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Problem with Criterion blu rays? (1 Viewer)

Thomas T

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Pasted from another site, anyone else comes across this problem:

"WARNING: Even if your discs from the mentioned time period below look fine, with no bronzing, they could still be defective. The only way to know for sure is to scan the entire disc. Please see my "Edit 2" for more information on this.***
I posted this in the community thread but I'm gonna post it here to see if any of you have ever seen this with ANY Blu-ray before. This is way, way, way too early to be happening already. This is ridiculous.

Guys, it's time to bust our your older Criterion Collection Blu-ray titles and check on them to see if they still work or not. I am beyond pissed off at this. Earlier tonight I saw some people mentioning that certain titles from late 2009 to mid 2010 are already going bad. It's some sort of weird production screwup that is causing a browning/bronzing across the disc that either causes skipping, screwing up entire chapters, or just flat out kills the discs entirely, preventing them from even loading at all.

I hate to say that I have horrible news. I just went through all of my titles and I found six that have noticeable browning/bronzing.

The titles included here are from my personal collection, and these are the ones I have found so far that are afflicted with this issue. The titles are...

-M (2010, first printing)
-Monsoon Wedding (2009, first printing)
-Paris, Texas (2009, first printing)
-Summer Hours (2010, first printing)
-Walkabout (2010, first printing)

None of the above titles will load in any Blu-ray player that I own. They are all completely and totally dead Blu-ray discs now. My copy of Days of Heaven (2010, first printing) also has the the browning/bronzing effect that is starting to show up, but as of right now that disc will still load in my player and I can fast forward through the entire movie.

What are the others that I need to check? I discovered the above only by doing a quick visual inspection. I haven't tested any other titles without noticeable browning/bronzing. Have any of you guys had any that didn't work but did not have a physical flaw?

I am beyond ticked off about this. I have five titles that flat out no longer load, one that is likely going to end up like this, and who knows on some of the other titles I have. I have tons of Criterion discs, and this is incredibly worrying to me.

In addition to the ones I mentioned above, some of the other titles mentioned with this problem are Howards End, Pierrot le fou, Ride With the Devil, and Stagecoach. This is even more damaging for Howards End and Pierrot le fou since those are now totally out of print (OOP).

Here are some pictures I took of the ones that will no longer play...
 

Mark Cappelletty

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I just read about this today and looked through my collection -- my M and MONTEREY POP both freeze up (though WALKABOUT, which most seem to think is the most problematic disc, plays fine). None of my discs have that "bronze" look the first poster describes.

The thread in question is here:

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=249210

And apparently Jon Mulvaney at Criterion has begun responding to emails. In short, discs that have frozen or failed will be replaced.
 

Thomas T

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Mark Cappelletty said:
And apparently Jon Mulvaney at Criterion has begun responding to emails. In short, discs that have frozen or failed will be replaced.
That's good to know. I suspected Criterion would step up to the plate and do the right thing. Fortunately for me, I have none of the titles in question though I was planning to pick up Walkabout and Monsoon Wedding. Now, I'm going to wait.
 

Charles Smith

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They will absolutely do the right thing for everyone.

Is there a more reputable company in the United States of America?

And yet, every usual suspect has come out and lit the torches and an all too familiar internet furor is raging out there. I'd been following this issue on the relatively calm and collected Criterion Forum, but today I had a quick glance at THAT OTHER FORUM, where the hysteria and some of the individual posts are just disgusting.
 

ROclockCK

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We've been here before though...with Criterion Laserdiscs, especially their CAVs. I lost nearly a dozen of their most expensive box sets due to rot: 2001, Lawrence, Ambersons, Blade Runner, Blow Up come to mind...

Of course, that issue wasn't confined to a single label, as this one (rather strangely) seems to be... :unsure:
 

Lord Dalek

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For some reason my BD-drive has difficulty playing Powaqqatsi while the other two in the box work.
 

Richard Gallagher

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I just popped M into my Blu-ray player, and it loads and plays fine. I'll try a few others when I get the time.

As long as Criterion addresses the problem - and the company already is - there is no reason to gripe.
 

Craig S

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Just did a visual check on some of the titles above and so far the only one with bronzing is "Walkabout", and it is VERY noticeable. I'll be keeping an eye on this. Will probably have to set aside a few hours some weekend soon to scan discs.

When I was reading the post quoted by the OP above, I noticed the guy's "pissed off" tone, and all I could think was "Dude, did you contact Criterion?? I expect they'll take care of you." Glad to hear they are doing just that.
 

SAhmed

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I did visual check too on the titles mentioned and found that both Summer Hours and Walkabout definitely have the browning taking place. Will probably try to make some time and check out all of my Criterion titles this weekend hopefully. Will obivously contact Criterion who I am sure will sort this out - my personal experience with their customer service has been second none.

Regards,
 

Brandon Conway

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I don't think they've determined the exact extent of the titles yet. Some seem more common than others (M, Summer Hours, Walkabout).

Unfortunately for me, one of my titles that no longer plays is the OOP Howards End (the other two being M and Monterey Pop), so I'll have to try and track down a playable copy on my own, as there's no way Criterion would be able to replace it (though perhaps they'll be kind enough to give me store credit at criterion.com for another purchase).
 

Ruz-El

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I'll wait for a proper list as well. Hopefully someone will compile one and copy it here. :)
 

FoxyMulder

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How can Criterion replace a title that they no longer have the rights to, i'm thinking something like The Third Man. ?
 

Brandon Conway

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FoxyMulder said:
How can Criterion replace a title that they no longer have the rights to, i'm thinking something like The Third Man. ?
They can't, unless they re-acquire the rights. (Which may be happening for the StudioCanal titles. Unfortunately for me, this does not include Howards End).

So far the only OOP titles some people have problem discs for are Howards End and Pierrot le fou.
 

JoshZ

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The titles affected were reportedly all released in 2009 and 2010, though an exact date range has not been narrowed down yet. You can find a list of all discs Criterion released those years here:

http://criterionforum.org/calendar.php?year=2009

I went though my collection last night and found several discs with visible "bronzing," though the only one that definitely has playback problems so far is Summer Hours. (I have not tested all of them.)

Reportedly, the problem most often manifests around the disc layer change, which usually falls a little over 50 minutes into a movie. Indeed, that's precisely where my copy of Summer Hours freezes and won't play past.

This could wind up being a very, very big problem for a lot of collectors.
 

ROclockCK

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Brandon Conway said:
They can't, unless they re-acquire the rights. (Which may be happening for the StudioCanal titles. Unfortunately for me, this does not include Howards End).

So far the only OOP titles some people have problem discs for are Howards End and Pierrot le fou.
The Merchant-Ivory titles I've seen so far on Blu-ray* need to be redone anyway...and Criterion seems like the logical home for a definitive box set.

* Like Room With a View (with WB, also OOP) Howards End has too much legacy scanner noise trying to masquerade as film grain.
 

Will Krupp

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Brandon Conway said:
Unfortunately for me, one of my titles that no longer plays is the OOP Howards End
uh-oh...I'd better check when I get home. If I'm lucky and it plays, is it only a matter of time?
 

FoxyMulder

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JoshZ said:
Reportedly, the problem most often manifests around the disc layer change, which usually falls a little over 50 minutes into a movie. Indeed, that's precisely where my copy of Summer Hours freezes and won't play past.
So once again it's the glue that bonds the layers together, this happened with DVD too.

I'd love to know the disc replicating plant and what other labels used this plant back in 2009/2010.
 

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