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

[DeadEyesSmiling]

Just to give everyone a heads up, I e-mailed Criterion a week ago about an unrelated issue and they haven't got back to me about that either. In their defense, they may not be avoiding this particular disk problem on purpose, but could just be busy all together.

I'm without a blu-ray player at the moment, so I can't test my copies. Even if they're not okay, I don't see any reason why Criterion wouldn't do anything in their power to remedy the situation. They seem to have been pretty reasonable in the past.

-DES

[Dylan34]

Quality Control just isn't near has good it seems as it was years and years ago. All of my CDs work and I've had most of them since I got my first CD player back in 1990 when I was 11. Most of those same CDs ended up being put in a CD book and left in my truck for years for all my listening pleasure and still to this day work like a champ. Its sucks that companies are just slapping these discs together using cheaper plastics and glues and passing off to us whether they last or not. Doesn't anyone take pride in their work anymore??

[ABaglivi]

In the PDO UK bronzing affair that notably caused many Pearl CDs to rot, the pressing plant stood behind their product and sent free replacement discs for all bronzed titles. I own M and Howard's End. M is very bronzed.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by tenia

My 2 bits so far :

Tested :
Days of Heaven
Walkabout
Vivre sa vie
The Seventh Seal
Pierrot le fou

OK :
Vivre sa vie
The Seventh Seal
Pierrot le fou

The Seventh Seal falls just outside of the date range that Partyslammer figured out. Can you confirm that your copy does not play?

Originally Posted by ABaglivi

I own M and Howard's End. M is very bronzed.

Does it play?

[Mr. Thomsen]

Originally Posted by I KEEL YOU

It says so on the fine print on the back cover.

I don't have any of the titles affected, but I just checked and every single one of my Criterions is a "first printing".

This does not mean what you think it means!

Seriously, guys, can we please just lay to rest the notion that "first printing" somehow equals a specific batch or printing in the same sense it does in books? It does NOT.

"First printing" on Criterion discs are more akin to "first edition" in a book. Criterion only ever chances it if they have to re-author and re-issue the disc because of some problem (e.g. a faulty soundtrack). The new disc will then have a "second printing" on the cover to discern it from the faulty original.

If the disc has no flaws, Criterion will continue to use "first printing". You can buy a completely fresh copy today of an old title, and it will still say "first printing" on the back, even if that specific copy only left the manufacturing plant this year.

To reiterate,"first printing" on a Criterion says NOTHING about when it was pressed!

[Donat96]

I bought my copy of Stagecoach in November 2011, and it stopped working sometime in early 2012. My disc doesn't have the bronze so it may be unrelated.

[ABaglivi]

M does not play.

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Mr. Thomsen

This does not mean what you think it means!

Seriously, guys, can we please just lay to rest the notion that "first printing" somehow equals a specific batch or printing in the same sense it does in books? It does NOT.

"First printing" on Criterion discs are more akin to "first edition" in a book. Criterion only ever chances it if they have to re-author and re-issue the disc because of some problem (e.g. a faulty soundtrack). The new disc will then have a "second printing" on the cover to discern it from the faulty original.

If the disc has no flaws, Criterion will continue to use "first printing". You can buy a completely fresh copy today of an old title, and it will still say "first printing" on the back, even if that specific copy only left the manufacturing plant this year.

To reiterate,"first printing" on a Criterion says NOTHING about when it was pressed!

Yup. If they press more discs and use the same disc master, it's still "First Printing" in Criterion's eyes.

Originally Posted by ABaglivi

M does not play.

Okay, thanks!

[JJJ225]

I have four movies from the list of films with known issues:

M
Days of Heaven
Paris, Texas
Stagecoach

None have any bronzing and all have been spot-checked and appear to be working.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

This info. is extremely good to know. I don't have any of the Criterion Blu's in question, but it's disheartening that this is happening at all. Blu's are supposed to be superior to previous home video formats. Hopefully this problem won't become widespread....

[duggie walker]

OK, this is definitely serious because now it's happening to ME!!

WALKABOUT is bronzed to hell and won't play in US PS3.

HOWARD'S END seems to be ok, for now.

More to come...

This is bad news for Criterion. Doesn't help the case for physical media, either.

I wonder what other non-Criterion discs might have been pressed at the same facility?

[Brent L.]

Originally Posted by Feiereisel

Scuzzy disc update: Summer Hours, and now Gomorrah.

Summer Hours is visibly brown and fully freezes before jumping to a later point in the film. Gomorrah is only gently ruined--it skips and freezes from about 1:03:00-1:05:00 without dropping out completely and then resumes normal playback.

That is exactly where the main issue with my Gomorrah is. Is there a problem with that disc other than this "disc rot" issue?

[Dan8700]

Originally Posted by Donat96

I bought my copy of Stagecoach in November 2011, and it stopped working sometime in early 2012. My disc doesn't have the bronze so it may be unrelated.

In fact, that can mean little. A thing some people are not understanding is that even some good-looking discs from that run have been reported not working properly. At present, the only way to really detect abnormalities is to run a speed check on your PC, or check the SID code (beginning with IFPI) on the disc (please, note that I and George P12 are still finding out if the latter is a 100% accurate method, see page 9).

[MifuneFan]

No playback issues so far that I've seen, but I only skipped through some chapters. My stagecoach disc appears to be more bronze towards the edge than others though

[Andrew1987]

I checked my copy of Pierrot Le Fou and didn't really notice any actual bronzing, but I'm still paranoid. If the titles are out of print does it change if they can repress them or not or does it not matter if its just to replace the disc and not for commercial purposes.

[Brent L.]

Is Nero Disc Speed the same thing as Disc Scan?

[jscoggins]

Originally Posted by Andrew1987

I checked my copy of Pierrot Le Fou and didn't really notice any actual bronzing, but I'm still paranoid. If the titles are out of print does it change if they can repress them or not or does it not matter if its just to replace the disc and not for commercial purposes.

Hard to say. Disney will replace OOP discs, but Criterion licenses their movies from other companies. They might not be allowed to replace bad discs.

[Donat96]

Originally Posted by Dan8700

In fact, that can mean little. A thing some people are not understanding is that even some good-looking discs from that run have been reported not working properly. At present, the only way to really detect abnormalities is to run a speed check on your PC, or check the SID code (beginning with IFPI) on the disc (please, note that I and George P12 are still finding out if the latter is a 100% accurate method, see page 9).

It does have the same anomaly as rdandura's disc:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...&postcount=157

[MifuneFan]

Since members here aren't having much luck hearing back from Criterion, it'd be great if Pro-B could reach out to one of his Criterion contacts for comment.

[Feiereisel]

Originally Posted by Brent L.

That is exactly where the main issue with my Gomorrah is. Is there a problem with that disc other than this "disc rot" issue?

Not that I know of. It's played fine on two different players over the last couple years.

I wonder what the odds on just buying new copies and having them work are.