8 Abbott & Costello Films Coming! (2/10/04) (1 Viewer)

[Randy A Salas]

for those people who had troubles with the discs, would your players be older models, by any chance?

On my first copy, the disc was definitely the problem. I tried it on everything from my 6-month-old Panasonic to my year-old PC at home to my 5-year-old Toshiba to my 3-year-old PC at work. It messed up in the same spot on every machine. This does not appear to be a player compatibility issue. There were simply some bad discs, not out of the ordinary for these kinds of discs, as I pointed out before.

 

[Tommy G]

Who Done It? and Buck Privates looked good as well with no problems. I'm glad that this seems to be turning out OK. Halfway through and no problems yet.

 

[Joe Fisher]

This does not appear to be a player compatibility issue. There were simply some bad discs, not out of the ordinary for these kinds of discs, as I pointed out before.

Thats why I'm sending my disc back to Universal for exchange. Called them yesterday and they where very nice about it. Gave me all the info and the disc will be sent today.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

Joe, what number did you call?

 

[Joe Fisher]

Universal Customer Service:

972-293-5903
Hours:8-4:30pm Central Time

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

Thanks!

 

[Terry H]

I came to the conclusion that the Roan Group transfer was the best, with "Silver Screen Edition" (Made by "DVD Matters," and "Master Movies") being the next best, and all the rest looked like VHS-transfered to DVD.

Thanks for the tip. I bought the troma/Roan version via half/ebay from "halftroma" because it was slightly less and the shipping was far more reasonable. It did indeed come from troma. Odd it would be more reasonable to buy through half.com than from their own website.

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

I noticed that all the menus on the A&C set are 16:9. Why would Universal do that when the movies are all 4:3?

Edit: I guess I should say the menus are anamorphic. You have to change display settings to see them in their proper perspective. Strange.

 

[Tommy G]

I'm happy to report that all have played fine and I'm off to pre-order volume 2. Can't get enough of these guys!

 

[CraigF]

I also had no problem playing these either (RP82). I guess my only (minor) complaint is they didn't clean up the sound much, there was intermittent stridency/distortion in some of the voices. A nice package and great value, much better hubs than the similar-style recent Airport set.

 

[Paul D G]

No problems here on my Sony 550D. Haven't watched side 4 yet but everything's been fine so far.

My toddler (2yr) woke up from his nap in time to see the Indian dummy scene in Ride Em Cowboy. To my delight he laughed through it. But soon chasing the dog, screaming at the top of his lungs became more attractive so I had to watch the rest later.

-paul

 

[John Sparks]

I just watched "One Night in the Tropics" and I need a question answered.

At 1:15:13 into the movie, there is a large black line(piece of lint) on the film in the lower right corner over the womans shirt. I take it that was on the source material.

Now, when you watch the trailer for the same movie, the same piece of lint is in the same spot...how is that possible?

Could parts of the trailer been damaged and they used the source material for the DVD for the repair of the trailer?

 

[CraigF]

Could parts of the trailer been damaged and they used the source material for the DVD for the repair of the trailer?

Or it could be they used the trailer to repair the film...

Still, these are all pretty good looking.

 

[Dave Mack]

Well I just watched, (or tried to...) "Night in the tropics" and my disc 1 apparently is defective. Not a layer change freeze just several instances of squares,skipping, almost freezing etc... Buck Privates too.... Great... I bought it at Tower records which only has a 14 day return policy for defective discs and I've had it longer...
Thanx for the budget disc approach Universal.....

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Thanks for the budget approach indeed, Universal!

Dave - I'm sorry you had the problem, but as you can see, this has happened to relatively few discs and it's a problem you're able to amend.

 

[Tino]

Just send it back to Universal for an exchange.

I've watched the first seven with NO problems whatsoever.

I'll say it again. THANKS Universal for this great bargain and the wonderful treatment you have given these classic films!

 

[Dave Mack]

I hear you, guys...
It's just that now I have to mail the dang disc back, yes...? Spending dough on that and then when I get the new disc, I have to watch 4 films all over again... A bit annoying...
I'm just saying that since single sided discs are less prone to errors, I would have preferred a 4 disc set. How much more $ could it have cost..? How much does a DVD9 (?) that are surely bought by the thousands cost?

Anyways, I wish the sound on say, "Who Done it" my personal fave was better. It's pretty bad. The last reel suddenly jumps several DB's and sounds distorted. Hold That Ghost looks and sounds awesome, new transfer I believe. I just wish they were all new. If these were single discs for $20 and people saw Who Done it, the way it is, there'd be ALOT of complaining.
Saving dough is great, but for me, the BEST possible quality is more important. That's why some people, me included double dip for the Superbit of a flick if it's noticeably improved...

Anyways, rant aside, I'd forgotten how hysterical some of these were, been MANY years....

Peace...

 

[BrianP]

I recently received my Abbott and Costello DVD a few days ago and so far have gotten through the first disc in the set. I had no problems with the movies with the exception of Buck Privates freezing up during the first chapter on a few of my DVD players. I own 5 different DVD players and found that Buck Privates would play properly on 3 of them. Funny thing is that it is my newer models that are having trouble with the movie. I currently own a Toshiba SD 3900, Toshiba SD 3109, Pioneer DVL 909, Liteon DVD 2001, and a Denon 2900. The Denon and Liteon would not play the first chapter of Buck Privates, however the remaining chapters played fine. I thought about exchanging the set but wonder if it will make a difference. Anyways have exchanges corrected the problems for everyone? In my case it looks like the issue is related to a specific player. Oh well, think I will go through the second disc before deciding to try another copy.

 

[Joe Fisher]

Funny thing is that it is my newer models that are having trouble with the movie.

hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmm. Time to pull the retired RCA 5220(Manufactured in July 1999) out of moth balls and see what happens.

 

[Derek_McL]

Hmmmm...I thought these problems had been put to bed, now we're hearing about a few more defective discs. I'm praying Schindler's List comes in two discs in region 2. I probably will buy at least the first A and C set but I'm beginning to wonder if its worth the risk when you can't easily return it.

Universal to me doesn't seem to have much confidence in its classics or at least these franchise sets cramming loads of films on each then putting a cheap price on it. Having said that some of these films would probably never get released individually so if this is the only way we'll get a Mae West or W.C. Fields collection I'm all for it. I'm a bit surprised though they've adopted a similar approach with the Monster Legacy sets. I think many of those titles could easily have sold on their own what with the OOP Universal horrors in region 1 and also the fact many will have to buy duplicates of films they already have to get other ones.