Universal announces fix for 'Children of Men' and 'Good Shepherd' (1 Viewer)

[ppltd]

According to Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits, it seems Universal has discovered the reason for the playback issues with many copies of 'Children of Men' and 'The Good Shepherd.


Universal is due to start repressing the disks next week. Hopefully the replacement disks will be shipped soon after.

 

[Tim Glover]

Very cool news! I sent my disc back to them about 1.5 weeks ago. Can't wait for this to be resolved. Good work Universal on the fix.

 

[Jim_K]

This is a major reason why I avoid Combo's whenever possible (if I have the choice) and the main reason I'm against the concept of THD. Glueing two discs together is not a good thing and introduces all kinds of potential problems (whether immediate or 2-5 years later if the glue starts to break down).

I've got DVD-18's that used to play fine but now don't, you'd think the studio's (especially Universal) would've learned from the problematic 18's.

Anyhow, good to read they figured out the problem and that I'll finally be able to own COM in HD. Hopefully they'll learn from this and take measures to avoid this situation in the future, the most reliable resolution is of course to eliminate the Combo

 

[Robert George]

While there are obviously some manufacturing issues involved, there is also obviously an issue with the tolerances in the players as well. That seems to have been addressed in the latest firmware update for the G2 players. 1.6 firmware released several days ago has fixed the issues I was having, and apparently other people's as well based on postings on AVS.

If you are using the A2, A20, or XA2, I suggest updating firmware and see if that does not fix this problem with these few problematic combo discs.

 

[Yumbo]

The affected 360 add-ons also has no more issues with the affected combos. Loads the first time.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I just received a corrected "The Good Shepherd" HD DVD from Universal. They have an "inspected" tag on the front of HD DVD case. I'll try it in a little bit and report my findings in this thread.





Crawdaddy

 

[Rachael B]

I, in no way, shape, or form believe Universal's problem is Combo discs. They have a problem with everything they issue lately. Starting last fall I started notcing that most of my Universal discs came prescratched. Many would not play and had to be exchanged. Then, after their winter vacation, the only disc I've bought from them that I didn't have a problem with was The Jerk. Yesterday I bought The 40-Year-Old Virgin and it has bizzare amounts of aliasing and jaggies. Some others are reporting the same defect. This goes way beyond what you'd see on a particularly poor 1988 Laserdisc.

My copy of Alpha Dog freezes on the screen-saver. The various copies of Hollywoodland all frooze someplace, four of 'em. I have had the good fortune to have passed on COM and GS because of the early reports.

I cannot recall a problem with a Warner disc. If I had one, it was the early days. I haven't had one lately, not with them, Paramount, Weinstein, or my Euro imports. Universal discs are poison for me lately.

 

[Jeff Adkins]

True, but no one seemed to have problems with DVD-10s.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I watched "The Good Shepherd" and it played fine. I might repurchase "Children of Men" again because I know that Universal can send a corrected disc.





Crawdaddy

 

[Tim Glover]

My corrected Children of Men HD DVD from Universal arrived earlier this week and plays flawlessly on my XA-1. (2.2 FW).

 

[Rachael B]

I exchanged my 40-Year-Old Virgin disc at Tar-jeaux this evening for one that looked good judging by the first five minutes.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Just got my copy of CHILDREN OF MEN from DD and it plays fine on my Xbox 360 HD-DVD drive.

 

[Peter Jessee]

I just bought a HD-A2 last weekend, and rented a copy of 'The Good Shepherd' last night to christen it. After 30 seconds or so of spinning the loading icon, it came back with the "Not a DVD" error message. I cleaned the HD-DVD side and discovered a 3/4" scratch about halfway in from the edge. Tried it again, same error message.

This morning I hooked up an ethernet cable and did the Maintenance-Update dance. With a hopeful heart, I stuck in the disc again. The good news is that it only took half as long for the error message to appear.

This is my first try with a HD-DVD. Is it likely that the scratch is the problem, or is this just an early release copy that needs to be replaced by Universal? I'm headed back to Hollywood Video to see if they have another copy or will exchange for another title. Wish me luck!

Peter

 

[ppltd]

It sounds like you received one of the early defective disks and Hollywood just has not bothered to get theirs replaced. I hope you have better luck with the next as this is one great film.

 

[Douglas Monce]

I never had a problem with my copy of The Good Shepherd. Children of Men didn't interest me so I didn't buy it.

Doug