Some Twilight Time Discs No Longer Playing (1 Viewer)

[Thomas T]

Just put my TT copy of Follow That Dream in my blu ray player and scanned all the chapters through to the end at it played just fine. I guess I'm just lucky (so far). Still, this is disconcerting news coming upon the now notorious 2007 Warners DVDs which are going bad though my Warners Archives MOD DVDs which people expressed so much concern about when the program was implemented 10 years ago hasn't had one go bad yet.

 

[Worth]

Of what significance is player info?
217 BluRay discs are in my collection. One doesn't play properly and 216 play fine. Obviously it is not the player.

Not necessarily. Sometimes it's the combination of disc and player that's the problem. I've had both DVDs and blu-rays that wouldn't play in one player, but were just fine in another.

 

[Mark B]

I've been in this home media game for 35 years. My collection on various formats is very large, with multiple players for each. I know how to troubleshoot, and you can trust me that this is a disc error.

 

[Ed Lachmann]

So far my Nicholas and Alexandra plays fine. If my Desiree fails it will be pretty upsetting, but if it's The Egyptian I will be hospitalized. I've only had this with a few discs, a Fox The Robe BD I had to replace, a Fox MOD Come to the Stable which went haywire at Christmas (another replacement) and ditto with a pressed WB The Big Steal. These were due to the specific discs themselves. Perhaps the glue between layers went defective over time. One wonders if sub-standard blanks were the culprits. What about these "100 year guarantee" blanks I've seen for sale? A $29 fail is really bad and even worse with an OOP title.

 

[Paul Rossen]

So far my Nicholas and Alexandra plays fine. If my Desiree fails it will be pretty upsetting, but if it's The Egyptian I will be hospitalized. I've only had this with a few discs, a Fox The Robe BD I had to replace, a Fox MOD Come to the Stable which went haywire at Christmas (another replacement) and ditto with a pressed WB The Big Steal. These were due to the specific discs themselves. Perhaps the glue between layers went defective over time. One wonders if sub-standard blanks were the culprits. What about these "100 year guarantee" blanks I've seen for sale? A $29 fail is really bad and even worse with an OOP title.

Don't want to get you concerned but I did forget to mention The Egyptian as one of my problem discs. So 3 of my favorite films freeze up. I'm waiting for a new release that matches the quality of the TT release. I will go all Region to do so. That goes for the Blue Max and Desiree as well. Besides going all Region I'll go 4k with one of the Panasonic players . Hopefully it is my player Pioneer BDP 320 that causes the problems and not the discs...

 

[willyTass]

Pretty sure Twilight Time discs were pressed at CINRAM, most of the rotted discs were pressed there

 

[Rob_Ray]

I skipped through all chapters of DESIREE and NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA last night and both played fine. I guess I'd better check THE EGYPTIAN!

 

[Arthur Powell]

I remember several years ago posting on another forum my discovery that a large number of my WB DVDs had rotted. The responses included stuff like "that's weird," "there are no problems with my WB DVDs," and "there must be something wrong with how you store your DVDs." Let's just say that I wasn't exactly thrilled with the situation of seeing my collection decimated and those less than helpful responses, but at the time I didn't know if my situation was localized to me or a harbinger of something yet to come. Look at the situation now - it's now commonly known that WB had poor quality control during those affected years. It has been funny over the years seeing some people occasionally return to my original thread to say something like, "um, I just discovered that a few of my previously playable WB discs won't play now." Oh really Sherlock.
Anyway, this thread brought those memories back to me. I'm really sorry that the original poster is having problems with some TT discs. Oddly enough, for a classic film fan, I have very few TT releases - just three I think. Chalk that up to a combination of the higher prices and that strange ability that TT has of dancing around the Fox, Columbia, and MGM catalogs and yet somehow missing most of the titles that I would go nuts over. Of those three, I have played two fairly recently. Bell, Book, and Candle was viewed during the last Christmas season without issue. I also played the "Support Your Local......." double feature not too long ago, and again both features played without incident. It has probably been about a year since I watched The Long Hot Summer, but given how recent that release was I would imagine that not enough time has elapsed to make any type of statement.

 

[Worth]

I think I've been fairly lucky so far, as only two blu-rays - that I know of - have conked out on me - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and THX-1138. But it might be a good time to start backing up some favourites to the hard drive.

 

[PMF]

The integrity of Twilight Time is one of those rare birds to which I do not question.
Now, with that said, I also believe that this is an important and credible topic; as presented by JohnMor.
Therefore, if this is remotely connected to a manufacturing issue, I am willing to bet that Twilight Time would be very interested in learning more, themselves.
So, with that in mind, I pursued an idea and did a bit of research.
Indeed, there was one common denominator to the 3 initial titles, as supplied by JohnMor.
"Experiment in Terror", "Body Double" and "Nicholas and Alexandra" were all released in 2013.

Hope this helps both sides.

 

[MartinP.]

I've been in this home media game for 35 years. My collection on various formats is very large, with multiple players for each. I know how to troubleshoot, and you can trust me that this is a disc error.

What causes a disc error if it has previously played without incident?

 

[David Norman]

What causes a disc error if it has previously played without incident?

I'd say the following are the most likely issues -- not in order, but cause and possible solutions can narrow it down

Some error inside the data layer of the disc -- check the disc surface visually for an error or discoloration. Rot/Bronzing/separation
Run one of the freeware disc check applications like VSO Inspector if you have a BDROM

A deep scratch on the surface of the disc -- check the disc surfaces for obvious defect and/or disc for cracks/damage.

A dirty disc -- properly clean even if it looks clean. Just like the inside of the Car Windshield a thin buildup of oil/dust/fingerprints/nicotine/household pollution can deposit even on properly stores discs.

A firmware change in the player incompatible with an older disc -- update or revert firmware if possible with your player

A failing Bluray player/laser -- check at least one other player for repetition

Other -- ??

 

[JimMiller]

My "Pal Joey" freezes up. That is the only one as yet.

 

[Mark B]

What causes a disc error if it has previously played without incident?

I wish I knew the answer to that. The only commercially pressed DVDs I have had go bad are the two infamous Universal discs of SPARTACUS and VERTIGO, the WB discs (all 4) from the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland set, and NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER from Esther Williams Volume 1. All of those are found on other people's lists of faulty discs so I chalk it up to a manufacturing error.

 

[trajan007]

Some Fox releases also freeze up --- HELLO DOLLY---SOUND OF MUSIC.

 

[Robin9]

My "Pal Joey" freezes up. That is the only one as yet.

That's a film I can watch whatever mood I'm in, so I'll check that disc tomorrow and report back..

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

I checked a bunch of the discs mentioned and the only one that gave me even a smigde of trouble was EXODUS, which skips a millisecond at the 1:57 layer change but doesn't freeze. My player is a BDP-103.

 

[JohnMor]

Okay, the discs people say no longer play so far are:

The Blue Max 2-11-14
Body Double 8-13-13
Desiree 4-10-12
The Egyptian 7-12-11
Exodus 3-15-16
Experiment in Terror 1-15-13
Follow That Dream 8-11-14
Nicholas and Alexandra 2-12-13
Pal Joey 2-14-12
Picnic 1-17-12

And the known players people have are:

Oppo BDP-105
Pioneer BDP-320

 

[Matt Hough]

Thanks for compiling this list, John.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Checked these titles, Oppo 103:

The Blue Max
The Egyptian
Exodus
Experiment in Terror
Nicholas and Alexandra

No issues with any of them. Checked by skipping to each chapter stop and playing for a minute or so.