The Criterion Collection

[MifuneFan]

Film Forum screening Vittorio De Sica's Miracle in Milan from a new 4K restoration (from Janus Films).

https://filmforum.org/film/miracle-in-milan



As Scottie mentioned earlier in the thread, Janus also has a listing for it on their site.

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by tsetse27

anyone having trouble sending email to Criterion?

i have been trying to email orders@criterion.com for WKW disc replacement in the past few days but keep getting error message that the email could not be delivered.

Thanks,

From their website:

To report a technical problem with your disc; for television, public performance, and nontheatrical sales; for queries, threats, or bribes related to our future release schedule; for praise and/or criticism of our releases or the state of the film world in general; to report that a DVD booklet has been mauled by a dog or baby; for clarification of the information on our FAQ page; to gripe about region encoding; or for any and all Criterion-related anecdotes or curiosities, please e-mail: Jon Mulvaney (he lives for this stuff!) mulvaney@criterion.com

[bergman864]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I've been looking forward to 11/15 because we're going to find out what Criterion has in store for UHDs outside of the first batch.

Now that the opening salvo has been accounted for, it'd be interesting to see how long we wait until the next UHD is announced.

[tsetse27]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

From their website:

Thank you!

let me try this email then...

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by bergman864

Now that the opening salvo has been accounted for, it'd be interesting to see how long we wait until the next UHD is announced.

I'd laugh so hard if one wasn't announced for February.

[regeyer]

Originally Posted by jshaide

I'd laugh so hard if one wasn't announced for February.

You look like the type of guy who likes to laugh and laugh hard at that.

[jshaide]

Originally Posted by regeyer

You look like the type of guy who likes to laugh and laugh hard at that.

Well done!

[ShellOilJunior]

Originally Posted by dvining

*fingers cross for Inland Empire*

Messieurs Barnes and Noble bequeath you half of an empire.

[dvining]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

Messieurs Barnes and Noble bequeath you half of an empire.

*digs through drawers to find protractor and compass in order to figure out which half*

[Sifox211]

Originally Posted by Nocheduro

Where did he comment on their fragility?

In the Dune 4k thread:

Originally Posted by David M

Hi everyone, since there's incorrect info floating around, time for me to weigh in here.

First, there are no encoding or authoring issues on DUNE, nor is there any issue with layer breaks. We know this for a fact because, as of earlier this year, we've been doing player bank testing on Arrow titles. That involves running manufacturing samples through just about every UHD player in existence, before mass production starts. This isn't a new process, but Arrow recently adjusted their scheduling to allow us to do it on their titles as well. Arrow's customer service referring to layer breaks is probably referring to the fact that the defective copies have issues near the outer edge of the disc, which is close to where the layer changes are.

So, if you have a defective disc, your replacement copy, containing the same data, will be fine.

Second, we know that a small proportion of the manufactured copies are damaged, and that this is caused by the packaging. In other words, discs that came off the production line fine were getting damaged either during the packing process, or by the packaging itself after packing. Anthony Newcomb's first message, posted earlier in this thread, matches our understanding.

We (Fidelity) asked if we could get ahold of a sample of one of the customer returned discs, and we put that through the same player testing. Sure enough, this process showed playback issues that were not present on the checkdiscs. On this defective returned copy, one player initially skipped through a few minutes of the film that the laser couldn't read. And the Xbox One S (which apparently has one of the most sensitive drives) played through from beginning to end, but with obvious visual and audible glitches during the first scene where the stillsuits are being explained.

Visually inspecting the bottom of the disc revealed some fine marks near the outer edge. Fortunately, Blu-ray Discs have a very durable anti-scratch coating, so light marks can be rubbed out with a microfiber cloth. We're not sure if the marks are scratches, glue, or some other gunk, but the effect is the same - some players' drives can't read through them.

After this first cleaning, the Xbox One S could now play through the first troublesome scene (stillsuits), but still showed glitches later (near the Lynch cameo). We cleaned the disc again, and it after a couple of attempts of cleaning, it played back problem free, and continued to do so. We ran it on a loop 5 times back-to-back to confirm that this wasn't a fluke.

That's a part I need to stress: these marks were really, really, really hard to see, and it took multiple attempts to get them all out. We had to use a strong light and rotate the disc through multiple angles. Even after we thought we'd got them all, looking again at a different angle revealed some were still there.

I also want to address a few misunderstandings in this thread relating to how optical discs are read.



If we were talking about problems happening on the exact same frame, your skepticism would be correct - that would be too big a coincidence. But we're talking about the same scene, or general parts of a movie. There is so much high bandwidth data crammed onto a 3-layer UHD BD that a mark near the outer edge of the disc is going to show up in basically the same part of the film.

Remember that on any optical disc the data is stored in a spiral pattern, and a UHD BD spins at about 5000 rpm. So if there are markings on the outer edge of the disc, they'll come around, and around, and around again - and most players will give up and pause once they hit the first roadblock. It doesn't matter that they won't be in the exact same position on each affected copy.

With 33gb per layer packed into a 12cm surface, 3 layers, and very high data rates, even a small blockage to laser reflection on the bottom of a disc can take out a *lot* of data, possibly at 3 different points in the film.

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by ShellOilJunior

I've been looking forward to 11/15 because we're going to find out what Criterion has in store for UHDs outside of the first batch.

I’m hoping to see something quite soon from Wenders, Gilliam, Anderson, and/or Jarmusch. And many others of course. Repo Man is one I’ll never stop buying.

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Jr7936

I actually think it looks very nice and compact.
I'm keeping my preorder

B&N will not let me cancel my order even though it's not set to release for another week. It's in preparing status. I'm ok with the packaging but I hope it holds up over time!

Looking forward to the latest batch set to be announced next week.

[andantelise]

I'm just going to keep it and place the discs inside of a Scanavo case.

[DWeickerSr]

Originally Posted by Sifox211

In the Dune 4k thread:

I read through his explanation, but I don't see anything referring the the 'fragility of UHD discs'.

Since discs were introduced, it's always been an issue that they can get scratched, or that foreign substances can obscure the data, causing glitches. This can happen to any disc.

His post doesn't indicate that UHD discs are more likely to get scratched.

He does indicate that a scratch (if it happens) is likely to affect more data simply because the disc contains more data

And part of the problem he encountered may be rectified over time. Blu-Ray players (and DVD players) have matured to the point that error correction processes can 'overlook' some damage to the disc. UHD players may not have reached that level of maturity yet.

[Warm Gun]

The Varda collection I received today is already ripped at the spine. Give me cheap plastic over digibooks any day.

[regeyer]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

The Varda collection I received today is already ripped at the spine. Give me cheap plastic over digibooks any day.

[Warm Gun]

If I don't wanna do an exchange through Amazon (which will probably end in them throwing all the discs and paper away), will Criterion replace just the digibook? I remember once reading something about paying for parts.

[andantelise]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

If I don't wanna do an exchange through Amazon (which will probably end in them throwing all the discs and paper away), will Criterion replace just the digibook? I remember once reading something about paying for parts.

Yes. They used to send parts for free, but have recently started charging $5 for cases. I had to have my David Lean outer case replaced, and that's what they charged me. There might be a wait time, though. They put you in queue.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by andantelise

There might be a wait time, though. They put you in queue.

Yeah, I got an automated reply, to my email that featured the order screenshot and photos, informing me that it might take slightly longer than usual to answer. Thanks. If it's 5 dollars for the whole package, then I'll have them send the case too, which is slightly crushed in the corner.

[Axl Rose]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

If I don't wanna do an exchange through Amazon (which will probably end in them throwing all the discs and paper away), will Criterion replace just the digibook? I remember once reading something about paying for parts.

They quoted me $20 for replacement packaging on the Varda set. That was with the slipbox, so the digibook alone may be a little cheaper.

I just returned the set (the discs were scratched up too) and was going to wait for the essentials to be released standalone - oops.