ViewAskewbian

I know we have a DVD Rot thread in the other forum but here's one for Blu Ray.

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Was reading on another forum today about people experiencing Blu Ray Rot on the Alien Anthology set. I went to examine mine and, sure enough, there's some with what looks like the coating pealing away. Popped them into my player and nearly all no longer load.

TomOpus

Shit, guess I should check mine when I get a chance. It's somewhere in storage.

ViewAskewbian

I've also been reading about issues with The Hitchcock Masterpiece/Ultimate Collection as well as the Back to the Future set.

Worth noting that ALL of these are those packing that opt for glossey cardboard storage. Some are saying it has to do with the glue or whatever is used in coating eroding and corroding the discs. Though my Alien Set looks more like paint chipping (albetit on a much smaller scale)

stvn1974

I have had FOX DVDs from TV sets go bad and I have had my share of 4K UHDs not playing correctly but never had a problem with a BD disc. Hopefully that stays.

John Pannozzi

Good thing I put my Alien Anthology blu-rays in regular keepcases.

Josh-da-man

I have the Alien Anthology set in the cardboard case, but I took my discs out of them and put them in a regular 6-disc case with a custom printed label.

I don't like the "sleeve" type cases because of their potential to scratch the discs. Anything that comes in one of those (DVD or blu-ray) gets taken out once and put in a regular case.

I might check my Alien Anthology blu-rays later.

davidlynchfan

I think most of these bad discs had more to do with that junk Mexican pressing plant.

morriscroy

IIRC, some of the earlier Fox bluray titles were manufactured at CMC/Deluxe back in the mid-late 2000s. (Not entirely sure of the company's name).

It turns out an early batch of Lionsgate bluray titles which went bad, were also manufactured at CMC Deluxe.

morriscroy

The only reliable Mexican cd/dvd/bluray/4Kbluray pressing plant, is the giant Technicolor facility in Guadalajara.

Discs manufactured there have IFPI sid code KK** (where ** are alphanumeric wild card characters), etched into the first transparent inner ring away from the center hole of the disc.

For more than a decade, Paramount, Warner, Disney, and Universal have manufactured their dvd/bluray discs at this Technicolor plant at Guadalajara. Sony started manufacturing their cd/dvd/bluray titles at this plant in 2018, after Sony closed down their decommission disc manufacturing operation in Terre Haute Indiana in early-mid 2018.

morriscroy

After dumping CMC/Deluxe, Lionsgate had their dvd/bluray discs manufactured at Cinram/Technicolor's plant in Huntsville, Alabama. This plant had discs with IFPI sid code 2F** (where ** are alphanumeric wildcard characters).

Fox also later went to Cinram/Technicolor Huntsville for most of the 2010s decade to manufacture their bluray discs (and some dvds).

This Huntsville Alabama Technicolor plant was decommissioned sometime in 2020.

https://huntsvillebusinessjournal.co...-sold-for-39m/


I have no idea where Fox and Lionsgate manufacture their dvd/bluray/4Kbluray discs nowadays. Though I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up also at Technicolor's giant Guadalajara Mexico plant.

TheMovieman

Checked my Alien Anthology and Alfred Hitchcock sets and all discs look good. However, this is a good reminder, will buy some Blu-ray cases to store the discs in.

I do recall another set, maybe Universal Horror Collection, that had glue on the discs, basically ruined.

stvn1974

I had the same problem with three tries on the Universal Horror Collection. I ended getting the Best Buy exclusive and bought The Creature From The Black Lagoon separately.

Spiderbite

Never hurts to throw the disc in a bowl and then pour boiling water over it. I have had some wonky discs and this almost always fixes them. Not exactly sure why.

TheMovieman

I just checked my DVD Profiler, and it was the "Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection". Luckily I received (for my site) the "Universal Classic Monsters: 30 Film Collection" where each franchise was housed in Blu-ray cases. So I really don't need the other one anyway, but still that kind of packaging is ridiculous.

On that Alfred Hitchcock set, the glue had pretty much evaporated where the disc could pop up or down in those slots. Thankfully every disc looks fine, maybe some light scratches that should've effect playback.

sleepyhead55

Here's a few to avoid: Basic Instinct (2007? disc I think). I had to replace it with a UK disc, at least that one had a newer scan)., The Ninth Gate. Summer Hours (Criterion). I'm sure there are more. I've read The Way of the Gun goes rotten as well.

orangerunner

I had a few early Lion's Gate titles with the foil covers go bad from 2007 like Basic Instinct, First Blood, American Psycho, Reservoir Dogs etc. I bought the later Maple versions (at least here in Canada) and they seem to be fine.

zyzzle

Very useful information. I've never had a Blu-ray disc rot, but of course had a few flipper DVD-18s and many laserdiscs rot (the infamous Pioneer 95- and 96- pressing codes and the infamous 3M-pressed discs).

Is there an online database of IFPI codes (and, by extension the plants where pressed) used on pressed Blu-ray media somewhere?

andicus

My BD of A Christmas Carol (1951 Alistair Simm) went bad. It won't even start.

This one:

davidlynchfan

There could be a chance of your BD player’s laserbeam being old age and weaken. Case in point, I tried to play Bad Lieutenant (OG of course, not the Nic Cage doo-doo fest) the other day and my primary player would not read at all, put in my backup player and it was smooth sailing.

andicus

I tried two players... My PC drive as well as my PS3. Neither have trouble with any other discs I've tried. Regardless, I'll try it in our 2nd PS3 and in our dedicated BD player, just to be sure.

I certainly don't see any visual damage.

morriscroy

There's several unofficial ones, which google finds immdiately.

IFPI Codes
https://www.madonnadiscography.pl/articles/ifpi-codes
List of SID codes - Redump Wiki

Most of the entries correspond to disc pressing plants which no longer exist. Many were closed down over the past 15+ years since the great recession of the mid-late 2000s.

morriscroy

The defective "bronzed" Criterion blurays, were ones manufactured at the Sonopress disc pressing plant in Weaverville, North Carolina. IIRC, cd/dvd/bluray discs manufactured at this Weaverville plant will have IFPI code 10** (where ** are alphanumeric wildcard chracters). This plant was decommissioned in early 2016.

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/...lost/76991114/

As far as I can figure out, the few other movie companies which used Sonopress Weaverville (such as some copies of "The Big Lebowski" by Universal) were typically production runs which the big movie companies were not able to schedule at Technicolor Mexico or Cinram's plants (ie. Huntsville AL -> IFPI 2F**, Olyphant PA -> IFPI 2U**, Toronto Canada -> IFPI 60**, etc ....). For whatever reasons (ie. previous inventory ran out, etc ...), the big movie companies farmed out a few production runs to Sonopress Weaverville.

morriscroy

The Warner dvds/blurays with playback problems, were ones manufactures at Cinram's Olyphant Pennsylvania plant (IFPI 2U**) during the mid-late 2000s. It was decommissioned in early 2018, and the entire former campus went under the demolition wrecker's ball in 2020.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/15887...cords-facility
https://www.wnep.com/article/news/lo...4-a96f93b12d2b


The Cinram Toronto Canada (IFPI 60**) plant was closed down in 2014. (Cinram was bought up by Technicolor at the end of 2015 / early 2016).

https://www.thestar.com/business/201...f_toronto.html
https://www.plasticsnews.com/article...uring-business

morriscroy

I'm not as familiar with cd/dvd/bluray pressing plants outside of america. The only ones I have encountered in the recent past, were discs manufactured in central europe.

IFPI 94** -> Sony DADC, Salzburg (Austria)
IFPI 97** -> Optimal Media Gmbh, Roebel/Mueritz (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany)
IFPI 07** -> BMG/Arvato, Guetersloh (North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany)

Out of these three large european pressing plants, I actively avoid buying any blurays manufactured by Optical Media Gmbh (IFPI 97**). They were responsible for manufacturing completely botched cd/dvd/bluray discs of various Beatles cd/dvd/bluray expanded album re-releases over the past several years. (Over the past year, I turned down three cd/bluray sets after I noticed the live concert bluray discs were manufactured by Optimal Media Gmbh).

Sony DADC in Salzberg Austria and BMG/Arvato in Guetersloh Germany, seems to be ok for now. (Over the past year or so, ViacomCBS has manufactured some of their american Paramount region1 dvds at BMG's Guetersloh Germany disc pressing plant).


Technicolor owns two non-american plants, which I haven't encountered in recent times: Poland and Australia.

https://www.technicolor.com/distribu...ring-locations
https://www.discogs.com/label/545129...olor-Australia

IFPI UG** -> Technicolor, Piaseczno (Masovia, Poland)
IFPI 46** -> Technicolor, Braeside (Victoria, Australia)


In terms of the tiny north american disc pressing plants, in recent times I have only encountered three:

IFPI L8** -> ADS, Plymouth Minnesota
IFPI ALJ** -> CD Manufacturing Inc., Santa Ana California
IFPI V5** -> Duplium, Toronto Canada

I have only come across blurays manufactured at CD Manufacturing Inc (IFPI ALJ**), mostly live concert bluray discs from tiny independent record labels. The quality control seems to be ok for now.

ADS (IFPI L8**) is so far ok for audio cd discs, mostly from tiny independent record labels. Duplium (IFPI V5**) pressed discs aren't quite as good in terms of quality control, mostly released by small movie studios.

morriscroy

With all that being said, in practice there is likely an issue of how much extra $$$$ a particular movie company is willing to pay for quality control of their dvd/bluray discs.

In recent times, I have noticed quality control can be erratic with some particular movie companies, even if their dvd/bluray discs are manufactured at Technicolor Mexico (IFPI KK**).

For example, I purchased several ShoutFactory released complete series sets where some of the discs were having playback problems on several dvd players (including computer dvd-r drives). I had to do more than one return/exchange, until I got a set with all the discs playable. (ShoutFactory typically manufacture their discs at Technicolor Mexico IFPI KK**). I don't know if this is just a recent fluke, or whether it is a systematic problem for many years with ShoutFactory.