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

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by wormraper

still doesnt' excuse their VERY hostile attitude towards customers. They have this air about them that if you disagree with them in any form or have a negative experience you're just the proverbial "hater"

Oh, I agree with you. I am just saying they're not exactly Amazon.

[wormraper]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

Oh, I agree with you. I am just saying they're not exactly Amazon.

True Dat... I honestly wouldn't expect them to give the same speed of service as someone like Amazon.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

They've probably got half a dozen people in the entire company.

That makes it even more inexcusable IMO. I know a lot of members on this forum love em because of their catalog, but what's the point if they sell defective product and then do everything in their power to deny it and make it your problem. I know I'm not alone in how they deal with their customers. At one point during our email exchanges they had inadvertently sent me a response to another customer's complaint about disc freezing with the same excuse that it must be their BD player. I just don't do business with companies that have that kind of business model.

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

That makes it even more inexcusable IMO. I know a lot of members on this forum love em because of their catalog, but what's the point if they sell defective product and then do everything in their power to deny it and make it your problem. I know I'm not alone in how they deal with their customers. At one point during our email exchanges they had inadvertently sent me a response to another customer's complaint about disc freezing with the same excuse that it must be their BD player. I just don't do business with companies that have that kind of business model.

If I want a TT or other limited title I go with SAE. I've never had an issue with them.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by HD Goofnut

If I want a TT or other limited title I go with SAE. I've never had an issue with them.

Have you ever had to return a disc to them?

[HD Goofnut]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Have you ever had to return a disc to them?

No, but I did have an issue with an order and they fixed it in a matter of hours.

[Franchot]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Earlier today I tried playing my Criterion blu-ray copy of Le Cercle Rouge, and the Criterion menu came up but with a pitch black background image, and I couldn't access the film. However, I tried reloading the disc a few successive times, and the menu came up fine. I just wanted to make sure that initial experience was just a minor player hiccup that had nothing to do with the disc itself. In other words, the first time, the disc didn't load properly. Also, I've noticed with some of my Criterion blu-rays, when the menu loads you first get the sidebar on the left in gray followed by the full display like a second later. Is this normal? I've noticed the menu has a tendency to load slightly differently from disc to disc.

I also had a problem with Le Cercle Rouge from Criterion. It loaded and played fine, but about three/fourths of the way into the film, the disc started skipping and then stopped playing. Tried to get it to work on four different machines, but no success.

I didn't think I would be able to get a replacement copy from Criterion since it's OOP, but I did. (They must have some reserved copies stored in their vaults.)

Might be a good idea to play the movie all the way through (if you haven't already) to see if you have a problem.

[fdm]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

It was thru TT. Their Customer Service is the worst.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions that they probably use the same folks that Fox Connect use(d?) to ship stuff.

It's why I've stuck with Screen Archives for Twilight Time orders. (And why I won't deal with Fox Connect ever again, due to a similar return semi-nightmare with Fox Connect.)

Just hope I never have issues playing TT discs, kind of got rather backlogged, and some of them just aren't available any more. I didn't buy Follow That Dream so at least one possible problem avoided.

(Edit: I have returned a few things to Screen Archives over the course of several years, most of them (maybe all) were unopened though. I'm sure they would be more accommodating than those other guys if one of your discs didn't play. Pretty sure I've read posts in the TT thread about such.)

[jayembee]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

It was thru TT. Their Customer Service is the worst.

Hunh. Not for me. I got Stormy Weather during their last sale. In chapter 15 or 16, it got pixelated and froze. After a bit where the time display was going about twice normal speed, it got past the problem spot and started playing normally again. I spotted what looked like a small bubble in the coating on the data side.

I contacted CS, they emailed me a return label. I sent it in, they checked it, emailed me back saying, "Yup, it's defective; a replacement is on the way." No muss, no fuss.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by jayembee

Hunh. Not for me. I got Stormy Weather during their last sale. In chapter 15 or 16, it got pixelated and froze. After a bit where the time display was going about twice normal speed, it got past the problem spot and started playing normally again. I spotted what looked like a small bubble in the coating on the data side.

I contacted CS, they emailed me a return label. I sent it in, they checked it, emailed me back saying, "Yup, it's defective; a replacement is on the way." No muss, no fuss.

They were quite the opposite with me. After some rather terse emails from them, they sent me a USED replacement disc initially and that one also froze in a different point in the movie on two different players as well. After that they dug in their heels and basically told me I was SOL. I took the case to Paypal, which TT drug their feet in responding stretching it out over 3 weeks, but Paypal ruled in my favor. Live and learn.

[mande2013]

Speaking of early Warner Bros. BDs, could a 2007 2001: ASO disc be one of the bad ones? I notice mine doing some funny stuff, although I only bought in the past 2-3 years. For instance, during the transition from the WB home video screen to the start of the film it briefly with the WB logo on the screen, and there's some blinking towards the middle of the film between chapter changes, but I could skim through the chapters through to the end of the film otherwise without a hiccup. I'll give my Searchers blu-ray a go, but that one's from 2010, so maybe it's okay.

[neo_reloaded]

There are likely small quantities of bad discs for most of the releases out there - especially something like a Kubrick movie from Warner Bros. which must have hundreds of thousands to millions of copies pressed. Not everything is some endemic problem, and you'll go crazy if you treat each report of a single bad disc in that manner.

[mande2013]

I'm doing a Nero disc scan of it now. So far so good. The first couple boxes are yellow, but the program seems to just do that for every disc you put in.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by mande2013

I'm doing a Nero disc scan of it now. So far so good. The first couple boxes are yellow, but the program seems to just do that for every disc you put in.

That is due to the spin-up of the disc. Normally you can stop and restart the scan, and the initial blocks will be properly read as green the second time around.

Scanning can be tiresome because you don't really get to the interesting results until the layer change, which is at the half-way point.

[mande2013]

Originally Posted by neo_reloaded

There are likely small quantities of bad discs for most of the releases out there - especially something like a Kubrick movie from Warner Bros. which must have hundreds of thousands to millions of copies pressed. Not everything is some endemic problem, and you'll go crazy if you treat each report of a single bad disc in that manner.

How many copies in all of something like the Criterion blu ray of Vivre Sa Vie for instance do you think have been pressed? Just out of curiosity.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by mande2013

How many copies in all of something like the Criterion blu ray of Vivre Sa Vie for instance do you think have been pressed? Just out of curiosity.

Criterion is tougher to peg - I would imagine in the tens of thousands?

[mande2013]

Okay, all my French-released WB discs appear to be problem discs. My Shining BD is American, and that one seems fine. My French ones are either doing what I explained above with respect to 2001, or the loading of the disc is briefly preceded by a flickering green screen, although uninterrupted playback of the films themselves seems fine for the time being. Problematic discs include 2001, Eyes Wide Shut, Blade Runner, and The Searchers. My North by Northwest is also an American disc, so that should hopefully be fine. I could probably take them to a fnac or something for store credit, no? Any advice from France-based board members?

[fdm]

Originally Posted by mande2013

Okay, all my French-released WB discs appear to be problem discs. My Shining BD is American, and that one seems fine. My French ones are either doing what I explained above with respect to 2001, or the loading of the disc is briefly preceded by a flickering green screen, although uninterrupted playback of the films themselves seems fine for the time being. Problematic discs include 2001, Eyes Wide Shut, Blade Runner, and The Searchers. My North by Northwest is also an American disc, so that should hopefully be fine. I could probably take them to a fnac or something for store credit, no? Any advice from France-based board members?

There were a good number of posts a while back in this thread about certain French disc manufacturing issues. Don't think WB discs were specifically mentioned, but many others were. A fair amount of detail about which ones and whether or not there was recall program were included. Possibly started around post 1999 (Torrente provided most of the info.) Might be a good place to start...

[neo_reloaded]

There was a widespread issue with French discs, specifically those manufactured by a replicator named QOL. There are multiple French-language forum threads that have very detailed info on the discs in question.

However, none of the Kubrick movies were on those lists, and I don't think Warner used QOL. Also, what are the odds that every single French Kubrick BD you have went defective in the exact same way? It all seems very odd. What did Nero say about these discs?

[mande2013]

I'm doing a Nero scan of 2001 right now. So far so good. The first couple boxes are yellow, but the program has a tendency to do that for just about any blu-ray you put in. For the record, when people mention "bubbling" around the outer edge of a blu-ray disc what exactly are they referring to? Could someone please provide an image to give me an idea? Thanks.