Please help: Widescreen Wonka and RP91 problems? (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Hi,
I have a Panasonic RP91 player, and when I finally played the widescreen Wonka disc I just got from Tower, on Chapter 21, just as Wonka comes out of the factory and there's a closeup of his face as he limps to the crowd, the scene has a short pixelization moment that is repeatable on my RP91, every time.
So I returned the disc as defective and got a new one. Well now the glitch happens about 2 seconds later, as it flashes to Charlie's face and the concerned look on it, and the pixellization is worse than before! I can't very well go back to Tower and replace it AGAIN!
Now I just took it up to my PC, and you guessed it, there's no pixellization there with the second disc at the same spot.
So I guess I'm asking all my RP91 brethren if this is a problem they've noticed on the RP91 player/Wonka combination.
It happened on the first disc at 44:20 (Ch. 21) and on the second disc I got it happens about 44:22. The first was just a short little pixellization right below Wonka's chin, pretty unobtrusive, but now my new one has almost a complete screen pixellization 2 seconds later, but then the film continues on as normal.

 

[Robert George]

Carlo:
I just checked my copy on my RP91. No problems.
It sounds like there was a small flaw on one of the stamping masters. That would affect an entire batch of discs. It is entirely possible the flaw is small enough to get through QC but more than the error correction of the RP91 (and perhaps other players as well) can handle.

 

[Carlo_M]

Argh! Thanks Obi.
Problem is that I've search high and low and only found one store that carried this title locally. It's obvious that the batch they have are probably all from the same shipment (they are bundled all together under the display) so I don't think going back there is going to help. Maybe I'll wait until a different Tower records has some and then try to exchange it at a different store (hoping they got a different batch).
Thanks again.

 

[GlennH]

Mine will arrive from Amazon tomorrow (got delayed with the slippage of REBECCA one week). I'll try to remember to look at it on my RP91 as soon as I can.

 

[Carlo_M]

Obi (or anyone else), would you happen to have a number for WB customer service? I ask because my copy of My Fair Lady freezes at the layer change (on both my old Sony and my RP91) and if I'm going to be contacting WB for this disc, I might as well get that old problem addressed as well.

Thanks!

 

[John Geelan]

Checked my copy on my RP91 and it plays fine.

JohnG

 

[Carlo_M]

Just wondering if anyone else who has the RP91 has tried looking at the spot I pointed out in my original post. I would like to be armed with the knowledge that the disc seems to work for others with the RP91 before I go knockin' on WB's door (or calling their 800 number in this case)...

Thanks!

 

[GlennH]

Okay, to follow up on this I just checked my copy of the new widescreen Wonka DVD. I have the Panasonic RP91 player and a Pioneer Elite 610 RPTV. I saw no pixelization at the 44:20 or 44:22 point or anywhere else. My disc came from Amazon.

I also had a defective copy of MY FAIR LADY which died or began severe stuttering/pixelization (depending on the player used) at the layer change. After calling Warner, at their direction I sent it to them last December with a letter describing the problem. After a couple of months they finally sent me a replacement copy. Here is the contact information I used at the time:

Sherri Bogard

Warner Home Video

4000 Warner Blvd.

Burbank, CA 91522

(818)954-7165

 

[Scott Merryfield]

We watched Wonka on our RP-91 tonight, and there was no pixelation problem where you mentioned, nor anywhere else on the disc.

 

[george kaplan]

My wife and I were watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles when my 16 month old started crying, so while she went to comfort him, I popped out PTA and stuck Willy Wonka into the rp91 and checked out chapter 21. No problem. And now, I'll get back to watching our Thanksgiving movie.

 

[Carlo_M]

Thanks guys! I'm going to bring this disc up north and try it on my parents' Sony player, just out of curiousity. It didn't skip on my PC DVD player, but my PC DVD is a rock and doesn't even show layer changes. If it skips on my parents' Sony I'll just try and insist on a refund from Tower. If it doesn't skip I'll contact WB and have them exchange this disc along with MFL.

Glenn,

Was that number specifically for that person? Or for Customer Service? Or is she part of CS? Just want to be clear on who I'm calling before I go about it.

Thanks again!

 

[GlennH]

Glenn,

Was that number specifically for that person? Or for Customer Service? Or is she part of CS?

It's been awhile now, but I'm pretty sure that was Sherri's number (you may get her voicemail). I started with a general phone number I found for Warner Home Video and they ended up referring me to her when I described my problem.

 

[Carlo_M]

Well, just a quick update. I brought my disc up and played it on my parents' Sony 550 player and there was no glitch. So I have no glitch on my PC and on a sony. I have a repeatable glitch (on both Wonkas, the one I originally bought and the replacement-for-defective one) on my RP91. Does this sound like a player/disc issue for me? I bought my RP91 a few months after it came out, and my dealer had just got it from Panasonic, so I don't think I've got the oldest version out there...I don't know...help?

 

[GlennH]

Sometimes a specific player has problems with a specific disc (or in your case two discs I guess).

Awhile ago I borrowed a copy of UNBREAKABLE that had all kind of problems on my RP91 - pixelizing followed by a severe lockup of the player that required me to actually unplug the player to reset things - even the power button wouldn't work. It wasn't dirty or anything and the problem was repeatable. The disc played fine on every other player and PC. I tried another copy of UNBREAKABLE and it was flawless on the RP91.

So, who knows? It seems like there continue to be glitchy players/DVDs or combinations thereof. I guess it's something we'll have to accept with this format, at least for now. But it sure can take a lot of time and effort to resolve one of these problems.