Either i'm stupid,or i'm angry......

[AaronSCH]

Some early DVD players had problems with later, more advanced discs. Many people had problems with their discs freezing up at layer switches. A real annoyance since you had to advance the disc to continue playback... sometimes you just couldn't move beyond that point on the disc and sometimes you couldn't play the disc at all! Here's a blast from the past, a couple of questions regarding dual layered discs and DVD player compatibility:

Originally Posted by www.dvddemystified.com

Why doesn't disc X work in player Y?

The DVD specification is complex and open to interpretation. DVD-Video title authoring is also very complex. As with any new technology, there are compatibility problems. The DVD-Video standard has not changed substantially since it was finalized in 1996, but many players don't properly support it. Discs have become more complex as authoring tools improve, so recent discs often uncover engineering flaws in players. Some discs behave strangely or won't play at all in certain players. In some cases, manufacturers can fix the problem with an upgrade to the player (see 1.47). In other cases, disc producers need to reauthor the title to correct an authoring problem or to work around a player defect. Problems can also occur because of damaged or defective discs or because of a defective player.

What's a dual-layer disc? Will it work in all players?

The DVD specification requires that players and drives read dual-layer discs. There are very few units that have problems with dual-layer discs--this is a design flaw and should be corrected for free by the manufacturer. Some discs are designed with a "seamless layer change" that technically goes beyond what the DVD spec allows. This causes problems on a few older players.

So, welcome to the world of the early adopter. DVD had just as many, if not more issues when it was launched over a decade ago. Sometimes it's just easier to romanticize the past rather than accept it as it was.