Gord Lacey is asking people to please report their defective DVD-18s of TV shows for a story that he is writing:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=4351

I haven't noticed much wrong with mine, but are there problems other people are having that we should be aware of?

A lot of people, including me, have had pixelating, freezing, and skipping on Universal TV shows on DVD-18s.

Quantum Leap season 3 won't even play in 3 of the 4 players I own. Locks up the machines. The fourth player will read the disc fine, but while watching it will randomly freeze for up to and sometimes longer than a minute before restarting. Then sometimes when it freezes, it will skip when it restarts. Sometimes jump back 5 minutes, forward 10, etc.

Garbage. I have yet to watch more than the first 4 episodes. It is such a pain in the ass.

Thanks for the link. I submitted the above info.

I have DVD playback problems with the first 2 seasons on Magnum P.I. That show was created by Donald P. Bellisario, the same guy who created Quantum Leap. (Not that I'm blaming him. The DVD problems aren't his fault, of course.)

Thanks for submitting your information.

I submitted my issues. I'm still trying to get a working Columbo Season 3 set. I'm on my fifth set now and this one plays the best of any I have had so far, but still has minor 1 second freezes on occasion. I figure this is the best I can do and I'm sticking with it for now.

I finally broke down and bought the Hammer Horror collection, but so far I haven't found any freeze ups on the first disc. I really hope I get a good set because Best Buy only had a single copy of it and I haven't found it anywhere else.

It's not just TV shows. The Bela Lugosi and Hammer Collections by Universal has the exact same problems.

Yikes, it's a bit freaky to see your name in a forum headline

Thanks for submitting the errors guys, I really appreciate it.

Gord

I didn't mean to freak you out.

I appreciate what you're doing.

Almost all of Universal's "flipper" discs (TV or non-TV) have freezing problems with them. That's because Universal insists on cramming as much material as possible on as few discs as possible.

I've had probems on all season releases of SLIDERS, QUANTUM LEAP and MAGNUM PI. Also had problems with the recent MALLRATS release.

None of my Universal "flippers" have froze on me. I have the Frankenstein, Dracula, and Wolfman Legacy collections... all play fine. I have Alfred Hitchcock Presents Season 1 and it too plays fine (at least discs 1 and 2).

They aren't cramming episodes on the discs; they put 4 episodes (max) per side, which is the same as they would put on a DVD-9. The problem is the quality control at the replication facility, and the high failure rate of the DVD-18 format.

Gord

Oh well, my first disc of Hammer Horror played fine, but Evil of Frankenstein freezes the player up completely 31 minutes into the movie. I give up.

BTW, I'm still only having issues with Universal DVD-18s made by Deluxe's Mexico plant. All my other Universal DVD-18s play back flawlessly. I have no problem with DVD-18s being used as long as they don't have manufacturing errors.

Why doesnt Gord narrow this down to Universal TV on DVD Flippers?

That's where the real trouble really lies.

I've had about a billion problems playing all my Las Vegas Season 1 discs. Hopefully Universal corrects some of these issues they've been having.

the only problems I have ever had came from "nothern exposure season three" but I don't know the make/model of my DVD player so i wasn't able to submit my information to him directly, which saddens me because he provides me with sooo much information, I wish i could pay him back some how.

AFAIK the Kolchak discs, while still from Deluxe, were made in Taiwan rather than Mexico and they seem to have caused way less problems than the Lugosi and Hammer sets.

Maybe Universal have finally decided to do something about the problem, which has been going on for way too long. It's been around for ages - just check the Amazon Reviews for things like the Munster, Abbott & Costello and Columbo discs.

No problems on my Kolchak set yet (finished disc #1), but... it had the Made in Mexico sticker.

I had problems with Buck Rogers in the 25th century. Actually several people have. I returned the set and the replacement worked well. I haven't played many of my other DVD-18s yet (BattleStar Galactica & Farscape).

The only problem I've had was with Miami Vice.

No problems with my Magnum P.I. or Miami Vice seasons.

That may upset people at Universal. They may feel that I was unjustly targetting them. Asking people to report any problem with a DVD-18 results in data from all the studios, not just Universal. Consumers are having problems with other titles as well, not just stuff from Universal (ADV announced they're giving up DVD-18s because of consumer complaints).

Gord

I agree this is by far the best way to do this, but please make sure to mention that Deluxe's Mexico plant seems to be by far the biggest culprit in these problems.

Magnum P.I. The Complete Thrid Season is now up for preorder at amazon. But the studio is listed as MCA Home Video, not Universal. I wonder if that's a mistake, or if they're having someone else make the DVDs. If they're having someone else make the DVDs, maybe that's because they are trying to fix the problem of the defects.

MCA is Universal, Maury.