Old Universal discs no longer play !? (1 Viewer)

[John H Ross]

The Jackal (R1) is no longer recognised. Gee, so much for a reliable format from which you can build a solid film collection.

D'ya think Blu-Ray will be more reliable? D'ya? D'ya?

Na! Me neither...

JR

 

[george kaplan]

Yeah, none of my videotapes ever lasted long enough for me to find it had stopped playing years later. It usually messed up after just a few months. :frowning:

 

[Kevin M]

Odd....I have Tapes dating back to 1982 that still work.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

*I* have tapes dating to 1976 that still work!

 

[rockinricky]

I just checked my copy of Dazed and Confused and it still plays in all its non-anamorphic glory.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I must say I wonder why. I'm not singing the praise of videotape, but I cannot remember I've ever had an actual problem with one.

 

[RickER]

I dont know what is worse, Universal movies that crap out after 5 years. Or, Universal TV shows that come pre-crapped out. Still a lot of hassel and money. Course back in the day about 5 of my old LDs died of rot. God bless Pioneer who always made good. Most of this list i knew has problems. As long as 2 years ago i heard about L.A. Confidential, Vertigo, Apollo 13 and Ghostbusters. I didn't know about Tremors, or DragonHeart...better check. A few older Anchor Bay titles are prone to rot as well, Heathers, and Kentucky Fried Movie come to mind.

Oh, bye the way, so i dont have to read 5 pages on the Ghostbusters thread, are all the features from the old DVD on the new?

 

[Christian L.]

My copy of Legend UE shows excessive signs of glue (seems to be the adhesive used for bonding the layers) on the 2nd disc, while the first disc looks to be perfectly fine. I still can access the main menu without problems, but i´m not a 100% sure if the whole disc still plays correctly. Doesn´t look too good, though.

 

[jon_farthing]

My Vertigo's died.

I'm also guessing as im in the UK and imported the disc, no replacement will be forthcoming.:frowning:

 

[george kaplan]

Well, unlike dvd, everytime you play a tape, it physically interacts with the player and deteriorates. Back when my collection was just vhs tapes, it was a much smaller collection, so the films I did have got played a lot. And they would wear out, sometimes to the point of breaking, other times to the point of just deteriorating the picture too far. My equipment wasn't some thousand dollar top of the line vhs player, but it wasn't some cheapo deal either. It was a good, solid, middle of the road vhs player. And yet I had to rebuy more than one of the films in my collection when the tape wore out. I remember buying Goldfinger, and having to replace it twice within a year. That's actually what motivated me to get a laser disc player. And I've never looked back at a deteriorating medium like tape since.

 

[Dale MA]

My Back to the Future & Empire Strikes Back VHS crapped out on me, because I watched them a few hundred times to many

 

[ZacharyTait]

Here's a list so far as of post #31:

Vertigo (UPC #: 25192-01832)
Psycho (UPC #: 25192-02512)
The Birds
Apollo 13 (Original Version)
Casino (Original Version)
Ghostbusters (Original Version)
Contact
Dragonheart
The Jackal
The Apostle
Lone Star
Blues Brothers (Original Version)
Blues Brothers 2000
Tremors
The Thing
Backdraft
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Gladiator (2-disc)
Wizard of Oz (Original Version)
L.A. Confidential
Chicken Run
Dazed and Confused (Original Version)
Heathers
Kentucky Fried Movie
Legend Ultimate Edition

 

[Vader]

As with any media, there are bound to be incorrectly manufactured defects, in the case of DVD that surface later. It is not particularly suprising that early discs (Uni, WAMO) are showing this, even though it is somewhat rare, as DVD was still in it's infancy (and so was the manufacturing processes). However, there is nothing inherent in the format that predicts "rot" (a misnomer to begin with). A properly manufactured disc, properly cared for, is a solid archival basis. That being said, while everyone here is well learned in the care and feeding of DVDs, we have no control over poor Q/A, so even we are not safe...

 

[Jeff Whitford]

Ive been collecting since 97 and haven't had a one go bad.

 

[Mark B]

My VERTIGO disc (original issue, orange cover) stopped working 4 years ago.

 

[Tim Hoover]

Just to add to the list, my one and only DVD that has suffered through the probable "delamination" is The Postman. WB offered to replace it for me, but for some reason I haven't sent it back yet...

 

[dpippel]

I just checked my original copies of Vertigo, Contact, Ghostbusters, Psycho, and Apollo 13. Apollo 13 was the only casualty.

 

[Martin Jeeves]

Is "THE THING" the old release or the recent anamorphic re-issue?

Also, are we talking about the original classic "VERTIGO" or the Gus Van Sant remake?

Lastly, I have several other early Universal discs like:

AMERICAN GRAFFITI
DAYLIGHT
STREETS OF FIRE
AMERICAN WEREWOLF
ANIMAL HOUSE

any word on these going bad?

 

[Richard_Gregory]

My old copy of Ghostbusters plays just fine. And it's the old, original, WAMO IFPI 906 type...

Strangely, the player took a long time to chapter skip at one point, I skipped back and then forwards a second time, with no problems at all.

Where exactly is the layerchange on this? I found reviews that give it for the r2/r4 disc, but not the r1.

I checked most of my old dual-later WAMO's (mostly, Warner and Image Entertainment) - no problems.

 

[Vader]

Richard, the layer change is at 48:34