The Bela Lugosi Collection and related dvd problems (1 Viewer)

[Joe Karlosi]

PROCEED WITH THIS DISC AT YOUR OWN RISK!

If you read my earlier posts in this thread you'll see I've complimented Universal and their recent DVD franchise products, and I've sung the praises of how well all their DVD-18s have played on my Sony players --- up to tonight, that is!

I got the BELA LUGOSI COLLECTION today, and the first thing I did was attempt to play THE RAVEN in its entirety. Well, I didn't even get to the point where the DVD DRIVE-IN review listed its problems; I noticed my first freeze-up at 21:09. It only lasted a few seconds, and then the picture played normally again, up till the 23:00 mark; once again, the action froze. And after that, the movie played several seconds and froze, then played several more seconds and froze. On and on and on, until I gave up.

All this with a Sony player that played all Universal's previous "defective" discs all the way through without a hitch, as I exclaimed earlier. I see absolutely no point whatsoever in continuing the film, so I stopped it at the 30 minute mark and got fed up to the point of taking back all the positive things I've been saying up till now.

If this is the garbage Universal is putting out, we're in trouble. Because now even I'm having troubles with this Lugosi set where I never had any before! These Universal classic horrors are my ultimate favorite films, but there's no way I'm going to condone this kind of nonsense. The last thing I wish to do is to post anything here that will discourage Universal from going full-speed-ahead with the rest of their franchise, but if it means I'll be geting releases that screw up, FORGET 'EM!!!

If I'm coming across as angry, it's because I AM -- I'm steaming mad.


Right you were, Chris -- and I am a Universal Booster no more.

 

[Ruz-El]

Geez, Joe, you should get another player and try it!

Just kiding of course, I'm sorry your luck ran out. Like I said earlier, I'm yet to get a working disc the first time out, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that this time I get lucky and it works.

Can someone who has this DVD check at the end of a movie to see what the name of the production house is? I'm pretty sure that the previous ones were done by Deluxe Digital Solutions, or some such company. THEY are the nes who should be notified if Universal is to ignorant to address these issues themselves.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Not a problem, Russell.... I deserve the kidding. I was wrong.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

DVD Drive in reports that the 1st title of the set Pixelates badly , freezes and Jumps tracks on 4 different players they tried. Those of you that read my comments on Universal's Emergency set know how much I love thier DVD18 efforts. Looks like they did it again...

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

The problem film in the set is THE RAVEN, which is the 3rd title on Side A, not the 1st, which is MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE.

Joe Karlosi reported the same problem with his copy.

:frowning:

 

[Dave Mack]

Sounds just like my "Abbott and Costello" disc set. Oy. Why do they bother. Pure idiocy if this is the case.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Just an update:

After my disastrous attempt at watching THE RAVEN on my older Sony player (which is about a year and a half old), I switched the DVD over to a newer Sony machine that I just bought this past April. I watched the entire movie from start to finish wih ZERO problems on this newer player. Just to experiment, I then tried once more to play the movie on my older machine but it continued to freeze, pause, play, freeze...

At the same time, a friend of mine was at home watching his new copy of THE RAVEN on his Pioneer player, which is years old. He called me on the phone afterwards to let me know that his disc played perfectly throughout. But he did say that the disc made a "loud noise" around the 21 minute mark (where I initially experienced my freeze-up's) -- whatever that means.

Then I went back to THE BLACK CAT, which is the second film crammed onto this Universal disc. I played the DVD in my older Sony, and the movie played perfectly throughout. So, we can say that so far, the only problems reported have been with THE RAVEN... and I hope everyone will let us know their experiences.

It's not really comforting to know that these films are complete "pot luck" and will vary from player to player. Sure, I can play them on my newer Sony now, but what happens years down the line when the discs are older and I eventually use a different machine?

 

[Mario Gauci]

Sorry to hear you had problems with the set, Joe, but am also glad that you managed to watch THE RAVEN (1935) all the way through eventually!

As far as I can recall, the only DVD18s I have from Universal are 5 Monster Legacy Collections and The Gary Cooper Franchise Collection, all of which I only recently purchased and watched - without a glitch in the case of the Legacies, but as I had written earlier on, I did have trouble with BEAU GESTE (1939) from the Cooper set. For the record, I own a Pioneer DV-535K model, but I also tried the disc on my father's Hyundai HU DVR-725 player, with the same results!

As it stands, therefore, I have no idea whether the Lugosi set - or the Hammer one, for that matter - will be able to play on either of these players but I'm keeping my fingers crossed, since I'm dying to own both of them (despite the utter lack of supplements), as opposed to, say, the Abbott & Costello sets, about which I'm still on the fence...

 

[Eric Peterson]

Your story is really upsetting Joe.

It sounded like you had it pegged as a software problem, but then you found a player that worked. I don't know what to think about this problem, other than say that if any company is making discs that don't play on this many assorted brands of players of varying ages then it's still a software problem in my book.

I could undertand if people were having problems on really old players, but according to the reports, they sometimes work on old players, and not on new ones.

Quite frankly, I'm baffled.

 

[Thomas T]

Richard Gregory,

I have a Pioneer DV-343. A couple of years ago I had a problem with Snow White And The 7 Dwarfs and Moulin Rouge (the Luhrmann, not the Huston) locking up. Took it to an authorized Pioneer dealer and they put a new chip in it and it plays the discs fine now ..... but .... regarding Universal discs because of these complaints I've held off buying the Abbott & Costello, Francis, Ma & Pa Kettle, Airport, Gary Cooper discs. However, I did buy the first season Murder She Wrote and I had to return 3 sets back before I found one that played all the way through without locking up or breaking up and they all locked in different places!!! It's frustrating. I hope I don't have to go through that again when I buy season 2 of MSW in December.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Bottom Line.. Use DVD9's I'll pay the 10 bucks more... it's almost like Universal is saying "If this is product we cared about we'd use DVD9's...but we don't screw it put them on DVD18's.

 

[John Stell]

I posted this in TV thread but it's worth mentioning that Amazon had so many returns on the Columbo Season 3 set, they stopped sending replacements and are going to "investigate the matter." MAYBE this will actually start the proverbial ball rolling for Universal to upgrade its DVD 18 media. Still nervously awaiting the Hammer and Lugosi sets.

 

[Richard_Gregory]

Thanks.

The Pioneer chip upgrade might have been the final firmware update.

I know the early Pioneers had problems with sound synch which was fixed in the final firmware updates for many models.

To all posting...it would be most helpful if posters could include their make and model of player, either showing problems or otherwise.

Has anyone ever put one of these discs into a DVD-ROM drive and done a disc error check on them? You can get such error checkers for free. I think I used the freeware Nero last time I did this (was to check a slightly scratched disc I didn't fancy watching).

DVDInfo will do the same, but is time-limited.

These scan the entire content of the disc (once per side, of course) and should show anything like checksum errors, as well as displaying any disc surface problems etc.

 

[Richard_Gregory]

Oh, I should have added: I wholeheartedly agree witht he comments about the use of DVD-18's (sadly a growing trend in r1).

Plainly, there are manufacturing problems with them.

AFAIK they are the most difficult and expensive to manufacture and any savings made in packaging etc will get eaten up in additional manufacture costs.

I suspect these problems coud have been entirely avoided if these films had been issued on two DVD-9's.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Universal, if you're listening -- I'd gladly pay the extra money for nice, fully functioning, DVD-9's too. Get your act together and follow Warner's lead. Give these old films the respect they deserve.

 

[Mathew B]

Universal obviously needs a hearing aid. Cramming things on DVD-18s just because you can't be bothered to shell out for more DVD-9s is downright stupid. Particularly when a good percentage of the market can't even play the things...

 

[Michael Warner]

Well it looks like my two most anticipated fall titles have just switched from "must buy" to "rental." No way am I shelling out the bucks just so I can bring the discs home and play DVD player roulette. All of my players are at least three years old so my odds don't look good. If the rentals work then I'll consider buying the sets and taking my chances.

 

[Michael Elliott]

An update on my end. My friend (the one with the older Sony) borrowed my copy and it froze during THE RAVEN at five different scenes but the rest played fine. He said there was a minor freeze in BLACK FRIDAY but he thought this was only a layer change. I was planning on waiting for THE BODY SNATCHER to be released before watching any of these but now I'll try to watch them straight through this weekend just to see if I have any problems watching them that way.

If someone gets a "bad" disc, I'll pay the shipping charges if you want to send it my way to double check in a player that seems to be going to play them.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I actually watched THE BLACK CAT a second time last night. While it played fine on my older Sony player the first time, this second time there was one slight moment at 37 minutes where the image froze. It only lasted a brief second or two, and then played properly till the end. However, later on there was a brief moment where the image pixelized to produce a bright green pattern.

I was later watching THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF from the new Universal HAMMER COLLECTION, and this green break-up occurred at one fleeting moment too. Other than that, CURSE played fine.

Universal threw us a curve. I really hope there's enough outcry in this particular case to get them to re-do their collections.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Mike, you haven't even played THE RAVEN through for yourself yet; you said you spot-checked the scene from the DVDDrive-In review and that section played fine. If you have this collection, then just watch it straight through. Like, now. No need to give it to a friend to try it out for you. I also noticed that over at a less 'technically-oriented board' you were a little more direct in your satements, by saying: "these older machines have bugs that do not play DVD-18's. It's clear what the problem is". Do you really believe that Universal bears no blame for these ultra-inferior cramming jobs they threw at us?

I know you like to defend Universal because you hope they'll not be discouraged to the point of no longer giving us anymore older horror classics. And believe me, I feel the same way; but if this is the gatbage they're going to be handing us, I'll just as soon stick with my old VHS releases - at least they play in any VCR machine, older or newer.