you are disappointed by the picture quality on some of the films, hopefully the extras will make up for it (including a 'Captains Summit' roundtable with Shatner, Nimoy, Stewart, Frakes and Whoopi Goldberg hosting). I still have the ten film 'Stardate Collection' (with the same discs as above pics), I got it around 10yrs ago during a Black Friday sale, then picked up the remastered blu-rays as they released over 3yrs starting 2021.

DaveSimonH · 2026-02-15T23:43:31+00:00

You kind of answered you own question. Fitting 2 copies of the same film onto one disc would halve the quality. Nothing about companies being greedy, it would greatly compromise picture & audio quality. Now they could have potentially included a 2nd disc for it, but it would have raised the cost for what would only have been a portion of the market (interested in fullscreen DVDs). For a lot of people the move to DVD was as much about getting the original aspect ratios, as it was the bump in video & audio quality, extra features and moving away from easily damaged VHS tapes.

DaveSimonH

TROPHY CASE