Universal Studios Is The Pits (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

I have the Invisible Man set, and it's great. What a bargain! I keep meaning to get the other Monsters sets.

 

[ElijahS]

I just posted this in the Emergency! thread, but it REALLY fits here:

That may be why it's done for this set, but one of Universal's inconsistencies lies in its packaging, especially this year.

For the examples, all sides are in reference to where it is when looking at the front of the cover:

- Some sets use slim cases that come out on the right (Law & Order)
- Some sets use slim cases that come out on the left (Monk)
- Some sets use Amaray cases that come out on the right (Murder, She Wrote (I believe))
- Some sets use Amaray cases that come out on the left (Kojak)
- Some sets come in strange packaging (The Munsters S2)

*All references are from releases made this year.

Some of the configurations make some amount of sense (like Emergency), and some don't. It's just part of Universal's problem in making TV DVD sets.

 

[Jeff Willis]

Randy, I agree for the most part because of the un-cut ep issue. The only problem I have with Uni is that their releases are coming too slow for me I have a lot of favorites owned by Uni that I'm waiting for.

 

[MattHR]

One of the best examples of this is with the three seasons of "Columbo" released so far:

Season 1: 5 single-sided discs in a 6-panel DigiPak with outer box cover, right side opening.

Season 2: 4 single-sided discs in 2 double-disc Amarays with outer box cover, right side opening.

Season 3: 2 double-sided discs in 2 single-disc Amarays with outer box cover, left side opening.

Seasons 1 & 2 also shared a simple, white background with a "trenchcoat cuff" band at the top. Season 3 dropped the "cuff" in favor of the new "Classic Television" band. It was also branded as part of "The NBC Mystery Movie" collection, along with "McMillan & Wife" and "McCloud".

 

[FrancisP]

I would agree with uncut and that's all. The transfers are okay and that's all. The second season of Night Gallery is a prime example of Universal cutting corners. I read this at
NightGallery.net, "The bad news is that Universal has instructed their video technicians to conduct a one-pass color correction for the series and nothing more. Normally, several color passes would be required for proper transfer, yet not even this is being done. This seems to be the case with most, if not all, of Universal's classic TV products."
It's obvious that there is absolutely no committment to putting out a quality product.

They also are generally overpriced. For example, $50 list price for 11 episodes of Emergency S1 is overpriced. Buck Rogers was overpriced. We are talking about bare bones releases. There are no music issues. There is nothing that can drive up the costs.

There is no danger of anybody from Universal noticing the title of any thread and not reading it. that takes a committment to customer service which Universal doesn't have. Why should they? The game is rigged in their favor with copyright laws. What we had a system like drugs where
the developer of a drug has a certain amount of time for exclusivety and then others can put out their own version of the drug. Give a studio x amount of time to profit from it and then allow it into the public domain. Maybe it doesn't get any better but it can't get any worse. Of course it would never happen because the media companies have bought and paid for the politicians to screw us.

 

[Al_D]

I have been very happy with the shows released from their catalogue that I enjoy. I would just like to see the seasons released faster.
Knight Rider
The A-team
Airwolf
Miami Vice
Magnum Pi

 

[RickER]

A friend had to replace his Adam 12 DVD 4 times before getting a good one. Seems that disc 1, side 2 episode 111 kept freezing up in the same place on all copies he had. Not a layer change effect. Anyway he told me Amazon had known of quite a few returns on the title. I have not read the Amazon reviews yet myself. I know the Buck Rogers set also had some mastering problems on one of the Gary Coleman episodes (no loss for me), but still. Double sided and duel layer discs, a Universal release...id rather gamble with the LOTTO. I think the hard part with TV shows, and its been said before, it is so hard to watch ALL of it before the return window is gone. A movie is no problem i can watch it quick, but 500 minutes of TV is hard to check.

 

[Katherine_K]

I'm convinced that this is a player specific problem and not an inherent flaw in the discs. I have 25 sets totaling 80+ indivudal DVD-18s and have never had a single problem with any of them.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Agreed. Thankfully, it retails for US$39.98.

- Steve

 

[Jeff Willis]

Anyone have the "Earth 2" set? I tried to start watching this one today and found that Disk 1 of the set was not playable. It didn't play at all. I checked for visual defects (there weren't any of the usual "scuff" marks) and found that the disk has a "bump" in it on the surface approx in the middle of the playing surface, halfway between the edge and the inner hub. I've never seen this type of defect before but (thankfully) I bought it from Amazon and they're exchanging it for a replacement set even though it was bought more than 30 days ago (an OT for Amazon It makes it hard for me to buy from anywhere else online).

 

[Katherine_K]

I have Earth 2. In fact for other reasons i have two copies of this set. It's got a combination of my least favorite packaging and discs, but I have not noticed any defects in any of the discs.

 

[Scott Kimball]

I agree, Katherine. Packaging sucks... I dislike DVD-18, and I dislike 2-up packaging even more.

I have watched the entire set. I encountered no problems playing the discs, though the transfers of a few episodes are less than perfect.

-Scott

 

[John Stell]

Would you mind sharing with us what player/model you have?

 

[MattHR]

I have at least 20 Universal sets containing DVD-18s. I play them on 3 different DVD players and have yet to experience any problems with them. I'd still prefer that Universal discontinue the use of DVD-18s, and return to DVD-9s using double ThinPaks, or even the 2-up DigiPak. While I generally dislike the 2-up method, I can live with it as long as the discs are not DVD-18s.

The only studios that, to my knowledge, have never used DVD-18s for any of their product are Paramount, Disney and Sony/Columbia. Is anyone aware of any titles they have released on DVD-18s?

 

[Katherine_K]

I have an SD-K740 Toshiba player (very cheep), and a DVD-Rom computer drive the brand escapes me. Though I agree with Matt, I do wish they'd stop using them for any number of reasons including that they make me nervous, I have trouble telling sides if I don't have the lights on... I'm afraid of scratching them...

... but I don't believe they are inherently faulty.

 

[Eric Peterson]

Maybe this is the problem! All of my equipment is too expensive to play Universal's el-cheapo product. I've had nothing but problems with their discs, and I've had these problems on three players (Yamaha, Marantz, & Toshiba) none of which were cheap!

 

[RickER]

My Sony 7700 is hit and miss with Universal titles. It was not a cheap player. And, if it was a player problem i shouldn't be able to get a good copy. My friend who had so much trouble with Adam 12 has a Denon 2910, also a good, not cheap player. It took 4 tries to get a good copy, also another case of he DID get a good one, but after 4 tries. He also had the same trouble with the Buck Rogers DVD.

 

[John Stell]

Thanks, Katherine K. For the record, I've played them on a Panasonic, JVC, and computer drive and, if the disc is problematic, the problem is at the same spot on each player. None of these were cheap. Maybe next time I'll also try them on the Cyberhome I bought for my daughter's DVD watching.

I think the problem is that the discs Universal is using are probably pretty cheap. It's not so much Universal's replication process is in and of itself the problem but rather the DVD 18s they use are hit and miss. That's why some people have no problems, while others have to take the discs back. The Remington Steele set (a Fox release) is on DVD 18s and I didn't have any problems, nor did I hear about anything widespread.

I think the fault lies with Universal using cheap media. But I'm tempted to get that Toshiba player just to find out.

 

[FrancisP]

I read that Night Gallery S2 is being done with a one pass color correction instead of two required for a proper transfer. This apparently is done for all of Universal's classic series. Not certain that they do this on their movie series. I wonder if this can be part of the problem.
It certainly underscores the fact that Universal cuts corners.

 

[Randy Korstick]

My Main Player is a High End Sony NS900V. I also have a Pioneer DVL-919 and a Portable Toshiba DVD. I currently have over 50 Universal DVD18's and they all play fine on the Sony and Toshiba Portable, about half have been verified to be fine on the Pioneer. Never had to Return a Universal DVD18 yet.

On the Flip side one disk from my Star Trek DS9 season 4 and 5 and one from Star Trek Next Generation Season 3 do the freeze up and pixalization problem described here but these are Paramount discs and not DVD18's. These freeze up in all 3 players in the same place.

Again these types of problems are almost always player related or in a few cases scratched disk related.

Universal has been making these DVD18's for over 2 years now and are doing all their TV and old movie collections this way now. If returns and complaints were really that wide spread they would have changed this by now. They are not in the bussiness to lose money on returns and a few hold outs not buying their DVD18's is not going to be visible to their financial bottom line. So if you really love Universal's TV shows or old film collections then why not try a new DVD player. They are dirt cheap now and if the DVD's still don't play most stores have 30 day return policies on the new DVD player.