anyone having problems with MEANING OF LIFE?
 

First of all, no insert?


I started watching from the sex education scene onto the rugby scene. The movie looks clear, but I'm having a really strange problem. THere are many, many times where the image appears to have this static. its like nothing i've ever seen. It's almost like watching a vhs movie that is tracking itself while you watch. I was curious if anyone else had this problem, or if I just got a crappy copy.

it indeed sounds like it must be a bad copy as mine plays perfect in the scenes you mention.

No problems here either, and yes, no insert.

I want an insert!! :(

I'm having a similar problem. Is it like a bunch of dark jagged lines around certain objects or people? Not continuous, but only when there's a lot of movement on the screen? It's incredibly distracting. Disc 2 plays fine.

What kind of player are you using? I've got a JVC.

yes rusty! exactly!

I'm watching it on my playstation 2. I also have a pretty small, crappy tv. but still, this was the first time I have noticed any problems playing a movie on a ps2. Most of the time its just as clear and great as using an actually dvd player. We have a dvd player in my living room, though I never watch movies there. When I get a chance I'll check it out there, see if it makes a difference

It's not your PS2. My copy has the same infernal lines around anything in movement. Does anyone know if this is a widespread problem with the discs? I don't want to return it just to wind up with the same damn lines keeping me from enjoying the movie.

I have the same problem. I just put it in and jumped around a few different scenes to check, and it's really bad when it happens, which is pretty frequently. I tried it out on the Apex we have, it's cheap, but I've never had a problem at all with it. I'll try another player later on.

More Info On Problem Disc
 

Okay, I've done some investigating, and I found out the following.

The main feature (Disc One) exhibits terrible problems on both my Daewoo 5800 and my XBox. It appears that in scenes with lots of movement, every other line of resolution is shifted an inch or two left of the lines above and below it. I must admit that I found it strange that after searching the internet for further info on the problem, I only found a few mentions of this problem. Obviously, this problem only affects certain players.

Finally, I played the disc on my pc dvd-rom, and it looked fine (the source elements are still pretty weak, but that's for another thread). I then tried the disc in my roommate's Apex dvd player, and - again - the picture looked fine. I wound up borrowing his player for the evening to finish the feature. FYI - the second disc plays fine in all players tested.

I haven't seen too many player-specific problems like this for several years, but in the early days of dvd, problems like this were abundant. I'm hoping that Universal will issue a corrected disc and offer a free replacement program for those of us with the current disc, but I'm not holding my breath.

If anyone makes any further discoveries about the problem or hears anything on the pipeline about a possible replacement disc, please post it here.

didnt test it on all players...but it played fine on both my Denon and Panasonic decks.

This isn't really a player specific problem - although it is more evident on certain players compared to others - it's just a defective transfer. Even if you don't notice it in full motion, I can still see the picture breakup in still mode on every player I stuck it in. I've noticed this before on other discs. A lot of other people don't seem to be bothered by it, or maybe they just don't notice it, but it's definitely a problem with the transfer. Some players just handle it better than others, but it's still there.

Re: anyone having problems with MEANING OF LIFE?
 

But does it look better than the OOP version??

Hmmm the old release isn't that awful, while far from pristine it is a decent transfer, probably better than this one from what I've read. Think I will buy the new set for Disc 2 and hang onto the old one.

oh.... you mean the DVD ...... and I was ready for a deep, meaningful philosophical discussion.... -wink-

I have the same problem with my Phillips DVD player. I exchanged for another copy thinking it was defective, but the same problem appeared. Seems to play fine on the computer.

I had the same problem on my Malata 520 (played fine on my Panasonic). So I switched the video mode on the Malata to "Camera" and it seems to have fixed the problem, though I have no idea why. Any techstuds tuned in who can hazard a guess?

I had the same problem with my Panasonic RP-82. I turned off the film setting (I use 2) and switched to video. No problem with it afterwards. Perhaps there's a flagging error....

Todd

I have the problem throughout the entire first disc, so frustrating.
So is the general consensus if I take it back I end up with the same problem? Meaning of life is one of my favorite films, and I don't want to just "go without".

Dylan

As has been noted at HTF and the Mobius HVF, the film was misflagged, and looks like crap when played in progressive mode. It also appears it may have been a poor PAL-NTSC transfer that could account for this. Email Universal with your complaints and maybe they'll do a recall.

Mobius thread

No problems on my Panny A-112.

And I did notice it on a Panasonic A-112. Just look at any scene with any camera movement or quick motion. If you really don't see it, then freeze frame and you'll see what people are talking about. Then again, you might want to ignore the whole thing and go on enjoying it, because once it's pointed out to you it'll drive you up the wall.

Okay I returned my copy, and the copy I got today does the same thing. I tried it on an Apex and PS2 and it does it really badly. I tried it on my Samsung 611 and it's fine. But my Samsung is messed up and plays everything fullscreen, and apparently they don't make universal remotes with "Setup" buttons, so looks like I'll be using the Samsung for it.

Well, this is sort of a relief. Now I know that it's not my DVD player that's being faulty. It was horribly annoying.

Anyway, I put the disc in an old crappy Magnavox DVD player that was lying around the house and it looked normal.

...but is anyone having trouble accessing DVD-ROM stuff???
 

The film looks OK to me, although I don't have a progressive scan. The problem I'm having is accessing the DVD-ROM content. I can play Disc 2 fine with my default DVD player software but no DVD-ROM content appears. When I install the interactual DVD player, I'm having trouble even playing the Disc 2. I keep getting Microsoft Internet Explorer script errors. I've emailed interactual tech support, but no response. I running Windows 98 (not SE) and have IE 6. Anyone else having these types of problems???

...and oddly, I don't think a single DVD review online has noted these issues, at least neither of the ones listed on DVD Basen. Oh well.