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

[Michael Elliott]

Eric, I guess somebody up there likes me then because as I said, I've never had a problem with any of these discs. I'll report back after I get the Lugosi and Hammer sets but I'm certainly not worried about having any issues.

If people have problems with the Lugosi set then I hope they mention the players they are using and where the disc froze. If various players are freezing at the exact same point then we can look at the disc. If two-five models are freezing at different points then we'll have to come up with something else.

If anyone doesn't trust this set, I've got the Boris Karloff Collection, PAL R0 that I will send ya for free. BLACK CAT, THE RAVEN and THE MUMMY.

 

[John Stell]

Well. George Reis of DVD Drive-In had a problem with his set. Read the review here:

http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/a...3234353640.htm

He tried it on 4 different models. Sorry, I continue to disbelieve the "it's a player issue" excuse.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Thanks for some more supporting data John. I'm still a little befuddled that so many people refuse to believe that this could be a manufacturing problem. My biggest confusion is why they feel the need to argue this point. I'm simply trying to say that nearly every title has a been a problem, and I'm repeatedly told to buy a new player.

 

[Ruz-El]

From the DVD Drive in review:



This is the exact problem That I have had on every Universal DVD-18. So it isn't a player issue, and Eric shouldn't have to buy a new player. I just don't see why this is still happening, it's been a problem since the first Franchise collection came out.

 

[LaurenceGarvey]

I've had this problem, too, and it pisses me off that I'm going to have it again with this so-called "Bela Lugosi Collection".

 

[John Hodson]

Well I'm not going to squeal until I get my set and The Black Cat doesn't play. Then I'll squeal real loud...

 

[AlanBrom]

I e-mailed George about it. It's THE RAVEN that is messed up, not THE BLACK CAT, that was a typo which has been fixed. But it's frustrating regardless. Those stills are making my mouth water, but now I'm all upset thinking I might have trouble getting hold of a playable copy.

 

[Robert Crawford]

There are only two people that I'm aware of in this thread that has suggested that it might be a hardware problem. IMO, that doesn't make it "many" people.






Crawdaddy

 

[Joe Karlosi]

For those who have had problems playing their previous DVD-18s, I'm not suggesting that those discs were not truly faulty; I'm saying that they've all played well on my own Sony machines. It could very well be that one day I'll get a different player and experience all sorts of imperfections myself, too. To be more specific, I'm just telling you some machines can overcome the defect (though it obviously is still a pain in the butt and not really acceptable).

I don't like what I'm hearing about the BELA LUGOSI COLLECTION being problematic already here in this first web review, though; not a good sign at all. But let's see what others have to say about their copies.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Thank you Joe. I think you said it better than I ever could, especially the final sentence. Even if it is a hardware problem, that is not an acceptable answer. If Universal is making discs that don't work consistently on models by major manufacturer's then in my view, it is still their problem.

 

[Michael Elliott]

George posted a reply over at the MonsterKid forum. It's no shock but he had problems with the earlier titles as well and it looks like these are a problem as well, for him. Another reviewer checked his discs at the "trouble point" without any issues.

So, it looks like if you had problems before then you'll have them here. If they worked fine before then you're safe here.

I will have my copies of this, Hammer, The Sting, Deer Hunter and To Kill... tomorrow so I'll report back then.

 

[William Miller]

The problem with these lousy Universal DVD's is that Universal refuses to acknowledge there is a problem. There is a very bad problem.

Yes, they will work on some machines and will not work on other machines.

I have had a problem with all of them.

About 6 months ago, I decided to do a major investigation into this. I consulted many websites, talked to many electronic specialists and talked to many employees of electronics stores.

Here are the results of my investigation:

The newer your model is, the better chance you will have of them working properly. And it looks like Sony players do the best job. Even though I didn't need any new DVD players, I bought 2 new Sonys and most of the titles that would not play on my slightly older machines will now play correctly on the newer models. (Most, not all---I'm still having trouble getting past the first few minutes of Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion).

If you have never had a problem with these DVD's, you are very, very lucky.

I still get nervous watching any of these because I am always waiting for that fateful moment when the disc will freeze, stutter a little and then jump 3 chapters back or 4 chapters forward.

It is very depressing that Universal has decided to take these classic Karloff/Lugosi and Hammer titles and then dump them on these cheapo DVD's that may or may not play. The whole thing is so pointless.

 

[LaurenceGarvey]

My high-end JVC progressive scan incurs problems with these Universal discs; my low-end Sony does not.

 

[George Reis]

Michael, for the record, I did NOT post a reply over at the MonsterKid forum, the post you refer to is by "George Kaplan." Also, I NEVER had any problems with earlier Universal titles such as the Legacy Collections -- mine all played fine for me until this Lugosi set.

But I am very pleased to hear that someone got a working copy of THE RAVEN, hopefully making my misfortune an isolated case. I already have another Lugosi Collection on order.

Hello Joe Karlosi!

 

[Richard_Gregory]

I have a venerable, but excellent, Pioneer 717. Anyone had troubles with Universal discs on Pioneers?

It's a bit picky - I had pixellation on one of the Blakes 7 discs and several of Carlton's Thunderbirds discs, but they played flawlessly on my Panasonic DMR-E55.

Unfortunately, the Panny is not multi-region, and as readers will know, it's not a case of putting in codes with Pannys.

It's depressing that with these releases, you would have to check through the entire contents in real time. I don't fancy sitting with my eyes glued to the screen for hours waiting for the things to go wrong. And they're r1 imports to boot.

Has anyone ever run one of these problematic discs into a DVDROM drive and run an error checker on them?

That might reveal errors that some machines cope with, but others don't.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Somebody else posted that they use high-speed scanning on one of their players and that it stops if it hits any pixellations or video problems. I haven't tried it yet on any of my problem discs, but I'm going to try this weekend and see if it works. If so, I can then try the problem disc on all 6 players that I have in my house.

 

[Richard_Gregory]

You have six players? And you have problems with all of them?

Urgh!

Got any Pioneer players by any chance?

I'm feeling depressed, not least because the forthcoming Kolchak series is on DVD-18's as well.

And Universal seem really awful in doing r2 editions. Look at the scraps we got of their Legacy sets in the UK. Just an odd assortment of the titles.

 

[Michael Elliott]

My bad on the wrong George, George.

Either way, I'll second the person who had no problems. Tested on a Sony, a Toshiba, a Cyberhome and another cheap model. I went to the time listed as the "issue" and nothing froze on the title. My friend has an older 2000 model from Sony that I'll try on later when I go to his house.

I skipped through all five titles and they look terrific. Very minor speckles can be seen but everything else appeared fine. If you buy into the "grain is good" theory then that's great as well. Certainly a huge leap over the VHS and the R0 disc. I'm not sure what the LDs looked like.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I just got my copy, and I plan on watching THE RAVEN straight through first to see what happens (hopefully nothing). Sometimes I think a movie has to be watched completely through in order to incur a problem, so I won't leave anything to chance and give it a full spin.

Hello to George Reis - thanks for joining in this thread.

 

[George Reis]

Looking forward to hearing the results, I'll be back from vacation late Monday night.