Strange Behavior/Authoring Error with Scream Factory THINNER Blu-ray? (1 Viewer)

[Kaskade1309]

My Blu-ray copy of Thinner (1996) from Scream Factory has been doing something weird that I can only chalk up to an authoring error, and it seems to be confirmed after a replacement they sent me did the same thing last night (I'll explain in greater detail).

Originally, this disc, out of the case, would return to the end credits of the film even after the disc was ejected and re-loaded for a second viewing (on a Panasonic UB9000), and this was obviously malfunctioning, as normally a disc would return to the pre-setup menu loading screens upon those subsequent viewings (unless it was authored with the "RESUME: YES/NO" prompt, which this disc was not).

No matter how many times I stopped the disc at the end credits, ejected it and then played it for a second viewing, it ALWAYS returned to the end credits, forcing me to go back to the setup menu to start over. However, even THIS didn't solve the issue, because the film would then, again, play from the end credits instead of starting from the beginning (after choosing the language, subtitles, etc.). The ONLY way I was able to get the film to play from the beginning was to go into the chapter select in the setup menu and choose "Chapter 1."

I reached out to Scream Factory about this, detailing the "issue" with the same amount of specificity as I'm doing here, but it seems the replies were AI generated because the generic responses kept suggesting I send them a mailing address so they could send out a replacement. I didn't necessarily WANT a replacement, instead just wanting to know if it was perhaps an authoring error on their side, and as such I asked if my question could be forwarded to an engineer at the company; a replacement copy was sent out regardless, and I tested it out over the weekend.

The replacement disc did the SAME thing -- as soon as I loaded it, in fact, my Panasonic UB9000 went straight to the end credits where I left off the last time I watched the ORIGINAL Blu-ray...so it was almost as if the memory "held" from the last time I played the original disc, even though this was a new one. I had to, like before, go into the setup menu and choose "Chapter 1" in order to watch Thinner from the beginning.

Can anyone make any sense of this? Does this sound like an authoring error on this title? I can't seem to find anyone else who has the Scream Factory release of this title to check for me.

 

[SD_Brian]

Does your player have an internal memory cache or USB memory plugged in? If yes, maybe clearing the memory cache would fix the issue, similar to clearing the cookies on a web browser.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Does your player have an internal memory cache or USB memory plugged in? If yes, maybe clearing the memory cache would fix the issue, similar to clearing the cookies on a web browser.

Thanks very much, Brian.

It does not have an internal memory buffer like the Oppos and some other units have, and I never put in the USB to unload the memory onto, but I was thinking this may be the issue -- I can try that, but what would make both discs behave like this in the exact same places? I'm thinking it's something on the authoring end.

 

[SD_Brian]

Thanks very much, Brian.

It does not have an internal memory buffer like the Oppos and some other units have, and I never put in the USB to unload the memory onto, but I was thinking this may be the issue -- I can try that, but what would make both discs behave like this in the exact same places? I'm thinking it's something on the authoring end.

The player won't know the difference between two different discs if the content stored on the discs is identical: As far as the player knows, the replacement disc is the same disc as the original.

Another suggestion: Check the disc in another player, if you have access to one, and see if you experience the same playback issue.

 

[Kaskade1309]

The player won't know the difference between two different discs if the content stored on the discs is identical: As far as the player knows, the replacement disc is the same disc as the original.

Another suggestion: Check the disc in another player, if you have access to one, and see if you experience the same playback issue.

Yes -- I realize that the player, from its memory standpoint, wouldn't differentiate between the two discs. But my question in my last post was more about thinking that it is perhaps an authoring problem on Scream Factory's end, as the new disc did the same thing (though it basically comes down to what we're saying, that the discs wouldn't be differentiated via the player).

I can try playing it in our upstairs Panny DMP-BD10A, but that unit is so old, it doesn't load more than half the discs we run through it anymore.

 

[SD_Brian]

But my question in my last post was more about thinking that it is perhaps an authoring problem on Scream Factory's end

Scream/Shout has historically been pretty good about doing disc recalls if/when there are authoring problems. If something was amiss, they likely would have implemented a replacement program by now.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Scream/Shout has historically been pretty good about doing disc recalls if/when there are authoring problems. If something was amiss, they likely would have implemented a replacement program by now.

I'm aware of their history of issuing replacements and taking care of any problems quickly; if this WAS an encoding error, though, it probably wouldn't have been issued a replacement/fix because it really doesn't affect playback in any way. It's just inconvenient to have to return to the setup menu every time we watch the disc, choose Chapter 1 and then start that way...but it certainly isn't the end of the world.

This is why I'm saying it wouldn't have necessarily been something they needed to "address" or send out replacements for; it isn't stopping people from actually watching the disc. As it stands, I reached out to them to ASK if there was a way to contact engineers to see if this was an authoring error of some sort, and I wasn't demanding a replacement disc (my thinking was that someone who really has a defective disc of Thinner that won't play back at all could use a replacement more than me); the replies were cryptic and AI-esque, until they just sent the replacement without me saying it was okay.

At any rate, I have a backup now, but I'd still like to know what is going on; I will either try the data dump thing or attmpt to play it in our upstairs player.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Thanks for all your assistance, Brian; I will check back in when I do the data dump experiment.

 

[Kaskade1309]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to check back in with this thread; I didn't end up doing the data dump on the Panasonic because the issues with the unit were occurring just too frequently. From discs freezing/pixelating to most of them taking a ridiculous amount of time to load (if they did at all; some UHD discs were taking 15 to 20 times of opening/closing the drawer to recognize), I just gave up and put the deck into storage while reinstalling my old Cambridge CXUHD.

Since using the Cambridge, ALL problematic discs on the Panny played absolutely fine with zero issues -- what's more, I also tried out the THINNER Blu-ray, which was the focus of this thread, and lo and behold, the disc behaved the same way as it did with the Panasonic (that is, when it reached the end credits and I tried to reload the disc after that, it took me to the setup menu but WOULDN'T let me watch the film from the very beginning again, instead going right to the end credits once more).

This is obviously an authoring error on Scream's part, as I originally suspected; just wanted to check back in about this.