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

[Mark Talmadge]

You know guys, buying these Universal DVD-18's is like playing Russian Roulette. You never know when you're going to get the bullet. It's something that all of those Studios; New Line, Warner, ADV Films abandoning the format. Universal is the only srtudio that have yet to dumpo the format ... so, what are they waiting for? EVen Sony doesn't use this dreadful format.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Please feel free to use this form:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/faq/dvd18.cfm

To report any problems with DVD-18 sets you've come across. I'm going to use the information collected for an upcoming article.

Please post the link to the form at other DVD sites, forums, or mailing lists. I want to collect as much info as possible.

Thanks,
Gord

 

[Daniel-M]

Great idea, i submitted one about Terminator 2, hope that was okay although it's not a tv-show

 

[Gord Lacey]

I just care about TV shows for right now, though it helps identify problems with the disc format.

Gord

 

[Gord Lacey]

BTW - you can add "American Gothic" to the list of f*cked up sets from Universal.

Gord

 

[TravisR]

Gord, have you heard about many problems with Kolchak: The Night Stalker? I'm sure there were some but I didn't hear about alot of problems that usually occur with Universal's stuff. If that's actually the case, I wonder why that one seems to have had less problems.

The sad truth is that every Universal DVD-18 have a number of copies that are bum. I've been pretty lucky though.

 

[Corey_Smith]

Gord -

Hopefully you'll share your article with the rest of us when finished. Would love to hear about some of the other problems. I just submitted two problems I've had (most noticeably with the A-Team S2).

Corey

 

[Gord Lacey]

The article will be posted to the site. Hopefully I can include SOME kind of response from Universal in there.

Travis, I've only had 3 reports of problems with Kolchak, and my copy was fine.

Here's a list of problem episodes for American Gothic:
Meet the Beetles (episode 3, Disc 1, Side B)
Inhumanitas (episode 3, Disc 2, Side A)
To Hell and Back (episode 3, Disc 2, Side B)

Hmm....notice anything similar with the placement of those episodes?

Gord

 

[RoyM]

Well Gord, I used your link to register my comments about the MGM "Outer Limits" season two problem I mentioned in my earlier post. It would be nice to get someone to acknowledge the problem, or at least have some other customers who have had the same issue have their voices heard by the studio.

As I mentioned, I have had to return this four times to Deep Discount, and each time I've called to complain/ask for an exchange, the response has been increased incredulity - as in "There is no way that you could keep getting defective set after defective set. You must have a bad player" or the accompanying insinuation that I must be a crackpot or pulling a fast one (like there is any profitable scam that could involve returning the same DVD set four times). Basically, after my last defective set, DDD's customer service essentially just refused to exchange it again. And mind you, I'm a long time customer of DDD, who has purchased literally hundreds of DVD's over the last five years from them, with scarcely any problems and never a previous CS issue with DDD.

My point being, that is how frustrating this whole issue is. Basically, if the studio refuses to acknowledge that there is an issue with their product, then retailers are less than accommodating on exchanges beyond the basic single return that they deem as acceptable. Of course, a single return can usually solve the issue, but not when there are masses of badly manufactured replacement sets out there. Then trying to get the studio AND retailer to make good on their responsibility to provide a good working product becomes a customer's worst nightmare.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

At that point I would be contacting the Attorney General of your state and the state that Deep Discoounts DVD and file a complaint in regards to the retailer selling defective DVD's and not agreeing to exchange them. I would also save the emails that you received and possibly file a suit against the company.

 

[Gord Lacey]

Here's a quick update:

I've received 231 emails (and more coming in all the time). Of those, 150 are for Universal titles, 18 are for Fox, 9 are for ADV Films, 11 are for MGM, 30 are for Warner, 4 are for Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment, and 9 are for other companies.

Gord

 

[Mark Talmadge]

WHOA! That's a lot from defected Universal Studios DVD's.

 

[Daniel-M]

150 Universal!!?

 

[Gord Lacey]

150 emails are for Universal titles, not 150 affected Universal titles. Sorry if I wasn't being clear. The same sets are showing up over and over.

Gord

 

[Mark Talmadge]

What's important is the number of defects, not because they are from the same title. This should be evidence that Universal needs to drop the format because if they are all fromo the same title then it's blatantly obvious that Universal DVD's are problematic with the DVD-18 format.

I just hope that Universal opens its eyes and changes the way they use DVD's in the future, meaning "NO MORE DVD-18's."

 

[Richard_Gregory]

Or alternatively, Universal need to complain good and hard to Deluxe about quality control.

In fact, I'm wondering if the switch from the Mexican replication plant to one in Taiwan means they've finally taken some action.

AFAIK the Kolchak discs were made in Taiwan, and there have been a LOT less complaints about those.

I for one am buying, where I can, r2 editions of things like Wonder Woman, The Munsters, The Outer Limits etc. Because DVD-18's are almost unheard of here in UK-r2. The joke is that the sets are identical in size etc - they just use those superslim cases to hold the extra DVD-9 discs!

They don't save anything by using DVD-18; not only is the packaging the same, but any reduction in pressing fewer discs gets eaten up because they are more expensive to make - with a higher fail rate! It seems to be an absessive thing to have as few discs as possible...something most consumers don't care about. Particularly when the boxes aren't any smaller anyway!!

 

[Henry V]

Gord, make that 151 E-mails about defective Universal discs! I returned three Universal DVDs from two different titles with defective DVD-18 discs. What a pain to watch hours of the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" show just to have it break up on you and then have sit through those very same shows all over again from the very beginning again on the next set to check them out as well. Amazon passes back to the studio the shipping costs that they incur on defective DVDs along with the actual discs from this unreliable DVD-18 format, it just doesn't seem to be a cost effective way for Universal to run their business using this failure prone technology.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

Well, guys. Let's all pass on Alfred Hitcock Presents. You know, maybe it's time everyone starts posting the names of those DVD sets that everyone is having problems with so everyone else knows to pass those titles up.

This would warn everyone else about purchasing those titles and maybe Universal will think twice and start listening to the complaints of their consumers. Matter of fact, if everyone posts them I'd be sure to host the page on my site and keep a complete catalog of Universal titles to shy away from.

 

[TravisR]

Sorry, I want the show. I don't care if I have to go through 10 sets to get one that functions. Not buying the set because of DVD-18 will only send the message that no one wants to buy the show. They will not see the DVD-18 as the reason for the lack of sales, they'll think it's a lack of interest.

As for mentioning the shows having problems, that's exactly what every Universal TV threads turn into. A good rule of thumb is if it's Universal and on a DVD-18 then someone has had a problem with it.

I always say it but no one should be surprised when a Universal set has problems. Leave It To Beaver is coming out next month and it's going to have problems because it's a DVD-18. If anyone wants that set, they're gonna have to watch all the discs ASAP to make sure they all work. It's (unfortunately) a neccesary evil of Universal's DVD-18s.

The sad thing is that (in my opinion) their sets are pretty good when they actually work. Their problems with DVD-18s are obscuring decent shows and decent discs.

 

[JeffWld]

Technically, DVD-18 works (on paper). What Universal has incorrectly assumed is that everyone has a player that has current firmware and has a laser assembly that is in perfect alignment. Universal has taken a theoretical approach that doesn't reflect real-world conditions.