I tried my "The Raven" today and it worked fine in both my players. I haven't tried the Hammer set though.

No problems on a Sony NS300

Shit. That's 5 films I have to watch for Bela and 8 for Hammer. I might not get through all til October, but I'll try to watch the ones people are having the most problems with. This is most troubling since this were some highly most wanted for me, although Creature Legacy and Casino have no problems. Here's hoping...so much to worry about: homework, WWIII, gas, and now my old classics, damn this world is too brutal.

After fretting about the problem with The Raven, I finished watching the rest of the disk. I had the same problem during Black Friday at about the same time index. I noticed that both problems occur on the buried layer. This got me to thinking about calibration. I dug out the cal procedure for my Sony and ran it. I watched The Raven again and now there is no freezing. I can only assume that my player was slightly out of cal (I say slightly because all of the other disks in my collection play OK) and the Lugosi disk is slightly "out" as well. That would explain the differing results in the community. For those with Sony players, go to myweb.accessus.net/~090/sonydvd.html
for the procedure. It's painless and quick.

Thanks, I'm going to try that tomorrow when I watch this set.

Phew -- made it thru The Raven and Murders in the Rue Morgue with no issues (Pioneer DV-260)
so far so good. I haven't really had any problems with these Universal DVD-18 releases,
but it's made me far more wary of leaving them on my shelf for a few months.
Thanks Universal ! *sigh*

I just watched Raven and Black Cat, no problems at all. I guess the lucky streak continues....

Nope...all over the place.

* * *

Universal mess up a double sided disc...the hell you say! Basically why I skipped this and am saving for the Val Lewton set. I've head enough headache with my Abbott and Costello, Monster Legacy and, of recent, Casion disc to go with anymore of their double disc collections.

The streak continues. I watched "The Raven" all the way through - no problems - on a Ventura DVD player. I'll watch "The Black Cat" next.

I really like these DVDs - for collectors, having all these movies on one disc saves shelf space.

Not really, you could easily fit two discs in the same size packing.

In the UK, our recently released "Wonder Woman" sets are exactly the same size boxes as their r1 counterparts. But they contain six DVD-9's, not three DVD-18's - they just use six very slim "amaray" style cases. Most "normal" sized DVD cases can easily accomodate two discs. The Star Trek sets manage six or seven discs in a small space.

The extra trouble these flippers are causing is just not worth the saving of at most a couple of inches of shelving.

I'd rather have working discs than space-saving non-working ones!

Moreoever, most studios keep a certain minimum size for packaging anyway - DVD's could easily be sold in CD sixed jewelcases, or even thinner. They don't because it cuts down on the disc's "presence" on the shop shelf. Particularly in stores that display a great many titles by stacking them so only the spines show rather than front cover.

Yeah, my wife bought Charmed season 2 and its 6 discs in three slim cases and doesn't take up much space at all.

The space arguement doesn't always work. Columbo season 2 from Universal takes up the same space as season 3 but is 4 single sided discs instead of 2 double sided and has zero playback issues compared to the rash of playback issues with season 3.

I'm going to spend the weekend watching the Lugosi and Hammer sets with my fingers crossed. Sounds like many people are getting good sets so this may work out.

I don't know why Universal keep using these things. It seems like a gimmick they won't give up on. I bet there's some geeky type there that keeps putting the discs through some error checker, or the player they use to check the discs, and saying "see it's perfect, these people are imaging things". Or worse still "ah it's just a few frame lockups or some pixels, why are they complaining?"

I used to have this issue with VHS stuff I bought. Some had horrific great dropouts..I'd take them back to the store, they'd play them and say "I can't see any problem".

As you say, it's not as if the boxes are really any smaller (and they could use the same with smart packaging for more single sided discs). They aren't saving production costs (less discs, but more expensive to make). And it's costing them big time for all the returns and bad press. Not to mention the stores...

I just don't get it at all.

FYI, I just posted over in the Hammer thread re problems with freezing on THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF.

Having not experienced any of these issues on any of the sets, I'm having a hard time beleiving it's not mainly a player issue. I think the fact that someone recalibrated their laser and everything worked fine after that kind of points in that direction.

The problem with that is the fact this only has happened to me with DVD 18s out of the hundreds of DVDs I own, the fact I was able to get new sets of both the Classic Monster Collection and Abbott and Costello sets that did not have freeze ups leads me to believe this is due to errors on the discs.

Granted some players are probably better at dealing with the errors, but that does not excuse Universal.

Do DVD 18's from other studios do the same thing?

I have very few. One on 10th Kingdom and my original version of Ben Hur is a DVD-18. Neither disc ever gave me any troubles. These Universal DVDs that are double sided with at least one side dual layered are about the only problem discs I have had and it hasn't been all of them either. I have only had issues with one disc of Abbott and Costello Vol 2, Orgazmo, one disc of The Frankenstein set and both discs of the Columbo Season 3. All the other DVD-18s have played back fine.

However, reading through the threads there are enough people having problems with almost all of the DVD 18 sets that you have to think a pretty good percentage of error discs are getting out there.

I think some players are definitely better at handling what ever causes freeze ups on some players, but it is happening enough to question whether these discs are even worth it. I say stick with single sided dual layered and if needed raise the prices to make up for extra cost. As much of a bargain as these sets are I would gladly pay an extra $5 or so to offset costs for more discs or different packaging.

Back on to the topic. I watched the Black Cat just now on a Sony 725P (the same player that had major issues with Columbo Season 3) and the movie played back perfectly. I'm going to check the rest of the movies tonight, but I'm crossing my fingers that this is a good error free set.

I just finished watching "Black Cat" (great film!) and, like "Raven" the other day, it played just fine.

I like the DVD - 18, though I guess I'm in the minority and never had a problem with the ones I own (I have all Abbott & Costello and Monster Legacy sets). I assume the MGM Outer Limits Season 1 (original series) are DVD 18. There's 8 50 minute episodes on one double-sided disc. I never had a problem with these either.

Same DVD player and same exact issue. I'm thinking with this set it probably is a player compatibility issue instead of defective DVD thing as with the Abbott and Costello sets. Still it is strange this kind of thing is happening so much on the DVD 18 sets.

I also tried it in my Sony GX7 and it freezes the same way from the 33 minute mark to the end of the picture. A freeze every 15-30 seconds all the way through the rest of the picture.

Tested it on my old 1998 Sony S300 and it plays back perfectly. No skips or freezes at all. I also tested it on my PC and it again plays back perfectly. It will probably play error free on my daughters $50 Sharp DVD player as well as that one had no problems at all with the Columbo season three discs. Sucks when a cheapo $50 sharp does a better job than my $400 Sony GX7.

Very confusing, but at the very least I can watch it on something so its not a total nightmare.

I really wish we could get some kind of answer from Universal about all of these problems.

It's a tough one to call.

I lean in the direction that something with these discs causes problems on some players.

Now, if the discs are entirely within the DVD spec, and check error free, you might call that a player issue. But if it's happening on a broad range of players, and at different points on the same title for different people, you could also justifiably call it a disc issue, as well.

IMHO it falls between the two. There's something about these discs that causes problems on somes disc and some players.

So I'd say it is both a player and a disc problem.

Additionally, since there are now quite a few DVD-18 sets about, but you hear more complaints about Universal ones than all the others combined, there might well be an authoring issue as well.

The solution seems to be obvious - go back to using the method used to produce the largely troublefree titles they used before this new stylecame on the scene.

I don't recall anyone having these problems with the "old" Universals!

My intial copy had the problem about 35 mins into The Black Cat, The Raven played fine. I returned it and checked both films on my new set and thankfully they both play well.

just got this set today. Raven played fine on both DVD players (one very old, one very new). Black Cat froze at about 35 minutes and was unwatchable. Hmm.. so got out my handy dandy DVD cleaning wipes (actually my eyeglass cleaner) did my cleaning thing and - presto mundo - problem gone. Played flawlessly on both players.

I have noticed this on a few other discs too. A very simple and cheap solution.

Hope it works for other people too!

I'd hope so too, but I'd have thought that most of the posters on here and in Home Theatre Forums would know to clean a disc and/or would know to check the surface for something bad enough to cause playback issues.

Most posters are saying that the discs look fine..

Usually physical damage bad enough to cause a freeze you can see, like a scratch/dirt/fingerprint.

Still, there's no harm in trying it...I hope it works for anyone with trouble.

Yeah, I tried that, but it doesn't change anything. The same Universal discs still freeze up on my two newer Sony's, but play fine on my old Sony, the cheapo Sharp and my PC.