I bought the Scooby Doo Seasons 1 and 2 DVD Set this week. It is a 4 DVD set. For some reason, Discs 1 and 3 have motion artifacts (feathering) but Discs 2 and 4 don't. I have tried all four DVDs on 2 computers with DVD players and my television's DVD player (an old Panasonic DVD-A100) and it happens on all three. On one of the computer DVD players, I can force interlacing to leave auto mode, to force bob to get it to quit. However, the Panasonic A100 is so old it doesn't have that option.

If I remember correctly, each DVD has a flag to state whether it should be played as bob (usually TV programs) or weave (usually movies). It appears that Disks 1 and 3 have the wrong flag. This may not show up on smarter, progressive scan DVD players that know they shouldn't trust flags, but my player is old and the computer screens aren't interlaced.

Does anyone else have discs with this problem, or did I just get a bad set and should return them? It is easy to see it if you pause the disks or play them on slow motion. The motion artifacts look somewhat like the problem that existed on Monty Python's Meaning of Life DVD before that problem was fixed.

Today, I brought my Scooby Doo Seasons 1 and 2 DVD set to a friend's house who received a new RCA DVD player this Christmas. The same problem occurred.

My friend wasn't actually able to notice the problem during normal playback, but I have very good eyesight, and is noticable to me at normal playback. When we played it back in slow motion, it played several frames correctly, then would combine a frame just played fully with the next one. If there is horizontal motion, the interlacing causes horizontal feathering like the teeth of a comb, because the two frames aren't identical. It appears the player is trying 3-2 pulldown (which should only be done for motion pictures) on a television program! Again, it isn't very noticable at regular speed.

I can't believe I didn't get a single response here. Didn't anyone try this on any other player (at least on slow motion)? No one has even reported their set is okay. Maybe I'm the only one who bought it! My discs 1 and 3 have the problem, and discs 2 and 4 don't, for comparison. I also compared the problem to How the Grinch Stole Christmas, a TV special on DVD, and the problem is also absent there.

Since no one here has responded, I don't know if it's just my set, or everyone's. I tried exchanging the set today, but the store I bought it from is sold out. I should be able to exchange it within the week. Does anyone else care if this is a mistake in all of the sets?

Alot of people who checked this thread but didnt respond are probably like me and are thinking about picking up the set but between the slightly high price and any possible glitches we're not sure.Im still hoping to get the set but im not in a rush.Hope it works out ok for you,if worst comes to worst i guess you could exchange the set and see if the problem still exists?

Well, I managed to exchange the DVD set at a store that was in stock, not the original store I bought it from. Guess what, the same problem still exists. Because it was a different store, and a different DVD set, this problem probably exists on all, or at least many of the sets.

Here is a screen capture of the problem in auto mode for interlacing, which picked weave mode. This is a paused, complete displayed frame, not a combination of frames captured during an unpaused playback. This doesn't happen on disks 2 and 4, or on the DVD Original Mysteries when I pause.

http://willmar.ridgewater.mnscu.edu/..._doo_weave.bmp

My original post wasn't exactly correct, because even if you switch to bob mode for interlacing, the problem is not fixed, since the frame is still a combination of two images, just smoothed out:

http://willmar.ridgewater.mnscu.edu/...by_doo_bob.bmp

Since I'm the only person who has complained about this problem, it must not be noticable to most viewers. None of the reviews I have seen have complained about any video problem. I have a degree in animation, so I probably notice feathered edges and slight stuttering motion more than most people. It is noticable in slow motion or pause to anyone, however. It doesn't happen every frame, but something like 2 ok (or 3, I can't tell for sure), 2 bad, which leads me to believe it is doing something like 3-2 pulldown, which is a method used to display motion pictures, which play 24 frames per second instead of 30 like television programs. I think a flag controls this. Since 3-2 pulldown is a method actually used to display DVDs, most people wouldn't notice.

What does everyone else think? Is there anyone with technical knowledge of DVDs who can explain what's causing this, especially someone else who has the set? Is there any way to fix this, or a player that can adjust this situation manually? I don't think there's much of a chance Warner Bros. will fix the problem, since no one has noticed or is complaining. (DVD Talk even has a review that doesn't mention it.) Once DVD players come out that can copy a DVD perfectly, could we adjust the flag by hand before burning a copy?

This is disappointing because I was planning on buying the Scooby-Doo set and this kind of problem tends to really jump out at me.
I have a similar issue with the Futurama Season 1 set, only it's worse. Imagine the picture you posted, only instead of interlacing with the next frame, you can see two interlaced frames at once that should be about seven frames apart. So it looks incredibly jerky.

Here's the thread on that but there weren't exactly a ton of complaints.

I do wish more folks noticed problems like this because there would be a better chance of a re-issue.

I have watched all of disc 1, with no problems. I'm watching on Tosh 3900 not a dvd rom

How very disappointing that they'd make this mistake! I really wanted this set - amazon hasn't sent it yet because another dvd I ordered isn't yet released. Maybe I'll cancel it due to this problem. I feel the same way about Beauty and the Beast as you do about Scooby Doo (and others feel about Futurama) - they did such a horrible job with the colors and mood lighting that the entire film is compromised. How can I enjoy watching something that I love when the video quality has ruined it? I wish others were as picky so that they'd be forced to remake dvds that they screw up.

Same here and I am using a Toshiba player.

Yeah, I too have finished watching the set. I watched the whole thing on my PC and later my Sony DVD player and 32" Toshiba TV. The problem does appear to exist if you watch it on a PC, but is non-existent if you watch on a TV or home monitor.

Well, this is encouraging! I'm now keeping my amazon order, since I only watch dvds on my tv with a toshiba dvd player. Thanks for the clarification!