RED ALERT Three's Company Season Two defective (1 Viewer)

[Shaw]

HTF RED ALERT: Three's Company Season Two

Just purchased Three's Company Season Two. Picked it up at Wal-Mart. I've decided to get a refund.

The first time I brought it home, Disc 2 had a problem in the "Stanley Casanova" episode. So, naturally, I went back for a refund. Seemed innocent enough. I tried the same episode again and it seemed to be just fine. The I finally got to Disc 4 and the episode "Bird Talk" died right from the get-go. Freezing, blocking, then starting up again and the audio sync going out as well.

For Disc 2, I decided to try an experiment. According to many, the manufacturing problem is "delamination". I decided to actually flex the disc gently, turning and flexing, turning and flexing. Not with the force of a bull elephant, but just gently. When I placed "Stanley Casanova" in the DVD player, it was worse than ever. Blocking, pixelating, freezing. I watched the episode right to the end. The Audio was also out of sync with the picture and the DVD player was actually "thrown" out by this. Then, when the episode ended, the Audio Sync was fine when I selected another episode.

For this set, it seems that someone was cutting corners on quality. I have read here of how many of you are having your disc die after 6 months. You pop it back in and it won't play properly anymore.

The confusing part is knowing where the disc problems begin and where the DVD player may be at fault. All digital playback systems have a certain amount of error correction and I'm sure that most DVDs have several thousand errors each. If the problem with the disc is not too serious, the DVD player can easily make the error corrections. However, I am not so sure that this problem is about error correction as it may be a simple case of "difraction" of the light hitting the disc and being incapable of capturing all of the data correctly.

As for CDs, this kind of thing rarely happpens. CDs either work or they don't. If they "bronze", this is due to a defect in manufacturing that actually happened to CDs made betweeen 1988 and 1993 by Philips Dupont Optical. It's easy to spot a defective CD by it's "bronzing" beginning on the edge of the disc. Also look for "Made in U.K. By PDO" in the round central area of the CD. I suppose this is off the topic, but the problem was caused by an adhesive in the CD that interracted with the sulphur content in the CD booklets and other paper products. Thus the term "CD Rot".

Here is a link for the hyperion site, with info on the CD problem as well as info for replacing your rotting CDs
hyperion-records.co.uk/bronzed.asp

I would like to suggest, that if the manufacturers are not going to take the time and effort to come up with a more stable and lasting way to make Dual-layer discs, then they should stick to making single-layer discs.

If dual-layer means that a more than acceptable percentage of discs are not going to last the expected life-time of a DVD (I think they should last the 100 years of CDs, which I believe they can with the right handling), then they should make all DVDs single-layer.

This may indeed be more expensive, but I think the discs will last longer, there will be fewer returns and fewer irrate customers.

As for the "Three's Company" Season Two, I have decided to return the product. I have the funny feeling that this set is going to be problematic for many.

Please let me know if you have the three's company and if you are experiencing similar problems with it.

threerandot

 

[David Lambert]

I still have to finish ER S2, so I haven't gotten into this set yet...much as I'm dying to! But this is the first report I've heard of defects on the release. Reviewers haven't complained that I've seen. Maybe there's a bad batch at your local store? They maybe left the box out in the back of a hot truck too long...

As for your suggestion that manufacturers stick to single-layer discs: no offense, but they would laugh you out of the building. More and more consumers are demanding dual-layer discs to allow more storage for more extras. More and more retailers are demanding fewer discs in boxes, so boxes are smaller and they can fit more product in the same square footage. And more and more studios want to put as many episodes onto as few a number of discs as possible to maximize profits. Witness how many releases are going to DVD-14's and DVD-18's.

Soon, single-layer DVDs will be solely the province of budget releases and perhaps some kidvid. Really.

 

[DanFe]

Uh, Shaw, perhaps it has something to do with your player? Didn't try it on any others did you? Name and model of player would help.

 

[Shaw]

My DVD Player is a Panasonic RV-65, about three years old. I have tried many other DVDs on the player that are dual-layer and there seems to be no problem with it. I even took the Three's company back to the store and they tried it and it seemed to work OK. What I am trying to understand is where a problem with the DVD player begins and ends and where the DVD itself is at fault. Perhaps my player is extra sensitive to problem DVDs that fail down the road.

At any rate, I have gotten in touch with Anchor Bay and I'm waiting for a response from them for a replacement.

threerandot

 

[Derek U]

any new info?

 

[R. Kay]

It's gotta be Larry's fault.

 

[Derek U]

I went thru all 4 discs again. here is a copy of the e-mail I sent Anchor Bay:

After exchanging one copy, the second copy had the following problem:

Certain episodes on certain discs freeze up and various points and in some cases will not play.

The episodes are:

Disc 1:
Janet's Promotion
Strange Bedfellows (the problem seems to get worse during a chapter change)
Chrissy's Date

Disc 2:
Chrissy's Night Out
Stanley Cassanova (the problem seems to get worse during the chapter change.)
Janet's Highschool Sweetheart
Jack's Uncle
Helen's Job

Disc 3 appears to be fine.

Disc 4:
Days of Beers and Weeds
Chrissy Come Home
Bird Song
Coffee, Tea, or Jack
and these extras:
Pilot
John Ritter: Always Leave Them Laughing
Blooper Reel
8 years of Laughter

I'll keep everyone posyed!

Derek

 

[Stephen Wight]

I bought that set last year,and watched it.It played fine.There were no problems,at all.

 

[Mark Lx]

Yeah, I've watched all 3 three seasons without noticing anything wrong.

 

[Andrew Radke]

I made a post last year regarding skipping during the episode "Helen's Job". Mind you, when I tried it on different players, it was fine.

 

[Derek U]

I spoke with Anchor Bay customer service today. When I told the woman how widespread the problem appeared to be, she was surprised saying she only got a handful of problems. In any case, she told me to send the entire set back with an address to send a replacement. I've done that, and I will post again with the result.

Derek

P.S. Let's hope Mr. Furley isn't in charge of DVD quality control.

 

[DaveK]

I had to exchange mine twice before I got a good copy. I also had to exchange Season 3, so believe me you're not alone.

 

[Jeff]

Well, I only see a handful of posts here regarding the problem.

 

[Derek U]

Just got my replacements Fed Exed from Anchor Bay. The set came unsealed, so I was a little skeptical. I was even more skeptical when I tried the discs and had the exact same problems. I called Anchor Bay and they assured me that the discs were replaced, so I guess this set just doesn't work on certain players.

One mystery solved. Now, if only I can figure out why my Chappelle's Show S2 set from DeepDiscountDVD.com hasn't arrived yet.

Derek

 

[Jon Martin]

Anchor Bay's dvds are sometimes very glitchy.

On my old player, I had 4 or 5 titles that had problems. I exchanged them and they had the same problems with the replacement.

But, once I got a new player, they all played fine.