Heathers problems?? (1 Viewer)

[Jason Sweet]

Hey guys,
Just watched Heathers tonight and had a little problem on my Toshiba 3109. Chapters 18-20 started to pixelate and freeze. It happened on my Pioneer portable, as well as my PS2. Anyone else have any problems?
Thanks!
------------------
My discs:www.dvdtracker.com/~jaysweet.asp

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I watched the film tonight on my Panasonic RP-91 with no problems.
------------------

My DVD Collection
AFI 100 Films to watch: 40 -> 5

 

[Fred Galpern]

On my Samsung m301(?) player i had many instances of pixellation but no freeze.
On another note, this film does not hold up well. When it was made this sort of humor was new and unique but these days we see shows like Buffy kick its ass every week. The whole bizarre use of certain words (ex: ...very..) thing was cute and interesting in 1987 but in 2001 it isn't enough. Christian Slater also looks startingly like a blueprint for the Columbine maniacs. Just my two cents.
------------------
Fred Galpern
Art Director
Link Removed

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I couldn't agree with you less, Fred. This film may be a product of its time, but knock-offs like "Buffy" wouldn't exist without it. As for Christian Slater and Columbine, that's more than a bit of a stretch.
I had no problem with the picture or sound on my Sony 550.

 

[MaxY]

I Just watched this movie and I found that it looked and sounded pretty good. Not one problem. I did not watch the featurette though.
I felt the movie actually help up pretty well. I think that in a violent way the movie really goes after something that has and alway will be a part of High School and the is the cool Kids that act better then everyone else.
Max
------------------

Browse My Collection of DVDs at DVD profiler
Equipment Lists for My HTs
Petition To Bring Motel Hell To DVD Check In Here
Time to resume Buying Warner Product!!

 

[Ted Lee]

greetings and salutations!
how would you rate the video quality? i'll more than likely pick this up - it is truly a classic. but i was just curious as to how the transfer stands up.
tia
------------------
You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

 

[MaxY]

It looks a little washed out in places but I think the movie was intended to look that way. Other then no problems on my Big Widscreen.
Max
------------------

Browse My Collection of DVDs at DVD profiler
Equipment Lists for My HTs
Petition To Bring Motel Hell To DVD Check In Here
Time to resume Buying Warner Product!!

 

[Andy W]

Heathers SE is the first DVD (of over 250 DVDs I own) that does not play in either of my DVD players. It pixelates and/or freezes up on both my Toshiba machines, model numbers SD-3107 (firmware version 2.3) and SD-1200 (firmware version 1.4). It happens continuously between chapters 17 through 20 on both players.
The same disc also pixelates and freezes on a Panasonic A120 I tried at a Best Buy store, but the disc played fine on a Toshiba portable player on display at Best Buy (sorry, I forgot to confirm the model number).
I tried two other Heathers SE DVDs at home and in Best Buy, and I got the exact same results as I noted above.
I own several DVD titles that have been reported to cause problems for Toshiba and other manufacturers’ players that all played fine on my two Toshiba machines, until now.
[Rant on]
Well, I finally got bitten by the “firmware upgrade necessity bug,” and I am not a happy camper about this. We have come to accept this incompatibility issue as a part of life with CD ROM drives visavis CD ROM software. So now we should just lay down and accept sporadic incompatibility in the DVD player world also? This is a crock. All current format, non-defective DVD Vs (videos) (is it called Blue Book, I forget) should play in all working DVD players, period. Anything else is an excuse to get us to believe we will need to buy firmware upgrades or new machines often to be able to play new software.
I’ve read over and over that the specifications for DVD encoding are complex, vague and ambiguous, but I will never believe it has to be that way. Only when a new format comes out, such as DTS audio, or DVD Audio, or HD DVD (here’s hoping), should we need to upgrade to play new software, never because of ambiguous encoding issues of an existing format.
[/Rant off]
Thanks for listening. I feel better now. Back to your regularly scheduled great Home Theater Forum.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

FWIW I called Toshiba about getting an upgrade for my 2 year old machine, and they said it was free...so aside from the inconvenience no big deal.
This is software we are talking about, and not all manufacturers will conform to the spec, just as not all discs will.
------------------
Link Removed | Burt Lancaster is Link Removed | dOc

 

[rbirk]

My "Heathers SE" pixelate and hangs pretty bad on my Toshiba 3109. Especially efter 5 minutes and on chapter 16. What should I do? It sounds like it is a player problem as other people have similar problems. What would the possibilities be for a new pressing?
What are the procedure to get a new firmware of the Toshiba player? Do you have to send it somewhere?
Ron Birk

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Firmware upgrades are available from any Toshiba service center, look them up in your phone book to see if one is near you and call them. They will tell you how to check the revision you have.
------------------
Link Removed | Burt Lancaster is Link Removed | dOc

 

[Adam Tyner]

No problem with the standard edition on my Toshiba SD3109.
------------------
My DVD list | My personal site

 

[Matthew Brown]

Did any of your HEATHERS' DVD's include a big thick fingerprint on the bottom? It also has a scratch. I played it and the DVD skips during the feature and the documentary. I got rid of the fingerprint but the scratch is still there.
Should the people that put these in the case be eating twinkies while they are doing it? I've seen fingerprints on these before when I got DVD's but not like this.
Matt
------------------
Honk Kong DVD Reviews and News
loveandbullets.com

 

[Michael Henry]

It's not just the older players - I have the new SONY progressive scan DVD player that JUST came out a few months ago - and it freezes at the same exact spot as you guys.
I have almost 300 disks and have not ever had a problem. I took it back to Best Buy and returned it...
*sigh*
What's the deal with this disk?
-Mike
------------------

• My DVD Tracker Site
• My Equipment List
• My Home Theater

"As GOD as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly..."

 

[Rollie]

I was experiencing the same problem (Disc freeze on chapters 16-20) on my Panasonic A120. I returned the disc, and got a new one from Best Buy. Well, that one pixelates on the first chapter! What is up? Could it be a bad pressing?
------------------
Hit pay-dirt with KDRT!
Petition FOX and score The Adventures of Ford Fairlane on DVD!
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/uub/...ML/001933.html

 

[Mark Palermo]

I too got the disc and found it unwatchable. It pixellates starting one minute into the first chapter, and then becomes increasingly unwatchable, eventually locking up. Anchor Bay should do a recall.
Mark

 

[MikeEckman]

Guys, it sounds to me like Anchor Bay all of a sudden is having some serious Quality Control issues. It all started with bad copies of Opera going out, which they caught right away, but now its with Heathers, and people (including me) are even having problems with SpaceCamp, which came out all around the same time. SpaceCamp pizelates and freezes around the time where they are trying to get the oxygen back from Daedalus into the shuttle. I have a brand new Sony and it does that on mine, it also does it on my 1st gen Zenith player.
I sent an email to Anchor Bay about this almost 2 weeks ago, and have yet to hear a response.
If anyone has any luck about getting fixed copies of these movies, please let us know.

 

[MikeEckman]

Guys, I just called Anchor Bay's main customer service line (877-709-1330) and spoke with a guy named Casey and explained to him the situation with Heathers and SpaceCamp. He said they havent had any complaints about them, but said it sounded like the same problem with Opera.
He referred me to a lady named Barb Gerczak at 800-786-8777 x4136. He said to talk to her and have all of you call her and explain the problems we are having with these discs and he said more than likely they would be willing to replace the discs in the same manner that Opera was handled.
So I urge all of you who are either having problems with SpaceCamp or Heathers to call her and politely let her know of your problems, and hopefully we can bring this issue to Anchor Bay's attention.

 

[Erik Pontius]

I watched this the other night. Didn't see/hear any problems playing with my Sony DVP-S7000.
On the topic of incompatibilities. I would think that in most cases that manufacturers of players are following the DVD spec, the problem may lie more with the disc authoring, mastering and manufacturing. DVD content authors are doing things now that were never dreamed of when the spec was written. Authoring software can be the cause of some problems as well, some packages are more lenient than others in terms of how closely they follow the spec. Then of course we have the descrepencies in how the disc was actually made and what it was made of/with.
I've been pretty lucky so far with my Sony in regards to any problems with discs, but I think I would be pretty understanding if a firmware update was required (heck we've all done updates with computer hardware and software before). The only thing that bugs me is that some of these manufacturers require an end-user to pay for the updates...

 

[Andy W]

Thanks Mike. Will do.