2-DISC DVDs

[tekfuel]

Other than the obvious 2-disc dvd like "gangs of new york" which needs two discs to show the whole movie, how do you at your store handle 2-disc dvds?

1. When a 'set' has 2 discs, disc 1 has the 'feature' movie and disc 2 has 'bonus materials', do you include disc 2 with the rental?

2. How did you handle renting out the 2-disc set of Finding Nemo? Disc 1 has the widescreen version and disc 2 has the fullscreen version. Did you rent it out separately?

3. How are you going to handle Spy Kids 3-D? I'm guessing the 2D version will be in one disc and the 3D version will be on another disc. It wouldn't be an issue if both versions were on one disc. I'm sure most, if not all, would want to rent the 3D version of the movie. How are you going to rent the movie to your customers if the versions are on separate discs?

[jayb2468]

If the complete movie is on disc 1, thats all i rent.  I keep disc 2's handy and rental ready and if somebody asks for disc 2 for special feature reasons, they get it no charge.  

I didnt even realize finding nemo had wide screen on a disc, full screen on another disc, I'm at home so not sure what we did at the store, Though to best of my knowledge, we're only sending out 1 disc....

Not sure what to think of spy kids 3, and the glasses, I think the studios purposely jazz these up so the public will have an easier time buying than renting.  Studio would certainly sell thru 20 copies than sell me one to rent 20 times.   If it's a b title and on two discs or tapes, i avoid it...   jay

[mtnvideo]

tekfuel,

1. Bouns features are what differentiates DVD from VHS. We are not live but have rental cases that accomidate two discs so we give then both. the four disc sets are the pain.

2. We seperated the Finding Nemo discs and rented either wide or full screen. We may even sell them seperatly.

3.I think we will rent SK3 either way. Seperatly or for one additional dollar they can have them both.

[Shiraz]

I send out the movie disc only. We sent out the full screen disc only for Nemo.

Nobody say boo about it. I use the 2 disc point to sell it pre-viewed. I usually tell them that the 2nd disc is new and never played.

[houseofvideo]

i had to post on this topic.  I must be in outer space.  We rent out all the disc that come in the case.  Why would you not?  That is one reason people enjoy the dvd format.  I think you are short changing your customers by not renting out the entire set.  We simply put them in a 2 disc set form clear vu and put 2 barcodes in the box.  We also rent out all the tv series box sets together, for a higher price.  For ex. the 9 DISC aliens set is $5.69 for 5 day rental.  But you get all 9 disc.  We do not hide the extra features, or the full screen versions behind the counter.  I had no idea that independent video stores were doing this.  Aprox. 30 % of all DVD's are 2 disc sets.  Customer's perceive them as being a better value, and above all kinda NEAT.

[tekfuel]

I like that idea of having a barcode for each disc even if both discs are in only one case. It's a better way of keeping track of 2-disc rentals. On the system, each disc will show up as an inventory so, if by mistake a customer returns only 1 of 2 discs, it would be pretty obvious. Having separate barcodes would also be a good reminder to check every time that both discs are in the case.

[Shiraz]

Here's a good idea also.

Hollywood Video uses a spline barcode, case lock and a sticker inside the case that says how many discs should be in it. I like this idea because it doesn't over-inflate active rental items. Not to mention possible reservation issues that may occur, accidental over-charging for any late "non-priced" discs and any issues that may occur at sell-off of any muti-disc sets. Or even any other issues I may not be thinking of off-hand. Maybe these are not issues at all, I really don't know. I'll know better when we jump into it later.

We are going to look into multi-disc options when we go all DVD in March. Bye-Bye over priced VHS.

When we enter the movie into our system we note that it is two discs.
Like "Open Range" will look like this:

Open Range - 2 Discs

on the rental casejacket. From time to time people forget to return one of them but it will happen no matter how many ways you mark it. I never return it into the system untill both discs are returned.

[Hardcopy]

I was surprised to hear myself that some ivr's don't rent the 2nd disc. Heck I include all 4 discs for the LOTR extended edition. I include the 2nd disc every time. Including with Finding Nemo (though I was tempted with that one Just seems more friendly to include it all to me. We enter it into the computer in a seperate category.

So far we have had about 6 in a year returned without the second disc and every time they have rushed it out (after removing it from their DVD player of course).

Rich.

[SeanWas]

I was also surprised that read that anyone was not sending out both disks on a 2 disk DVD. It was never a second thought at my store. We have always sent out out both disks for a 2-disk set and I wouldn't have it any other way.

That being said, we did have one exception with the Finding Nemo. Because it was seperated, we split them up and charged our customers half as much. This went over great with the customers. They were thrilled to be charged half the normal rental and we were able to serve twice as many customers this way. There was one customer who wanted both, so we just charged him the normal rental. But as many of you are probably thinking already, this was a STUPID idea on my part because it took FOREVER to make a profit. What the heck was I thinking?! Sometimes I forget that I'm supposed to make money. Oh well, live and learn.

As for your final question on Spy Kids 3-D, it probably won't be a problem. Your customers may want to see the 3-D version of the film, but without the glasses, It will just be a blury film with the colors ghosting each other. And trust me that your glasses will not make it past the first week. Distributing them and returning them may be our bigger problem.

Sean

[Austin]

We rent out all the disks in a set. If we want to be fair to our customers and compete with our competitors we need to. What we do for 2 disk or more DVD's is remove the art from the package it came in and place the art in our normal one disk case that we place on the shelf. We put barcodes etc. on the origianl case as it becomes our "rental" case. For selling we just put the art back in over our stickers and there ya go.

[Shiraz]

The beautiful thing about most forums and discussion groups is that you can interact with those who have similar interests. At times people will disagree, but mostly thoughts are shared from others who may have experienced something you may have not or see things from a different point of view.
 
Well anyways, after reading some of the opposing views and having put some thought on this subject, I have decided to buy the optional inserts for the disc cases I use for rentals, allowing me to add the 2nd disc with the rental. Because these inserts are just that - removable inserts, I thought about using one of those silver or gold permanent markers inside to remind us that there is supposed to be a second disc. I also thought we would buy the donut labels without the barcode just to "mark" our product. Another option is to buy special multi-disc cases. This would "stand-out" from the standard cases we already use and it would send us the message that this movie has more than one disc. Problem solved.
 
Austin, I think your idea is fantastic! No need to purchase "special" rental cases, the only problem I see, is that if you have live inventory and you use locks. But other than that - Great!
 
Thanks for everyone's input - this will certainly make our store better for it.

[mcmarc]

I put my rentals in generic cases.  The single discs are hot orange and the doubles are hot pink, so most customers know how many are in there.

Some people are renting movies BECAUSE of the 2nd disc.  For example, the Criterion edition of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS has a feature length documentary about the original author's trip to Hollywood in the late 70s.  Turns out to be more entertaining than the movie!

marc

[Shiraz]

We have implemented the multi disc sets in our store. We bought inserts to accommodate the additional discs, donut labels that have our name - phone # - and a notice that it is a part of a set/that they must be returned together and 3/4" labels that say "2 Discs" that we put on the rental case. All of these were extremely inexpensive and most certainly makes what we offer a much better value. Thank you to everyone that "swayed" my thinking on this and I highly recommend that anyone not currently offering 2 discs in a 2 disc set to start immediately.

[mcmarc]

There's a title coming out on Tuesday, WONDERLAND, that has an excellent 2nd disc.  It's called WADD and it's a documentary about John Holmes that was produced independantly from the film.

marc