Defective DVD-18's - article (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

Steve the Kolchak discs i have were made in Taiwan. At least it says so on the disc itself. Look on the inner hub. Oh, and my Kolchak discs were fine. Course the picture was a tad dark as has been stated in the Kolchak thread. But lets see what i have had problems with:
Adam-12
Buck Rogers
Northern Exposure 1 and 2
And i hear that Battlestar Galactica (original) may be rotting on the hoof, so i need to check them.
Galactica may be a case problem, as the discs were to tight on the hub. I put mine in a 6 disc alpha long ago.
Not bad only 4 titles, but those titles took MULTIPLE trips to resolve. There are many i would like to have but wont because of the problems i read about. And by the way i never get finger prints on my discs, but i also dont like to BUY them new with prints.

 

[Kevin M]

I seem to recall, and if I'm wrong please correct me, reading that the Mexican plant was the one that has produced most of the defective Universal DVD-18's...at least I think I read that somewhere.

 

[Eric Peterson]

I'm not sure what your definition of a few bad apples is, but I went through a mere TWO threads (Casion & Bela Lugosi Collection) and totaled more than 35 different names of HTF members who have had problems with Universal DVD-18s. But then again, it's probably just their opinion that the discs don't play.:frowning:

 

[Kevin M]

Eric, the "Opinion" I was referring to was that ALL DVD-18's have playback issues and are generally a difficult to handle and bad format of DVD, not just badly manufactured ones and NO ONE is suggesting that Universal doesn't have problems, they do but that does not mean that ALL DVD-18 are therefor "bad"....are we clear on that yet?



Wow....

 

[JeffMc]

I had to return both the Hammer set (freezing-pixelation on BRIDES OF DRACULA - I gave up on it after that problem) and the KOLCHAK set ("Trevi Collection" and one other episode froze up). Tried on all 3 machines - defective on all.

We can bander about back and forth all night long as far as the percentage of how bad these problems are. The thing is, there are definitely ENOUGH problems reported just on these forums (which are populated by devout DVD collectors) to be of serious concern. you also have to keep in mind that joe six-pack is less likely care so much about a few minor glitches or freezes in such a release (although I don't think joe-six-pack is really buying any of these releases). I do find it disturbing that with close to 2,000 DVD's, the only issues I have had of this nature are with these DVD-18's from Universal. This is not imagination. It is FACT. Certain replication plants are doing SUBSTANDARD work (hello Universal?) and I and everyone else here who has experienced these problems have every right to be p***ed off that we had to sit through hours of monitoring a disc (6+ hours on my defective Kolchak disc #2) before discovering the disc is screwed up and needs to be returned or replaced for another marathon viewing session.

All those out there that have had no problems, yes, count yourself lucky.

 

[TravisR]

There are enough problems with DVD-18s that I check mine ASAP out of 'fear' of having a bum set. It's hardly an ordeal for me to watch them out but I shouldn't have to double check Universal's work either. I have Fox DVDs (for example) that I've had for months that I haven't watched yet but I have zero Universal DVD-18s that I haven't watched yet.

And contacting Universal customer service is a much better way to get results than talking about it on a message board. They know there's a problem. They get the defective discs back from retailers but customer complaints will get them to fix the problem or dump DVD-18s faster than anything else.

 

[Kevin M]

That I agree with, the plant(s) that are manufacturing their DVD's is where the problem lies and that is where they need to concentrate.
I have had more DVD-9's go bad on me than DVD-18's, in fact the only DVD-18 that I have had go bad on me was Universal's (go figure) Orgazmo and they sent me a replacement disc that was free of defects so they can indeed correctly manufacture a DVD-18 if pushed into it. We have to do the "pushing".

 

[JohnOPR]

Like so many other folks, I've had problems with a few of my Universal discs. Both volumes 2 and 3 of my "Best of Abbott and Costello" had discs that froze and refused to play. Also, had the same problem with "Casino" (the anniversary edition), "Columbo" (season 3), and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". I contacted Universal customer service (via the internet) and was told to return the defective discs to them for replacements. Thus far, they've sent me error-free DVD's to replace the Abbott and Costello. I'm waiting patiently for the rest, which I have no doubt they'll send. Takes about six to eight weeks. The aggravation in all this is having to buy mailing material, pay the postage (they want you to send it via a traceable method), and wait several weeks to get the discs. I really like Universal titles but wish their quality control was a little more effective. Maybe Gord's report will have some impact. Surely do hope so.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

I hadn't had any problems with DVD-18s until the recent releases from Universal. Both the Bela Lugosi Collection and Hammer Horror sets required an exchange before I got a copy that would play correctly, and I tried them on four different players. On Bela, Black Friday just stopped halfway through; on Hammer, Curse of the Werewolf wouldn't play at all.

I just finished going through the Alfred Hitchcock Presents set without any problems, though.

 

[Dave_P.]

No problems at all with my Magnum PI sets or my T2 Ultimate Edition.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Attention.

I've caught up with this thread rather later, and my goodness. Please refrain from any further member-to-member attacks. Otherwise, the thread will be closed and a membership or two threatened. Clear?

Thank you.

(And, for the record, no problems here with any playback of DVD-18s.)

 

[Randy Korstick]

I continue to buy Universal DVD18's with no problems on 3 different machines. Over 100 of them now. The latest being Hammer Collection, Abbott and Costello Vol. 4, Kolchak and no problems. I guess I've just been lucky over 100 times.

 

[Richard_Gregory]

Tabetha, there are four main types of DVD....

DVD-5; this type of DVD has one "play" side with one "layer" which holds the information.

DVD-9; this type has one play side but has two "layers" which hold information (thus they are usually referred to as "dual layer". WHen playing these discs, there is normally a brief pause during playback, which is caused by the DVD player moving from one layer to the next).

Both of these types frequently have artwork on the non-playable side.

DVD-10; these discs have TWO play sides, with one layer each.

DVD-18; have TWO play sides, with TWO layers each. Up until recently, they were rare because they're difficult to manufacture. They are still rare in, say, the UK.

DVD-10's and 18's are often referred to as "flippers" because you have to take the disc out of the player and flip it over to play the other side.

It is arguable that "flippers" have to handled with more care, since it's important to avoid fingerprinting/scratching either side (something you want to avoid with all discs, anyway!).

Some people have reported difficulties in playing back some DVD-18 discs, with discs issued by Universal being the main culprit.

Some DVD's indicate the type on the jacket, but not always. Dual-layer discs are usually a light gold colour. If a disc is holding more than a couple of hours material on a side, then that side is probably dual layer. DVD-18's, with FOUR layers, have the highest capacity.

There are other sorts of disc (such as a double sided disc, one side single layer, the other dual) but there are very few of these.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Actually, the term "flipper" was first used to describe feature films that were split in half on early DVDs, requiring the disc to be flipped. I haven't seen common usage of the term for double sided discs.

DVD 18s are pretty common these days, but there seem to be problems that are cropping up that weren't before, with the prime suspect being the plants being used by Universal and a few select others.

 

[Kevin M]

Don't forget DVD-14, dual sided - dual layer on one side single layer on the other.....not nearly as as common but still in use.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

For me it was 101, I think...

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Uh, what if they take note and make DVD-18s that aren't defective instead?

 

[Joe Karlosi]

That would be better than having DVD-18s that often don't, sure. But I'd still rather have non-flipper's and less films per disc anyway.

 

[Vincent Fok]

Question for those who have experienced problems with Universal's DVD-18: is there a quick way to check if the discs you've bought is defective, like the files won't be able to be ripped? Or do you pretty much have to watch the whole discs through to see if the picture freezes or jumps?

The reason I'm asking is if it's a problem of the medium rather than the data, then you may be able to backup your defective discs, watch the backups and literally it'll play fine, considering there are no encoding errors. But I'm not exactly sure what the nature of the problem is.

 

[JerryKILL]

My luck on a Denon 1600 player:

Bela Lugosi - no problems;

Hammer Collection - no problems disc 1; pixelation and freezing on disc 2 "Nightmare". Sent off an email to Universal, waiting for a reply as to how to get a replacement.

The Munsters First Season - pixelation on episode "If a Martian Answers, Hang Up". Rest played fine, so did not bother with a replacement.

Abbott and Costello Vol 3 - no problems.