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Can't import rental?!

Mr.Poindexter

Mr.Poindexter

Well-known member
⭐️ Premium ⭐️
Authorized Kaleidescape Dealer
I went by Blockbuster tonight and picked up a bunch of films. I get most of my DVDs there these days when they have their buy 3 previously viewed titles for $20 or other such specials. I would have to estimate perhaps 40% of my collection has been purchased from Blockbuster.

Tonight, I was loading up my films and the system spit out Whiteout and the import log says "Cannot import rental DVD" which was a shock to me. I probably own some 20 titles that say "rental" on the cover and/or the disc.

Anybody else run into this before? Are we going to have DVDs that we purchase that will never be allowed into the system because they were first released to the rental market?
 
I have several discs purchased from blockbuster with big "rental dial" on the cover art but they imported fine. Did not know the were actually blocking these, are they new releases? Mine are all older titles so maybe K blocks them for some period of time before they will typically switch over to sell-through?

I'd notify support@kaleidescape.com that these were purchased used titles and you expect to import them as a legitimate owner of the movie.
 
I had this issue with a dvd that I purchased, I had to enter the upc and then an explanation of where I purchased it, I was then allowed to load it. I would assume you will be able to load after you provide information like I did.
 
I do the same thing. we had a local blockbuster close down, so I bought a bunch more when they were doing their clearance sale (some were $1)

To date, no problems (knock on wood). Was the DVD you purchased one of those "blockbuster exclusives" that they sometimes get from the studios? I know I had one of those that I bought and it imported but wouldn't play instantly (it only let me "play disc" versus "play movie")
 
Cool! Is that a new page? Hadn't known about this process in the past.
 
It is relatively new. I will try and import my movie tonight but they say it might take up to two days to take effect. Perhaps it has to wait for some database synchronization from their server before I can load it.
 
I really think that it is a mistake, for a whole lot of reasons, to be discussing importing rental disks to a Kaleidescape in a public forum.
 
Not really. This isn't a rental disc but rather a disc I purchased legitimately from Blockbuster via their selling of previously viewed titles.

The issue is that the films are marked as "Rental" on the cover and on the disc but then later get sold into the home video market for ownership and it is not really proper to flag them as unimportable.

The fact is that Kaleidescape does indeed flag them as rental discs and does not allow them to be imported but that has to be overridden. Of note is that I do not know if they unflag the disc for everybody or just for me on my system. They do ask for my name so it is possible that they only unflag my server for that title. Either way, it is a purchased title and at that point not any different than another title not "rental only" that I purchase used from Blockbuster or new from Best Buy.
 
rbienstock said:
I really think that it is a mistake, for a whole lot of reasons, to be discussing importing rental disks to a Kaleidescape in a public forum.
Click to expand...

re-read sir, he purchased the DVD.

Mr.Poindexter said:
The issue is that the films are marked as "Rental" on the cover and on the disc but then later get sold into the home video market for ownership and it is not really proper to flag them as unimportable.

The fact is that Kaleidescape does indeed flag them as rental discs and does not allow them to be imported but that has to be overridden. Of note is that I do not know if they unflag the disc for everybody or just for me on my system. They do ask for my name so it is possible that they only unflag my server for that title. Either way, it is a purchased title and at that point not any different than another title not "rental only" that I purchase used from Blockbuster or new from Best Buy.
Click to expand...

The odd thing is, I bought Sherlock Holmes in similar fashion (Game Crazy/Hollywood Video around here shut down), and while it let me import it, the cover art says RENTAL across it and I don't get any kscape benefits (jump to movie etc - can only play disc).

I see where k is headed with this though and can't fault them for it.
 
The reason your copy of Sherlock Holmes cannot get the Kscape benefits is that it is missing the video bookmarks. Send in the disc to them and have them add it to their database and you will have the bookmark features and then the next person who buys it will be able to get that functionality without having to send their disc in.

Every time one of us sends in a disc that is not bookmarked, we help both Kaleidescape the company and the growing user base by increasing the hit rate for films loaded into their servers. I just sent in 54 titles last week to clean up a lot of films that were missing video bookmarks and I have another stack here I am building up as I continue to refine my collection and get the "missing video bookmarks" DVD list down to zero and also the same for my music collection.
 
I know about the program (having actually just shipped a boatload of DVDs to them), I just thought the problem was that it was recognized as a rental... *shrug*
 
It probably wasn't recognized on an import and the first person put in the UPC info and it was added to the database without bookmarking info and they haven't had anybody send in the disc yet for bookmarking.

Sometimes I am shocked that I will have a very off the beaten path title and it is in their database with bookmarks, yet on occasion I will get a mainstream title and it is missing. Either way, I am impressed with their movie database - very good hit rate on recognition, bookmarking and I don't think I have had a title mis-identified yet. I wish the music library was as good (although it has improved a tremendous amount over the years). Sending in BluRays sucks. I had my kids want to watch Bee Movie only to discover I sent it in for bookmarking and couldn't watch it until I get the disc back.
 
I wonder if K can activate the title on your device similar to how they do with rentals since they know you have the Disc (well, THEY have it ATM)
 
Kaleidescape may not have the title, however. I have not asked them, but it is entirely possible that they rent some titles, catalog and bookmark them and return them. Since they would not be loading the film, that wouldn't be a copyright issue as their database basically contains something like the following (not the official database - just my understanding)

Primary Key
Disc ID
Title
Director
Actors
Genres
MPAA Rating
Release Year
Run Time
Cover Photo
Type of disc (film, series, music)
Start location for films/trailers (or songs/episodes
Description
Synopsis
Aspect Ratio (stated)
Aspect Ratio (measured)

If they rent the titles at blockbuster or netflix, they add value to the system for playing back rentals by allowing the bookmarking system to function even when playing off the disc. It also controls their costs because renting the titles is much cheaper than purchasing and storing them.
 
We also have probably 50-100 Blockbuster purchased DVD's. Same reason, they are inexpensive. I think we just automatically associate Blockbuster with "Rental," and forget that they also "sell" DVD's, both new and used, including many for "rental only." I assume BB has permission to sell those at some point. Our local store will sell them after a few days, and sometimes same day.



Jim
 
Yes, they have first sale rights to rent then sell them after they are used. I must admit that I do prefer my discs to not say "Rental" or "Blockbuster Exclusive" on them when I buy them but it isn't so important I am willing to spend an extra $5-10 for a new one.
 
Some DVDs are marked (either on the disc itself or on the packaging) as rental DVDs. Kaleidescape may mark these in the Movie Guide as rental discs. That's when the import log will say "cannot import rental DVD."

However, we know that both used and new DVDs marked as rentals are sometimes rightfully sold to customers. If you have purchased a DVD that Kaleidescape has marked as a rental, just tell us about it at www.kaleidescape.com/rental so that we may allow you to import it.

Tom Barnett
Kaleidescape, Inc.
 
Does this service only apply to ex rental DVD's? I just bought "The Ultimate TinkerBell 3-movie Collection (UPC 9398541398771)" for the kids but one of the 3 titles in the set won't import into my Kaleidescape system, however it will play directly from the tray. This was not ex-rental, it was bought new from a large retail chain store.
 
Sometimes they flag something as rental even if it is not and I heard that some discs are flagged as rental when they are pressed although I don't know how they do that.

Report it to Kaleidescape and they will fix it for you.
 
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