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

[fdm]

Originally Posted by rdandura

6. Bottom line: I will never be able to watch Lady Vanishes on physical media EVER AGAIN. This is honestly the worst feeling in the world: having a Blu-Ray disc freeze out on you in four years. Criterion is nothing more to me now than a stress inducing trigger and they have PERMANENTLY RUINED my enjoyment of physical media forever, as the only problematic discs I have ever owned came from their company. This is the fourth disc I have trouble with, and oh boy, there will be more.

Bottom line: The Lady Vanishes just now played perfectly on my Oppo player. Try another copy.

(And yes there are discs that will have problems, I'd imagine pretty much any label's manufacturers can put out the occasional clinker now and then. I probably have dozens or even hundreds buried in my various cd/dvd/bd collections. A lot of them are still unopened... C'est la vie, at this point.)

May get to my replacement copy of Summer Hours in the next few weeks if I get a chance.

[StingingVelvet]

Standard failure rate for all electronics is 5% or so, so unless more than 5% of your discs fail within 20 years or so then you're way ahead of the game.

[AgentOrange]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

Standard failure rate for all electronics is 5% or so, so unless more than 5% of your discs fail within 20 years or so then you're way ahead of the game.

An optical disc is a storage medium, not really an "electronics device". Electronics devices fail at a different rate than storage mediums.

For a piece of electronics with a bunch of moving parts, such as a blu-ray player or laptop - I basically think if I get 5-7 years out of it I'm doing quite well. The failure rate is probably much higher than 5% once you start hitting 10 years. (and who wants to have a 5 year old laptop anyway?).

The disc themselves, since they are a storage medium, I expect to last much longer with near perfect reliability. Nothing is 100%, but it's still sort of shocking when a disc doesn't work - even after 10 or 20 years. I don't think the failure rate is anywhere close to 5% though, probably more like 1%. Although I'm starting to think blu-ray failure is higher than DVD. I've had a few more recently, one my Lord of the Rings extended trilogy discs had some skips when it used to play perfectly.

[jedilips]

Originally Posted by rdandura

The Lady Vanishes was supposed to be a SAFE disc. No one knows what I am going through; Criterion is responsible for three years of mental anguish and this destroys all sense of security.

holy crap you need therapy if this is causing you mental anguish. hell if you think about it for more than 2 minutes and it still bothers you, there's something wrong in your brain.

these are discs that can be replaced. worst thing that will happen to you is *GASP* you might have to buy a new one.

[davidthenikonuser]

Man, there are more important things in life then worrying about blu-ray disc's failing. If it's fails just buy another one. Dude needs to talk to someone.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by davidthenikonuser

Man, there are more important things in life then worrying about blu-ray disc's failing. If it's fails just buy another one. Dude needs to talk to someone.

I honestly think he's probably just trolling. Although I know that OCD and other related neuroses run rampant on this site, his disproportionate persistence regarding this has all the earmarks of a troll. If not, he needs professional help and no amount of message board psychology is going to change anything. But my guess is that he's just getting his kicks from being ridiculously over the top.

[rdandura]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I honestly think he's probably just trolling. Although I know that OCD and other related neuroses run rampant on this site, his disproportionate persistence regarding this has all the earmarks of a troll. If not, he needs professional help and no amount of message board psychology is going to change anything. But my guess is that he's just getting his kicks from being ridiculously over the top.

I'm not getting any kicks out this at all. I'm not trolling and my disc really has playback issues.

I put the disc in another player this morning and it the freezing was even worse on that player than in the other one. I just checked three criterion discs right now to make sure they were not failing; fortunately they passed. My playback issues on my copy of Lady Vanishes ruined my New Years. I have emailed Mulvaney and hopefully will get a response by tomorrow. I hope to god the replacement disc will not freeze up on me like my current one; and it's very distressing that a superior form of optical discs would have more problems than DVDs.

[murphywmm]

Just breathe and relax. Mulvaney will arrange for your disc to be replaced. You may have to wait a bit longer than tomorrow for a response - I would give him some time with the holidays just finishing up.

I had a disc (Arabian Nights) in which the protective coating was peeling on one edge. It still played fine but Mulvaney had no problem replacing it for me. Criterion really stands behind their product.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by rdandura

I'm not getting any kicks out this at all. I'm not trolling and my disc really has playback issues..

I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings, but if you are being sincere with all this outrageous overreacting, then defective discs are the least of your problems.

[StingingVelvet]

Originally Posted by AgentOrange

The disc themselves, since they are a storage medium, I expect to last much longer with near perfect reliability. Nothing is 100%, but it's still sort of shocking when a disc doesn't work - even after 10 or 20 years. I don't think the failure rate is anywhere close to 5% though, probably more like 1%. Although I'm starting to think blu-ray failure is higher than DVD. I've had a few more recently, one my Lord of the Rings extended trilogy discs had some skips when it used to play perfectly.

I've definitely had old DVDs just randomly not work, even though I took care of them really well. Maybe not 5%, but enough to consider it a fact of life. I would guess the same will happen with BDs eventually.

[murphywmm]

I've had much better luck with BD than with DVD. I would get so many DVD's with scratches right out of the case that would then freeze up in my system. Or DVD's with no physical defects that would freeze up for no reason. I've only had two BD's that were unplayable and both were physical defects caused during manufacturing - one with a bubble in the data layer and another where it appeared that the protective layer and data layer didn't adhere properly.

[Blu Titan]

Originally Posted by Professor Echo

I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings, but if you are being sincere with all this outrageous overreacting, then defective discs are the least of your problems.

Look at his posting history...hysteria is his middle name. Not sure if trolling or serious.

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by Blu Titan

Look at his posting history...hysteria is his middle name. Not sure if trolling or serious.

Id guess trolling.

[thecalm_7]

My copy of "What Just Happened" is bronzed, dark spots throughout the disc, looks like a dot of inkwith oily ring around it, also around the edge, there is white-ish dried glue look on the underside of the chrome ring.

This is new out the box, today.

[I KEEL YOU]

Just because it's newly bought doesn't mean it's newly made. Looks like Magnolia might've used the same factory to make blu rays as all the other problematic blu rays from some other studios from the same period. I don't know if they have a disc replacement program.

[rdandura]

Heads up: On Criterionforum there are now rumors that Phantom Carriage might have playback problems now.

[surfinhank]

Originally Posted by thecalm_7

My copy of "What Just Happened" is bronzed, dark spots throughout the disc, looks like a dot of inkwith oily ring around it, also around the edge, there is white-ish dried glue look on the underside of the chrome ring.

This is new out the box, today.

Just checked my copy that I bought several years ago and it looks fine.

[Coenskubrick]

Got a disc second hand and wanted to make sure if it was disc rot or not before I go back to the pawn shop in a huff to berate them for selling me a decaying disc.

[Vandal Savage]

Does it play?

Definitely looks like it could be a problematic disc, but I've seen DVDs that looked like that (big brown spots) and still played all the way through.

If I only paid a two or three dollars for it, I'd be inclined to hang onto it if it played and see if developed any problems at a later date just out of curiosity.

[Coenskubrick]

Nah it was one of the more expensive ones there because it was a digibook packaging. It plays, or at least, skipping through the chapters doesn't cause any freezing, but if it's disc rot it'll probably only last a couple more years.