dsa_shea

I decided to start this thread after noticing a trend that is a bit unsettling. Recently I have received various brand new disc sets of both bd and 4k discs with scratches on them. Today I bought 6 movies and after inspecting the sets, I noticed that 4 of them had scratches on one or more of the discs. The scratches also seem to be very similar from disc to disc. There are usually three scratches with the one in the middle being the longer one and the one on each side being about half the length of it. Aside from those (raptor) scratches, I'm also seeing more gunk or dirtiness on some discs. I just wanted to post to see if anyone else is seeing this and how you are approaching the issue. We can inspect the outside of our sets for dings, slashes or other damage, but we can't do much ahead of time to know what shape the discs are going to be in.

Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 4k (The bd had gunk on the readable part around the inner circle. The 4k looks fine.)
The Bad Guys 4k (The 4k disc has the 3 scratches on them. The bd looks fine.)
Red Rocket bd (The disc looks fine.)
Citizen Kane 4k (Aside from the piss poor choice of packaging for the discs, the 4k and bd disc 3 both had scratches.)
Shaft 4k (The 4k appears fine. bd disc 1 has several scratches together from the outer circle inwards. Disc 2 looks fine.)
Pink Flamingos bd (The disc has one scratch in the middle of the readable area running across the disc.)

So, with higher prices and such, this is disappointing.

zyzzle

Are the scratches etched (deep) or are they merely scuffs and removable? Is playback affected? Concentric, deep radial deep scratches are worrisome, although my experience has been limited to fingerprints and some glue, all of which have been removable. My new copy of SHAFT appears perfect without any scratches, scuffs, or fingerprints, thankfully. Other recent purchases of CAT'S EYE and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK UHDs were also pristine. Many recent problems have been related to botched transfers and encoding problems (many of which were thankfully fixed by recalls), not on the physical media itself.

dsa_shea

Yes, the scratches are deep and not removable. I'm hoping to go through each one as soon as I can, but it is still a nuisance. I'm hoping there are no playback problems.

Alan Smithee

Doesn't help matters when they have to be shipped to customers, since stores continue to close and those who still stock them keep reducing their selection.

PhantomStranger

The Citizen Kane UHD packaging is ridiculous. Pretty to look at once but it's completely impractical handling more than once or twice.

dsa_shea

I just complained about that Citizen Kane set on another site. Trying to get a disc out to watch without having to grip the disc itself is impossible. I would have likely not bought the set if I knew how it was. Sometimes cool ideas should stay ideas.

morriscroy

This is not a recent thing / botch.

This seem to be a common thing with giant multidisc sets such as tv shows. For example, such as those tv shows released in giant 24+ discs cases released by ViacomCBS, Universal, etc ....

TheMovieman

I have no idea why some studios do this. I know the All About Eve release by Criterion had awful packaging as well. What's so wrong just having it in their normal clear HD keep case?

stvn1974

My Citizen Kane UHD and BDs will not play on my 4K player, The BD will also not play on my PS3 or PS4. I don't see any scratches on either and have wiped them both off with a micro fiber cloth. Still the UHD locks up at a little over four minutes and the BD around three minutes. My 4K player is a piece of junk though. I have a Sony and the only format that it plays flawlessly is SACD. I will keep it for that and plan on getting a Panasonic next month. I have never had a BD not play on the PS3 or PS4 before. I guess the packaging for Citizen Kane is the problem.

PhantomStranger

Many complaints about faulty pressings for the Citizen Kane UHD, which simply stops playing around 30-45 minutes into the movie by reports. Early BD pressings have a major video defect which necessitated Criterion issuing replacements.

Surfinhank

Scratched discs have become a common problem for me for over a year now. I was returning and getting replacements, sometimes 2 or 3 times with the same movie just to get an unscratched copy. I recently downloaded a program called VSO Inspector, it will scan the discs for surface damage and then scan the individual files on the disc to check for errors. It seems to be pretty accurate so far so I'm starting to let it slide as far as returns: if it scans at 100% and I play it with no problems I'll just keep it. It really is ridiculous to have to settle, but I order a lot of discs and having to constantly mail back returns and still getting another scratched disc is just too much of a hassle.

ViewAskewbian

Which SONY? I am about to purchase my first 4k Player and have been reading online about multiple players and brands having freezing issues on BD-100 discs at around the 2 hour mark (which I gather is an issue with the layer changes?).

There's a great thread you can google called "4K Players are Junk" that are tracking these player issues.

To be honest, this and vertical banding on 4k TVs really have me holding off jumping into the new format. Well, I say it's new but it has now been a few years with these issues!

TomOpus

I know some have had issues with the Sony X700 but I haven't had any problems even with DVDs. I bought it for Dolby Vision.

stvn1974

Sony x700 I think. It is junk. I have never been able to get past the scene in Jaws where Brody receives the call about the girl's body washing up on shore. Each of the three Back To The Future discs pixelate around ten minutes in and all six discs of the LOTR set lock up around ten minutes left. Avoid that player at all costs.

ViewAskewbian

Yeah, I was also reading the one step above 800 has issues. Urgh.
I think I am just purchasing 4k discs now (with their Bluray counterparts included) biding my time.
I purchased 2 4k sets in the past but returned them due to banding.
Now that I am looking to dive back in this whole player freezing shit is turning me off.

Though the Sony A80J 55 inch BRAVIA XR OLED issssss $400 off at the moment and a tempting want for my first 4K set.

TomOpus

I have all those movies and have not had any issues. Plus it plays all my Christopher Nolan movies. I guess I got lucky.

ViewAskewbian

It's not enough we have to play the "panel lottery" but now we have to play the "player lottery"

TomOpus

I'm divorced so there's that too

ViewAskewbian

Well, now you could BE a player.

TomOpus

I felt like a player when we separated. Making up for lost time for a couple years. I could write a book.