Some Twilight Time Discs No Longer Playing (1 Viewer)

[rdf8585]

Was there ever any kind of resolution on this issue? A few TT titles interest me but this thread, obviously, raises concern.

 

[Ethan Riley]

There's nothing wrong with Twilight Time blu rays.

 

[Robin9]

Was there ever any kind of resolution on this issue? A few TT titles interest me but this thread, obviously, raises concern.

My resolution is not to take any notice of people who spread scare stories about Twilight Time discs. I think most people who have bought several of them agree with me.

 

[JohnMor]

My resolution is not to take any notice of people who spread scare stories about Twilight Time discs. I think most people who have bought several of them agree with me.

Yet here you are posting in a thread by the person you claim to take no notice of. Typical.

I didn’t spread scare stories. I reported what happened to several of my TT discs. I own about 3/4 of their entire output, which I venture is more than you or most people on here. And I have continued to buy them. Whether you like it or not, they are the only discs in my collection to experience the layer change failure. That's not a scare story, just a fact.

As far as a resolution, those discs are coasters and the titles are out of print. Nothing else can be done short of buying another copy second hand.

 

[Robin9]

Yet here you are posting in a thread by the person you claim to take no notice of. Typical.

I didn’t spread scare stories. I reported what happened to several of my TT discs. I own about 3/4 of their entire output, which I venture is more than you or most people on here. And I have continued to buy them. Whether you like it or not, they are the only discs in my collection to experience the layer change failure. That's not a scare story, just a fact.

As far as a resolution, those discs are coasters and the titles are out of print. Nothing else can be done short of buying another copy second hand.

Typical of what?

I'm not interested in your tale of woe because I have experienced no problems with any of my Twilight Time discs. It's irrelevant to me if there is something about your set-up that results in problems that others don't experience. In the case of Warner DVDs going wrong, I am interested because so many people are having the same problem and clearly there is a fault in the manufacturing process. There is no reason to believe there is a fault with Twilight Time's system.

 

[JohnMor]

Typical of what?

I'm not interested in your tale of woe because I have experienced no problems with any of my Twilight Time discs. It's irrelevant to me if there is something about your set-up that results in problems that others don't experience. In the case of Warner DVDs going wrong, I am interested because so many people are having the same problem and clearly there is a fault in the manufacturing process. There is no reason to believe there is a fault with Twilight Time's system.

You obviously didn’t read the thread, as others also experienced it. And it’s not my setup when the discs also failed in my friends’ players.

Obviously, by your logic, there can’t be a manufacturing problem with WB discs because none of my 500+ WB discs have ever failed, so if it hasn’t happened to me, it can’t be happening to anyone.

Why you feel the need to personally attack fellow HTF members who have been here even longer than you is beyond me. But knock yourself out. This is what the ignore function is for.

 

[Cranston37+]

I'm not interested in your tale of woe because I have experienced no problems with any of my Twilight Time discs. It's irrelevant to me if there is something about your set-up that results in problems that others don't experience. In the case of Warner DVDs going wrong, I am interested because so many people are having the same problem and clearly there is a fault in the manufacturing process. There is no reason to believe there is a fault with Twilight Time's system.

This post is puzzling because you aren't accurately describing the thread.

A number of people reported problems with TT discs, one of which you responded to back in March, so I know you are aware of that.

A quick Google search also brings up similar threads on a number of other forums.

So I ask respectfully - what the heck are you talking about, sir?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

If anyone has a Twilight disc that has gone bad, it is absolutely worth taking the time to reach out to them directly and privately - not as a public message for all to see, but either through a PM on one of their social media accounts or to their customer service. In the past, they have been good about replacing defective discs when possible, and there is always the possibility that they have some additional copies of out of print titles on hand for such a reason. Now, it's also possible that in certain cases, there may be nothing they can do - but my experience tells me that it's always worth asking before giving up. And you may have better luck trying to contact them through a social media channel (perhaps PM'ing the Twilight rep on here, or their Facebook account) - I think the social media is run directly by them, whereas the store's help site is a third party.

 

[OliverK]

Was there ever any kind of resolution on this issue? A few TT titles interest me but this thread, obviously, raises concern.

TT almost always produces 3000 discs of a given title and it is easy to look up which ones have been sold out and how many titles have been released. So with I am sure more than half a million discs sold we have hardly any reports of issues with discs in all of the enthusiast forums.

As previous posters have said it is a non-issue especially given the fact that the few discs that have shown issues are all older and mostly out of print discs and for each title we have a number of members who also own that particular title without having any issue with it so it just seems to be individual discs in rather isolated cases.

And as Josh points out, the people at TT are actually quite nice so in the very rare case that you encounter an issue you can actually reach out to them.

 

[Paul Rossen]

If anyone has a Twilight disc that has gone bad, it is absolutely worth taking the time to reach out to them directly and privately - not as a public message for all to see, but either through a PM on one of their social media accounts or to their customer service. In the past, they have been good about replacing defective discs when possible, and there is always the possibility that they have some additional copies of out of print titles on hand for such a reason. Now, it's also possible that in certain cases, there may be nothing they can do - but my experience tells me that it's always worth asking before giving up. And you may have better luck trying to contact them through a social media channel (perhaps PM'ing the Twilight rep on here, or their Facebook account) - I think the social media is run directly by them, whereas the store's help site is a third party.

I stand by what I posted some time ago. I have a few bad discs. How long are these discs supposed to last? Customer service at TT has always been pleasant but I received no satisfaction and just gave up. And in every case I'm waiting for a new release from some other Co. ...Especially of The Egyptian.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

How long are these discs supposed to last?

Here's the thing: we just don't know.

There's no manufacturer guarantee that offers a set amount of time.

I'm a guy who loves physical media but my collection is not exclusively on physical media. I'm happy with movies in all formats. I know there are a lot of people who prefer only discs, and I definitely understand that. But at the same time - I think there's a false belief held by some people that discs are the one and only infallible way to collect films, and that just hasn't been my experience. The vast majority of my disc collection works fine, but occasionally, one does go bad. Sometimes it's the glue between layers that's gone bad, sometimes it's a weird chemical reaction that happened when certain types of disc glue are stored in certain types of plastic, and sometimes it's a total mystery. My point is simply that discs are not inert, unchanging, or foolproof.

I have adjusted my own expectations in recent years on longevity. I no longer believe that buying a disc means that I am guaranteed to have access to that title forever.

 

[Mark-P]

As far as a resolution, those discs are coasters and the titles are out of print. Nothing else can be done short of buying another copy second hand.

Last you posted, John, you hadn't yet tried the discs on another player. I guess in saying that the discs are now coasters, you have indeed replicated their failures on another machine?

 

[JohnMor]

Last you posted, John, you hadn't yet tried the discs on another player. I guess in saying that the discs are now coasters, you have indeed replicated their failures on another machine?

Yes, I finally was able to try them all in other players.

And just to reiterate to everybody, my initial post was simply to inquire if anyone else had developed problems, as in my particular collection of 4,000+ discs it was the only label I had that issue with. A few more people confirmed they had a few issues, but it didn’t turn out to be anything very widespread or related to specific titles. That was all I was looking for. Asked and answered. I don’t know why it was taken by some to be practically an attack on TT when I’ve been one their oldest and biggest supporters. And one of their most vocal supporters here back when people were crapping on them unfairly years ago about their business model, prices, lack of sales, etc.

 

[Thomas T]

There are no 100% guarantees on any discs regardless of what label they're from. As one whose collection is around 7,000 DVDs and blu rays, I've had my share of discs go bad. From Criterion, Warners, Fox, Blue Underground, Disney to name just five. It's the nature of the beast and frustrating to collectors but it is what it is. Curiously, the only discs I have not had go bad on me over time are MODs which are disdained by a certain segment of collectors. I have been fortunate in that all of the TT "problem" discs mentioned play just fine on my Samsung. Will they go bad in the future? Who knows? Enjoy them while you can. As I say, there are no guarantees. Eventually our cars, our refrigerators, our air conditioners, our vacuum cleaners etc. all stop working. Why should we expect our discs to last forever?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes, I finally was able to try them all in other players.

And just to reiterate to everybody, my initial post was simply to inquire if anyone else had developed problems, as in my particular collection of 4,000+ discs it was the only label I had that issue with. A few more people confirmed they had a few issues, but it didn’t turn out to be anything very widespread or related to specific titles. That was all I was looking for. Asked and answered. I don’t know why it was taken by some to be practically an attack on TT when I’ve been one their oldest and biggest supporters. And one of their most vocal supporters here back when people were crapping on them unfairly years ago about their business model, prices, lack of sales, etc.

John,

I never took your inquire as an attack on TT which is why I went to the trouble to confirm several titles you mentioned on my Oppo in which I had no issues with any of those discs. Matter of fact, I thank you for bringing up your issues to the rest of us so we could check out those specific BD releases.

 

[JohnMor]

John,

I never took your inquire as an attack on TT which is why I went to the trouble to confirm several titles you mentioned on my Oppo in which I had no issues with any of those discs. Matter of fact, I thank you for bringing up your issues to the rest of us so we could check out those specific BD releases.

Thank you, Robert. And I very much appreciated your help in sorting through this. I’m glad it proved to not be a big issue.

 

[LeoA]

It's too bad that they couldn't offer a trade-in program for bad discs to at least replace them with a made on demand copy (Although I suppose it could be viewed as shaky ground legally for an out of print disc with expired licensing, even if the failed one had to be returned first).

But hopefully if we ever progress past it being isolated incidents and it becomes something more akin to the issues now striking Warner DVD's (And HD-DVD's before that), Twilight Time will consider it.

I've been very happy with my experience with Sony's made on demand release of The Trouble With Angels (My first MOD Blu-Ray), so it's not nearly as distasteful of a thought as it once would've been to me.

 

[jcroy]

Eventually our cars, our refrigerators, our air conditioners, our vacuum cleaners etc. all stop working. Why should we expect our discs to last forever?

Good question. I can't really think of anything I have that lasted a very long time.

The "oldest" object I still use occasionally, are several books which I inherited from a grandparent. As far as I can figure out, they had written dates of September or October 1933 and "Berlin, Deutschland" written in pen on the first pages. (They were books on advanced mathematics topics). Afterward these books spent more than 60 years in Tel-Aviv Israel.

(One of my grandparents attended the University of Berlin in the early 1930s, and later moved to Tel-Aviv in 1933).

 

[titch]

There are no 100% guarantees on any discs regardless of what label they're from. As one whose collection is around 7,000 DVDs and blu rays, I've had my share of discs go bad. From Criterion, Warners, Fox, Blue Underground, Disney to name just five. It's the nature of the beast and frustrating to collectors but it is what it is. Curiously, the only discs I have not had go bad on me over time are MODs which are disdained by a certain segment of collectors. I have been fortunate in that all of the TT "problem" discs mentioned play just fine on my Samsung. Will they go bad in the future? Who knows? Enjoy them while you can. As I say, there are no guarantees. Eventually our cars, our refrigerators, our air conditioners, our vacuum cleaners etc. all stop working. Why should we expect our discs to last forever?

I purchased my first music compact disc in 1984 (Abba's The Visitors). It still plays perfectly, as do all of the nearly 4000 albums I have on CD (I ripped them all to my computer a couple of years ago). They are amazingly robust, provided one never allows girlfriends, animals and children near them! (Why do all the ladies I know just nonchalantly toss the playing side of a CD down on the nearest table when they remove it from the player?) Laserdiscs were a completely different beast: oxidising and manufacturing errors were common. It's years since I fired up my Laserdisc player, but I'm willing to wager that loads of the 1500 discs I have there will be suffering from terminal rot. The only blu-ray I've had go bad on me so far is the aforementioned Wallace & Gromit collection - the oxidised surface of the disc is plainly visible. Like you said, there are no guarantees in life but those little discs give as much mileage as an old Volvo station wagon! I don't think I ever got as much value for money for anything else in life!

 

[OliverK]

One more reason why this is a valuable thread: Somebody who lives in a country where backups for personal purposes are legal may be able to back up some discs that have been mentioned by forum members as having playback problems. With storage prices being at an all-time low this is a very small price to pay if the appropriate backup infrastructure is already in place. In fact on average it would be less than 2$ even with a dual backup and less for smaller discs and/or with the right kind of storage bought at the right time.