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Twilight Zone Blu-Ray strangeness

post #1 of 60
10/5/10 at 3:21am
Thread Starter 

I have had quite an ordeal with the Twilight Zone season 1 Blu-Ray collection.  I first bought the collection through Amazon.  The first and fourth discs did not load at all in my player.  I e-mailed Amazon for a replacement set.  I got the replacement set, the first disc worked but the fourth one didn't.  I e-mailed Amazon again for another set and this time they chose to refund me and gave me my money back.  I then decided to purchase TZ Blu-ray from Best Buy online.  I got the set last night and I had the same loading issues with disc four.  I then got the idea to try that disc in my Playstation3 and it works fine.  To me that is really strange.  The standalone Blu-ray player I have is a Magnavox and I tried other Blu-rays in that player last night and they load and play just fine.  In each instance my standalone player says "playback feature may not be available on this disc".  Anyone else here on the forums have these strange playback problems?  I don't mind watching TZBR 4 on my PS3 but I'd like to watch it in my standalone player too.

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The Twilight Zone: Season 1 [Blu-ray]
post #2 of 60
10/5/10 at 4:58am

Something tells me that your standalone player needs a firmware update to play these discs as others have reported similar problems with other BR players.

 

 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/303895/htf-blu-ray-review-the-twilight-zone-season-1-blu-ray

 

 

 

 

 

Crawdaddy

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post #3 of 60
10/8/10 at 12:02pm
Thread Starter 

How do I get a Firmware update for my standalone player?  It's a player only, it can't connect to the Internet.

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post #4 of 60
10/8/10 at 12:32pm

I know at least some if not most player manufacturers provide physical firmware update discs if you request them. Sony does this.

 

To the issue of firmware updates fixing playback problems with this set, it apparently has fixed some but not all problems. My old Sony BDP-S300 will not play the set with the latest firmware (5.40, released in June of this year).  

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post #5 of 60
10/8/10 at 12:36pm

I would think a firmware update would also be available on the manufacturer's website as an ISO disc image, which you can burn to a CD-R or DVD-R.  This seems to be a pretty comprehensive list of available updates.  Even if you're specific player isn't listed, I'd check the manufacturer's website.

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post #6 of 60
10/8/10 at 5:59pm

Is this potentially a serious flaw to widespread adoption of blu-ray?

 

I have a ps3 that updates itself automatically. I don't even have to think about it.

 

But somebody who has to update, and finds that difficult, and has discs that don't work....? I think that may be doing some damage to the platform.

 

Imho they should have made it a requirement that all players update automatically. You have to have internet for that to work, obviously, but I'm guessing that 99% of blu-ray adopters have internet access of some kind.

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post #7 of 60
10/8/10 at 6:44pm

Disc 4 won't play on my PS3, even WITH the latest firmware.  It does play, however, on my Samsung BD-C6500.  I'm not even going to bother trying it on my "old" Sony BDP-S300, which now resides in my daughter's room.

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post #8 of 60
10/9/10 at 6:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Beam View Post

Disc 4 won't play on my PS3, even WITH the latest firmware.  It does play, however, on my Samsung BD-C6500.  I'm not even going to bother trying it on my "old" Sony BDP-S300, which now resides in my daughter's room.


Disc 4 plays fine on my PS3. In fact, all five discs play without a hitch. I do have a tracking problem with disc 2 of Beauty and the Beast, though. During "Beyond Beauty", there are some audio dropouts and on occasion the image freezes for several seconds before advancing. Perhaps this is a "seamless branching" problem? I tried replacing it yesterday but Toys R Us is out of stock. I think what we may be experiencing here is a result of the "mainstreaming" of the Blu-ray format. As the demand grows for more and more product, manufacturing increases...and so does the likelihood of glitchy discs.

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post #9 of 60
10/10/10 at 1:11am

All discs played fine on my PS3.

 

My guess is that some runs of replication of Disc 1 and Disc 4 were not done correctly, so that they exhibit these playback issues. If that's the case there's less chance of a firmware update fixing the problem for those unlucky enough to get the bad batches, as firmware updates are mostly good for fixing programming glitches with specific players, not manufacturing errors. As with any mass produced item, these things can happen. Hopefully Image (and now Sony, since they now handle Image's disc replication) can work it out, with an exchange program following.

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post #10 of 60
10/10/10 at 7:27am
Thread Starter 

I'm not trying to trash Image here.  Their reputation is excellent!  I love their DVDs!  I have Twilight Zone collectors sets of seasons on DVD!  Sad to say they dropped the ball on the Blu-Rays!  I'm hoping that an exchange program will happen at some point!  Hopefully season two of TZ on Blu won't have any problems!

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post #11 of 60
10/10/10 at 8:12am

I played Disc 4 and it loaded quickly without any issues with my Panny 85.

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post #12 of 60
10/11/10 at 2:49am
Thread Starter 

I think after what I've read here, I think it's a disc manufacturing problem and not a player problem.  Any Image insiders here on the forum?  This needs to be fixed if Twilight Zone season 2 expects to sell well.  Start an exchange program for season 1 please!!

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post #13 of 60
10/11/10 at 3:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoyWilbury View Post

I know at least some if not most player manufacturers provide physical firmware update discs if you request them. Sony does this.

 

To the issue of firmware updates fixing playback problems with this set, it apparently has fixed some but not all problems. My old Sony BDP-S300 will not play the set with the latest firmware (5.40, released in June of this year).  


I too, have a Sony BDP-S300 with the latest firmware (5.40) installed. Discs 1,2 and 5 play fine, but discs 3 and 4 won't load...strange..it's as if these discs have entered.."The Outer Limits"...
 

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post #14 of 60
10/11/10 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by phil* View Post




I too, have a Sony BDP-S300 with the latest firmware (5.40) installed. Discs 1,2 and 5 play fine, but discs 3 and 4 won't load...strange..it's as if these discs have entered.."The Outer Limits"...
 


LOL!

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post #15 of 60
10/12/10 at 2:59am
Thread Starter 

I've sent an e-mail to Image letting them know about my disc problem and asked for an exchange.  I don't know if they'll do anything but I thought I'd try.  Does someone have connections to Image Entertainment?

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post #16 of 60
10/12/10 at 3:13am

Don't know if it will help with this particular problem, but go here re: Magnavox player firmware updates.

 

http://www.magnavox.com/support/software_instruction_player.php

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post #17 of 60
10/12/10 at 3:11pm

I had the set pre-ordered at Amazon.com. I've quickly checked out the first episode of each disc and they all play fine on my US PS3 Slim.

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post #18 of 60
10/15/10 at 3:49pm

Argh! Amazon has this for $57.99 but I am hesitant after all the problems I've seen that people are having.

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post #19 of 60
10/17/10 at 9:59am

I would invite you guys to this thread where we are talking about the playback issues:

 

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/303895/htf-blu-ray-review-the-twilight-zone-season-1-blu-ray

 

No offense, but have you guys who are finding that all 5 discs play on your machines, seen all the episodes yet? At the end of page 2 and into page 3 of the thread I link to above, you'll find a problem another user is having on one episode and I had not gotten to that episode yet. So I check and I have the same playback problems. So the learning here for me is that while all 5 discs played for me too after the firmware update, that doesn't mean it solved all the problems. Check out the thread above and report what you find there. I'd really be curious.

 

Many thanks if you can! There's a problem that might be getting bigger. And Image is not seeing it! Not to put full blame on Image, but something is wrong somewhere.

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post #20 of 60
10/18/10 at 3:04am
Thread Starter 

Nelson, what I see out of this is faulty disc manufacturing.  Sure the Firmware updates work on SOME problems, but if you update and there are STILL problems, that's a disc glitch plain and simple.  I read the other thread and then checked Big Tall Wish at the mark you said on my PS3, no problems.  It's all on how Image duplicated the discs.  I have the latest Firmware on my PS3.  I have a feeling it would work without the update.  Image better do an exchange on this.  Something needs to be done on Image's end.  Twilight Zone is the first Blu-ray movie problem I've ever had.  Somebody on this forum ought to know someone from Image.

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post #21 of 60
10/21/10 at 3:22pm

I have just downloaded and installed Sony Firmware Update 5.50 (October 14,2010.)on my Sony BDP-S300....same problems as before..discs 1,2 and 5 play fine,but discs 3 & 4 won't load. As I suspected,this is NOT a firmware issue,because if it was,NONE of the discs would play.Image Entertainment has a problem on its hands,one that is only getting worse the longer they refuse to acknowledge it.

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post #22 of 60
10/21/10 at 6:14pm

Sony just took over replication for Image discs (after this release), so getting a replacement program going (and their ability to promise and/or comment on such) is more than likely being held up due to that.

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post #23 of 60
10/21/10 at 7:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway View Post

Sony just took over replication for Image discs (after this release), so getting a replacement program going (and their ability to promise and/or comment on such) is more than likely being held up due to that.



I said this in another thread but even a non-committal "We're aware that there is a small number of problems and we're looking into it" statement would be nice after a month and a half. I'm not demanding that a recall start yesterday or screaming that I'll kill myself before buying another Image product but this set has been out long enough that there should have been some kind of comment by now.

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post #24 of 60
10/22/10 at 10:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon Conway View Post

Sony just took over replication for Image discs (after this release), so getting a replacement program going (and their ability to promise and/or comment on such) is more than likely being held up due to that.

 

Did they?  I read elsewhere it was the other way around, that Image took over replication for Sony.

 

Disregard.  I found the answer.  In a strange deal, Sony is doing replication for Image, while Sony handed some catalogue titles to Image for distribution (??), titles that will then be turned back to Sony to replicate. 
 

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post #25 of 60
10/22/10 at 10:24am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trevor824 View Post



 

Did they?  I read elsewhere it was the other way around, that Image took over replication for Sony.
 



Image took over licensing/distribution for a portion of Sony's catalog titles. Sony took over physical manufacturing/replication for Image's titles.

 

EDIT: It's not that strange. Authoring/Distribution (including marketing responsibilities) is a totally different beast than replication. The latter takes a tremendous amount of infrastructure, and there are only a handful of any significant size, especially for Blu-ray - Sony DADC, Technicolor, Cinram.

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post #26 of 60
10/27/10 at 3:07am
Thread Starter 

I got a reply from Image on the Twilight Zone BD situation and it goes like this:

 

Hello and thank you for your inquiry regarding the Twilight Zone Season One Blu-ray set. Please note that Image strives to produce the best possible DVD and BD releases and this is one that we worked diligently on to create the most “packed” set available to fans of the series.

 

To answer your questions, Image Entertainment uses a state-of-the-art authoring facility for Blu-ray High Definition Movie discs. Our discs are all created in HDMV mode and although many functions can be incorporated, we choose to utilize a standard authoring guide in the “most basic form” for all Image titles. Thus all five "Twilight Zone Season One" discs followed the same exact specs.

The authoring house is an exclusive Sonic Scenarist facility which is required to follow comprehensive specification controls that allow maximum compatibility across the widest possible range of players. Image also uses an outside QC house to test BD-R’s before sending to our replication facility. Full QC’s are done to the first generation discs and compatibility checks vary depending on the complexity of the title (languages, bonus features, interactivity, etc.)

Once the BD-R’s are approved, files are sent to Image’s replication facility and an additional round of verification and compatibility tests are performed before mass duplication commences. These systems' are designed to check every part of a disc against industry specifications to validate the content. Unfortunately system checks don't always mean a disc will work on all Blu-ray players (especially with discs that have so much content / navigation, etc.), as different machines can interpret the spec dissimilarly and there is no way to test every function of a title.

Compatibility issues are more due to a specific player than the disc and thus firmware updates provide opportunities for manufacturers to step in and resolve common complaints such as failure to load, stutter during playback, freezes and stopping play altogether (almost any compliance variance can cause a player to react negatively to a disc). Image Entertainment and its authoring, QC and replication partners continue to strive for 100% compatible discs across an ever divergent field of players.

We are sincerely sorry to hear you are having problems playing the BD series, however ongoing tests have shown no defects in the discs currently in release. We do take our quality seriously and hope you will continue to be a Twilight Zone and Image customer into the future 

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post #27 of 60
10/27/10 at 6:17am

So, in essence it is our fault (player specific) and not theirs.  Well, I guess that settles that.

 

Would have been nice to at least get that answer, still no response from Image in my e-mail box.

 

Doug

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post #28 of 60
10/27/10 at 9:50am

Trevor,

 

You must be the first one here to actually hear back from Image! Thanks for updating.

 

Would you mind reposting your post here on this thread: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/forum/thread/303895/htf-blu-ray-review-the-twilight-zone-season-1-blu-ray/60#post_3743479

 

And see what I wrote on post 81. I've talked to Sony and Amazon. And Amazon says they're leaning on Image to get the problem resolved. But from your reply from Image is telling us, it's not their fault, but our players. 

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post #29 of 60
10/27/10 at 12:03pm

Gotta like the logic. "We're working with the best of the best of the best, so if there's a problem it's the fault of your player... and yours and yours and yours and yours and yours and yours." Well, Image, I will refrain from buying your next Twilight Zone release... and the next and the next and the next!

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post #30 of 60
10/27/10 at 12:06pm

It doesn't surprise me that they re-tested and found nothing wrong. This, as I said before, appears to be a problem with one replication run of those particular discs (1 and 4). Unless they re-tested on that bad batch they wouldn't find the problem. Have people tried exchanging the set for a new one to see if the discs now work? (This may have been stated already - haven't read through the thread again recently).

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

The Twilight Zone: Season 1 [Blu-ray]