kd5

Recently watched Dragonfly: Widescreen (a Universal release), the movie started dragging badly in the middle (didn't note exactly where, it's been too long to remember either), missed probably 5 minutes of the movie, had to FF, Stop, Resume, FF some more, it actually froze several times, but then it just started playing again like nothing ever happened, presumably once it got past the bad part. The disc looks fine...

PhantomStranger

It would be interesting to know if these discs could be cleanly ripped on a computer. What I suspect is happening when a DVD glitches is that the player's error correction is getting overwhelmed.

bsmith

I agree that a player's error correction capability may manifest into pauses and skips if overwhelmed by the extent of errors on a disk. However, it most likely is getting through less extensive errors seamlessly. From my experience, ripping to computer is even less likely to succeed. I've had more cases of failed ripping but successful playback, then the other way around.

Using standard methods, a rip to a computer has to eventually read every byte and multiple attempts sometimes works. If it doesn't the whole file is skipped, while a player can interpolate around it, skipping the unreadable parts. In extreme cases, I've used special software running overnight trying to read every byte and if it ultimately fails it fills the space with "0's" so it can continue on with the remaining content.

I wish ripping was the answer, but ripping is generally more sensitive to issues than a player. At least, that is my experience.

joe_b

I wrote Magnolia about getting a replacement for The Host. It took them about a month to answer the e-mail, but they offered to send out a new DVD. Unfortunately, the replacement that was delivered this afternoon also fails at the layer change. I'm done...

Sherri Bogard at Warner Home Video contacted me again six weeks after I sent in my defective DVDs. She told me East of Eden and Hairspray were both suddenly unavailable and asked if I wanted my defective copies of those returned (I did). She also mentioned the warehouse had mistakenly sent over a blu-ray of Dreamcatcher instead of the DVD and asked if that would be an acceptable substitute. I told her my copy of Dreamcatcher was part of the "4 Film Favorites Collection". That was the edition I hoped to have replaced since I mailed in the whole package after she told me it was still available. I just want to be sure the other three movies in that set are returned to me if WB are only going to replace Dreamcatcher (which is easily the worst film in the set). I'm now keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be further hiccups -- like incorrect editions being sent or the replacements also being defective.

rw2516

Some ripping software repairs the errors and give a workable copy of an unplayable disc. When you insert the disc the software scans for errors and corrects them before you are prompted to continue. If the errors are not correctable, you will get a CANNOT READ DISC message.
Not sure if this breaks rules, a common method of copy protection is to intentionally put errors on discs. The players can compensate but ripping will fail when these errors are encountered.
Although the software is designed to get round the intentional errors, it also corrects the errors that aren't supposed to be there.

If a disc has a physical error(scratch, dirt, etc) not much you can do about it.

PhantomStranger

I know that early DVD-9s sometimes have problems around the layer break.

joe_b

It took her another month, but I finally got the replacements from WHV delivered -- eleven weeks after I sent in the defective ones. The only mistake I noticed was I received the single disc edition on "Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" when I sent in the two-disc special edition. She did upgrade the other three movies in the "4-Film Favorites" Stephen King set to blu-ray instead of returning the partially defective DVD set, so that was an unexpected surprise.

Now I just need to make time to check the replacements for defects. Some of it is clearly old stock (like the Superman and Tales from the Crypt sets), so I hope the same playback issues don't occur. The expensive Doctor Who sets were replaced with the newer pressings in slimmer packaging, so hopefully those will be good.

MLBFan24

I've only had one DVD fail on me (that I know of) - Planet of the Apes (2001)

It doesn't play after the layer change

Why did I even buy that in the first place?

kd5

Been watching the Harry Potter movies, tried to watch Order of the Phoenix this evening, disc kept freezing at the beginning, then jumped to 449, then froze again. Warner Bros. DVD crapped out.

Josh-da-man

Is that the first time you watched that disc?

The Harry Potter blu-rays are kind of notorious for being defective; I remember reading lots of complaints about discs in the big boxed sets not playing properly.

kd5

No, this would have been the 3rd time for this disc. First time was 12-08-2011, 2nd time was 02-26-2015, then our 3rd attempt last night failed miserably. Went to The Exchange earlier today, picked up a replacement, watched it tonight, no issues whatsoever. Glad we were able to continue the series. Tomorrow night: Half-Blood Prince.

mickey65

Just discovered a few seasons of my sets of Roseanne with rot on them! I think there may be something about those slim cases that cause the rot (that someone else mentioned here) since also my seasons of Dexter were rotting too - also packed in those slim cases. Like a few others here also, I've had a few movies freeze and/or skip at certain parts of the movies with there not being any marks on them at all. I take it as the disc crapping out on me and once I replace them with a new disc, it is fine.

Surfinhank

Found another bad disc:

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

The beginning plays fine, but at the layer change it starts freezing every few minutes and has glitchy playback. It was one of the old snapper case editions from WB. On the other hand, I watched Shaft's Big Score (also an old snapper case edition) and it played completely fine from start to finish.

Alan Smithee

Crap, I'll have to check my copy. I think that's coming on Blu-Ray at least.

orangerunner

I found a couple of new defects in my collection:

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) 2-Disc MGM set 16:9 anamorphic. This will play on some machines but crap-out halfway through, some players it won't even load.

Robocop (1987) from the MGM Digipak box set. Seems to play on most players but craps-out midway through.

PhantomStranger

In general, I'd be far more worried about dual-layer DVDs eventually developing problems.

Surfinhank

And another bad disc (Warner Brothers... again):

Operation Crossbow

It was in my unwatched pile and I wanted to see if I liked it enough to upgrade to blu-ray. The beginning plays fine, but at the layer change it freezes dead. It was the equivalent of having the film break in the theater right during a tense scene!

PhantomStranger

That was always brutal - watching the first half of a movie, only for the disc to stop playing.

Surfinhank

More bad news: Six Feet Under. I had bought the individual seasons as they were released and I also bought the complete series set some years ago on a sale. I've just now decided to get rid of the individuals and keep the box set, but with all the bad WB discs being reported I thought I would check them first. Good thing I did because the complete series set was riddled with bad discs. Here's a list of the bad ones:
Season 1: discs 1, 3, 4
Season 2: discs 3, 5
Season 3: disc 5
Season 4: discs 1, 2, 4
Season 5: discs 1, 3, 4

Surfinhank

Two more bad ones: Caprice and Do Not Disturb (the FOX Cinema Classics editions with slipboxes). Caprice freezes around 1 hr 23 min. and Do Not Disturb starts playing erratically after the layer change and eventually freezes.

EDIT: Make that three more: Move Over Darling is corrupt too. It made it to 1hr 32min before freezing solid.

Alan Smithee

Recently got the Phil Collins "Finally" 2-disc set brand new for $2 at the store I posted about in the Bargains area, and the 2nd disc looked funny right out of the package. My Oppo can play most of it with a few glitches, my other players and computer drive won't even recognize it. Now I have to decide if I want to spend $25 or so on a new copy online and hope that's OK, or just forget the whole thing and throw it out.

TheBang

So, after finding out about the Warner Home Video DVD replication issues from about 2006-2009 or so, I went through all my DVDs to find rotted ones. Not too many, since I was mostly buying Blu-rays by then, but I found all the following DVD's were now unplayable on the 2nd layer:

Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 2: Discs 1 and 2
Tom & Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 3: Disc 1
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 2: Disc 3
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 4: Disc 4
Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5: Discs 1, 2, 3, 4
The Maltese Falcon 3-disc SE

All the failed DVD's have Mould SID Codes of 2U** or 2V** from the Cinram replication facility in Olyphant, PA.

I sent an e-mail to WHV and then a couple days later directly to Sherri Bogard, but have yet to receive a response. I see it took joe_b a few months to complete his replacement process. Anyone else have any similar experiences?

Alan Smithee

Took a few months to get the last ones (Tales From the Crypt) replaced, but they did come through. Whenever this subject comes back up, I kind of feel less sorry for those who lost their jobs in disc manufacturing. Whoever ran this pressing plant should've been taken to the cleaners.

slybone

Out of curiosity, Alan who did you contact to get “Tales from the Crypt” discs replaced? I have a still sealed complete series set that I’m getting ready to open and start going thru, and I’m wondering who to contact if I discover any bad discs. Also, are there certain ones in that set that seem to be problematic, or is it random?

Thanks in advance!

Surfinhank

Yet another one: Sweet Bird of Youth. It freezes around 1hr 22min.