DVD Talk Forum - Blu Ray Rot

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I had to replace my Sleepy Hollow original Blu-ray last year.

Thankfully the Jack Ryan movies and Cloverfield I have since replaced on 4K UHD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bunkaroo (Post 14222417)

I had to replace my Sleepy Hollow original Blu-ray last year.

It looks like Sleepy Hollow had at least a couple different pressings in the time period in question. While my personal copy was not pressed at Technicolor, I've found enough reports of defects that it seems that at least some batches were probably pressed on 2TB4, so I've added it to the list.

I checked my copy of Sleepy Hollow. Mine had a different mould number IFPI KK0A I think. I probably have an affected Clear and Present Danger disc. Still have to find Zodiac as well.

Here's a disc that I had go rotten on me , and it's fairly new: Twins. It's the Shout Factory release from 2020. Started skipping in the part where the Twins visit the university and the lab. It's like around 65 mins in (sorry only a rough estimate).

I'd contact Shout Factory, they may replace it for you.

If you want to check your Paramount collection for defective 2TB4 discs, I've created a list of Paramount releases from 2006-early 2009. The list up above are the only ones I know are confirmed to have 2TB4 pressings, but any of these Paramount releases could potentially have been pressed on 2TB4 during that period. If you check your collection and find a 2TB4 pressing, whether rotted or not, please post here, and I'll add it to the list.

A couple things to keep in mind. In my collection I've seen pressings on other moulds in the same facility, specifically, 2TB2 and 2TB8. These discs have been fine. It appears to be the 2TB4 mould only that is creating extremely high defect rates. Also, keep in mind that different discs in multi-disc sets are usually pressed on different moulds. For example, the Zodiac release, where only Disc 2 was pressed on 2TB4, and Disc 1 was pressed on something else.

Code:

Aeon Flux (Æon Flux) (2005)

Arctic Tale (2007)

Babel (2006)

Beowulf (Director's Cut) (2007)

Black Rain (1989)

Black Snake Moan (2007)

Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Cloverfield (2008)

Coach Carter (2005)

Coming to America (Special Collector's Edition) (1988)

Days of Thunder (1990)

Dexter: The First Season (2006)

Drillbit Taylor (Extended Survival Edition) (2008)

The Duchess (2008)

Election (1999)

Event Horizon (1997)

Face/Off (Special Collector's Edition) (1997)

Failure to Launch (2006)

Flags of Our Fathers (2-Disc Special Edition) (2006)

Four Brothers (2005)

Freedom Writers (2007)

Friday the 13th (Uncut) (1980)

Ghost (1990)

The Godfather Collection (The Coppola Restoration | The Godfather / The Godfather: Part II / The Godfather: Part III) (1972-1990)

Hot Rod (2007)

The Hunt For Red October (1990)

Hustle & Flow (2005)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2008)

Into the Wild (2007)

Iron Man (Ultimate 2-Disc Edition) (2008)

The Italian Job (2003)

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

Last Holiday (2006)

The Love Guru (2008)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Mean Girls (2004)

A Mighty Heart (2007)

Mission: Impossible (Special Collector's Edition) (1996)

Mission: Impossible II (2000)

Mission: Impossible III (2-Disc Collector's Edition) (2006)

Nacho Libre (2006)

Next (2007)

Old School (Unrated) (2003)

Patriot Games (1992)

Payback (Straight Up: The Director's Cut | Special Collector's Edition) (1999)

Primal Fear (Hard Evidence Edition) (1996)

Reds (25th Anniversary Edition) (1981)

Sahara (2005)

Shine a Light (The Rolling Stones) (2008)

Shooter (2007)

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season (2008)

The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008)

Strange Wilderness (2008)

The Sum of All Fears (2002)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Tommy Boy (Holy Schnike Edition) (1995)

Top Gun (1986)

Trading Places ("Looking Good, Feeling Good" Edition) (1983)

Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition) (2007)

The Truman Show (1998)

U2: Rattle and Hum (1988)

The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition) (1987)

The Warriors (Ultimate Director's Cut) (1979)

We Were Soldiers (2002)

Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling (2008)

World Trade Center (2-Disc Commemorative Edition) (2006)

Zodiac (2-Disc Director's Cut) (2007)

^Thanks for that. I only had Shooter and Four Brothers, neither of which were 2TB4 pressings.

I'm pretty sure I've also got The Truman Show, but seem to have misplaced it.

Catch me if you can, The Dictator and Scrooged were more Paramount titles that failed on me. Work until about an hour into the show then freezes for like 20- 30 minutes and then watchable near the endings.

As Above, So Below (a Universal Studios Home Entertainment release) started freezing up at the 46min. mark, had to finish the movie from its accompanying DVD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBang (Post 14222177)

The Mould SID is etched into the inner-most ring of the disc on the label side. (If the SID code you find is "IFPI L***", you've found the Mastering SID, not the Mould SID.) "TECHNICOLOR/CA" should also be etched into the ring, on the opposite end of the circle from the Mould SID code.

I checked a bunch of old Paramount titles in the list and so far, all have IFPI L*** on both the outer and inner rings. I assume that means they're ok(-ish)? Not too worried, as a bunch of them were replaced later in multi-film sets so I can unload the singles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian T (Post 14224370)

I checked a bunch of old Paramount titles in the list and so far, all have IFPI L*** on both the outer and inner rings. I assume that means they're ok(-ish)?

No, that means you're looking at the Mastering SID code, which is the wrong code. You need to find the Mould SID code, which is on the label side, at almost the very inner-most part of the ring. It's etched into the plastic, so it can be very difficult to see unless you get the light to catch the grooves at the right angle.

Good to know. I'll try that. Figured when I saw two of them, and slightly different, they must've been ok. Thankfully there's not too many to check. :)

Looking at that list, I guess I now know why my Cloverfield no longer works.

Had about 10 on the list. Most are fine, I guess. Mostly 'IFPI KK**' or 'OY**' (I think?). One flashlight, magnifying glass and ceiling fixture later . . .

Two with '2TB4': CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and UNTOUCHABLES (luckily the former is also in a Jack Ryan 5 pack I bought a few years ago (all of which do not have this code, so it's nice to know they weren't repackaging old stuff), so I should've unloaded it ages ago)

Two with '2TB3': MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 and ITALIAN JOB (these could be '2TB8', but I'm pretty sure it's a '3', but based on your notes above, they might be ok)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian T (Post 14224555)

Two with '2TB4': CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and UNTOUCHABLES

That's good to know, thanks. I've only added titles I have personally seen, or reports that have explicitly mentioned 2TB4. I had seen a few reports about Untouchables possibly being bad, but my personal copy was pressed elsewhere. Now that we know there's a 2TB4 pressing out there, I'll add it to the list.

Can you test those 2 discs in your player? As I mentioned, I had a 100% failure rate of 2TB4 discs in my collection. I'd be curious to know if yours is similar. Most of the discs failed to load entirely, but one title would load but then fail about halfway through the film.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian T (Post 14224555)

Two with '2TB3': MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 and ITALIAN JOB

If you have time and inclination, could you test these too? I expect they'd be fine, but it's always nice to have more data. I checked a couple more Paramount discs in my collection that I’d missed earlier and found a 2TB3 and 2TB6. They worked fine, as expected.

Will try at some point. Haven't watched these since I purchased them, and they've been shelved in a cabinet ever since, plus I'll be watching them on an older player that I favour because it allows me to watch everything at 1.5x speed with the audio on (the only way I can conquer the backlog!). Assuming this issue is widespread though, I'm guessing none of that will matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBang (Post 14222177)

In my collection, I've found that it's mostly Paramount discs. I've identified the following potentially problematic discs, either from my own collection or from multiple user reports per title over several forums:

So, I got Paramount to replace my defective discs by filling out this form:

https://phe-physical-consumer-support.imoxiemedia.com/

(The proof of purchase is just a photo of the back of the case where it says "Proof of Purchase" above the UPC.) For the one they had in stock, it took just a few days for them to respond and ship it out. For the one they didn't have in stock, it took almost 2 months before they responded to say that they'd finally received stock and would ship out. So patience may be required if you don't hear from them right away (and don't resubmit).

Anyway, the funny thing is that the new, sealed copy of Flags of our Fathers that they sent me was the same first pressing that I had. The discs were the same, and, as expected, the first disc, pressed on 2TB4, was completely rotted/oxidized and unplayable. So, I ended up buying a new copy from Amazon. That one was clearly a different pressing. The Blu-ray case style was different, and Disc 1 was pressed in Mexico. The silkscreen art on Disc 1 was darker and blurrier. It played fine. So, I'm not sure why Paramount apparently has a bunch of first pressings in their warehouse, while retailers have been sent corrected packages.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheBang (Post 14252379)

Well, it took almost 5 months, but Paramount made good on replacing all my defective 2TB4 discs. They even sent a 2nd copy of Flags of our Fathers that had a new pressing. And the lady at iMoxiemedia (PHE's outsourced customer service) answering the emails was very friendly and helpful throughout the process, even if it did take a while.

It might be worth testing if you have old Synapse titles. I recently encountered two that were unplayable: Vampire Circus and The Dorm That Dripped Blood.

Since I have gone mainly 4k, all of my DVDs and a lot of my blus are in storage. Once temps stay lower my project is to get rid of the majority.

Quote:

Originally Posted by clckworang (Post 14316371)

It might be worth testing if you have old Synapse titles. I recently encountered two that were unplayable: Vampire Circus and The Dorm That Dripped Blood.

That would gut me if the Synapse discs start failing.

Yup, Dorm that Dripped Blood, Frankenhooker, Red Scorpion, Vampire Circus all rotted for me but they send me replacement discs right away and I will always be partial to Synapse films.

Quote:

Originally Posted by story (Post 14113048)

Blu! Ro! No go! Blu! Ro! No go!
Blu! Ro! No go! Blu! Ro! No go!
They're rotting in the cardboard!
They're chipping in the center!
The coating is eroding!
The Blu-ray rot!
The glue has got them peeling!
The case has got them skipping!
The coating is corroding!
The Blu-ray rot!

Blu! Ro! No go!
No Back to the Future!
Alien! Antholo-no!
Hitchcock set, you won't see, no!
The pressing plants were terrible!
In USA and Mexico!
To one they took a wrecking ball!
The Blu-ray rot!
Hope it's not from Warner!
Lion's Gate's a goner!
Criterion wore bronzer!
The Blu-ray rot!

Blu! Ro! No go!
Basic Instinct bad now!
American Psycho no!
Universal Horror is a horror show!
Die-cut is a disgrace!
Scratch the disc and deface!
Get 'em in a keepcase!
The Blu-ray rot!
Player's in "no disc" mode!
Out of print and won't load!
Check the IFPI code!
The Blu-ray rot!
Blu! Ro! No go! Blu! Ro! No go!
Blu! Ro! No go! Blu! Ro! NO GO!

youtube.com/watch?v=EF-WSml4F-w

This was your creative zenith and you are a good person.

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidlynchfan (Post 14316608)

Yup, Dorm that Dripped Blood, Frankenhooker, Red Scorpion, Vampire Circus all rotted for me but they send me replacement discs right away and I will always be partial to Synapse films.

I actually reached out to them as well, and they said they would send replacement copies for me. :up: