Battlestar Galactic: Season One HD DVD Packaging Woes (1 Viewer)

[Britton]

Shawn, thanks for the quick response. I suppose I'll upgrade the firmware on my A2 and see if that rectifies the problem. Right now my unit is running firmware v2.2.

 

[LarryH]

Disks 2 and 4 at least scratched. Disk 2 looks to be cracked outward from the hub with separation discolorization on either side of this line.

Do these people ever do any testing or QC before they commit to such idiotic designs? It's a real struggle just to get the disks off their spongey hubs! The more specialized the design the worse the applicability, apparently.

I don't have time to check it out right now, but I'm sure keeping the shipping box as I see no chance that disk 2 will play.

Update: Yep - disc 2 is cracked out about 3/4 of an inch from the center. What a bummer!

 

[troy evans]

Even if disc 2 does play you should still return it for a new set or refund. The crack will only get worse over time, even through normal wear and tear. I really wanted this too. Looks like I'll wait as yet another HDM quality issue gets resolved. This Shit is getting old!

 

[ReggieW]

I am still going to order this set and hope it doesn't arrived damaged. I am too much of a fan of this series to allow bad packaging to keep me away. If any of the contents are damaged, I'll just return it. If the discs arrive fine, then it won't bother me that much as I usually watch the discs once or twice and then file them away.

In the end, I still agree that there should be better packaging for these expensive HD sets.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Yes, totally unacceptable. This is a case of the product being designed and created by people who likely will never use it themselves- hence it looks cool in a jpeg on a website or on the shelf in the store, but it's PITA in practical use- as well as being flimsy and prone to damage over long term use. And with a multi disc set, the act of opening and accessing the discs is multiplied several times compared to a single or dbl disc digi pack.
At some point I have little doubt there will be a much better designed "complete series" HD DVD set for this show, and at that time, I'm going to want to sell this set off to subsidize that one- and with any kind of scratched discs, it is going to make it impossible to get any kind of decent return on it. For Pete Sakes, I had DVD Planet refuse to take some discs in trade that had surface scratches of far less intensity than what are on these BSG discs.

Universal needs to be read the riot act. The Heroes set was 100% better in terms of packaging, though I would still prefer something even simpler than multi-fold packs with plastic trays. Simple cardboard sleeves inside a heavy duty cardboard slipcase would be compact, secure, and just about idiot proof. There would never be a 'loose' disc- EVER. For crying out loud- this isn't rocket science here.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

The HD Star Trek Set is a testement to that.

I own both Seasons in SD. Given the grainy nature of the Digital Video of this show I see no reason, and now even less to, Double dip. I'll revisit the issue on the 3rd Season HD-DVD Release maybe by then they'll fix the packaging issue. Why can't they just use thin cases, I know they are trying to stay uniform, but the multidisk box sets suck

 

[TARDIS]

This HD DVD set has to be the worst I have ever seen. I was very fortunate though as the DVD arrived yesterday I opened it very cautiously. I only had one disc that was loose and it was not scratched at all. After reviewing this thread I feel lucky. I should go buy a lottery ticket.

 

[Paul Arnette]

This is exactly my point. I try to buy only those discs that I feel will have a suitable amount of rewatchability now-a-days, but even still I know that I have serious upgradeitis. Therefore, when I buy something I generally view it as an extended rental. If I receive a damaged product, even if it may play, it is a) still damaged (this is a matter of principal issue), and b) will adversely affect its resale value.

The bottom line here is that for the price they're asking, we shouldn't have to contend with these issues. The lack of quality control on this set and the Star Trek set is appaling. Universal should step up to the plate and organize an exchange program for damaged sets. Otherwise, I'm going to purchase and return many a copy looking for a mint one.

 

[nolesrule]

I don't own an HD DVD player, but I have seen BSG on Universal HD and there is a huge improvement over DVD.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Are these foam rubber hubs, like the ones used in the deluxe edition of Help! and what Microsoft used for the retail edition of Windows XP Professional? If so, how cheap can you get?

 

[Paul_Scott]

others may disagree, but for me, the hubs aren't the problem. Once you get the hang of how to get the discs off them, they work fine, and actually create less stress on the disc than some of the 'death grip' digipacks out there (including the ones used on the original BSG TV show set).
The real problem as far as packaging is how lightweight the card stock used for the foldout, as well as the lack of corners, which makes it even more flimsy.

The package is weak- but that has little bearing on the condition of the discs a lot of us are finding in the sets.
That is a whole 'nother issue and the two aren't related from what I can see.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Count me as another with significant scratches on multiple discs in this set.

I have to echo Paul's sentiments on quality control.

I fully expect my Lost S3 season to arrive in excellent condition with no marked up discs or crappy packaging. There's no reason why this couldn't have been the case for BSG as well.

Of course, Uni has always been known for less than solid QC.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I think it was more of a design choice to look futuristic/scifi

 

[Britton]

Okay, just to completely follow up my own problem, I upgraded my firmware to version 2.7 and that fixed my sound issue with the TrueHD track for 33.

And I agree that the hubs aren't the culprit here. Universal has a QC problem with the actual disc manufacturing. Fortunately I've made it through discs 1-3 with no playback problem even though there are scratches on them.

Oh and I hate to bring up another problem, but the lipsync during Part 2 of the miniseries seems to be off in certain scenes for both soundtracks. Anyone else notice this?

 

[Don May Jr]

Well, I went ahead and did it. I sent the entire box back to AMAZON with the three scratched discs. I just cannot justify paying this kind of money for something and getting visibly scratched discs.

And I'll keep returning every single box set I get as a replacement if they still have scratched discs in them.

Sad, really... I was really wanting to dive into the set this weekend. But, I feel what I'm doing is the only way to send the message that we need better quality control when creating these sets.

 

[RickER]

I always wait until i get the replacement set from Amazon. Sometimes you can cobble together a good set. But as my luck often goes you end up with a running flaw. It will always be the same 3 discs scratched. For the money, and the fact that this is a collectors set, on a collectors format...id send it back as well!

 

[Paul Arnette]

Absolutely. Many times I will order a box set from Amazon for this reason alone.

Unfortunatley, my replacement set from Amazon was just as bad as the first set. I was in Best Buy today, and I decided to try my luck with a set from there. The result? Only Disc 5 is scratched. I'm getting closer! The bottomline however is that we shouldn't need to do this in the first place.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

Could somebody post some pics of the packaging, and the damage to the discs (if possible)?

 

[Sam Posten]

I got my review copy today. The sticky rubber that the disks are posted on STINKS but none of my disks are scratched. Review should be up early next week, I need to go in depth through it since I havent even seen a commercial for this show let alone a whole episode. I loved the original series tho, should be interesting.

The review will go in this forum, not the TV on DVD forum as we are consolidating HD reviews here despite this being a TV show in origination.

Sam

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Then you are in for a great surprise. One of the best shows ever made. I wish I could have seen it for the first time on HD.