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Problems with "Route 66 Season Three"

post #1 of 50
7/14/09 at 6:31pm
Thread Starter 
Last thursday (7-9), my local Best Buy had R-66 Season3 on the shelf so I took it home and have been checking it out. The eight disc set is split into "Vol. 1" and "Vol. 2". "Volume 1" looked and sounded great. But when I got to "Volume 2"...NOT ONE DISC WOULD PLAY!!! I took it back and got a second set...IT DID THE SAME THING!!!

I think my odds of getting the only two sets with this problem are pretty high.

SO BE WARNED!!!
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post #2 of 50
7/14/09 at 7:19pm
Yes, exactly. Mine's the same way! Actually the second half is what I'm most interested in, because I wanted to see what the new character was like. So I popped in the last disc first, and it wouldn't play. Nor would the other Volume 2 discs.

So pretty much, I paid for the complete season and only got Season Three, Volume One.
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post #3 of 50
7/14/09 at 7:55pm
Crap. I just bought this today at best buy. I'll try the second volume discs tonight and see if my set is screwed too.
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post #4 of 50
7/14/09 at 8:00pm
If it's that widespread of a problem, it'll be corrected. It's a pain but it's not like you'll have to just live with a defective disc.
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post #5 of 50
7/14/09 at 8:05pm
Great catch. I just opened my set earlier this evening, took a glance for damage and put it on the shelf and the receipt in the trash. I watched a few episodes of Hill Street Blues and decided to check in here before going to bed. Saw this thread and quickly checked out my set. All of season 3 volume 2 came up as NO PLAY.  And to tell the truth even disk 1 of season 3 volume 1 sounded rough in the player as it was spinning.  They got some serious quality control issues with this one. So the early release could just come back as one big recall.

Doesn't look like a straight exchange is worth it. I wonder if they will give cash back or if I will have to take a store credit. I purchased it using an Amex points card that my company gave me. I don't know if they can credit it back with that type of card. I guess I will find out tomorrow.
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post #6 of 50
7/14/09 at 8:09pm
Ok. My four volume 2 discs won't play. A message comes up and states it won't play this kind of disc. Thats nice that they will replace the defective discs. But when? Two weeks,4 weeks or two months. One way or another this is not the way to distribute an exclusive set. Dealing with Best Buy can be a pain. Not sure i'm willing to wait if there is going to be too long for the replacements.
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post #7 of 50
7/15/09 at 3:20am
Now I am glad I never found the set at the two Best Buys I visited.  I used my $25 gift card for Reaper season 2 instead.  I guess I will wait for the general release in a few months.
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post #8 of 50
7/15/09 at 5:39am
In the entire history of TV shows on DVD, there has never, and I mean never been such a botched up job of bringing a series to DVD.  Whether it was unwatchable video, wrong aspect ratio, unlistenable audio, and now defective discs, this series has had everything go wrong with it that is possible.  The entire mess should be taught in the school of what not to do.  It is just completely unbelievable! 
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post #9 of 50
7/15/09 at 6:04am

What CBS/Paramount has done with The Fugitive, completely botching the show with its replaced music tracks, definitely gives the Route 66 mess a run for its money. Both things should be taught as examples of how to completely alienate a receptive consumer base.

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post #10 of 50
7/15/09 at 6:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jdee28 View Post

What CBS/Paramount has done with The Fugitive, completely botching the show with its replaced music tracks, definitely gives the Route 66 mess a run for its money. Both things should be taught as examples of how to completely alienate a receptive consumer base.



And unfortunately, these are two of the most classic TV shows of all time.  What an absolute shame.

Gary "geesh, of all the luck - these are 2 great, great series and both have been treated horribly" O.
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post #11 of 50
7/15/09 at 6:26am
Doug, John,

You guys are 100% correct, imo, about these 2 DVD releases.  I'm glad that the Fugitive was mentioned as well.  Also, My Three Sons (music) is in the same group.

I agree with Gary, it's plain "Murphy's Law" that this happened to these shows.

As for R66 S3, when I heard about the exclusive BB deal, I decided to wait for the general online store availibility later. 

It's hard to understand how this kind of QC issue can be undectected before getting shipped to the retailers.
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post #12 of 50
7/15/09 at 6:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Willis View Post

Doug, John,

You guys are 100% correct, imo, about these 2 DVD releases.  I'm glad that the Fugitive was mentioned as well.  Also, My Three Sons (music) is in the same group.

I agree with Gary, it's plain "Murphy's Law" that this happened to these shows.

As for R66 S3, when I heard about the exclusive BB deal, I decided to wait for the general online store availibility later. 

It's hard to understand how this kind of QC issue can be undectected before getting shipped to the retailers.



You're 100% correct about something too, Jeff.  How in the world could this issue be missed if there were any semblance of quality control at Infinity?  It truly boggles the mind.

At this point in the collecting game, I've really been hit hard by "Murphy's Law", as Jeff so aptly put it.  Take a look at 6 of my all time favorite shows:

THE FUGITIVE - messed up backscore.  First issue of it's kind in dvd history where an entire underscore was changed up.

MY THREE SONS - same as above!  Second time in dvd history it happened.

ROUTE 66 - poor prints used early on (unnecessarily, btw), and now this.  Ughhh...

FATHER KNOWS BEST - poor prints used for 1st Season release.  Probably hurt sales for subsequent seasons and now the show may be teetering on the edge of stall city.

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER - one of the most iconic shows of all time abandoned after only two seasons, at least in part due to Universal's horrible pricing structure.

RAWHIDE - possibly stalled or abandoned after only 3 seasons released (8 season show).

For all the fun and enjoyment I've gotten out of collecting TV on DVD, when it comes to my absolute top favorite shows, I've had far more disappointments than enjoyments. 


Gary "really bummed right now at the way my favorites have been treated" O.
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post #13 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:00am
It would be good to know if anyone that received this set has a working copy of the season 3 volume 2 disks. It would easier to determine if the issue is in all the sets or maybe just a batch.

Also, while my season 3 volume 1 disks would play they definitely made my DVD player work harder in the process. The noise generated while the disk was spinning was louder then normal. Has anyone else experienced this?  The volume 2 disks did the same thing but the DVD player eventually gave up and gave a "NO PLAY" error.

I thought I read once about disks having problems if the weight isn't distributed properly in relation to the speed the disk spins (I could be completely wrong in this). Players will generally adjust for this if within tolerance from what I was told.  Considering that all my disks made more noise then normal when spinning up and that all the volume 2 disks have the same basic label on top (and all failed) makes we wonder if this could possibly be the cause.
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post #14 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:12am
Gary, your list is almost the same as mine...with these being in my all-time list: The Fugitive, LITB, Rawhide.

After reading your post, I looked at my TV/DVD excel list and there sure are a lot of stalled shows in there.

On the plus side for me, I've seen a few of my all-timer's completed: Bewitched, Combat!, Dick Van Dyke Show, Secret Agent (Danger Man), Shogun (miniseries), Time Tunnel, Wild Wild West, and both WWII miniseres (Winds of War & War & Rememberance).  And, thank goodness for Region-Free players  Bionic Woman & 6M$M, Rich Man Poor Man releases.

As for R66, it's a crying shame that this historic show has been through the ringer....early poor prints as Gary mentioned, then that letterboxed/cropped set.  It's like you've said several times, Gary: If there were a fan that was knowledgable about a certain show on staff at a studio that's in a position to influence production & marketing decisions, a lot of these problems would have not occurred.
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post #15 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:28am
I'm glad I decided NOT to buy this set. Hopefully they'll get the bugs out of it when the general release happens early next year. Also, it will most likely be  CHEAPER !
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post #16 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:33am
I watched the first 3 episodes of disc one last night and they played fine. My player didn't seem any louder than normal. I will check the volume 2 discs tonight to see if they play. Thanks for the warning.
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post #17 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary OS View Post






You're 100% correct about something too, Jeff.  How in the world could this issue be missed if there were any semblance of quality control at Infinity?  It truly boggles the mind.

At this point in the collecting game, I've really been hit hard by "Murphy's Law", as Jeff so aptly put it.  Take a look at 6 of my all time favorite shows:

THE FUGITIVE - messed up backscore.  First issue of it's kind in dvd history where an entire underscore was changed up.

MY THREE SONS - same as above!  Second time in dvd history it happened.

ROUTE 66 - poor prints used early on (unnecessarily, btw), and now this.  Ughhh...

FATHER KNOWS BEST - poor prints used for 1st Season release.  Probably hurt sales for subsequent seasons and now the show may be teetering on the edge of stall city.

LEAVE IT TO BEAVER - one of the most iconic shows of all time abandoned after only two seasons, at least in part due to Universal's horrible pricing structure.

RAWHIDE - possibly stalled or abandoned after only 3 seasons released (8 season show).

For all the fun and enjoyment I've gotten out of collecting TV on DVD, when it comes to my absolute top favorite shows, I've had far more disappointments than enjoyments. 


Gary "really bummed right now at the way my favorites have been treated" O.
 


With RAWHIDE, you can also add poor prints for Season 1. Most of the Season 1 shows come from video masters. It's only Seasons 2 and 3 that were digitally remastered for the best quality. The CBS/Paramount Syndication Bible confirms this.

 

Maybe it's just the box that they're selling right now at Best Buy, with the discs for Season 3, Vol. 2 being just placeholders. You can get the real discs when you pay again for the Season 3, Vol. 2 set in October, or whenver they finally release it :) With Infinity, nothing would surprise me..

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post #18 of 50
7/15/09 at 8:03am
Disturbing news. I received my Season 3 set from Critics Choice and haven't played them yet to check for these defects, but I will do so tonight. And I assume they will have the same problem since it's probably part of the first pressing.

So Infinity didn't just botch the whole marketing and release of this set with confusing information, conflicting set release dates; it's also botched the sets themselves. Which is beyond incompetent when you consider the costs they will have to incur for replacing them, just like the costs they had to incur for uncropping Season 1, Volume 2. And did they ever clean up the first 15 episodes of Season 1?

Pathetic.
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post #19 of 50
7/15/09 at 8:13am
I had noise issues with the first 2 discs of Vol 1 also. I didn't bother to check the other discs. Since the entire second volume was useless and the first 2 discs from the first vol were not playing well , i knew they would be going back to BB. I will wait a day or two to see if any news on replacements comes out. I would think this is by far worse than any other major tv release that i'm aware of. Fugitive was bad.But at least you had watchable episodes till they replaced the set.This set i just feel ripped off. I understand it was a mistake. A really big mistake by the looks of it. But come on, is there any quality control at Infinity? In response to a few of the replys above. I would have to add The Big Valley to the most frustrating stalled show. Come on, you can't at least finish off the second part of the second season before you dump it?
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post #20 of 50
7/15/09 at 9:55am
Well, I just took mine back to BB and got a refund. I'll wait until they get this all straightened out and repurchase it next year. Heck, I'm only a few episodes into season 1 so I got time.
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post #21 of 50
7/15/09 at 10:02am
Gah!  Glad I waited until this week's DD/DVDP sale to order.  Thanks to the posters for saving me the frustration.
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post #22 of 50
7/15/09 at 10:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by docdoowop View Post

Gah!  Glad I waited until this week's DD/DVDP sale to order.  Thanks to the posters for saving me the frustration.
 

The complete season 3 set wouldn't have been available through DD. However, the first volume will be and that one at least appears to be okay. It is the second volume and the complete set that aren't suppose to be released until Oct 2009 and Jan 2010 respectively.

Not to pile on, but I wasn't a fan of the case either. It was a double wide DVD case with two on the inside front, two on the inside back, and two hinged inserts holding two discs a piece (front and back). The hubs on the inserts weren't holding my disks in place very well.  My guess is the individual volumes will be in standard cases that hold four disks and I've had better luck with them (anyone confirm?)
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post #23 of 50
7/15/09 at 11:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollywoodaholic View Post

And did they ever clean up the first 15 episodes of Season 1?

 

I checked the original S1V1 set with the complete S1 set and confirmed that they used the same prints for the V1 part of the complete set as the original S1V1 release.
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post #24 of 50
7/15/09 at 11:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeff Willis View Post




I checked the original S1V1 set with the complete S1 set and confirmed that they used the same prints for the V1 part of the complete set as the original S1V1 release.
 

Yeah, I have that complete Season 1 set, but in a moment of delirium, I imagined Infinity might have finally remastered those first 15 and slipped them into later-produced sets. I know, I know, a complete fantasy considering how ineptly and inconsiderately Infinity has handled every aspect of this show's release.
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post #25 of 50
7/15/09 at 1:26pm
Same here - none of the part 2 discs would play.
I looked at them on the computer and there is no VIDEO_TS folder on the discs. Looks like someone skipped a step in mastering the discs.
route 66 dvd directory
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post #26 of 50
7/15/09 at 1:56pm
I went to Infinity's web site and filled out the form to contact them with information about the Route 66 season 3 issue.  Guess what I received back, an automated reply email from a person that states they no longer work there.  Now at least they gave an email address of someone else that could be contacted, but how hard could it be to update the website with the new person's email address.  Makes you wonder.

Anyway, I rewrote the email and sent it to the other individual. It will be interesting to see what their reply is.
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post #27 of 50
7/15/09 at 2:41pm
Those are Video CD files, not the standard DVD movie files.  I haven't checked yet on my DVD player, which is supposed to play Video CD, but if your DVD player can play Video CD files, perhaps they can play those discs.
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post #28 of 50
7/15/09 at 7:03pm
I was able to get the DVD's to play on my DVD player, but with difficulty.  The screen came up as a directory as you would see on a computer screen, and I was able to scroll down and get the DVD started to the splash screen, but my remote would only start the DVD using the fast forward button.  Once started, the 1st episode played normally, but when the 2nd episode started, it would play only about 5 minutes then revert to the directory screen when the DVD player attempted to change layers.  It is a shame because the video and sound quality was exceptionally good, at least on my TV.
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post #29 of 50
7/16/09 at 6:11am
After observing what has happened here here's all I can say for Best Buy:

DOH!
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post #30 of 50
7/16/09 at 6:16am
Just for the record, the Season 3 set I received from Critics Choice doesn't play the last 4 discs either. I'm preparing to ship them back to CC, but I might wait a day or two to see if Infinity puts forth some replacement plan (yeah, right, like THAT would go smoothly).

www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Route-66-major-problems-with-season-3/12310

For Conspiracy Theorists: George Maharis' run ends in the first half of Season 3, when he is replaced by Glen Corbett. Perhaps the person in charge of mastering the disc for Infinity was a diehard disgruntled Buz fan.     But then, perhaps they have ZERO quality assurance control on their products, which is more likely.
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