# Why can't I buy Doctor Strange from Amazon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2017, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144 "2017-02-18T14:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/21 "2017-02-19T22:48:22Z")
But Amazon \*does \*sell the Dr Strange film on dvd! > **[Amazon.com: Dr. Strange : Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter, Philip DeGuere Jr.:...](https://www.amazon.com/Dr-Strange-Peter-Hooten/dp/B01JQXEKRA)** > > Amazon.com: Dr. Strange : Peter Hooten, Jessica Walter, Philip DeGuere Jr.: Movies & TV :D:D:D:D:p:p:D:D ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/22 "2017-02-19T23:24:28Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > It’s both a quality of production issue and the random effects of time. Optical discs have been known from the outset to have lifespan issues. I must be lucky or something; none of the thousands of CDs or DVDs/BRs I own have ever just failed. I’ve had to replace a few CDs due to them getting scratched up, but that’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/23 "2017-02-19T23:48:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Even if the OP (for whatever reason) doesn’t consider streaming acceptable, the fact that it’s available from Amazon streaming is evidence against there being a “pissing contest” that’s preventing the physical-disk availability. Nothing is preventing the availability of the the physical disc. The physical copies of the movie are not going on sale until the 28th. I am fairly sure it is a deal between the studios and content providers to give them a chance to make sales first. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/24 "2017-02-20T00:16:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I must be lucky or something; none of the thousands of CDs or DVDs/BRs I own have ever just failed. I’ve had to replace a few CDs due to them getting scratched up, but that’s it. My experience too. Nothing lucky about it. There’s no reason or cause for them to fail unless you abuse the hell out of them. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/25 "2017-02-20T00:19:59Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Nothing is preventing the availability of the the physical disc. The physical copies of the movie are not going on sale until the 28th. I am fairly sure it is a deal between the studios and content providers to give them a chance to make sales first. The disc is to be released on 28 February. Amazon (almost?) always allows pre-orders for upcoming movies pretty far in advance of release. Except in this case. They are showing the disc as “Currently unavailable.” ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/26 "2017-02-20T01:23:23Z")
Like I said I remember this happened with another Marvel movie (I’m 90% sure it was The Winter Solider) and my recollection was it was due to some corporate fighting that ended up getting resolved very close to the release date. This seems similar but I don’t see any stories when I Google. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/27 "2017-02-20T02:05:20Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > My experience too. Nothing lucky about it. There’s no reason or cause for them to fail unless you abuse the hell out of them. It _can_ happen, it’s just rare as hell. I’ve had one CD ever suffer from [bronzing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_bronzing) and I was able to rip it and make a backup before it disintegrated. But that was one cd with a known manufacturing defect. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/28 "2017-02-20T02:15:54Z")
> [@MindsEye\_Watering](#): > > The disc is to be released on 28 February. Amazon (almost?) always allows pre-orders for upcoming movies pretty far in advance of release. Except in this case. They are showing the disc as “Currently unavailable.” Yes I understand the issue as I want a physical disc as well. This isn’t the first movie that wasn’t available for pre-order right away, I know I have seen this issue before, but I a still pretty sure it is a thing to drive digital sales. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/29 "2017-02-20T14:57:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > No. UltraViolet is a consortium of most of the major studios and video providers, created (in part) to “hold the pink slips” on digital video purchases. You don’t need to worry about Vudu going out of business, or Amazon Video, or even the lost child FandangoNOW or whatever its name is this week. You are buying through those providers, but ownership is registered with UV, and barring all the major studios pulling out or going bankrupt, I’d say that’s as safe as any system we can create. (After all… your disks will burn nicely.) > > Most people encounter UV because it’s a perk to get a UV code with your disc purchase, so that you can register as a digital owner as well. (There’s also not a damn thing that prevents you from giving the code away, to kids or parents or friends. Anyone who scoffs at the whole idea is welcome to email me any unwanted UV codes.) > > You can convert your disc holdings to digital by taking them to a service center - most Walmarts, I forget who else - and having them validate the disc and enter an ownership code. It’s around $2 a disc, but the prize is that you can upgrade DVDs to HD digital holdings for another buck or so. > > If discs make you more comfortable, fine, I won’t argue the point… but digital ownership of movies is well and truly here and likely to completely displace physical media in single-digit years. Probably no more than 5. I knew something like this was available, but is there a good website with a FAQ about this process? I want to know if I can keep my disk, if there are non-obvious eligibility requirements, et cetera. I mean, I wouldn’t mind reclaiming some shelf space. But I don’t have receipts on these DVDs, and many of them were acquired secondhand. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/30 "2017-02-20T15:07:54Z")
> [@CandidGamera](#): > > I knew something like this was available, but is there a good website with a FAQ about this process? I want to know if I can keep my disk, if there are non-obvious eligibility requirements, et cetera. > > I mean, I wouldn’t mind reclaiming some shelf space. > > But I don’t have receipts on these DVDs, and many of them were acquired secondhand. [Article from the time of startup.](http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3844624/walmart-now-allows-disc-to-digital-from-home) [Vudu Disc-to-Digital (store version)](http://www.vudu.com/disc_to_digital.html) [Vudu DtD (home version)](http://www.vudu.com/in_home_disc_to_digital.html) ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/31 "2017-02-20T18:45:18Z")
Another couple of ignorant tech questions: if you try to open a CD, if it will let you at all, you’ll see several different files. 1: If you (never mind legality for a moment) copied those files to your hard drive, can your system read them and play them as a movie? 2: If you have a downloaded digital movie, properly licensed and legal, from Amazon or Hulu or Ultraviolet or I don’t know who, is it one file, or a similar collection of several files? (Do you just throw such files in a folder, or do you need sub-folders for each movie?) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/32 "2017-02-20T20:26:30Z")
Whether you can open those files depends on what you’re using to open them. VLC can handle them just fine (but then, VLC can handle darned near anything). And you’d need a folder for each movie, because some of those files have the same name for every disc. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/33 "2017-02-20T20:26:14Z")
Whether you can open those files depends on what you’re using to open them. VLC can handle them just fine (but then, VLC can handle darned near anything). And you’d need a folder for each movie, because some of those files have the same name for every disc. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/34 "2017-02-20T23:30:31Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Another couple of ignorant tech questions: if you try to open a CD, if it will let you at all, you’ll see several different files. > > 1: If you (never mind legality for a moment) copied those files to your hard drive, can your system read them and play them as a movie? Yes, (I assume you mean DVD up there) if you copy the TS\_VIDEO folder to your hard drive, there are software tools that will play it just like a DVD. > [@](#): > > 2: If you have a downloaded digital movie, properly licensed and legal, from Amazon or Hulu or Ultraviolet or I don’t know who, is it one file, or a similar collection of several files? Streamed video is nothing but a single channel of data that the decoders turn into video and audio streams for further processing by the TV and receiver. It’s the kind of file (MPEG2, MP4, etc.) that’s embedded in a disc folder like TS\_VIDEO and is called up and played when the system navigates to it. Put another way, the file structure on a disc is the video, the audio and all the pseudo-programming that links them, menus, closed captions, alternate audio and so forth together. You can dispense with all of it except the actual video/audio stream from one file, once you get to it. The structure makes it easier for Joe Couchpotato to get to the desired stream on the disc. No such structure is needed for digitally delivered content - so all that comes over the wires is that content. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/35 "2017-02-21T01:01:08Z")
**Amateur Barbarian** : I think I grok the first bit…but not the second. Streaming stuff is like…what…a YouTube stream? I get to watch it, but not capture it? If I want to watch it again, I have to get it streamed again, and can’t watch it from files on my hard drive? I never get the files to keep, but can only let the data “pass through” my viewing software? Damn, man! I don’t want that! I want the sensation, no matter how unimportant it may be in objective reality, that the movie is mine, in my hands, to hold and enjoy, even if me and my laptop are in BFE and there isn’t any internet connection at all. (I keep my Kindle book reader totally separate and cut off from any data service. If I want a book on it, I pull it across the USB cable from my PC.) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/36 "2017-02-21T01:08:33Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Streaming stuff is like…what…a YouTube stream? I get to watch it, but not capture it? If I want to watch it again, I have to get it streamed again, and can’t watch it from files on my hard drive? I never get the files to keep, but can only let the data “pass through” my viewing software? More or less. Your movie files are “in the cloud.” Not all that radical a notion these days, where students have their entire data sets in Google drives etc. > [@](#): > > Damn, man! I don’t want that! I want the sensation, no matter how unimportant it may be in objective reality, that the movie is mine, in my hands, to hold and enjoy, even if me and my laptop are in BFE and there isn’t any internet connection at all. “There I cannot help you, my friend.” - Inigo Montoya I do understand; it took something of an epiphany to appreciate the idea of virtual movie ownership. I like it now, though. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/37 "2017-02-21T05:56:34Z")
[Mystery](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/marvels-doctor-strange-steelbook-blu-ray-dvd-only--best-buy-2016/5712176.p?skuId=5712176) [solved](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/marvels-doctor-strange-steelbook-3d-blu-ray-dvd-only--best-buy-blu-ray-blu-ray-3d-dvd-2016/5712177.p?skuId=5712177)! They also have the BR and the 3D BR in a regular case. Seems they have an exclusive on this for pre-orders arranged with the studio. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/38 "2017-02-21T16:50:34Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Mystery](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/marvels-doctor-strange-steelbook-blu-ray-dvd-only--best-buy-2016/5712176.p?skuId=5712176) [solved](http://www.bestbuy.com/site/marvels-doctor-strange-steelbook-3d-blu-ray-dvd-only--best-buy-blu-ray-blu-ray-3d-dvd-2016/5712177.p?skuId=5712177)! > > They also have the BR and the 3D BR in a regular case. Seems they have an exclusive on this for pre-orders arranged with the studio. No, [Target](http://www.target.com/p/marvel-s-doctor-strange-target-exclusive-blu-ray-dvd-digital/-/A-52113761) has it available for pre-order too. I think it’s the “Steelbook” (a metal case instead of plastic) that’s the Best Buy exclusive, not the movie itself. Still doesn’t explain why amazon isn’t taking pre-orders. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/39 "2017-02-23T00:36:58Z")
Okay so this is definitely some kind of game of chicken with Disney because I noticed that Rogue One comes out in April and that is also unavailable for preorder. Also, I do realize I can (and probably will) buy it somewhere else, I haven’t been in a coma for the last two decades, but I wondered if anyone knew why. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144/40 "2017-02-28T16:46:10Z")
Whelp, it isn’t just a preordering thing. Amazon still isn’t selling it. Definitely a dispute of some kind but googling only brings up stories about the first time it happend in 2014. Guess I will pick it up at Target or Best Buy on the weekend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-buy-doctor-strange-from-amazon/780144.md?page=3)