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Hey Universal! No More Double Sided Discs! (1 Viewer)

Mark Talmadge

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Don't get me wrong. I still love the Universal movie DVD's, as I've never experienced problems with them but the format they use for their TV DVD boxed sets leaves a lot to be desired. The only sets I haven't had problems with have been the Magnum P.I. and Knight Rider sets.

By my earlier comment? I think it's good that everyone posts what DVD sets they are having problems with because that means that the rest of us can avoid them. What you were saying about Universal not producing further sets from that series? Sure, that's a setback but they really need to understand that every set that Universal puts out is going to fail in selling if they continue using this format.

I have always believed that the average consumer has a vote when it comes to a company's products and when their merchandise keeps failing to sell the company has no choice but to loook at their market research and discover the reasons why their product isn't selling.

When we stop buying their defective titles, and all it takes is a number of fans posting complaints on sites such as this one, Amazon.com and many others and that will affect possible sales from their product line.

Sure, I'd love to buy their products in the coming weeks but with, literally, hundreds of complaints I keep hearing on a daily basis from people who have had problems with these DVD-18's, then it's no wonder.

I'm sure glad that anime DVD's are not printed on DVD-18's.:D
 

Kevin M

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What I wonder about is when Universal sends you a replacement how many DVD-18's do they have to go through before finding one that is manufactured well? What exactly is the QC at these plants that supply Universal?

Cause it ain't workin'.
 

Paul Miller

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Roy, after a certain point though, you have to realize that the set is not compatible with your brand of DVD player and that you should stop wasting DDD's time as well as your own.


Paul
 

RoyM

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Paul,

I will assume either you are kidding, or you didn't understand my previous post. The problem is not with my player (or players actually, as I tried the sets on both players that I own), but with the badly manufactured disks. The fact is these sets, or more specifically one side of a disk within the sets (or a particular production run of them) are SCREWED UP - they will not play on any DVD player. Again, the manufacturing defect is plain to see on the disk in question to anyone with the gift of normal eyesight.

As a matter of fact, DDD is the one wasting my time. And eventually, has ended up taking my money for a product which was sub-standard. Or more to the point, it was MGM that has wasted both mine and DDD's time and money on a series of returns, re-shipments, wasted stock that needs to be returned to the manufacturer, etc. In the end, though I am the aggrieved party since I never received the item I paid for in good faith.
 

Kevin M

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Roy, I would send them back to Universal themselves, they will actually test the disc(s) before sending them to you to see if they are defective.
 

Paul Miller

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I am not kidding. The DVD-18s don't play the same way from machine to machine. I've had my share of problems with both Farscape Starburst editions and Quantum Leap Sets. It can work on one machine and not have any problems on another. All of them are manufactured the same way so while you may get a faulty disc now and then, most likely you won't get four in a row which is a sign that your machines can't support the DVDs and you should simply give up. Replacing one "badly" manufactured disc with another "badly" manufactured disc is pointless and a waste of everyone's time.

But if you do think you simply got a bad crop of discs all from the same place, after the second disc doesn't work, you might want to try another e-tailer to see if one of their works if you simply believe there is a difference in the manufacturing between the discs, raiding one crop of bad discs over and over doesn't make sense.

Paul
 

RickER

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I am here to tell you it is not a player problem. If it was i wouldn't have an Adam-12, or Northern Exposure that works. But it did take 3 tries with Northern Exposure.
 

RoyM

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Paul,

Okay, first of all - the bum sets played (or failed to play) the same on BOTH of my players. Secondly, there was a readily identifiable physical flaw on the disk itself. Those two facts combine to indicate that the problem was/is with the disk and not my player(s)... nor with my perception of reality.

For your further edification, here is a thread from this very forum from earlier this year in which I and several other posters related the same problem:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...t=outer+limits

And as to your final point, of course now I have no choice but to resort to trying to get a properly working set from another source - more likely local than going through the hassle of deling with another e-tailer. But that still doesn't do anything about the bad set I ended up with from Deep Discount, nor does it refund me the cost of said set. In fact, I will eventually end up paying twice the cost to (hopefully) get one good working set.

Once again, I understand that there are occasional anomalies in individual disks which may cause them to not work with a certain individual player or model of player. No quetsion about it - DVD is a finicky medium and it doesn't take much (apparently) to cause a problem. But it is also apparent to anyone who is paying attention that there are also manufacturing flaws in individual disks (or runs of disks apparently) that cause them to not work on any player, regardless. The producers of these disks still have a responsibility to make good on providing a working product. They can't simply respond by saying "Oh well, it's not our fault that our product doesn't work for you." Especially when the problems are widespread enough to indicate that it is not merely a result of the quirks of individual DVD players, but with the disks themselves.
 

Mick C

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Oct 24, 2005
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I've recently had problems with my copy of A-Team season 2. I thought it was just bad luck but it looks like the problem is more widespread :frowning:
I'll be sending the info to tvshowsondvd.com.. it was the usual problem... the end of an episode (disc 2) towards the outer edge of the DVD, corrupt data ie pixelisation. A mate has the DVD atm, so i'll be able to confirm later.
Too bad I couldn't watch the set straight away so I can't return it to amazon.com as the return period has expired.

Almost makes me think about buying the local R4 versions (6 months late and more costly, but at least they'll work!)

I originally had a problem with season 1, but that was a DVD9 that wouldnt load from the get-go.
 

Mark Talmadge

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I'd have to agree with Paul Miller. The fact is that nobody at Universal checks to ensure that their DVD's are universally compatable with DVD players. They're just slapped onto DVD's and shipped out to retail stores.

Their quality control department must be staffed with $5.50 an hour high school students because it's obvious that their DVD's aren't compatible with every machine. I have had some Farscape Starburst DVD's play flawlessly while others play with massive problems, the same with Universal DVD's.

I wonder if Gord contacted Universal about this?
 

Kris_AB

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Grrr! I wanted to pick up American Gothic today, but--dilemma! Do I wait and see at what rate people receive sets with screw-ups on some of those third episodes? If it's not too many fans reporting errors, I could risk it. Otherwise...? This series isn't likely to be re-released in the near future (or ever, really), so this is kinda the only chance we have at owning it on any "official" format. And a lot of stores will have it on sale for only this week and maybe a couple after, it's common for HMV to do that. Hmm...

The episodes being out of order pisses me off almost as much as the shitty format.
 

Phyll

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Nov 12, 2004
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Maybe someone can figure this out-I was watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents on my Onkyo 702 6-disc changer and the first show on Disc One froze up after 2 minutes. I put this same disc in my first generation single disc Sony player(this unit almost never plays a disc that even has a hint of anything on it)But it played this disc all the way through. However, I tried to play my Adam-12 disc and both players froze up in the same spot on the disc. There were visible scuffmarks on the disc and when I took the second disc out of the case there was something wet on it. Upon further inspection-it appeared to be glue. What's up with that? Has anyone maybe figured out what disc players actually play these damaged discs and what players don't. Until I bought Adam-12 the Onkyo 702 has played all my discs all the way through. I mean it could be my player but I have tried the same discs in my other two players(Sony and JVC) and it seems like if they skip in the Onkyo they usually skip in the other two players at the same spot on the disc. I guess what I am asking is- are there any dvd players out there that are bulletproof as far as dvd-18's are concerned? I also would like to know if they have a shorter shelf life because they seem so more fragile.
 

Joe Karlosi

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This is just baffling. There have been reports of troubles all around, naming every type of players there are --- older machines from the 1990's, and brand new, right out of the box models; are so many people's new/old players out of alignment just for some of Universal's DVD-18s? These discs are prone to screwing up, and that's all there is to it. Period.
 

Mick C

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I'm the same... Do you risk it and hope to get an error free set :frowning: I think I might just wait and see what other regions get.
 

RickER

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I thought id give this thread a bump. Wonder if Gord is finding out anything from Universal. also wondered if Bill Hunt was finding out anything about older Universal titles going belly up?
 

WillLon

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I posted some of this in an old A-Team thread. I think it explains the problem well. I forwarded a succinct explanation to Universal and received a "form letter email" reply.

The 2-sided DVD problem with Universal reminds me of the old "DiscoVision" laserdiscs, where you had to obtain multiple copies of the same title in an attempt to obtain a movie that would play all the way through on all sides of the discs.

I think the problem with dual-sided dual-layer discs is the glue used to join the top of the 2 playing surfaces together often contains minor imperfections (glue smears) when pressing the 2 sides together. The DVD laser sees the imperfection, resulting in a skip, freeze or jitter in the picture.

The A-Team episode "When You Coming Back, Range Rider?" (side b of a disc) has this problem at the start in the 2 sets I attempted to purchase. The picture freezes and then you're suddenly 20 minutes into the episode. The discs were returned for store credit and I still do not own A-Team Season 2 on DVD. (Season 1 is single-sided and plays perfectly fine).

If the discs were dual-layer but single-sided, this wouldn't be an issue. The top of the disc would be sealed by the lacquer of the DVD artwork printed on it - no glue smears. (like A-Team Season 1 was).

I'm convinced that even if you don't see the problem during playback now you'll see it later on. The glued layers will separate slightly like laser-rot on old laserdiscs.

I'm so disappointed that I'll vote with my wallet and just buy the R4 or R2 A-Team releases from Season 2 onwards and leave it at that.

Universal Home Video (U.S.) -- you're fired!
---
 

Jesse Skeen

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Yes- they never should have worked to solve those early problems with laserdiscs and just stopped making them altogether, or made them one-sided.
 

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