laserken

I found this thread last night after I finally unsealed my copy of "Forbidden Planet" and found -- during chapter 12 after whatsername gets out of the lake and is talking to Leslie Nielsen -- that the disc freezes and then the error message pops up. I made sure the disc was clean -- same result. Then I did a firmware upgrade on my A2. No go. Tried it on my A3 upstairs after another cleaning attempt -- even worse... the disc stutters and the screen turns to digital crud.

I'm guessing this is a pressing issue as I've never experienced this before and have been playing HD-DVDs for 4 years. At least I hope I'm right.... this thread is very disconcerting.

orangerunner

I just bought a used copy of Knocked Up which is a combo disc and noticed (after I bought it) there were several discolored spots and swirls on the HD DVD side.

I thought this one was a write-off but oddly enough it played flawlessly on my player. Some discs look perfect but do seem to have issues.

orangerunner

I just bought another HDDVD with the clouded effect on the underside of the disc and it froze in my player.

I took it out and rubbed car wax on it, buffed it and the cloudy effect was no longer visible.

Played fine all the way through after that.

DVD Polizei

OP, FWIW, I have a Toshiba XA2 and it's been playing all my Harry Potter discs just fine. Which is why I skipped (no pun intended) on the cheaper Toshiba models. You might try buying a used XA2.

Alan Smithee

As far as I know there were only 3 different internal drives made for all existing HD-DVD players (the 1, 2 and 3 models, with the RCA using the same as the A1 and Venturer using the same as the A3, A30 and A35.) I've noticed the A2 seems to handle bad discs better than my A30, though if it can't get through a bad part it will stop and show an error code rather than freeze and keep the counter running.

Just watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, after going through SIX bad copies! Almost sent back the one I watched too because it was playing the Warner Home Video intro then given a "System Error" message after that. I tried resetting the player back to factory defaults (which also clears the internal memory) and miraculously it played after that. I think I had that same problem with Gods and Generals.

BTW there's another way Warner screwed up HD-DVD- a few of their transfers look like they were done through a screen door- titles I've noticed include Willy Wonka, The Fugitive, Enter the Dragon, Lethal Weapon 2 and Caddyshack. Don't know if the Blu-Rays of these titles used the same transfers, but they really look terrible. Glad they weren't among the first HD-DVDs I watched.

Josh Z

All of these were from a small batch of titles that Warner sourced from old 1080i masters that were deinterlaced and frame rate converted at the studio to 1080p24 before being pressed to disc. The video was vertically filtered in the process. The result is that they all have noticeable aliasing (stair-stepping) artifacts. The Blu-rays use the same transfers.

The first Lethal Weapon and The Perfect Storm are also affected. However, I believe that the later Blu-ray edition of Perfect Storm (which was released significantly later) had some additional processing added to try to minimize the aliasing, which many people have complained makes it look even worse in other respects.

Alan Smithee

More casualties: 2 discs of "Nip/Tuck" were bad in the set I got from iNetvideo a couple years ago; after getting 2 new sets from Amazon I got one that played. Disc 4 of The Sopranos Season (whatever the final one was) Part 1 froze up too, got another set with a good disc 4 but a bad disc 2 so I just swapped its disc 4 into the old set. Now trying to get a good disc 4 of Smallville Season 6- gone through 3 of that and disc 4 freezes up right at the beginning of the first episode on that disc. Finally, just found out tonight that Cream Live at Royal Albert Hall freezes up at about 1 hour- that one's from Rhino which at least was affiliated with Warner but not sure if they still are, it was still manufactured by Cinram. Someone on Ebay has a bunch of sealed ones for $5 so ordered one and will see how that goes. (Again, I'm ONLY going through all this trouble to replace the bad discs because I'm a crazy media collector- any sane person would have just kicked them all to the curb!)

Also just got and watched "James Taylor Musicare's Person of the Year" tonight, also made by Cinram. Had a couple glitches but as it doesn't freeze up I'll let it slide, interestingly at one glitch it sometimes causes the PCM track's right channel to go to pink noise!

I've caught a lot of bad discs by running them on my HD-A2, which will display an error message and stop playing if it finds even the slightest imperfection on a disc. Surprisingly, I ran all the Universal combo discs on it and aside from the few I mentioned earlier, it made it through all of them with no problems. Ran all the dual-layer Cinram/Warner discs on that too so I THINK I've finally caught all the duds. (There's a small chance some could still end up freezing during the extras, so I'll still have to watch the ones I care about sooner rather than later.)

BTW I did watch "Lethal Weapon" and it doesn't have the blocky transfer- I have two copies of that now, one by itself and one in one of the "Best of HD-DVD" boxes which I got to replace 2 other defective discs that came in it. "Lethal Weapon 2" does however have a blocky transfer but at least the damn disc plays like it's supposed to.

JimRochester

Still haven't had any problems with any of mine.

dgj2301

I have an Hd-a30 that would freeze on most disc. I bought it to replace the xbox360 hd dvd player because my xbox would keep getting the rings of death. I noticed that those same movies would not freeze using the same player on another TV and they would never freeze on my hd-a2. I wonder if there is another variable other than a bad disc or bad laser. tried playing happy feet the other day and it wouldn't even play, even on my bh200. Had to buy it on Blu-Ray. I watched matrix revolutions the other day and it paused towards the end but I rewound it and it played through the same part fine. I think eventually, I'll replace all my hd DVDs on blu-ray, or at least my favorite movies

orangerunner

I think firmware upgrades are a big factor.

I have an A-3 which wouldn't play a Clockwork Orange at all. I updated it with 4.0 and it worked fine. It even played through the 55 minute point which caused my A2 to freeze up.

Hammer99

Still have 152 HD DVDs. I continue to upgrade titles to Blu here & there, but most of them are stuff I don't plan on re-buying. It's been awhile since I've played any of them though, & I can't be bothered to check any. I do wish Universal would finally put Midnight Run & The Sting out on BD already, cause those are the 2 'exclusive' titles left that I watched the most.

laserken

Hi Alan,

I'm having issues with Disc 3 of N/T....

Is the error message a sure sign the disc is bad or could it be a player issue? This is maddening...

orangerunner

I'm just curious how many people upgrade their HDDVDs to Blu-ray?

I understand people who upgrade their DVDs to Blu-ray but in many cases the HDDVD transfer is identical to the Blu-ray version. Why upgrade?

When you consider the $30 paid for the HDDVD version by the early adopters, does it make sense to then shell out another $5-$20 for virtually the same thing on Blu?

Yeah, HDDVD is dead but wouldn't it be easier to purchase another used back-up player or two than to replace multiple titles? I have scooped a few machines up for $15-$20 each.

I'm sure this will cover you for the next 10-15 years or at least long enough until it no longer matters.

Has HDDVD been really unreliable for many users?

Alan Smithee

As long as this has been bumped up again, I'll add that I've ran all my dual-layer Warner discs through my HD-A2 player, which will stop and show an error message if there's any glitch on the disc. Ones that stopped I then checked on my HD-A30 which will freeze up if there's a real problem, sometimes there will just be one frame going blocky then continue to play normally so I've accepted those as good enough. Last week I finally sent all my bad discs back to Warner with a note telling them I hope they do the right thing and replace them with Blu-Rays or any other format that will play as it's supposed to; I wasn't going to just throw the bad discs out and I don't have room to just keep them here.

Anyways, here's my master list of bad HD-DVDs- again, these were checked on MULTIPLE players:

Blade Runner- disc 1 (Final Cut) freezes
Viva Las Vegas- had several copies which would not load at all
Nip/Tuck- disc 2 is bad in many sets
Smallville Season 6- disc 4 is bad in many sets (freezes during beginning of first episode), also some disc 2's have problems
The Sopranos Season 6 Part 1- discs 2 and 4
Blood Diamond- many copies don't load or freeze at very start of movie
Happy Feet (single-sided version in "Best of HD-DVD Family" set- my combo version is fine)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory- many copies will not load (others may give error message but play after resetting player to defaults), still others may freeze later into movie
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Space Cowboys
Cream at Royal Albert Hall- went through *14* bad copies of this til I got one that played straight through!
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (individual disc and one found in box set)
Goodfellas
The Wild Bunch
The Dukes of Hazzard (glitched during movie and froze during one bonus segment)
Superman The Movie
Purple Rain
Alexander Revisited- movie is split onto 2 discs and one copy froze during BOTH!
A Christmas Story
The Fugitive
The Adventures of Robin Hood
Michael Clayton (only Warner combo disc to give me trouble)

I also had the A2 play all my Universal combo discs as I heard there were problems with those- amazingly the only ones of those I had to replace were: Dead Silence, Breach and The Bourne Ultimatum. Bourne actually played fine the first time I watched it but froze up repeatedly near the end when I watched it a 2nd time with the picture-in-picture commentary.

Discs that my A2 would not get through, but played on my A30:

Eyes Wide Shut (slight glitch during movie)
Pat Metheny- The Way Up
Santana- Hymns for Peace
Lethal Weapon (in Best of HD-DVD box set- slight glitch)
Ocean's 11 (slight glitch)
Deliverance
Under Siege (slight glitch)
The Wild Bunch (replacement copy- multiple glitches on A30 but no freezes or sound dropouts so accepted as good enough)

Only time will tell if any more discs will 'rot' later.

JimRochester

Out of 79 titles I have one; Accepted, that freezes at one spot in the movie.

I've only upgraded a couple titles from HD to Blu. In both cases the HD is fine but Batman Begins was a BF deal for $5 and Heartbreak Kid I needed a 5th title for the 5/20. Other than that I have no interest in upgrading. Why bother, if the HD plays fine then I'll wait. I still have another HD player in the bedroom and one in the box so there really is no reason to worry.

dvd-4-life

I just started watching HD-DVDs and been having lots of problems. Have an HD A-3 player. Can't download the firmware update because I don't have a DVD burner.
So far it won't play-Lethal Weapon
Cat People
Twilight Zone the Movie

Thinking about getting a back-up player and hoping it will play the discs that the other player is having problems. I've got about a total of 65 HD-DVDs and have been disappointed so far.

Alan Smithee

Update with some good results- I went ahead and sent my bad HD-DVDs to Warner last month, and today got Blu-Rays of most of the same titles. Some movies I sent them 2 copies of so they sent me 2 of the same Blu-Ray so I'll give those to my parents; got 2 regular DVDs of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the 2 bad HD-DVDs I sent of that since the only Blu-Ray version out right now is the box set. Chamber of Secrets was in a thinpak suggesting it had been taken from a box set, but was still sealed. They also threw in a Blu-Ray of Batman (1989) which was nice of them, that was never released on HD-DVD.

Thanks Warner, I'll keep buying your stuff. (But PLEASE stop with the Eco-Cases!)

JimRochester

I still have just one with a problem. I have a copy of Accepted, there is one glitch towards the end where it freezes. No visible scratches and I've cleaned it to the best of my ability. Still not out on blu yet, but I bought that because it was only a couple bucks. I wouldn't bother owning again for $10 or more. I'll just FF thru the bad part

steelpotato

My copy of Goodfellas is no good; simply won't play the last 20 minutes of the film

Noibeli

Hi

I am new on this forum. I have over 800 HD DVDs and a friend of mine in Germany told me about some Warner HD DVDs discs with issues. I have spent a lot of time this year testing some those Warner discs. Here my ultimate list with the faulty/defective discs:

2001 Space Odyssee GER
300 GER+US
A christmas story US
Alexander Revisted US
Batman begins US
Blade Runner US
Blood diamond UK+US+GER
Bullitt GER
Charlie and the chocolate factory US+GER
Clockwork Orange GER +US
Constantine GER
Corpse Bride GER
Die Insel GER
Erbarmungslos GER
Flags of Our Fathers UK
Forbidden Planet US
Getaway GER
Gods and generals US
Goodfellas US
Harry Potter 1 US GER
Harry Potter 2 US
Harry Potter 5 GER
Honoring James Taylor US
Die Insel GER
Last Samurai US+GER
Lethal Weapon GER
Letters from Iwo Jima GER
Matrix 1 GER
Matrix 3 US
Music and lyrics US
Mutiny on the bounty US
Nip/Tuck S4 Disc 2 US
Ocean's 11 US+GER
Ocean's 12 US
Ocean's 13 GER+US
Pan's Labyrinth GER
Password: Swordfish US+GER
Phantom of the opera US
Poseidon GER US
Prestige GER
Purple rain US + UK
Road Warropr US
Robin Hood US
Scooby Doo GER
Shining US + GER
Smallvill S6
Space Cowboys US GER
Superman returns GER
Superman US
The Assassination of Jesse James GER
The Cowboys US
The Fugitive US
The Reaping GER
The wild bunch US
Training Day US
Troja GER
Under siege US
Unvorgiven US
V wie Vendetta GER
Viva las vegas US
Wild bunch US

Goddamnit!! Aynway, I have tested the discs on my XA2 (European XE1) and A30 (European EP30) players. About 5 discs don't work on the XA2 but on the A30. All others don't work on none of them.

I would suggest: IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO REPLACE all discs. It does make more sense to find out which player is the best one for playing those difficult discs ?!

A friend of mine in the US told me that the LG BH200 Player is not that sensible when it's about playing difficult HD DVD discs.

My question: Can anyone confirm about the LG BH200? This would help a lot.

Thanks for your help!

Gizmo

I have a BH200 and it's been pretty good about playing every HD DVD I've thrown at it (can't say the same for Blu-ray since LG is no longer updating firmware to support newer titles). Looks like most of those are Warner titles. Pretty weird.

Noibeli

Thanks GizmoDVD. Yeah, several HD DVD collectors told me the same about the LG BH200. A friend of mine tried to play Honoring James Taylor on his XA2 and he got the failure message, than he tried it on his LG BH200 and it played fine. What the fuck?!

Anyway GizmoDVD, I am going to pick up the same player. By the way, sad we don't see you anymore on Highdefdigest. May I ask, what happened??

Alan Smithee

My BH200 no longer plays HD-DVDs past the opening now ever since I tried a bad Warner disc on it! Now on every HD-DVD, it just plays whatever is at the opening (usually Warner's FBI warning or Universal's logo) then refuses to play any farther. Thing was a piece of junk anyways, it force-stretched all 4x3 material! So glad I bought it used for not too much. (It does still play Blu-Rays fine though it's not my main player; don't have any out-of-region discs yet.)

slimdude

It would be foolish to invest more money into a dead format, when you already have a HD-DVD Player. The majority of those movies, are released on blu-ray. The movies that are not released on blu-ray, that's been release on HD-DVD, will eventually be released on blu-ray. It's just a matter of time! Just chalk it up as an experience, and wait for the blu-ray

dvd-4-life

What's the cheapest used HD-DVD player that plays all HD-DVD w/o a problem? Since we have one positive and one negative vote on the LG BH200,I think I will pass on that one. I have over 50 HD DVDs and been throwing the defective ones in the garbage. For the most part its been WB HD DVDs and a hand full of Universal HD DVDs.