I Will Never Buy Another Dvd Set From Universal (1 Viewer)

I am extremely angry right now. Universal has let me down for the last time. I don't know why they can't seem to fix problems or learn from their mistakes, butI for one have had it. This started back with that lousy Buck Rogers set. I returned 3 of them before I got one without any scratches on the discs. I haven't watched it all the way through yet, and frankly, I'm afraid to. I purchased Quincy, and on the last disc it locks up. I was at Best Buy today, and noticed The Hammer Horror series collection. I picked it up, and on the flipside of disc 2 it locks up. It's not my dvd player, because I tried 3 differnt players, and they all lock up in the same part. I'm not getting an even exchange for Quincy, or the Hammer collection. I'm going to simply get a cash refund, and that will be that. The problem I have is this: I want these shows and collections on dvd, but if they are all defective, then it is out of my hands. I could exchange them multiple times to get a good set, but I'm through with that. I shouldn't have to. THE DOUBLE SIDED DISCS FROM UNIVERSAL ARE DEFECTIVE WITH A 99% FAILURE RATE.
I will e-mail Universal soon, and update this thread with their response. Potential buyers beware.

¨Sems like a job for our friends at TSoD.com.
Can someone please tell the studios that double-sided discs are not wanted

For some, maybe. I've yet to have a problem with Universal's double-sided DVDs. The only DVD I've had a problem with from them was disc six of Law & Order: SVU S1, and that was a DVD-5.

Personally, I've only had 1 problem with a DVD-18 from Universal (Dragnet: Season One) and no others. I've got all the Monster sets, Casino, the Lugosi set, and a few others.

I will say that now every time I get a Universal DVD-18, I do make sure to watch the entire disc soon after I buy it in case there is a problem. The problems some players seem to have with DVD-18s and the resulting lose of consumer confidence (even among people who haven't had a problem- I watched those discs out of 'fear' of them being messed up) should make Universal reconsider using DVD-18s at all.

If anyone was wondering where the problem occured on my Hammer set, it was chapter 14 on The Evil Of Frankenstein, which unfortunately is my favorite film of the bunch. It locked up on my Sony, Panasonic,(my best player. Fantastic machine) and Daewoo Dvd players. I can almost bet the response from Universal will tell me to buy another player.

Bryan, there is a place for rants like this...Studio and Manufacturer Feedback forum.

As I mentioned in a very similar thread to this, Gord has been trying to look into this. Cross your fingers and let's hope he gets somewhere.

I've never had a problem with double-sided discs, I don't like them, but they always play. I've had plenty of bad single-sided discs though, so I think it evens out.

no problems with Universal's discs... but I did have a problem with Remington Steele from Fox.

I have only Quantum Leap S2 & S3, but I haven't had any problems with any of the discs.

I've never had a problem with Universal discs, in fact the only defective disc I've ever had was a DVD-18 from Warner (West Wing Season 1)

My West Wing Season 1 set was defective, too, and needed to be exchanged. As far as Universal is concerned, I've had issues with the Earth 2 set. The discs didn't have any scratches or other clearly visible problems but locked up nonetheless.

Double-sided discs, in my limited experience, are prone to manufacturing errors. Whether this is a really widespread issue I don't know.

I too have had a problem with Universal discs. Battlestar Galactica the Original Series. Disc2, Side 2, one episode had major problems. At first I thought I had scratched the disc myself from way back when...but I didn't see how. So...I bought another copy from Best Buy, the only set they had left. Brought it home...three of the discs were really, and I mean really scratched up. I had to get a cash refund because they didn't have any more. So...I bought another set off of amazon.com and guess what? The same fricken disc, disc 2 side 2 locked up on me. Now, I've tried this on my Toshiba Progressive scan player, my original sony player, my new sony dvd recorder and my older double disc toshiba player, and still a problem. I emailed universal and they swapped it for me when I sent back the disc with the receipt saying that I purchased it within the last 30 days.

I too loathe these discs. I'm afraid that they will do the same with The Munsters season 2 and I'll be disappointed if they do the same thing.

Isn't there a way that Universal can be contacted about these DVD-18 issues that actually gets their attention? These type of threads pop up more and more frequently (this being one of 3 in the last 24 hours alone) and yet Universal keep releasing these damn DVD-18 discs and people keep having the same problems over and over again. This is immensely frustrating.

Chris

The only time ever i had problems with a DVD was a DVD-18. After that i said no more DVD-18's

Can you get a cash refund from Best Buy on opened sets? I thought their policy, and practically every retailers policy, was to exchange defective software for the same title or set, but no refunds.

I've seen lockups on more recent Universal sets as well, specifically Columbo, which locked up on all four sides. There was no physical indication of damage. I suspect that the QC is slipping at the plants as they try to churn out the millions of discs that are coming to market. There needs to be a concerted effort to correct this situation, in addition to offering an easy and cost free exchange program. If the studios want us buying 10-15 sets a week, there is no way anyone will be able to get through them all in the normal return period, and many of these problems show up over time from deteriorartion - I have at leasta dozen or more discs that worked the first time they were played but are unreadable now.

This does not bode well for HD, when you consider how much more sensitive the discs will be to either physical damage or manufacturing errors.

I think this is a perfect place for this discussion. Considering how much money we shell out for TV DVD sets, anyone has a right to bring up problems in the HTF TV Shows section.

I've had problems with several sets, including: Buck Rogers, A-Team S2, Knight Rider S2, and others I've had to return. I've yet to watch all the replacement discs, so I don't know if I should complain more. When Knight Rider S1 first came out last year on these flipper discs, one member complained about the discs not being single sided with artwork on top and data on the bottom. I replied that I was just grateful to get them and wasn't about to complain. Due to the problems, I've since changed my position.

I've never had problems with any Paramount sets I purchased: including 6 CSI/CSI Miami sets, 2 Charmed sets, 5 South Park sets, and 23 Star Trek sets. I also haven't had trouble with Anchor Bay sets: 12 Hercules/Xena sets, 7 Highlander/Raven sets and 2 Hunter sets. Fox did a good job on the 12 Buffy/Angel sets and WB did ok on B5 (there are certain issues with these sets, but they don't apply here; the main thing is the discs work and don't lock up or start pixellating). And Sony put out error free sets of Forever Knight (once again some problems, with PQ, but discs playable without error) and T.J. Hooker. It's obviously possible to put out error-free sets on a continuous basis, my Law and Order/L&O SVU sets from Universal work without problems, showing they can do this right, so why can't they do it right regularly?

I agree. Same thing with their DiscoVision releases back in 1979- a lot of those had tons of noise and would skip or lock up, so after my first DiscoVision title I said no more laserdiscs, and didn't buy a single one after that.

I won't buy any dual-layer (DVD-9) DVDs either because my "Contact" disc would never play without locking up, and now it won't even play at all. I was never too impressed with the first DVD releases to begin with, so I'm very hesitant to buy anything on DVD actually.

I'm speaking to them about the issues of skipping on DVD sets. I recently had a problem with Las Vegas Season 2, and I've shipped them the set there was an issue with.

The problem seems to be that while there are lots of reports of problems, there isn't a specific spot that everyone has issues with. There were lots of issues with Miami Vice season 1, yet I tried the problem spots on all my players and it was fine. My Sony player had issues with some spots on Las Vegas season 2, but my other players were fine. This makes it hard for Universal to investigate because it could mean playing a whole bunch of sets in a whole bunch of players. I've been forwarding issues with Las Vegas season 2 over to someone at Universal, and I've shipped them my set so they can look at it. I've also placed a call to Deluxe, the company that replicated Las Vegas Season 2, but I haven't received a call back yet.

One thing I noticed about my Las Vegas set; all the problems I had occured just before or just after the layer change (episode 2 or 3 on a side).

If you have issues with Las Vegas season 2 please post it in the thread I created: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=242206

Gord