Press Release Criterion Press Release: The Princess Bride (1987) (4k UHD Combo) (1 Viewer)

[jayembee]

I wonder when they’ll run an official replacement campaign.

The only time I'm aware of that they had any "official" replacement campaign was back a dozen years ago, when pressings at a specific plant caused discs to "bronze" and become unplayable.

From virtually the moment Criterion came into existence with laserdiscs in the 1980s, they've always been happy to replace any of their discs that have had problems. I imagine that at some point, after the demise of the laserdisc format, followed by junking whatever inventory they had left, they stopped replacing gone-bad LDs. But beyond that, they will replace any corrupted disc.

On edit: Other exceptions might be titles they've lost the rights to. As long as they still had some copies of these titles in stock, they'd replace them. For example, during the aforementioned "bronzing" issue, they still had copies of some OOP titles, like Howards End available for replacement.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I might go ahead and write them, even though I bought my disc from Amazon. Like I mentioned before, there’s a brief checker board pattern at the top of the screen in one scene and I wasn’t able to recreate it just by skipping back to the beginning of that chapter, but I’m concerned the disc may fail at some point in the near future.

 

[bujaki]

I wrote Criterion directly. They told me what to do (mark up the defective disc and send a photo) and, once that was received, they sent a replacement.
I don't think it matters where you purchased the disc.

 

[titch]

The only time I'm aware of that they had any "official" replacement campaign was back a dozen years ago, when pressings at a specific plant caused discs to "bronze" and become unplayable.

From virtually the moment Criterion came into existence with laserdiscs in the 1980s, they've always been happy to replace any of their discs that have had problems. I imagine that at some point, after the demise of the laserdisc format, followed by junking whatever inventory they had left, they stopped replacing gone-bad LDs. But beyond that, they will replace any corrupted disc.

On edit: Other exceptions might be titles they've lost the rights to. As long as they still had some copies of these titles in stock, they'd replace them. For example, during the aforementioned "bronzing" issue, they still had copies of some OOP titles, like Howards End available for replacement.

I received replacement copies in August last year of all blu-ray Criterion titles, which were oxidised, including all out-of-print titles.

8 1/2
Bigger than Life
For All Mankind
Gomorrah
In the Realm of the Senses
Kagemusha
Lola Montes
M
Monsoon Wedding
Monterey Pop (DISC ONE only)
Paris, Texas
Revanche
Ride with the Devil
Sanjuro
Seventh Seal, The
Stagecoach
Summer Hours
Vivre sa Vie
Walkabout
Wings of Desire

Days of Heaven - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Howards End - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Le Cercle Rouge - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Pierrot le Fou - the version released 2008-2010 is out of print but affected discs are still being replaced

Their Hard Day's Night 4K UHD title, which was affected by a small mastering error and the blu-ray disc in the Citizen Kane 4K UHD set are also replaced, if you get in touch. Send an email to [email protected]

I have yet to check my own copy of The Princess Bride.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I received replacement copies in August last year of all blu-ray Criterion titles, which were oxidised, including all out-of-print titles.

8 1/2
Bigger than Life
For All Mankind
Gomorrah
In the Realm of the Senses
Kagemusha
Lola Montes
M
Monsoon Wedding
Monterey Pop (DISC ONE only)
Paris, Texas
Revanche
Ride with the Devil
Sanjuro
Seventh Seal, The
Stagecoach
Summer Hours
Vivre sa Vie
Walkabout
Wings of Desire

Days of Heaven - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Howards End - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Le Cercle Rouge - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Pierrot le Fou - the version released 2008-2010 is out of print but affected discs are still being replaced

Their Hard Day's Night 4K UHD title, which was affected by a small mastering error and the blu-ray disc in the Citizen Kane 4K UHD set are also replaced, if you get in touch. Send an email to [email protected]

I have yet to check my own copy of The Princess Bride.

Wow! That's quite a lot -- and I have maybe a dozen of those titles myself, but hadn't checked/revisited them in a long time.

Do all previous/earlier pressings of all those generally go bad regardless of storage, etc? OR is that not quite that prevalent?

I suppose I could probably (at least) replace Howards End w/ the newer, likely somewhat better version from Cohen Collection, if my copy did/does go bad (and Criterion ran out of replacement discs)...

_Man_

 

[jayembee]

I might go ahead and write them, even though I bought my disc from Amazon.

I don't think it matters where you purchased the disc.

It doesn't. They'll replace the disc regardless of where you bought it.

 

[jayembee]

Wow! That's quite a lot -- and I have maybe a dozen of those titles myself, but hadn't checked/revisited them in a long time.

Do all previous/earlier pressings of all those generally go bad regardless of storage, etc? OR is that not quite that prevalent?

The ones that Kevin referred to are ones that were made at a specific pressing plant back in 2010. I'd have to poke around and find what the mould code is on the discs to identify the bad ones. My copies of some of the ones on "the list" played fine, so...

 

[bujaki]

I checked every one of the discs on the list. All were bronzed and were quickly replaced by Criterion.
Criterion has always given me great customer service.

 

[dpippel]

I just checked the three titles I own that are on the list. Paris, Texas is OK, but both Days of Heaven and Stagecoach have bronzed. Looks like I'll be emailing Criterion this week. I also inspected my copies of A Night to remember and Repulsion, and both appear to be fine.

Is there a thread anywhere on HTF dedicated to this specific CC bad batch?

 

[jayembee]

Don't know about here at HTF, but here's a posting from The Other Site:

Blu-ray Forum - View Single Post - Early Blu-rays that may have playback issues (Criterion, Well Go USA, etc.)

Everything about Blu-ray Disc. Join the Blu-ray Forum to discuss topics such as Blu-ray movies, players, recorders, drives, media and software.

forum.blu-ray.com

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

215 Park South? Huh, wonder if I can just swing by in person for disc replacements, LOL -- that's basically just a block or so off the northeast corner of the Union Square park (around the edge of Gramercy)... and I do already go near/pass there now and then for various other reasons...

_Man_

 

[dpippel]

215 Park South? Huh, wonder if I can just swing by in person for disc replacements, LOL -- that's basically just a block or so off the northeast corner of the Union Square park (around the edge of Gramercy)... and I do already go near/pass there now and then for various other reasons...

You probably could, but FYI, Jon Mulvaney is out of the office until January 2nd.

 

[Sam Favate]

It seems my earlier post was premature. Watching my copy, there was significant pixelation and sound dropouts, starting in the scene where Vizzini and Westley duel. It was unwatchable. I switched to the Blu-ray, and already sent an email to Criterion. Switching to the Blu-ray, I could already see how much more vibrant the 4k is.

 

[bujaki]

My replacement disc from Criterion played flawlessly.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

there was significant pixelation and sound dropouts, starting in the scene where Vizzini and Westley duel. It was unwatchable.

That's around where our first copy died on the Oppo-203. The replacement disc didn't have this issue.

 

[PMF]

Clearly, Criterion has been a class-act forerunner when dealing with the issues of a replacement disc for its consumers. Despite the “here and there” inconveniences - what with well over a thousand titles in their catalogue - I give Criterion an enormous amount of credit for all of their consistent and forthright integrities.

Likewise, I am grateful towards the members of this thread who have done an excellent job in identifying these short list of titles to be assessed. This has been very helpful.

 

[Clinton McClure]

This reminds me that I still need to write Criterion to get a replacement copy. Perhaps I shall do that tomorrow after work.

 

[Sam Favate]

I wrote to Criterion on Monday about the faulty disc, they responded right away, asking for a picture of the disc with my name on it, and here we are on Friday and the new disc is in my hand. That’s got to be the best customer service I’ve ever experienced. Cheers to them.

Ok, when’s the next sale? ; )