# DVD fake-you-out finger holds **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591 "2001-11-10T05:58:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/1 "2001-11-10T05:58:42Z")
You open a DVD case, and see the disk in its little molded plastic nest. The little middle part holds it in, and there is that ridge running around the circumference to keep it in snug. How do get it out, then? Oh, look, they have little dips in the plastic for my fingers, so I can get a grip on the edge of the disc! How considerate. MOTHER OF FUCK! It’s a trick! A mean, horrible trick! The finger dips are just there to make you THINK you can get the disc out, but the ridge goes all the way around the disc uninterrupted!! Who is the genius that came up with this design?? ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/2 "2001-11-10T06:06:52Z")
Hahahahahahahaha Opal, geese I just experienced the same thing. I must have tugged a second or two before it dawned on me. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/3 "2001-11-10T06:39:03Z")
you’d think I’d learn, but I do it every damn day! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/4 "2001-11-10T08:06:55Z")
You depress the middle catch, and it goes in and under and pushes the DVD up so you can access the lip of it and hold it correctly. Some of the Disney ones don’t do that, they expect you to basically yank it out with no help at all from the case, but I really don’t like that. It makes me fear I’ll snap the disc in two. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/5 "2001-11-10T08:17:56Z")
I know how to get them out. That isn’t the point. The point is that those little indentations look like the ideal way to grasp the sides of the disc, but they’re nothing more than a cruel hoax. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/6 "2001-11-10T08:20:27Z")
Oh. Well, they work for me. I wonder if I have a similar case design here I can compare with your experiences. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/7 "2001-11-10T08:53:52Z")
Maybe we’re not talking about the same thing. I’ll take a picture tomorrow when I’m not so damn tired and post it. ---
**Author:** ![Slip\_Mahoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Slip\_Mahoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slip_Mahoney)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/8 "2001-11-10T10:42:32Z")
You can get the disc out easily with a slot head screwdriver and a hammer. ---
**Author:** ![Tretiak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Tretiak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tretiak)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/9 "2001-11-10T16:54:07Z")
At first I was trying to figure out what Opal was meowing about. So I opened up my _Silence of the Lambs_ and there it was, exactly what she was talking about. The great DVD fakeout, finger holds that aren’t! Also evident _The Princess Bride:SE_ and _The Magnificent Seven_. Of course they all have one thing in common, they are MGM Home Entertainment. So you can probably find it on any of their discs, just look for the stately lion logo on the bottom of the spine. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/10 "2001-11-10T19:00:10Z")
::peers at the only DVD case in the house:: This is a Pioneer DVD. (first volume of Card Captor Sakura, to be specific) It has the little pushdown thingie. Maybe I broke it, because I don’t think the DVD is supposed to spin freely around the middle pushdown thingie. And the case doesn’t close all the way. I never would’ve figured out how the case worked if I hadn’t read loads of complaints about it. As it was, I sat there for five minutes, trying to use the little notches. Darn them. What’s wrong with CD-type cases? jessica ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/11 "2001-11-10T23:14:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JessEnigma \* > \*\* What’s wrong with CD-type cases? > jessica \*\* While I’m sure someone will come along with a fully explanatory cite, I’ll give you the basic answer: DVD cases (whether the clamshell, or “keeper”, cases or the digipak type cases (which suck)) had to fit in the same space a VHS tape (in length and width, but not necessarily in thickness). Similiar to the time when CD’s first came out in the “long boxes”, which had to fit in existing LP bins. Artwork is also a consideration. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-fake-you-out-finger-holds/92591/12 "2001-11-11T04:47:06Z")
I don’t mind the overall shape of DVD boxes at all. I just wish they’d pick ONE mechanism for keeping the disc in place in the box and STICK with it.