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

[I KEEL YOU]

That really sucks. Sony's blu rays have been absent from these failed disc lists.

[neo_reloaded]

No presser is going to be totally devoid of bad discs.... Each is manufacturing millions of discs per year, so the idea that not one single Sony-pressed disc has ever been defective is not realistic.

[Crispy Noodle]

Originally Posted by eddyw78

I have a few discs mostly from Warner or Fox which refuse to play although I think it is more down to my 10 year Panasonic as they will load on my sons PS4 which is rather annoying. I do find it strange that these few discs refuse to load on my player but most do. Surely if the player had issues nothing would work.

When my original Oppo started to fail it was a subtle and very long process. First it was just a couple of discs and everything else worked fine so I blamed the discs. It was a few months before I even realised it was the player, and that was when I tried reloading multiple times and had it successfully load after several tries.

Just suggesting anyone with issues try their discs on another player.

I have been checking discs reported here and still haven't found a title that won't play. I did buy a used Devil's Rejects that would not play.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by neo_reloaded

No presser is going to be totally devoid of bad discs.... Each is manufacturing millions of discs per year, so the idea that not one single Sony-pressed disc has ever been defective is not realistic.

Defective from the start is one thing. That's understandable for one disc for every thousand discs pressed.

But a disc playing fine for a few years, then suddenly going bad and won't play is way more concerning. In theory, that disc could also be "one bad disc", but it could also very well be an indication that all of those discs are all about to go bad.

[eddyw78]

Originally Posted by Crispy Noodle

When my original Oppo started to fail it was a subtle and very long process. First it was just a couple of discs and everything else worked fine so I blamed the discs. It was a few months before I even realised it was the player, and that was when I tried reloading multiple times and had it successfully load after several tries.

Just suggesting anyone with issues try their discs on another player.

I have been checking discs reported here and still haven't found a title that won't play. I did buy a used Devil's Rejects that would not play.

That sounds the same as my experience. Some of the titles that refuse to work do so after a few attempts or even after I load up another disc. I have been noticing this issue for years though with this player with Bridge On The River Kwai being the first one which would load if I switched the player off with the disc still inserted and then rebooted it. Maybe I’ll have to admit defeat and get a new player

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

Defective from the start is one thing. That's understandable for one disc for every thousand discs pressed.

But a disc playing fine for a few years, then suddenly going bad and won't play is way more concerning. In theory, that disc could also be "one bad disc", but it could also very well be an indication that all of those discs are all about to go bad.

A disc that "goes bad" has something in it that is "defective" from the start - it just does not initially result in playback problems. A slight gap in the edge sealing will slowly allow air in over a period of years - that gap existed from the very beginning and is a manufacturing flaw. Expecting that the Sony presser has NEVER made a SINGLE disc with a sealing flaw is unrealistic. One guy reporting that one Sony disc has gone bad does not suddenly change the entire context of the situation.

Is it worth noting? Yes (though in this case, given what else eddyw78 is saying about his player, I wouldn't even definitely say that this particular Sony disc has gone bad). But is it alone a sign that a bunch of Sony discs are going to go bad? The statistics of the currently available information strongly suggest that the answer is 'no.'

[Doombear]

My Universal Blu-ray of An American Werewolf in London: Full Moon Edition started freezing up in all my players. Universal doesn't offer replacements. I can either buy a replacement for cheap or wait for the Arrow Edition coming out in about a month.

[Aunt Peg]

Checked my Cousin Cousine (from Gaumont @2010) in four machines and its dead.

I also checked Fellini's Casanova (which is from Carlotta) in two machines. Loaded fine in one but the other had trouble loading with the menu emerging in splutters. The film played fine in both machines. Of course this could simply be a case of a machine/disc issue but time will tell.

Actually these failing Gaumont discs (4 and counting and all from 2010) prompted me to check some discs from the UK - they were all fine.

Anyway, time will tell with everything. I have DVDs that are over 20 years old and play fine so aside from the Warners issue I've had only a couple of DVD discs dying. I think at the end of the day most to the discs will outlive me.

[Xenofin]

Yesterday I found out that my 2-disc 'Transformer', Scandinavian release, has become rotten. In the middle of movie (1:15:21) picture jams, pixelates and then movie jumps 30-40 min forward and visually I can see some changes in disc layers around there, no scratches or any other surface damage. Tested with two disc players and PC. UPC 7-332504-990574. Bought in 2008 soon after release. This is the only one yet I have encountered with Bluray discs. With DVDs I have multiple cases of rotten discs. I have watched this movie last time about 4-5 years ago and totally three times with different players, no problems then.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Well this one really, really stings. My OOP Lionsgate blu ray for Near Dark went bad on me. Just tried to watch it and it froze around 3 minutes in.

[Jompa]

My Norwegian BD of Looper froze around 01.13.00. I saw under a big brown stain. Bought the American BD.

[Aunt Peg]

I have a 2011 edition of Les femmes du 6eme étage (The Women on the Sixth Floor). Its from M6 Video.

It has a large brown/gold band around the inner circle like my 2010 Gaumont discs that have failed (Danton, A Man Escaped, The Night at Vareness & Cousin Cousine).

However, the Les femmes du 6eme étage played loaded fine and played fine when I did a chapter to chapter skip through it.

I actually purchased the Australian disc which was pressed in 2012 and it doesn't show any colouring of the inner ring and plays fine (its a better disc for English speakers anyway because it doesn't have French subtitles for the dialogue spoken in French).

Anyway, I'm holding onto the French disc and will check it every six months. I do need to check if the disc was pressed by QOL.

[Trekkie313]

My copy of For All Mankind will not play all the way through on my standalone 3D Sony player, but works fine on PS3.

[Aunt Peg]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

My copy of For All Mankind will not play all the way through on my standalone 3D Sony player, but works fine on PS3.

Might just be a player/disc thing hopefully.

Over the years I've had the odd DVD that wouldn't play in a particular machine but was fine in every other player.

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

My copy of For All Mankind will not play all the way through on my standalone 3D Sony player, but works fine on PS3.

It was released during a period where Criterion's blu rays fail systematically, so it's no surprise.

[JurassicBD]

Originally Posted by Trekkie313

My copy of For All Mankind will not play all the way through on my standalone 3D Sony player, but works fine on PS3.

In the cases of disc rot we've experienced, nothing worked, not switching players, not cleaning the disc, not clearing the players cache, not rebooting the player.

Since the disc works on one player, but not the other, it could be something in the encode tripping up the player. We've got several discs that will play fine on our Oppo, but not on our PS3/PS4, and vice versa. They were like that brand new, and it's not because of a physical defect, it's an authoring one. A firmware update might fix it, if available. But, most manufacturers are slow with updates these days, and often don't support older players no longer in production at all. Not to mention updates that fix new issues, sometimes cause problems with older discs. Even in the DVD era, it was prudent to keep two distinctly different players on hand and it wasn't nearly as complicated as BD.

Also, if the PS3 has better error correction (which tends to be the case more often than not), it might be able to play through small surface dirt or abrasions that might lock up players with lesser error correction solutions. I wouldn't expect it could correct for rot though, as rot generally affects too large an area. Or it could be that the optical pickup in the Sony is slightly misaligned (caused by using lens cleaning discs with brushes) or failing. If it's failing you will likely start having problems with other discs too.

[JurassicBD]

Anyone ever seen a disc that is completely bronzed? We just received a new (sealed) copy of 7 Guardians of the Tomb from Target, and it looks uniformly bronze all the way through. I was sure it was rotted when I opened it. By far the worst case of rot I've ever seen in fact, as this thing is dark. But, before contacting Target I tested it just to be sure. I haven't had time to watch it in it's entirety, but it loaded fine, and seems to play fine at every chapter stop. Now I'm wondering if I've got a ticking bomb that needs to be replaced while I can still return it to Target (I can't find any support contact for Gravitas, just professional contacts), or if the disc is fine, and it's just something weird I've never seen before.

[neo_reloaded]

7 Guardians of the Tomb? That's released by Gravitas Ventures and they almost exclusively use BD-Rs, aka burned discs. Most BD-Rs I've seen are of the black-bottom variety, but I did see a yellow-bottom one once, so they are out there.

[zeze]

Originally Posted by JurassicBD

Anyone ever seen a disc that is completely bronzed? We just received a new (sealed) copy of 7 Guardians of the Tomb from Target, and it looks uniformly bronze all the way through. I was sure it was rotted when I opened it. By far the worst case of rot I've ever seen in fact, as this thing is dark. But, before contacting Target I tested it just to be sure. I haven't had time to watch it in it's entirety, but it loaded fine, and seems to play fine at every chapter stop. Now I'm wondering if I've got a ticking bomb that needs to be replaced while I can still return it to Target (I can't find any support contact for Gravitas, just professional contacts), or if the disc is fine, and it's just something weird I've never seen before.

My copy of Alex and the List is exactly like yours as well. I haven't tried playing it yet but I'm assuming that is just how these particular batch of BD-Rs were made and not disc rot.

My other BD-Rs from this company have been dark purple/black.

[darkness2918]

Originally Posted by MassiveMovieBuff

Well this one really, really stings. My OOP Lionsgate blu ray for Near Dark went bad on me. Just tried to watch it and it froze around 3 minutes in.

I need to check mine really soon now