Check Your Media Asia/Mega Star Blu-rays

[Torrente]

I think you're right. To me, the most important things are the titles, year of release, name of the companies, Master Code and Mould Code.

[whedon]

So far only my copy of A1 is showing signs of bronzing but I did check a number of others and discovered that number of my Well Go USA titles are totally bronzed.

[PGW]

That happened a few years ago and they replaced the titles, so you might want to check with Well Go USA.

[FungManHin]

The Defective Asian Movie Blurays (DAMB) spreadsheet

Updated the spreadsheet, which is now known as the DAMB (Defective Asian Movie Blurays) spreadsheet. I was able to fill out the majority of the missing master/mould codes but there were still a handful that I couldn't fill out as I don't own those titles.

I re-added the "Status" field. This shows if a title has been confirmed to have died or is at risk/high risk of dying. Being at 'Risk' would mean that the title matched either of the master or mould code of a previously declared dead disc. Being classified as 'High Risk' means that a title matches the master code AND mould code of a previously declared dead disc. It is then noted as such in the 'Notes' column.

I have added the known titles from Well Go USA that have bronzed but can't add the master/mould codes as I don't have those titles. And the two or so titles that I do have, haven't bronzed yet as far as I know so I can't/shouldn't add those codes to the list yet.

I also added a worksheet with the contact info for Well Go USA for their disc replacement program. I haven't verified if this program is still in place though. I saw and copied the press release as reported by cityonfire.com, dated 12/02/2014. If anyone has an update on this program, please change it on the worksheet or let me know about and I will change it when I can.

Thanks.

[Killer Meteor]

So how long after purchase did the discs bronze and fail?

[FungManHin]

I don't think there is a way of knowing for sure unless everyone checks their discs all the time and notes when it happens.

If we go by Well Go's affected titles, their release dates and their issued press release, then I'd say it around 3 years is as good of estimate as any.

Then again, based on this thread, some of us have titles that are on the list but have not experienced any bronzing or death yet, so like I said who knows....

[whedon]

My Wells Go USA titles were fine last time I checked them a year or so ago. Now they are totally bronzed and not readable in any device. I reached out to Well Go USA and they said to send the discs back so they must still be honouring the replacement program.

[neo_reloaded]

The problematic Well Go USA titles all had mould code IC0Z I believe.

Also, let's not go crazy assuming which titles will be at risk in the future, that way lies madness. This is most likely restricted to a certain rough date range; I imagine that most of these replicators are still in business today, so to say that any disc that was ever manufactured by a replicator that made some batches of bad discs in the past is also a bad disc is pretty unlikely. The fact that this happened to so many replicators at this time period points to, in my opinion, some faulty material that was sold to and used by all of these manufacturers.

The master code is also not direct evidence of a problem - that just says where the glass master was created and is not likely to be the source of these problems. If the master code matches but the mould code does not, I would not be worried about that disc. It doesn't hurt to record the master code, more information is always useful, but what that information actually means must be remembered.

[Donnie_Yen]

Originally Posted by FungManHin

The Defective Asian Movie Blurays (DAMB) spreadsheet

I have added some missing master/mould codes.


I own all CMS MEDIA LIMITED titles. I checked them all.
All are NOT bronzed (for now), but they have the same master code (LP01) and mould code (7T33), except for SEX AND THE EMPEROR, witch has a different mould code (ZQ02).

[FungManHin]

Maybe switch from a 'Risk/High Risk' classification to a 'Monitor' classification IF master/mould codes match AND was released within close proximity to other known defective discs?

Just so we can keep an eye on discs that may be affected.

[Erasmus Craven]

Another dead one: Love In A Puff, MegaStar LN18, bronzed. Disc loads, goes through the usual copyright warnings and craps out while loading the main menu.

My copies of Isabella, Election 1 & 2, 14 Blades, Everlasting Regret and On His Majesty's Secret Servive are all fine.

[hazelwu]

I am afraid to even check now.

[FungManHin]

Originally Posted by Erasmus Craven

Another dead one: Love In A Puff, MegaStar LN18, bronzed. Disc loads, goes through the usual copyright warnings and craps out while loading the main menu.

My copies of Isabella, Election 1 & 2, 14 Blades, Everlasting Regret and On His Majesty's Secret Servive are all fine.

Are your master/mould codes different than what is listed?

[Erasmus Craven]

Originally Posted by FungManHin

Are your master/mould codes different than what is listed?

My (still) working discs for 14 Blades, On His Majesty's Secret Service, Election 1 & 2 and Everlasting Regret all have the same numbers as provided in your spreadsheet (thanks for the work!). Guess it's just a matter of time...

However, My Copy of Isabella differs: LN 91 / FD88

Plus I checked again for the codes for Love in A Puff: LN18 / JN62

[neo_reloaded]

I feel a column of "date ordered" might be helpful here (assuming people keep their order confirmation emails)? Few or none of these replicators have gone out of business to my knowledge, so those mould IFPI numbers are going to keep popping up. Titles released after 2011 or so obviously were pressed after 2011, but it is not so easy for titles that were originally released before 2011 and then later repressed.

Erasmus Craven's copy of Isabella, for example, has IFPI FD88, which shows up numerous times for other bronzed discs, but is not the same as the IFPI ML06 of the copy of Isabella that has died. Presumably Isabella was later repressed at the replicator belonging to FD88, and hopefully that is a good pressing?

I bet there have been titles repressed at the same replicator as their own first pressing, further complicating this.

[FungManHin]

Having a "date ordered" field would then take us back to having multiple entries for the same movie like when I first setup the spreadsheet and had forum user by each entry.

Do we want to go that route again?

Maybe also move all the titles that would be considered under 'monitor' status to a separate tab? Then when a "monitored" title officially dies/bronzes then it would get moved over to the main dead tab.

[Torrente]

Innocent question: doe the korean companies use the same asian replicators as the hong-kongese, taiwanese & thailandese companies?

[neo_reloaded]

Yes, Korean Blu-rays are absolutely in the same boat here. I went down a rabbit hole of reading the Korean forum DVDPrime and they've been discussing bronzing (called 'browning' there) since at least 2016.

https://dvdprime.com/g2/bbs/board.ph...1&stx=framovi4

Most identified titles were replicated by UTech, a Taiwan-based manufacturer, and UTech did end up releasing a list of titles they would exchange. They had at least a South Korean-based office, so people would mail their discs back there and receive a fresh pressing. UTech blamed the problem on resin from a company called NIPPON KAYAKU that they used from late 2009 to late 2011. That company, according to UTech, is no longer involved in Blu-ray production materials and has avoided any responsibility. UTech switched to Sony resin in late 2011, and presumably discs from that point on should not bronze.

I did not realize until this thread that Well Go USA was pressing its discs in Taiwan - I figured that, as a North American distribution arm, they'd be pressing in North America, and thus lumped them in with the Criterion/Lionsgate bronzing problems. But as seen in this thread, Well Go USA problem discs with IFPI code IC0Z match some of these Asian discs. Maybe Sonopress (the problematic Criterion replicator) was also buying this NIPPON KAYAKU resin, but I have not seen any information about this. I know the French replicator QOL also blamed 'resin' for their problems, but they didn't bronze and their problems extended past 2011, so I'm not sure what to make of that.

Open questions:
- Are there any Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Thai-based discussions recognizing this bronzing phenomenon and trying to hold the companies accountable?
- What IFPI numbers are associated with UTech and what intersection with the other countries' problem discs do they have?
- It certainly seems like this NIPPON KAYAKU resin was the root of the problem, but how long was it used at other replicators? They're out of that industry now so it's not like that use is ongoing, but when exactly did it stop?

[Torrente]

Thank you so much for your reply!

I'm baffled...


So the company which sold the incriminated resin is... japanese uh?
This leads me to another 'innocent question': what about the japanese discs then?

Damn, I have so many cool and expensive old anime boxset from this time period (from Bandaï and others)...


Also, to my knowledge, the supposedly bad resin used in France is probably the same one (someone involved in the business talked about it 'off record' and they suspected a cheap japanese resin to be the source of their problems)

EDIT: I suppose australian companies are in the same boat, too...

[neo_reloaded]

Originally Posted by Torrente

Thank you so much for your reply!

I'm baffled...


So the company which sold the incriminated resin is... japanese uh?
This leads me to another 'innocent question': what about the japanese discs then?

Damn, I have so many cool and expensive old anime boxset from this time period (from Bandaï and others)...


Also, to my knowledge, the supposedly bad resin used in France is probably the same one (someone involved in the business talked about it 'off record' and they suspected a cheap japanese resin to be the source of their problems)

EDIT: I suppose australian companies are in the same boat, too...

What Australian companies? Specific info re: bronzing or just speculation because of geographic location?

As for Japanese BDs themselves - it would all depend on whether Japanese replicators bought that resin or not. If they stuck with Sony resin, the standard bearer, they would be fine.