Blu-ray Review HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: The Twilight Zone Season 1 Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

 


Hey guys,

 

I have a question. Since I don't have another Blu ray player to check, can anyone tell me if there is a way to tell if a problematic disc is the result of firmware or defects in the disc? ( I may try the disc on a friend's player)

 

As I said above, I just updated the firmware on my Sony BDP S550 since the discs would not play. After the update, all the discs played.

 

But since I am finding Long Live Walter Jameson is freezing momentarily at specific points and I see pixellation when it freezes a few seconds later. It occurred to me that pixellation might be a clue that it's not firmware, but a defective disc. The disc appears to be clean and I don't see any scratches. What do you think?

 

I am very tempted now to exchange the set.

 

I wound up doing that very thing Nelson; exchanged my original set for a new set, hoping that would solve the problem with Discs #1 and 4 with my Sony player...guess what? no difference at all - same problem with the same discs. I wrote back to Sony to let them know I was still having a problem; they wrote back quickly and said that I should contact the disc manufacturer (since every other BluRay disc I've played in it works fine), which I will do. In the meantime, both discs are working in my Insignia player so I'll watch them on that one...they certainly do look great!

 

I'm a tad disappointed that they added the new CBS Distribution logo so closely to the vintage CBS logo. With the loud music, it's jarring and takes you out of the vintage feel....this is where the SD sets were better.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Robert,
 
Thanks for chiming back in.
 
So after you exchanged the set, you're saying disc 1 and 4 would not play at all on your Sony? After I did the firmware update, all 5 discs would play for me. I'm just finding, so far that one episode is freezing and pixellating of the 4 episodes I've watched. If I have some more time, I'd like to try a few more episodes. If it's just one episode, I'm guessing it could be a bad disc. I guess I'll see when the replacement arrives if the same episode has the same problems. And I'll see if I can test on another player.
 
I'd be interested in hearing what you learn from Image. At least you have another player to watch the set on! Good luck.

 

[RoyWilbury]

Just to chime in, I have a Sony BDP-S300 (yes, ancient at this point, I know), and Discs 1 and 4 will not play at all. I have the latest firmware installed (5.40, released only two months ago).
 
I e-mailed Sony, but they basically just thank me for alerting them to the problem. I e-mailed Image, but haven’t heard anything from them yet. (Does anybody know of a better e-mail address to use for them other than the general inquiry address?).
 
I don’t know what to do, as I don’t see any fix being offered anytime soon. Sony may eventually update the firmware, but even if they do, I have no guarantee the next update will fix the problem. I somehow doubt Image will re-author the discs so they will play on these Sony players.
 
I will probably just return the set to Amazon for a refund (which I suppose I need to do anyway, as part of the coating on the play-side of Disc 1 is peeling off as well, which is just a coincidence apparently), and repurchase it when I know the discs will be playable.
 
A shame, as the other playable discs look great, and this was my first TZ purchase of any type.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Roy,
 
Sorry to hear you're also having troubles. I guess there is a pattern here, Sony.
 
I bought a Sony because of all the early issues people were having with Panasonic and Samsung players and I had not issues till this set.
 
If you guys find a good contact address to contact both Image and Sony, I'll add my voice to yours.
 
And I'll chime back in if my replacement copy of TZ works better then one I have now.

 

[RoyWilbury]

It’s frustrating, because despite the slow load times that are apparently due at least in part to the older player, it hasn’t previously given me many playback problems. I believe only once did I specifically update the firmware because a disc wouldn’t play. It was “The Fourth Kind”, and updating the firmware did actually fix the problem. I've kept updating the firmware despite not usually needing it for anything (probably also hoping the firmware would help improve load times and/or startup times, which it doesn't seem to help with).
 
Beyond that, other than stuttering on scratched or smudged rental discs from Netflix and Redbox, the player hasn’t been problematic.
 
Hopefully, enough reports of playback problems will lead to newer firmware or different discs from Image. I can’t afford a new player, especially replacing it to play one particular release. So it will likely go back for a refund shortly……

 

[Nelson Au]

Funny, I've thought of getting the newest Sony bd player because it can play SACD and has wifi. All to see if it will solve this problem! Crazy I know.
 
I just might go to some other forums and see if other Sony users are having issues.

 

[zwoodz]

Just wanted to say I am having the same problems on a Panasonic SC-BT100. Disc 4 will not play at all and I eventually got disc 1 to play after ejecting it a couple of times. No telling if it will play again. emailed Image and I am waiting for a response.

 

[Nelson Au]

Sorry to hear that Zack. I hope you can get through to Image.
 
I have some new surprising news. Amazon got me a replacement Season 1 set a day sooner then I expected. So I just took a minute to play Long Live Walter Jameson on my Sony BDP S550. To my horror, it played through without a hitch. No glitches, no pixellation and no freezes. Knocking on wood. I don't know if the rest of this new set will play as well. I just wanted to post an update.
 
I have to get back to work, but I'll check all 5 discs to see if they all will read/play and then I need to suffer through and watch each episode to see if I find any more glitches. Maybe the problem here is the quality of the Image discs. The transfers are great. But could the blu ray discs be dodgy?

 

I sent Image an e-mail about this last week and still haven't heard back; now that there are a few of us who have defective #1 and #4 discs, I'm wondering if those discs were made at a different plant than the others? (I also wonder how many other complaints they have received so far). As far as the episodes go, these do look amazing - easily worth the upgrade, although this is going to be my fifth go-round with this series for me: started with the Columbia House VHS tapes, then the laser disc releases, the limited edition complete series DVD set (which were transfers of the CH VHS tapes), then the Definitive Edition DVD's, and now the BluRay's...has anyone else double-dipped for this series?
 

 

Mine play perfectly in my Sony BDP-550 player (which has the lastest firmware upgrade.) I have all five sets of the SD DE. These blow those out of the water, except for, as I stated earlier the new CBS logo at the end....very loud and jarring, and placed too close to the vintage logo.

 

[Nelson Au]

Double dip? Let me see...
 
I never got the video tapes, but I got the laserdisc box sets that had selected episodes. Then I bought the single disc sets of my favorite episodes until I heard about the Definitive DVD Box set, so I got all 5 seasons. And now I'm starting all over with the Blu Rays!
 
Eric, great to hear from another Sony player owner. And you have the same player I do. I think knowing that your set plays okay, probably means I had a defective disc in my set and hopefully my replacement set is okay.
 
And that means my theory that Sony players are having an issue goes down the drain since your player will play the TZ set and the earlier report of a Panasonic player that won't play the TZ set!

 

Nelson, not only do the discs work, but they load very quickly!

 

[Nelson Au]

Eric, compared to some other blu ray discs, you're right, these do load pretty fast!

 

[gomezfan69]

I am having the same issue with disc 4. It played fine up through the menu, but after a couple of minutes into "Long Live Walter Jameson" it froze and the PS3 gave me a message that said that the disc could not be played. Now when I load the disc, the PS3 doesn't recognize the disc for a few minutes, eventually going to the menu. I can get a couple of the episodes to play alright, a couple that don't play at all and a couple where I can hear the PS3 struggling as they play.
I have firmware 3.41.

 

[Nelson Au]

Sorry to hear of your trouble Jason.
 
This is turning out to be something. I am slowly watching the discs in my replacement set of TZ. And so far, the discs are all playing fine on my Sony player.
 
As I said earlier, I'm wondering if these Image discs are iffy in their production. Because after I updated my firmware, I had one set that had some freezes and then I got another set and it's okay. But that's not true for Robert, unless he got 2 bad sets. I shouldn't get too optimistic, I still have quite a few episodes to go to be sure they all play.
 
This is a shame, such a well done collection and the discs are having issues.

 

[Doug Wallen]

I have a Samsung BD-P1500 that will not load disc 4 at all. I have e-mailed Image and hope to hear something. I have not seen anyone mention problems with Samsung yet.
 
The other discs all play fine and my firmware is up to date.
 
Doug

 

[robGray]

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD50 and disc 4 won't load at all.

 

[Nelson Au]

Is there someone in the forum or an industry insider that can check with Image on this playback problem issue on disc 1 and 4? Maybe Bill Hunt has some insights?
 
Seems like a high number of reports of playback problems, or is it? And the problem is not isolated to a single brand of player. Is it a firmware issue, a encoding problem or defective discs? I know after I exchanged my set, an episode that didn't play is now playing on the new set.