I knew that Universal, Dreamworks, Paramount were already doing this, but I'm now mad as hell that Fox has jumped onto the exclusively bilingual packaging ship. They previously offered both choices, but now, every store downtown Montreal only had the bilingual packaging available. Even Amazon.ca only seems to have the bilingual edition available. Because of this, I'm going to have to buy ROTS (and probably every other new DVD now) in the States. Imagine all the Canadians having Episodes I, II, IV, V, and VI with English-only packaging and having a bilingual Episode III in between.

Am I the only one in Canada upset about this??? I'm not saying this as an angry anglo. I'm actually a francophone Québecois! I would be just as offended by having english packaging on a french movie (as Alliance Atlantis moronically put on the Séraphin DVD).

I hate French packaging.

Well, we do live in an officially bi-lingual country and just about every other product that I've seen lately has bi-lingual packaging. So why should a DVD be different than toothpaste, cookies, or any other consumer goods?

Well, we do live in an officially bi-lingual country and just about every other product that I've seen lately has bi-lingual packaging. So why should a DVD be different than toothpaste, cookies, or any other consumer goods?

Because DVDs are collectibles! They are not something you throw out after use (like "toothpaste, cookies, or any other consumer goods"). As a DVD collector, I feel cheated by not having easy access to "the real thing".

To me, separate bilingual packaging of American movies (as well as the addition of a maple leaf on Universal's DVDs) is the same as simultaneous signal substitution on TV.

Because DVDs are collectibles! They are not something you throw out after use (like "toothpaste, cookies, or any other consumer goods"). As a DVD collector, I feel cheated by not having easy access to "the real thing".

To me, separate bilingual packaging of American movies (as well as the addition of a maple leaf on Universal's DVDs) is the same as simultaneous signal substitution on TV.

IMO, over the top. Sim-subs can affect quality (for example the compromising content through trimming minutes (think NBC's ER on Canadian TV) or substition of DD2.0 for DD5.1 on certain HD programs). That creates a legitimate concern.

How does bi-lingual packaging remotely affect the quality of the product? Last time I checked, quality was dictated by sound and picture quality.

I am totally with Lurker. This is a bi-lingual country with two founding languages. Foreign companies that wish to do business in Canada should be recognized the duality of our history. It encourages me to do business with those companies over those that fail to recognize that they are doing business in Canada.

So it doesn't bother you to have a collection of dozens of DVDs all with American packaging and being forced to add non-matching Canadian DVDs to your collection???

It encourages me to do business with those companies over those that fail to recognize that they are doing business in Canada.

I could really care less but frankly I have to comment on this statement.

Deciding to buy from companies that provide bi-lingual packaging is your perogative and I respect that but why doesn't Foxfan get a choice?

I think consumers should have the option of French Only, English only or Bi-lingual packaging.

I think in labelling the government has a role to forice manufacturers to put on certain information such as nutrition information on foodstuffs but beyond that let the consumer decide not the federal government.

I'm sure you'll be able to find the "American" DVD cover somewhere out there...

Looks like I'm not the only one complaining:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=184517&perpage=30&display=&pagenumber=13

I'm eager to see if there is going to be some larger, publicized fallout over this. The DVD has only been out for a few hours, and I'm guessing many Canadians will start realizing how horrible the bilingual spine is when they place their ROTS on the shelf between the unilingual AOTC and ANH. I wonder if Fox will be mailing replacement covers for angry consumers...

Maybe its because his collection now looks like this http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/3185/picture1707lg.th.jpg (http://img285.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1707lg.jpg) I'm sure you could find the american cover online if this is indeed the problem as dc stated

Well, I guess I'm going to use this opportunity to order the limited edition of "War of the Worlds" at the same time from Amazon.com

Months ago, I met a guy at a used CD/DVD shop who hates the look of bilingual packaging so much that he orders all his DVDs from the States. I thought he was nuts to spend so much more just so the packages would look pretty. Yeah, the picture that Skidz included makes for a lousy "look" of the three cases, but frankly, I don't care too much about the packaging; I care about what's on the disc(s).

cheers,
supervij

You know what the Simpsons does? They wrap the French packaging around the real packaging. Done. I groan when I see the packaging, then it's normal again, and I feel good.

PS, if they cared so much, why isn't there a French version of the liner notes (for me to throw out)??

And it does look stupid (Ps Skidz, you had them out of order)
http://members.shaw.ca/thefatguy/images/collection.jpg

Because DVDs are collectibles! Once HD DVDs come out, or DVDs are passé these "collections" will not be worth much. Ask anyone with a bunch of laserdiscs how much the collection is worth. Especially if the item has been used and unwrapped.

As soon as the "six box" set comes out... ;)

If you think this stuff is going to be worth something someday, you are deluding yourself. These are just a bunch of used DVDs that are currently worth $5-$10 and may be worth less soon.

There are millions of these out there. This isn't some 1938 vinyl that only had a few pressings with only 1-2 available for play...

I think consumers should have the option of French Only, English only or Bi-lingual packaging.


Why? That would just drive up the costs to consumers. It is one thing to have a production run to serve a 35,000,000 person marketplace. The costs of three smaller runs would be higher and that cost would be passed on to the marketplace.

This isn't about packaging...
SW I and II show as DDEX on my receiver, yet Ep. III doesn't. It doesn't affect sound Quality, but I just think it's weird that it doesn't show up as DDEX.

So it doesn't bother you to have a collection of dozens of DVDs all with American packaging and being forced to add non-matching Canadian DVDs to your collection???

I find that with the internet it opens a world of choice to purchase products from the USA if that's where you prefer to have your packaging from.

Btw, this packaging thing goes the other way too. I sometimes get mildly annoyed that a lot of packaging and manuals from the good ole USA are starting more and more to have Spanish all over them. Many companies then just throw in a French manual for language compliance, which is cheaper than removing the Spanish and just giving us English & French. Sure it's annoying, but it isn't worth getting upset about.

A final thought: with a new DVD format on the immediate horizon your collection would be spoiled anyways by being in an "obsolete" format. Further, they'll all probably get re-released at some point and you'll have to start again. It's really a no-win situation imho.

I think it's great that we live in a country where we have the luxury to complain about such things.

Now You Guys really embarrasing me Skids & Jessie, I have over 350 Titles,
unfortunately none are in any kind of order aphebetical or otherwise,
I do have them cataloged but that's about it. :(
Looks like I have another Project for the cold canadian winter.:o
Must be nice to be able to find something so quickly LOL.

My bilingual complaint has more to do with the audio content which they juggle for the bilingual version. For example, on some DVDs released in French Canada the sound tracks are different than the English release. For example, they may have an English DTS sound track but only a French DD5.1 soundtrack. Here is a kicker I picked up a DVD in Quebec of an English movie starring John Malkovich. The packaging was French and I assumed it would have both soundtracks. Wrong. There was no English soundtrack at all. Even the subtitles/Close Captioning was missing. Imagine buying Elvis Gratton and having to listen to the English dub.

PS: I moved the widescreen DVD and fullscreen DVD posts to their own thread as I figure it will get more traffic as the week goes on and more people start to order it.