Have BR & 4K Manufacturing Processes Changed Recently? (1 Viewer)

[Indy Guy]

I have always been able to feel the difference between Blu Ray discs and DVD's, especially at the edges. BR's feel smooth and polished, whereas DVD's have a rough unfinished feel at the edge and are sometimes more flimsy in thickness.
Lately I have noticed new BR's and 4K'S with the rough and flimsy DVD feel. The series "1923" was the most recent with disc manufacturing from Germany.
My fear is the greater failure rate of DVDs might be due to the ease of contaminates entering roughly finished edges. Thicker BR's with smooth and polished edges may have provided more reliable contaminant protection.
Any thoughts?

 

[willyTass]

pressing quality has gone out the window last few years . On the other site there is a thread called "'show us your scratched discs" . A real head shaker . Only Sony Austria and Japanese replicators care anymore . Ive noticed that german pressed blu rays (ifpi code UG) are getting worse and worse eg many complaints of 3 colours series from Curzon shipping scratched discs . Indicator UK used to make theirs at Sony Austria , now they press at germany and it shows, im seeing scratched discs from them , which was unheard of before . I think if blu rays rot , its thought due to inferior resins or delamination , but there are no papers on this that i know of

 

[jcroy]

Ive noticed that german pressed blu rays (ifpi code UG) are getting worse and worse eg many complaints of 3 colours series from Curzon shipping scratched discs . Indicator UK used to make theirs at Sony Austria , now they press at germany and it shows, im seeing scratched discs from them , which was unheard of before .

IFPI UG** is actually a Technicolor facility in Piaseczno, Masovia in Poland.

 

[jcroy]

The cd/dvd/bluray manufacturing division of Technicolor changed the company name to Vantiva about a year go.

Vantiva - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[willyTass]

IFPI UG** is actually a Technicolor facility in Piaseczno, Masovia in Poland.

YOUVE Mentoned that elsewhere from memory , the data ive seen says otherwise

 

[jcroy]

YOUVE Mentoned that elsewhere from memory , the data ive seen says otherwise

The only IFPI UG** discs I have, are mostly music cds/dvds from some indie european record labels. (I don't have any blurays manufactured with IFPI UG**). On the packaging where a place of manufacture is printed (if at all), it is typically "made in E.U." or "made in european union" type of generic wording. Not very insightful.

The only other insight I'm aware of is from the folks at discogs.com figuring out the ifpi sid mastering and mould codes from cd/dvd/bluray discs manufactured at Piaseczno (allegedly).

Vantiva, Piaseczno, Poland

Vantiva is the current owner of an optical disc manufacturing plant located in Piaseczno, Poland. This plant was owned and run by Technicolor from 2002-22, before it was announced on 27 September 2022 that some of Technicolor's activities, including disc manufacturing, would continue under the...

www.discogs.com

The only list I'm aware of where numerous IFPI UG** discs were asserted to be possibly from Deutschland (Germany), is an older list of ipfi codes at musik-sammler.de

Diskussion:Herstellungsland (CDs / DVDs) – Musik-Sammler.de

wiki.musik-sammler.de

 

[jcroy]

Only Sony Austria and Japanese replicators care anymore .

Here's an interesting thread about recent history at two (now only one) Sony DADC plants in Salzburg, Austria. One poster (agentcat00) seems to be getting a lot of semi-insider information.

Discogs Forum - Pressed by Sony DADC UK

www.discogs.com

The IFPI sid mastering codes for bluray/4Kbluray cutting machines are LY23 to LY27

The IFPI sid mastering codes for cd/dvd cutting machines are L551 to L558

(Sony DADC manufactured discs at Salzburg will have IFPI sid mould code 94**).

 

[willyTass]

that thread is a can of worms LOL !

 

[jcroy]

I have always been able to feel the difference between Blu Ray discs and DVD's, especially at the edges. BR's feel smooth and polished, whereas DVD's have a rough unfinished feel at the edge and are sometimes more flimsy in thickness.

The only dvd discs I'm aware of which had a smoother/polished feel on the edges, were american Sony released dvd titles manufactured at Sony DADC's facility in Terre Haute, Indiana before the cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturing lines were closed down in early-mid 2018.

These Terre Haute manufactured Sony discs had IFPI sid mould code QW**.

After Terre Haute lines were closed down (except for manufacturing Sony Playstation discs until earlier this year), Sony then outsourced most of their remaining cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturing clients (such as Sony Pictures Entertainment of america, the canadian eOne, etc ...) to Technicolor's giant Guadalajara, Mexico disc manufacturing facility (with IFPI sid mould code KK**).

The dvd discs manufactured at Technicolor Mexico (ifpi KK**) have always had a "rough unfinished feel at the edge" for more than a decade. For the past decade or so , this Mexico plant manufactured dvds/blurays discs in high volumes for Disney/Fox, Universal, Warner, and until recently Paramount.

 

[Indy Guy]

The only dvd discs I'm aware of which had a smoother/polished feel on the edges, were american Sony released dvd titles manufactured at Sony DADC's facility in Terre Haute, Indiana before the cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturing lines were closed down in early-mid 2018.

These Terre Haute manufactured Sony discs had IFPI sid mould code QW**.

After Terre Haute lines were closed down (except for manufacturing Sony Playstation discs until earlier this year), Sony then outsourced most of their remaining cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturing clients (such as Sony Pictures Entertainment of america, the canadian eOne, etc ...) to Technicolor's giant Guadalajara, Mexico disc manufacturing facility (with IFPI sid mould code KK**).

The dvd discs manufactured at Technicolor Mexico (ifpi KK**) have always had a "rough unfinished feel at the edge" for more than a decade. For the past decade or so , this Mexico plant manufactured dvds/blurays discs in high volumes for Disney/Fox, Universal, Warner, and until recently Paramount.

Of 4 recent purchases,1923 and Dungeons & Dragons have unfinished edges (like dvds), while Hugo and Guardians are smooth (traditional BR & 4K's). All of these titles were released in the last 2 months. 1923 had a "made in Germany" imprint on the shrink wrap. I don't know about the other 3.

 

[jcroy]

Of 4 recent purchases,1923 and Dungeons & Dragons have unfinished edges (like dvds), while Hugo and Guardians are smooth (traditional BR & 4K's). All of these titles were released in the last 2 months. 1923 had a "made in Germany" imprint on the shrink wrap. I don't know about the other 3.

IIRC, 1923 was recently released by Paramount. Dungeons/Dragons also appears to also be a Paramount release.

Guardians (if it is the Marvel variant), is likely Disney.

No idea who released Hugo. (I'm not familiar with what disc manufacturing facilities are used by smaller boutique third party companies, such as Arrow, etc ...). If you know how to read ifpi codes stamped in the first transparent inner ring away from the center hole, lets us know what they are.

Disney discs are likely still manufactured at Technicolor Mexico (IFPI sid mould code KK**), unless they changed recently.

Since Aug 2021, Viacom/Paramount has changed their disc manfuacturer to BMG/Sonopress in Guetersloh, North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany. It has IFPI sid mould code 07**


So far I noticed the main difference between BMG/Sonopress Germany and Technicolor Mexico, is that the BMG/Sonopress manufactured discs have a lot less fingerprints and less minor scratches in giant multidisc sets (such as complete tv series dvd or bluray sets). Otherwise the manufacturing quality doesn't appear to be much different, with the rough edges etc ...

 

[jcroy]

There other big cd/dvd/bluray manufacturing facility in Germany is Optimal Media GmbH in Roebel-Mueritz in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Western Pomerania). It is in the northern region of the former East Germany.

Discs manufactured at Roebel-Mueritz will have IFPI sid mould code 97**

Unfortunately Optimal has had a lousy track record for defective bluray discs, which was widely exhibited in the Beatles album re-releases over the past several years where some releases had an actual bluray disc. (These defective discs were widely discussed on message boards where the hardcore music cd collectors hang out, such as the stevehoffman forum).

Unfortunately the audio cd discs manufactured at Optimal over the past 5+ years, also seem to be almost just as problematic as their bluray discs. Also many complaints about defective Beatles audio cd discs over the past several years. (With that being said, I took a chance on buying the 3-disc White Album cd re-release, which seems to be ok so far).

This is the primary reason why I have turned down many cd/bluray sets released by indie record companies from europe, when I discovered (via discogs.com) that the bluray discs were manufactured by Optimal Media with IFPI sid mould code 97**

If I discover that these same european indie record companies had different pressings done for the american releases of their same respective titles, I will check who the american disc manufacturer is (via discogs.com). Usually I will buy the american pressing of the cd/bluray sets, if I can figure out that the disc manufacturer is reliable.

 

[jcroy]

One huge segment which has been affected, is the european division of Universal Music Group (UMG) signing a long term agreement with Optimal Media GMBH more than two years ago (in March 2021). Here's an article about this (in german).

optimal media Röbel erweitert Zusammenarbeit mit Marktführer Universal Music Group » Wir sind Müritzer

Das sind sehr gute Nachrichten aus der Wirtschaft der Müritz-Region: Die Röbeler optimal media GmbH hat mit der Universal Music Group (UMG), dem Marktführer

www.wir-sind-mueritzer.de

Since 2021 as a knee-jerk reaction, I stopped looking through european UMG music titles released (or re-released) on cd, dvd, and/or bluray after 2020. Instead I'll look for the american or japanese pressings of UMG released titles.

 

[Robert13]

Aside from the pressing materials, I have had more issue with quality control from some of these companies, especially Imprint. I recently had a real headache of a problem with the Jerry Lewis at Columbia bluray set. It contains 2 movies. The first disc worked. Would you believe the second disc was actually blank?? No scratches at all. But there was no info on the disc and it would not load at all. Showed up as "unknown" in the player. When I contacted ViaVision/Imprint, they said they could not replace it and I should go back to the store where I purchased. The store where I purchased had initially directed me to ViaVision and when they would not replace it, they allowed a return. Never experienced such a yo-yo situation returning a bluray disc before. Never even had the need to return one.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Aside from the pressing materials, I have had more issue with quality control from some of these companies, especially Imprint. I recently had a real headache of a problem with the Jerry Lewis at Columbia bluray set. It contains 2 movies. The first disc worked. Would you believe the second disc was actually blank?? No scratches at all. But there was no info on the disc and it would not load at all. Showed up as "unknown" in the player. When I contacted ViaVision/Imprint, they said they could not replace it and I should go back to the store where I purchased. The store where I purchased had initially directed me to ViaVision and when they would not replace it, they allowed a return. Never experienced such a yo-yo situation returning a bluray disc before. Never even had the need to return one.

Oooh, I better check mine as I bought that set as well. Only watched THE BIG MOUTH so far.

 

[Robert13]

Oooh, I better check mine as I bought that set as well. Only watched THE BIG MOUTH so far.

I had watched THE BIG MOUTH the previous week and it played perfectly. However, I see there was review for both movies on the site. So I'm assuming discs should work and I received a bad one. I was just very surprised that ViaVision/Imprint would not replace it considering it is most-certainly a faulty disc.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I had watched THE BIG MOUTH the previous week and it played perfectly. However, I see there was review for both movies on the site. So I'm assuming discs should work and I received a bad one. I was just very surprised that ViaVision/Imprint would not replace it considering it is most-certainly a faulty disc.

That kind of puts a bad taste in one's mouth knowing that they gave you a hard time about returning a blank disc that was supposed to be filled with program content. Would not have initially expected that from Via Vision/Imprint.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I thought it was pretty standard that if a consumer buys a defective item, the first course of action is to return it to the point of sale.

 

[Robert13]

I thought it was pretty standard that if a consumer buys a defective item, the first course of action is to return it to the point of sale.

I tried that and was directed to Via Vision. The response I received was to go back to the point of purchase. The store then finally approved a return. They were trying to avoid a full return and get me a replacement disc from the manufacture, ViaVision who turned me away stating that it wasn't an affiliated store. What difference does that make?! They obviously manufactured the disc and took zero responsibility for sending a blank disc. It's almost laughable if I wasn't so irritated by the whole situation.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

For what it’s worth, I received a disc from Via Vision that appeared at first glance to be defective - would not load in the player. It turned out that there was nothing wrong with the disc, but rather, that they used the latest version of encryption that my player hadn’t yet downloaded the update to be able to play it.

ViaVision who turned me away stating that it wasn't an affiliated store. What difference does that make?!

Via Vision would have no way of knowing that you had purchased the disc from a legitimate outlet vs acquired a copy that might have been previously discarded from them as being defective. I get the frustration but that’s very standard for any manufacturer of any product - most of them will direct you to the point of sale. I think it was the store that erred in turning you away in the first place. You’re the store’s customer, and the store is Via Vision’s customer.