Early Blu-rays that may have playback issues (Criterion, Well Go USA, etc.)

[Hayabusa85]

Well at least when all my Blu-rays fail I will still have my PS3, PS4 and Xbox One games to keep me entertained.

[Al_The_Strange]

Honestly, I think Well Go's Blu-Rays are kinda flimsy to start with. Most of their discs look transparent for some reason; my copy of Muay Thai Warrior won't even play in a PS3, and I assume it's because it's a cheap disc.

Regardless, I don't think the Blu-Ray world is coming to an end any time soon. Like with any optical media, some will suffer disc rot fast, others could last forever. Right now, it sounds like it depends on specific titles from specific manufacturers in specific pressings. Storage conditions may contribute. I think most discs will still be good for years to come.

[wormraper]

most likely true.... just got to wonder how many other discs are lurking under the surface because I can guarantee that pressing plant did other studios.

as for rot... out of thousands of dvd's I've had 2 go bad on me... now in the course of a few days I'm looking at over a dozen blu-rays

I sent a polite email to Well go usa documenting the disc rot, the codes and am asking for replacement discs. we'll see how they handle it.

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by jayembee

In both these cases, the mastering code is in very small print just to the left of the catalog number (the "CC184xBD").

Originally Posted by GxyExpress999

Hmm I still don't see it...

In this image, do you see a slight blur just to the left of the "CC"? That's it. You might need a magnifying glass to read it, but I've found that if you have a nice bright light shining on it, and angle the disc just right, it may be possible to actually read the SID, but even if not, you should be able to see that it's there even without a magnifying glass.

On the other hand, not once have I managed to spot the Mould SID on the clear plastic ring.

[uther]

I guess I should of wrote Canadian Get Screwed in the title. I have bought Criterion both from the US and in Canada. Does this affect the discs distributed in Canada as well and is mailing to the US the only option?

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by GxyExpress999

I know it's very small and I can see it on other discs such as 'M' (below) but not on Howards End or Pierrot le Fou for some reason.

Of the problematic or possibly problematic titles I have and have checked, I wasn't able to find the Master SID on Wings of Desire for some reason.

[pedromvu]

Originally Posted by uther

I will state what I put in the news item.

This program blows, I expected better from Criterion. Other distributors do not ask for the disc in a replacement and being Canadian makes it quite costly. I paid a lot for the disc and now have to pay more.

Oddly when i contacted Mulvaney about the Walkabout defect a year ago, they sent me the replacement without asking for the bad disc or proof of purchase.

[Joeyseven]

Originally Posted by wormraper

I bet we'll find a lot more too. I think this is just starting.

and I guarantee you WG USA won't stand behind their product like Criterion will.

I know very little about WG USA,except that Fry's sells a lot of WG USA movies for under $5 in the past,and bunch last week for $2.50 each.

So I agree with you.
Also I wonder what other studio/company uses or used this plant for disc pressing?
And this is bad for blu-ray and the consumers who support this type of media.
Lets hope it does not get much bigger.

[zeze]

Just checked my copy of Bikini Girls on Ice which came out before Shaolin and it has a code of BD SM/CA and shows no signs of bronzing.

My copy of Blood has the IFPI L606 code and it has some slight bronzing on the edges.

[Hayabusa85]

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

Honestly, I think Well Go's Blu-Rays are kinda flimsy to start with. Most of their discs look transparent for some reason; my copy of Muay Thai Warrior won't even play in a PS3, and I assume it's because it's a cheap disc.

Regardless, I don't think the Blu-Ray world is coming to an end any time soon. Like with any optical media, some will suffer disc rot fast, others could last forever. Right now, it sounds like it depends on specific titles from specific manufacturers in specific pressings. Storage conditions may contribute. I think most discs will still be good for years to come.

All Blu-ray are transparent like that. Just more noticeable with the Well Go (Universal are another) releases because they print very little onto them.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa85

All Blu-ray are transparent like that. Just more noticeable with the Well Go (Universal are another) releases because they print very little onto them.

yeah, a lot of universal discs do the same thing... very little silk screening

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by Freeza

Just checked a few of mine and IP Man, IP Man 2 and Legend Of The Fist all show signs of bronzing like my Summer Hours, with IP Man being the worst.

The codes for all 3 of these are the same:
IFPI L606 (both) Mould IC0Z or 1C0Z (can't tell if it's supposed to be a 1 or an I, looks identical to the I in IFPI)

The few other Well Go titles I looked at that did not have bronzing also have different codes.

Originally Posted by wormraper

f@ck me... all my copies of these titles have light bronzing around the edges... some of these watched only once, and in the case of "Legend of the fist" not at all. if this gets any worse I'm not dropping any more money into Blu-ray. I spend money for these to last 20+ years, not fail in a couple

Originally Posted by zeze

Yeah same here. I'm wondering if I should spend anymore money on a hobby where the discs only last for 3-4 years. Its getting ridiculous.

Originally Posted by wormraper

Also add

Delightful Forest
Brothers Five
The Heroic Ones
Whitewall
The Man from Nowhere
Kung Fu Dunk
Shaolin


ALL of them show bronzing around the outer edge. Shaolin seems to be the last one of that era before they switched from that particular producer..all the rest past that date are differently stamped and are VERY obviously not bronzed

what's really frightening is how many 100's of other discs were printed for other studios from this particular place

Let them know about it on Facebook >>>
https://www.facebook.com/WellGoUSA

and >>>
http://wellgousa.com/contact

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by amoergosum

Let them know about it on Facebook >>>
https://www.facebook.com/WellGoUSA

and >>>
http://wellgousa.com/contact

did that a while ago

[murphywmm]

Ip Man and Ip Man 2 - looks like bronzing on the edge of the disc. Actually, it looks more like a gold colour than bronze to me. I watched them back-to-back just last week without issue.

[ElliesDad]

Originally Posted by pedromvu

Oddly when i contacted Mulvaney about the Walkabout defect a year ago, they sent me the replacement without asking for the bad disc or proof of purchase.

Difference might be that back then people weren't publicly proclaiming that they were going to return half their Criterion collections for replacement "just in case".
On a related matter, does anyone really doubt that Criterion will not still honor the replacement program one, two, or three years down the road in the seemingly unlikely event that one of the identified releases should develop a problem retroactively?

And who is your avatar, OP? I probably should know her, but I don't.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by ElliesDad

And who is your avatar, OP? I probably should know her, but I don't.

Emma Watson... Hermoine from Harry Potter

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by ElliesDad

Difference might be that back then people weren't publicly proclaiming that they were going to return half their Criterion collections for replacement "just in case".
On a related matter, does anyone really doubt that Criterion will not still honor the replacement program one, two, or three years down the road in the seemingly unlikely event that one of the identified releases should develop a problem retroactively?

Historically (going back to their laserdisc days) Criterion has never put time limits on replacing defective discs.

Me, I'm still chewing on whether to send discs back to get pressings made by another plant. I'm not concerned about the titles still in print, because I feel confident that Criterion will replace them down the road if problems should arise➊, but I'm not sure about the two OOP titles. I would certainly like to ensure that I have copies that won't degrade going forward, but on the other hand, I feel that if there are a limited number of replacement copies available, people whose copies are showing problems now should get first crack at them.


➊ I feel equally confident that if my copies haven't started bronzing and having playback problems at this point, they probably won't in the future. Just as there came a time when I decided that if any of my LDs still showed no sign of laser rot, there was no point in continuing to check them on an annual basis as I had been doing.

[filmmusic]

The thing that concerns me is this:
I got 2 of these Blurays, but recently.
If they start deteriorating after a couple of years?
This exchange program won't be indefinite...

(I just checked Howards End and I indeed have L021. Had to see it with a magnifying glass)

and what about if I get eg. Paris-Texas in a year and it's one of the bad ones?

[Inspector Toschi]

I just finished checking all 80+ Criterion discs I own.

My copies of Howards End, Paris Texas, Days of Heaven, Seventh Seal, & Bigger Than Life definitely have a brownish tint to their edges and inner rings forming. And I think a few other titles may have it too. Compared to a perfectly fine looking Criterion disc, they definitely appear to look "off". I'm currently watching Howard's End to see if there's any playback problems.

My concern with listing the rest is that my eyes are only seeing the bronzing out of pure paranoia. So while these following titles aren't as obvious as the above mentioned, to my eyes they seem to have a bronze tint around the outer and inner edges too. The maybe titles are: Che 1 & 2, Wings Of Desire, Yojimbo, & Sanjuro.

Edit: Just wanted to add that I checked all my discs after reading the Criterion blog/news on the bd main page. I had not yet read this thread and I didn't know that discs made printed between 09 & 10 were the supposed problematic ones. Yet the ones I singled out as "maybe" looking bronze-ish all come from 09 & 10. Coincidence? Maybe. Either way, I guess I'll be watching them over the next week to look for any problems.

[Behemot]

My Seventh Seal Blu-ray (bought in early 2011) has the code L021. I haven't got the time to watch the entire movie again, but it starts up fine and I was able to skip through all the chapter stops without a problem. I watched the last 6-7 minutes of it and playback was fine. The disc itself is not bronzed and looks completely normal. Hopefully this means I've got one of the L021 discs that were not defective?