Filed under: Serene, yet relentless
So all the advance orders have been packed and shipped off. Yay! Most of them went out on Tuesday, and then a couple stragglers went out on Wednesday. So they should be showing up in your mailbox any day now. (In fact, I’ve already heard from a couple of folks who received theirs the very next morning. Very impressive, Canada Post.)
I had this big idea of including a short little personalized note with each DVD, but after doing the first few, I realized that it was going to delay shipping by another week. So, in lieu of that, I’d like to send out a big collective ‘thank you’ to all of you for your incredible patience during this whole process. You guys have been awesome, and I really appreciate all the words of encouragement that folks have sent.
So thank you!
Filed under: Serene, yet relentless
For a while, Aaron and I have been describing this DVD process as a “two steps forward, one step back” kind of deal.
Now, I think, we’ve entered a phase where pretty much every step is forward, but with each step you smash your toe on a different piece of furniture and fall to the floor in agony. But at least you’re moving forward, right?
Right?
By now you might have guessed that the long-awaited delivery wasn’t an entirely happy occasion.
It started out great. The cases look great. The disks play perfectly. The only problem is that–on many of the disks–the image on the face of the disk itself is slightly jaundiced looking on the righthand side.
If you’re wondering if I’m a crazed perfectionist desperate for any excuse to prolong this masochistic ordeal, see for yourself. Here’s a scan of one of the good disks and one of the bad ones.
Actually, these images exagerate the problem a bit. Even the worst ones I’ve seen aren’t quite that yellow. But still they’re noticably off, especially–for some reason–on the righthand side. See the shift in colour that happens at the front part of Katie’s spiky bangs? What’s with that?
A more apt comparison might be to compare it to the original source file.
Now, I don’t expect the finished disk to look exactly like the source file. I know that pixels and ink are two completely different things and they can’t be made to match exactly. I get that. But still, the ink on the left side of the disk should be able to match the ink on the right side of the disk, shouldn’t it?
Sigh.
I guess I should try to just think of it as punk rock. Or I could go the environmental route and focus on how much better it would be to live with this cosmetic imperfection than to send them back and have them end up in a landfill. Actually, I’m working hard on embracing both of those philosophies as I write this.
Still it kills me. We really went all out to create a beautiful package. I wanted it be like a little piece of art, not just another movie in those generic black plastic cases that Deuce Bigalow movies come in. That’s why we paid double the normal price to get sleek and stylish digipak cases made and that’s why we chose a replicator who emphasized quality and service rather than going for the lowest bidder. And then after all that, right in the middle of our otherwise perfect package, sits this kind of sickly looking disk.
Anyway, the good news in this at-least-we’re-moving-forward metaphor, is that there seem to be a couple boxes of disks that aren’t jaundiced and weird. That should be enough to fill the couple hundred advance orders that we’ve been sitting on for months, which is a huge relief. I can’t stand the thought of making those folks wait any longer than they already have.
The bad news, though, is that the DVD saga is not yet over. I’ve already called the replicators to talk to them the about the problem. I felt sick about it. Have you ever had to send food back in a restaurant? It felt like that, times a thousand. Literally, a thousand. As in “These one thousand egg rolls I ordered look funny.”
But the replicators were very nice and responsive and are looking into the problem. So if you’re interested how this saga ends, tune in next week and we’ll keep on posting until it’s done.
Now I’m going to go start packing orders…
Filed under: Daring to hope again
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me anymore that when I called the replicator yesterday to confirm that the disks were ready, they said that it was going to take another day. Arghh!
I spent awhile pacing around and fuming. How hard can it be to accurately predict how long it takes to press 1000 DVDs? I mean, come on! They can predict volcanos, birth rates, meteor showers, and economic recessions. Could our tiny little print run really be that much more complicated than planetary alignment or the global economy?
Anyway, there’s a whole lot more to that rant, including me eventually making peace with the situation. Maybe I’ll come back and finish this post later. At the moment, though, I have to go work at my job-job. So I’m going to cut this short and just leave you with the latest word from the replicator:
“Your order will be ready for pick up after 3:00PM.”
Wow. They’re never given me an actual time before. It seems very… definite.
We’ll see.
Filed under: Daring to hope again
Sure enough, I got the call this morning saying that the disks were actually going to be ready Wednesday (not Tuesday). I think they’d forgotten that Monday was a holiday when I talked to them last week. So everything shifts another day, but hey… at least it got delayed by a pretty right-on holiday this time. Happy Labour Day, everyone!
Filed under: Daring to hope again
Just got an updated ETA from the replicators, who’re now saying Tuesday of next week. Originally, they’d said they were hoping for the end of this week, but I kinda always knew that was a pipedream.
Still, it’s a little disappointing, as I was really hoping to mail them out Friday afternoon and the whole weekend to relax before my post-DVD life kicks in. But I’d rather have them take a couple extra days and get everything right than rush and make mistakes.
They said they’d give me an update on Monday. Wait… isn’t that a holiday? Hmmm… Well, either way, as soon as I hear from them, you’ll be the first to know.
Filed under: Daring to hope again
So it’s official: We’ve approved the final proof disk and the presses are rolling. Or injecting, or molding, or whatever it is they do.
Given everything we’ve been through in the last couple months, they said that they’d put a rush on this last stage and try to have it by the end of the week. I can’t wait!
In the meantime, I’m going to start making address labels and go buy a bunch of padded envelopes so we can get the disks mailed out as soon as they arrive.
I’ll post again if we get an update from the replicator. Otherwise, there might be much to say until they arrive.
Filed under: Daring to hope again
Just heard from Evan that it passed the X-Box test with flying colours. Yay! So first thing Monday morning, I’ll call the replicator and tell them to start the presses. I can hardly believe it!
Filed under: Daring to hope again
So like I said, I’ve thoroughly tested the proof disk on both my set-top DVD player and on my computer. It works perfectly.
There’s only one more test: I’ve just given a copy to a friend with a rickety old X-Box. Apparently old X-Box’s are somewhat notorious for compatibility problems with dual-layer DVDs. So if it runs on the X-Box, that’s a really good sign. I’ll keep you posted.
Filed under: Daring to hope again
So, as I suspected, the replicators said that a defective proof disk was not a big concern as long as the others worked. They said that in a normal print run, they usually throw away the first 20-30 disks because the machine has to warm up and stuff. So when they just turn on the machine to crank out a few test copies, they’re more likely to have a few defects since the machine doesn’t have time to settle in. (I just wish I’d known that before my soul-crushing experience this morning.)
Anyway, this makes sense with what I’d noticed this morning: on the disk that didn’t work, there’s a little section on the surface that looks like it didn’t get the last coat of plastic. I suspect that’s what’s causing the problem. Presumably, that’s the sort of thing that would be solved once the machine is heated up. Plus, they should have someone doing quality control on the final print run, so hopefully they’d catch stuff like that.
So I’m deciding to be re-assured. Still with all the things that have gone wrong with this thing, I’d sure feel better if the very first proof disk didn’t fail. I mean, good grief…
