any way of knowing when a DVD will be deleted?

[jaylmerb]

Does anyone know if any website gives advance warning of DVDs due to be deleted by the manufacturer? The reason I ask is that I have noticed that all "Jeeves and Wooster" DVDs have now been deleted. The complete boxset is now selling on Amazon Marketplace (not available from Amazon itself anymore) for a staggering £245 new! I fortunately bought it from WHSmith online last summer for £20, but would be kicking myself now if I hadn't.

If we could know a bit beforehand that a DVD will be discontinued, it would enable us to prioritise which ones to buy first. Of course, some say they are "limited edition", but some do not. One I missed was "Fraggle Rock", which is no longer on general sale, but was never listed as only being temporarily available. So I had planned to buy it at a later date!

Maybe it is an idea for a new forum or sticky thread? But the point is, how would any of us know in advance that the days are numbered for a particular DVD?

 

[AML]

Its a good point, but ive noticed that most retailers dont give any warning. DVDs are just simply disscontinued! Its really annoying coz you feel the need to rush to buy everything you want before it gets canceled.
More warning would be nice!

 

[PoochJD]

Hi,

Knowing when a DVD was going to be discontinued probably wouldn't actually be a worthwhile project for any company/individual to undertake.

There are numerous reasons why, but unless a DVD is classified as a "Limited Edition", then it will only be discontinued when the manufacturers/producers of said title, decide it's not worth them releasing any more copies of that title.

Until then, a producer wants a title to sell as many copies as possible, but there comes a point when it's not worth their time and effort to keep making more copies and trying to sell them to stores. Hence, it's discontinued.

Personally, I think that if you want a particular DVD, you need to simply weigh-up in your own mind, a) do I really want this title (or should I be patient, and hope that either the price comes down, or a better version is released), and b) can I afford to buy that DVD now, when in a few months, the price may come down, but then again, it may also be deleted.

If a manufacturer of any product, came out saying that we'll release Title X on Jan 1st, but then discontinue it on March 31st, it would seem a bit pointless, if the title was still making money for them at the end of March. Then again, if sales had dried up by the end of Jan, why would they want to keep the title available, for a further two agonising months?


Pooch

 

[I.T.M.A]

jaylmer, I agree it's a bind.

A recent example for me was the 70's movie spin-off of Doomwatch. It had been on my choicesdirect wish list for some time, then one day I noticed that it had been withdrawn.

Luckily, it was still for sale on [play] so I ordered it straight away (a ruddy good film by the way) & now I keep regular checks of my "wated list"

For your info Ebay has a section dedicated to deleted DVD's but I note that some of the buy it now prices are ridiculously high.