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

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by neo_reloaded

If this were completely out of context, and a disc was just an odd color, I might agree with you. But you cannot ignore the context in this situation - there is, at the very least, an extremely strong correlation between bronzed discs and unplayable discs. If I see a Criterion BD that is bronzed, I am going to be concerned, and I would passionately argue that that concern is much more firmly rooted in the reality of the situation than the green DVD anecdotes you offered.

You have every right to be concerned, if you want to be. What I am pointing out is that you should test the discs before assuming that the discoloration you see means that you have disc rot.

The title of the thread announces that the discs in the list -- some with some discoloration -- no longer play. This very obviously is untrue as I have all of them, including the problematic Walkabout disc, and they all play on my players.

Pro-B

[rdandura]

In good news though, my copy of 8 1/2 shows no discoloration and plays fine.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

You have every right to be concerned, if you want to be. What I am pointing out is that you should test the discs before assuming that the discoloration you see means that you have disc rot.

Pro-B

He did! They won't play!

[Brian81]

The discolation showed in the pictures in this very thread looks just like the PDO UK epidemic of the early 90s... Bronze on outer edge of disc, working way in. For CDs (like my Dio), first affected later tracks on the disc. As a DVD/BD is different, not sure how that'd work. With LDs, it'd generally be worse at the beginning or end of the disc, though none of my rotted LDs had visible discoloration.

http://www.classical.net/music/guide...s/excerpt3.php

[Brent L.]

For those of you who have discs that load, but eventually skip and freeze, would you mine sticking one in to see if you can fast forward from the beginning through the part that gives you trouble? I want to see if just fast forwarding is a legit way to test if a disc has a problem or not.

[thompsonjohn]

This is officially my worst nightmare come to life. I've checked the discs I own that are in question and so far none of them appear to be browning at all as far as I can tell, but in the next couple weeks or so I'm going to have to watch them over so I can sleep at night.

I mean at what point can these studios put out a damn sure fire product that we don't have to analyze to make sure there are no problems with it? I already have enough anxiety in my life as it is and owning as many blu-rays as we all do, it's a nightmare to think every so often we have to check it's status, we can't let these things sit? I mean first "Twin Peaks" has erroneous discs and CBS has still yet to announce any kind of replacement program, then I hear "Eraserhead" has audio problems or something? I haven't even gotten around to watching my copy yet!

If this kind of stuff starts happening with sold-out Twilight Time discs we're all shit out of luck I imagine.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by Brian81

The discolation showed in the pictures in this very thread looks just like the PDO UK epidemic of the early 90s... Bronze on outer edge of disc, working way in. For CDs (like my Dio), first affected later tracks on the disc. As a DVD/BD is different, not sure how that'd work. With LDs, it'd generally be worse at the beginning or end of the disc, though none of my rotted LDs had visible discoloration.

I think it's actually consistent with that so far - the problems are most apparent at the layer change, which is at the edge of the disc.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by Brent L.

For those of you who have discs that load, but eventually skip and freeze, would you mine sticking one in to see if you can fast forward from the beginning through the part that gives you trouble? I want to see if just fast forwarding is a legit way to test if a disc has a problem or not.

I honestly feel that is not a valid test. It's better than nothing, but small issues could go undetected until the deterioration is further along. I've had a few bad discs in the past (not a chemical issue like this, but ones with bad blocks), and some of the freezes absolutely could be fast-forwarded through.

I plan to get a BD-ROM drive and use Nero CD-DVD Speed to scan the discs in questions and get definitive answers on which have unreadable sections and which do not.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

He did! They won't play!

And the reason why I took the time to comment here is that my discs, with the same discoloration, do not have any issues.

I fail to see how you don't realize that you are producing some massive generalizations pointing to a big issue that does not affect every disc -- as the title of your thread suggests.

Pro-B

[noirjunkie]

I just checked my copies of M and Days of Heaven, and thankfully, neither one has any bronzing/discoloration. Both have "first printing" on the back artwork.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

And the reason why I took the time to comment here is that my discs, with the same discoloration, do not have any issues.

I fail to see how you don't realize that you are producing some massive generalizations pointing to a big issue that does not affect every disc -- as the title of your thread suggests.

Pro-B

I did not make that claim. If you read the thread, I pointed out that this could be a batch related problem. I never said that every single disc is going bad.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

I did not make that claim. If you read the thread, I pointed out that this could be a batch related problem. I never said that every single disc is going bad.

This is the title of your thread:

Criterion BDs That No Longer Play

Followed by a list. I have every single title on that list. Plus the rest of the discs mentioned later on with some of the discoloration.

These discs I can play.

So, what we have here is a very broad generalization. Which is the reason why I took the time to comment in this thread.

Pro-B

[BTTF_]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

And the reason why I took the time to comment here is that my discs, with the same discoloration, do not have any issues.

I fail to see how you don't realize that you are producing some massive generalizations pointing to a big issue that does not affect every disc -- as the title of your thread suggests.

Pro-B

You can literally go onto laserrot.com and see not only what laser rot does to the disc, but also see that sometimes it deteriorates the disc slowly without you noticing.

Some people on here are confusing discoloration with laser rot. If that's what you are talking about then, yes, you are correct. Sometimes the disc can change color over time. However, if it's bronzing/rot then eventually there will be some sort of malfunction on your disc. Be it major or minor.

[Brent L.]

Ok, it's official, my Gomorrah is screwed up as well!!!

The disc doesn't have any visual flaws at all, no bronzing whatsoever. The disc also loads just fine, the menu comes up, and it starts to play. I tested it by letting it play for a few minutes, and when I had no issues I hit the fast forward button for a while. I watched closely and noticed it would freeze for a couple of seconds and my machine would make a weird noise. I would rewind back, play around where it would stall, and sure enough it freezes and skips that entire section. This seems to be happening at a number of times on my disc.

I'm not going to go through each one minute by minute just to test them, but if it happens a single time on any of the discs in this time period then I'm requesting a replacement for them.

This is flat out ridiculous, ugh.

Why does this have to be Criterion? Out of all of the companies this could happen to, why them?

Again, you can not just do a visual inspection to give your discs the clear. You must play them, and at least scam them or watch them to know if you have a defective disc!

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by BTTF_

Some people on here are confusing discoloration with laser rot. If that's what you are talking about then, yes, you are correct. Sometimes the disc can change color over time. However, if it's bronzing/rot then eventually there will be some sort of malfunction on your disc. Be it major or minor.

Thank you.

There is indeed a substantial difference and as someone who had a very big LD collection I know exactly what disc rot looks like.

What people are reporting here are two different things, with the discoloration being the main "issue".

There is no doubt in my mind that some defective discs are out there. There is plenty of information at this point to conclude that this is the case. What I wanted to make perfectly clear is that the information gathered by the OP is misleading, throwing people into panic mode.

Pro-B

[AWil]

Of the "afflicted" titles, I have three: M, Days of Heaven, and Walkabout. My discs do not have any detectable abnormalities.

[pro-bassoonist]

Originally Posted by Brent L.

Ok, it's official, my Gomorrah is screwed up as well!!!

The disc doesn't have any visual flaws at all, no bronzing whatsoever. The disc also loads just fine, the menu comes up, and it starts to play.

Then you should be more concerned with your player, not with Criterion's discs, seeing that now you have playback problems even with discs that do not have the discoloration.

Pro-B

[Brent L.]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Then you should be more concerned with your player, not with Criterion's discs, seeing that no you have playback problems even with discs that do not have the discoloration.

Pro-B

Not my player(s). They are all doing the same thing on my PS3, PS4, laptop, and the other little player we have in the bedroom (I forget the brand at the moment). None of my other BDs have any problems on these players, except for the aforementioned Rise of the Planet of the Apes that I talked about from earlier this year.

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Then you should be more concerned with your player, not with Criterion's discs, seeing that now you have playback problems even with discs that do not have the discoloration.

Pro-B

Somehow I don't believe his player is the problem here...

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by pro-bassoonist

Thank you.

There is indeed a substantial difference and as someone who had a very big LD collection I know exactly what disc rot looks like.

What people are reporting here are two different things, with the discoloration being the main "issue".

There is no doubt in mind that some defective discs are out there. There is plenty of information at this point to conclude that this is the case. What I wanted to make perfectly clear is that information gathered by the OP is misleading, throwing people into panic mode.

Pro-B

Panic mode?

This thread has encouraged people to look at discs released between certain dates in 2009 and 2010. They have started to find other discs, previously unmentioned in other threads, that are now not playing. Just within the last two pages, we have discovered that Gomorrah may be going bad, too.

Your insistence that this may be a player problem is hilarious. Do all of these forum members have the same model BD player?

Originally Posted by Brent L.

Ok, it's official, my Gomorrah is screwed up as well!!!

The disc doesn't have any visual flaws at all, no bronzing whatsoever. The disc also loads just fine, the menu comes up, and it starts to play. I tested it by letting it play for a few minutes, and when I had no issues I hit the fast forward button for a while. I watched closely and noticed it would freeze for a couple of seconds and my machine would make a weird noise. I would rewind back, play around where it would stall, and sure enough it freezes and skips that entire section. This seems to be happening at a number of times on my disc.

I'm not going to go through each one minute by minute just to test them, but if it happens a single time on any of the discs in this time period then I'm requesting a replacement for them.

This is flat out ridiculous, ugh.

Why does this have to be Criterion? Out of all of the companies this could happen to, why them?

Again, you can not just do a visual inspection to give your discs the clear. You must play them, and at least scam them or watch them to know if you have a defective disc!