"Suspiria" LE problem (1 Viewer)

[Lyle_JP]

I have now gone through two copies of the Suspiria Limited Edition, and they both exhibit the exact same problem. At 23:06 into the feature on disc one, the picture seems to pause and stutter for a second. This happened exactly the same way on BOTH copies, so it's not an issue of a defective copy. It doesn't resemble a layer change in any way either.
I am using a Pioneer DV-37. I am hoping this is a pressing defect that Anchor Bay can look into and not yet another in a long line of discs the $1,000 DV-37 can't play properly (such as the Akira SE, Dinosaur SE, disc 2 of X-Files Season 2, etc).
-Lyle J.P.
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[Lyle_JP]

Bumping this up. Am I the only owner of a DV-37 and the Suspiria LE?
-Lyle J.P.
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[Jeff Krispow]

Hi Lyle!
If you're the Lyle JP I'm thinking of, how've you been? It's been a rather long time...
Anyway, I don't have an definite answer that will solve your Suspiria problem, but I can rule out one potential issue for you -- it's definitely not a layer change issue, since that DVD doesn't have one. The film's on one layer, supplementary materials are on the other.
The only other thing I can think of is that there may be some potential firmware problem. This seems likely, especially considering that you have repeatable problems with a variety of discs. My original DVD player was a Toshiba model, and while it was a great machine for about a year, suddenly there were DVDs coming out that would exhibit weird little problems with the menus, with playing, or with the disc not even loading. Turned out it was a huge firmware problem. And after the third time of having to send the Toshiba in for a free firmware upgrade, I got annoyed with it all and purchased a Pioneer 606-D which hasn't given me a single problem.
Now that I think about it some more, Lyle, it sounds VERY likely that there is some sort of firmware issue with the DV-97 that is causing these problems. But the fact that it's such a new player -- and from Pioneer, no less -- makes me want to shy away from the firmware theory. Then again, while most of the reports I've read about the 37 are favorable, I have read a few where people were reporting various problems with discs not playing. For example, I've read several reports of "What Women Want" freezing the DV-37 and causing all sort of other havok (Chapter 8 was mentioned in one report). I've also read about caption problems with "Dinosaur" (they default to on) and a few others.
Just to offer some other perspective on your disc problems, my 606-D does plays "Suspiria" perfectly, as it does the other DVD titles you mentioned. It's no consolation, I know, but I thought I should mention it.
My recommendation would be to see if you can duplicate your DVD problems on another DV-37 unit. This is probably easier said than done, but maybe you know of a friendly store that will let you test out some of your discs. At least this way you can narrow down the problem somewhat further, and see if it's specific to your machine or if it's a problem with the entire run DV-37s...
Hope some of this was helpful. The best of luck to you!
Jeff
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Jeff Krispow
Former Reviewer
http://www.laserrot.com
[email protected]

 

[Matt_Stevens]

-- it's definitely not a layer change issue, since that DVD doesn't have one. The film's on one layer, supplementary materials are on the other.

What? I distinctly remember a layer change. And there are hardly any extras on the DVD. The big extra is on the second DVD. It would be an absolute waste ot space to dedicate an entire layer to 30 minutes worth of extras.
Where did you get this info?
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www.deceptions.net/superman

 

[Aric]

I have a DV-37 and noticed the same problem.

 

[Bryant Frazer]

Lyle, I don't have my disc with me so I can't check the times, but I was watching the movie on my PlayStation 2 (since my DVP-S3000 doesn't pass a DTS signal) and the whole picture blitzed out at about this point, never recovering. I swapped to the standalone player and it played through, but frame-by-frame inspection revealed a glitch that affected two frames. In the first one, there were rows of boxes along the bottom of the (16x9) frame; in the second, the row of boxes was along the top of the frame.
I can't tell for sure if these boxes are encoded into the video image or if they're an error that shows up as the MPEG-2 chip decodes the screen. On the PS2, the whole screen became filled with similar squares after those two frames, leading me to believe it may be a decoding problem. The error is repeatable on both Sony players. I didn't try it in my Apex or on my DVD-ROM.
Has anyone else seen this? I'll find the exact timestamp when I get home tonight.
-bf-
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Bryant Frazer
Deep Focus
www.deep-focus.com

 

[Jeff Krispow]

Matt,
You're definitely right, I made a mistake. "Suspiria" does indeed have a layer change -- at 68:43.
I don't know what I was thinking, since I did have a layer change entry for "Suspiria" in my database. All I can think of was that I accidentally looked at the "Swamp Thing" entry that's right after "Suspiria"... Doh! (Not surprising, it was really late in the evening for me, and I was trying hard to stay awake and finish typing...)
Still, because of the location of the layer change, it's not going to be affecting playback where you were describing. But I did got back and look around the 23:06 mark on my disc, and there is something there. On my 606-D, at the very bottom of the letterboxed image (i.e., not in the black area), there is something that looks like an extremely mild glitch. The bottom edge just shifts ever so slightly. And sometimes I didn't see it at all. It was also nothing that I could freeze-frame. It really looks like there is a pressing problem, especially after taking into consideration Bryant's problems.
I also went ahead and tried out "Suspiria" in my PS2 also, and lo and behold, 23:06 hits and my entire screen suddenly becomes a huge mass or moving, colored blocks (rather pretty in a strange sort of way). Scanning backwards or forwards doesn't get rid of them, and neither does going to the menu screen. In fact, it so screwed up the PS2, that it had to be powered down in order to play properly again. I had the latest v2.10 drivers installed when checking this, and it was repeatable using the older v1.10 drivers.
So, it definitely seems to be a pressing related problem, and the severity depends upon the individual DVD player used. Again, on my 606-D it's barely ever noticeable, while on the DV-37 is has problems, and on the PS2 its completely gone.
Well, first "Opera" and now apparently "Suspiria." I wonder what's next. I think that we need to notify Anchor Bay of this problem and have them issue replacement discs. Any idea of how we can all inform them of our problems...?
Jeff
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Jeff Krispow
Former Reviewer
http://www.laserrot.com
[email protected]

 

[Bryant Frazer]

Yup, that's the spot where my copy freaks out on the PlayStation and displays a glitch on the Sony DVP-S3000. My DVD-ROM drive (a Samsung) and software (InterVideo WinDVD) play the movie through. It looks like the picture hiccups, perhaps missing just a frame, but my eyes aren't quite good enough to say for sure.
Bummer. I'm not sure I want to buy a whole new DVD player just to be able to watch SUSPIRIA in DTS.
-bf-
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Bryant Frazer
Deep Focus
www.deep-focus.com

 

[Brian_Hitchlock]

I just sat down to watch Suspiria last night, sure enough, just after the layer change the picture starts breaking up, the audio stutters and at some spots it just stops. I have an RCA 522 player, this is identical to a problem I had with the Man With the Golden Gun from the James Bond sets. It played on some players but not all. MGM ended redoing the discs and providing replacements to those who requested it. As far as I understand it, this was a production issue.
In the last month it has happened to me with three more movies: Suspiria, Wicker Man, and Phenomena. All Anchor Bay. Out of some 220 DVDs these are the only ones I have problems with. Needless to say I am not pleased (I can get all three to play on a friends computer, Thats how I had to watch the last 30 minutes of Suspiria)
Seems like there are some production issues with AB. One disc I can understand, but three?!

 

[Jason Hughes]

I have a Sony 3000. At 23:06 there is a brief flash of some lines up and the below the picture (or vice versa). They look like bar codes.
That is the only flaw (so far) as the disc keeps playing fine from that point and never freezes or anything like that.
No problem on the layer change.

 

[Al_R]

The world of Anchor Bay. not sure where I read it but someone from the company said that they are aware of the problems with several of their discs. They say they are switching manufacturers. although it is beyond me why they waited all this time. I for one have had a problem with every Manhunter disc i've ever gotten a hold of. It's odd, the *only* DVD's i ever had troubles with were from Anchor Bay.