Warner DVD's not working thread - watch to make sure they still play (4 Viewers)

[Robert Crawford]

"Desperate Journey" and "Across The Pacific" both freeze up at around the 40 minute mark. That's all I've found, out of thousands of DVD's, and "Across The Pacific" was last night. Still, I'm glad that both are still in print because one way or another THEY SHALL BE REPLACED.

I checked both of my DVDs from the Flynn and Bogart boxsets and both played fine.

 

[bujaki]

I figure it's a crap shoot. Chances are, though, that at some point they will all go bad. Sigh.

 

[davidmatychuk]

I checked both of my DVDs from the Flynn and Bogart boxsets and both played fine.

Thanks for that, Robert. Two DVD's out of thousands of discs, I'm sure it's random. A few days ago, while sending an email about my "Across The Pacific" problem, I noticed a year-old email from a courier service about a package being delivered from the estimable Sherri Bogard at Warner Home Video. There were no follow-up emails, so I assume they somehow screwed up sending me a replacement DVD of "Desperate Journey". Eventually I'll sort it out, and both discs will get replaced one way or another. Betting against Ms. Bogard would be ill-advised.

 

[TheSteig]

I think the secret is to keep watching them at least one to two times a year. But in reality these titles that are freezing need to be upgraded to Blu-ray

 

[Thomas T]

I was watching Eight Legged Freaks tonight and it froze at the 41 minute mark!

 

[Traveling Matt]

A Slight Case of Murder from Warner Gangsters Collection Vol. 2 was a problem for me a while back, but I recently got around to ordering a used copy for $5 and now I'm good. Just a heads up.

 

[roger.howerton]

Hello!

I stumbled onto this problem a few months ago and at first I thought it was my BD player. I replaced it, and a few discs still wouldn't play. I replaced the discs, not knowing exactly why the discs had stopped working. After replacing nine discs, I started looking for answers and stumbled upon this thread. After reading more than 500 of your posts, I want to THANK YOU for being great detectives and narrowing down the cause and the time window of the defective DVDs. I have been a collector of classic movies since the early 2000s, and now have almost 3,500 in my collection. You can imagine my heartbreak after reading about your own disheartening discoveries.

Here are some thoughts:

1. If only one disc in a box set doesn't play, who's to say the others won't stop playing next week? Are we of the consensus that probably ALL Warners DVDs produced at the Pennsylvania replication center in approximately 2006-2009 will eventually fail? Do we think it's "hit and miss" (obviously some titles are notorious for being the worst culprits) or is it only a matter of time before all of these discs fail?

2. I suppose that the TCM box sets produced during this period are affected as well since they were produced by Warners?

3. You seem to agree that there is no problem with the double-sided discs (I tested every DVD in the Literary Classics Collection, and the only one that played was the double-sided "Prisoner of Zenda" DVD). So do you think that the printing on the one-sided discs has somehow been defective and caused the failure?

4. I'm afraid to order any replacements from Amazon, because as one of you has said, it's like a mine field. And several of you have said that the replacements you received didn't work, either. And I agree with those of you who have said that you've had no problems with MOD replacements. If I have an MOD that doesn't work, I believe it's a singular catastrophe, not an epidemic.

5. Warners must be making a killing off of collectors like me (and you before you started this thread) who don't know of the problem and just keep replacing discs! And those of you who say these films need to go to Blu-ray, YES!! But as one of you has said several times, these films would need a good restoration first (and that means Warners would have to spend money, ugh). After the way Warners has treated us on the releases of Looney Tunes (e.g., releasing "new" sets that may have only one or two new-to-digital toons), and stringing us along, I seriously doubt that they will spend any more money than they have to on restoration. (By the way, does anyone else think that the "Dark Victory" Blu-ray is awful? I looks just like the DVD picture all over again, with no further restoration.)

6. I tested (by fast-forwarding) about 60 titles the past few days, and 24 are affected. That's a landslide. I'm almost afraid to continue looking. Where does this end?

7. Lastly, THANK YOU for sharing the information about Sherri Bogard. I will continue testing my DVDs before I contact her, but I'm glad Warners is at least making an effort to help us out.

 

[roger.howerton]

Hello!

I stumbled onto this problem a few months ago and at first I thought it was my BD player. I replaced it, and a few discs still wouldn't play. I replaced the discs, not knowing exactly why the discs had stopped working. After replacing nine discs, I started looking for answers and stumbled upon this thread. After reading more than 500 of your posts, I want to THANK YOU for being great detectives and narrowing down the cause and the time window of the defective DVDs. I have been a collector of classic movies since the early 2000s, and now have almost 3,500 in my collection. You can imagine my heartbreak after reading about your own disheartening discoveries.

Here are some thoughts:

1. If only one disc in a box set doesn't play, who's to say the others won't stop playing next week? Are we of the consensus that probably ALL Warners DVDs produced at the Pennsylvania replication center in approximately 2006-2009 will eventually fail? Do we think it's "hit and miss" (obviously some titles are notorious for being the worst culprits) or is it only a matter of time before all of these discs fail?

2. I suppose that the TCM box sets produced during this period are affected as well since they were produced by Warners?

3. You seem to agree that there is no problem with the double-sided discs (I tested every DVD in the Literary Classics Collection, and the only one that played was the double-sided "Prisoner of Zenda" DVD). So do you think that the printing on the one-sided discs has somehow been defective and caused the failure?

4. I'm afraid to order any replacements from Amazon, because as one of you has said, it's like a mine field. And several of you have said that the replacements you received didn't work, either. And I agree with those of you who have said that you've had no problems with MOD replacements. If I have an MOD that doesn't work, I believe it's a singular catastrophe, not an epidemic.

5. Warners must be making a killing off of collectors like me (and you before you started this thread) who don't know of the problem and just keep replacing discs! And those of you who say these films need to go to Blu-ray, YES!! But as one of you has said several times, these films would need a good restoration first (and that means Warners would have to spend money, ugh). After the way Warners has treated us on the releases of Looney Tunes (e.g., releasing "new" sets that may have only one or two new-to-digital toons), and stringing us along, I seriously doubt that they will spend any more money than they have to on restoration. (By the way, does anyone else think that the "Dark Victory" Blu-ray is awful? I looks just like the DVD picture all over again, with no further restoration.)

6. I tested (by fast-forwarding) about 60 titles the past few days, and 24 are affected. That's a landslide. I'm almost afraid to continue looking. Where does this end?

7. Lastly, THANK YOU for sharing the information about Sherri Bogard. I will continue testing my DVDs before I contact her, but I'm glad Warners is at least making an effort to help us out.

An update on point number 3 --- Last night I tested the James Stewart Signature Collection (released by Warners 8/15/06), and all of the discs played except the double-sided disc. "Firecreek" got stuck about midway, darn it!

 

[roger.howerton]

I finished testing the movies in all of my Warners DVD box sets over the weekend and listed the results below. I used a Sony multi-region Blu-ray player. I did not test any extras/shorts/bonus features/documentaries/commentaries. I only tested the movies. Below you’ll see the year that Warners released each film collection (according to Amazon), the name of the collection, and either “OK” to indicate that all of the discs (in my box set) played without problems, or the name of the film(s) within the set for which a disc failed. (I’ve abbreviated “Signature” as “Sig” and “Collection” as “Coll”; I think the other abbreviations are easily deciphered.) Enough release years are listed to see almost exactly when the “big problems” occurred (about mid-2006 to mid 2008), and 2007 is definitely the worst year of the epidemic (Greatest loss: Rooney & Garland collection failed 100 percent.) I only tested discs released as part of box sets, not individual releases.

Remember that just because a disc played or did not play for me, doesn’t mean that you will have the same results. And by the same token, just because a disc played this week doesn’t mean it won’t play in another week or two. Case in point: I watched The Fighting 69th (James Cagney Signature Collection)just a couple of months ago with no problems, and now it won’t play without freezing.

I just think that the more information we share, the better we can understand the problem and then remedy our collections. Thanks again for all of your wonderful contributions to this thread!

05/04/04 Marx Bros Coll - OK
06/01/04 C Grant Sig Coll - OK
03/01/05 Classic Comedies Coll - OK
04/19/05 E Flynn Sig Coll 1 - OK
06/14/05 J Crawford Coll 1 - OK
06/14/05 B Davis Coll 1 - Mr. Skeffington
08/02/05 The Thin Man Coll – OK
08/16/05 F Astaire & G Rogers Coll 1 - OK
09/06/05 G Garbo Sig Coll - OK
10/04/05 Val Lewton Horror Coll - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 1 - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 2 - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 3 - OK
11/15/05 Tracy/Hep Sig Coll - OK
03/14/06 Miss Marple Coll - OK
03/21/06 B Berkeley Coll 1 - OK
04/04/06 Films of Faith Coll - OK
04/25/06 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 1 - OK
05/02/06 T Williams Coll - Cat on Hot Tin Roof
05/30/06 B Davis Coll 2 - OK
06/06/06 John Ford Film Coll - OK
07/18/06 WB Gangsters Coll 1 - OK
08/15/06 R Reagan Sig Coll - OK
08/15/06 J Stewart Sig Coll - Firecreek
10/03/06 H Bogart Sig Coll - Action in the North Atlantic
10/10/06 Motion Pic Masterpieces - David Copperfield
10/10/06 Motion Pic Masterpieces - Pride and Prejudice
10/10/06 Hollywood Legends of Horror Coll - OK
10/24/06 F Astaire & G Rogers Coll 2 - Roberta
11/07/06 G Cooper Sig Coll - OK
11/14/06 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 4 - Disc 3
11/21/06 Classic Comedy Teams Coll - Nothing but Trouble
12/05/06 Forbidden Hollywood 1 - OK
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Billy Budd
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Captain Horatio Hornblower
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Madame Bovary
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - The Three Musketeers
03/27/07 E Flynn Sig Coll 2 - Charge of the Light Brigade
04/24/07 J Cagney Sig Coll - West Point Story
04/24/07 J Cagney Sig Coll - The Fighting 69th
05/15/07 Droopy Theatrical Coll - OK
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - The Corn Is Green
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Undercurrent
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Without Love
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Dragon Seed
07/24/07 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 2 - The Pirate
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Strike Up the Band
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Girl Crazy
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Babes in Arms
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Babes on Broadway
10/16/07 The Jazz Singer - OK
10/30/07 B Stanwyck Sig Coll - Executive Suite
10/30/07 B Stanwyck Sig Coll - Jeopardy/To Please a Lady
10/30/07 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 5 - Disc 2
10/30/07 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 5 - Disc 4
02/12/08 J Crawford Coll 2 - Sadie McKee
03/04/08 Forbidden Hollywood 2 - A Free Soul/The Divorcee
04/01/08 B Davis Coll 3 - Watch on the Rhine
04/08/08 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 3 - Hit the Deck
10/21/08 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 6 – OK
11/11/08 Warner Bros & The Homefront Coll - OK
01/27/09 Warner Bros Romance Classics – OK
03/24/09 Forbidden Hollywood 3 - OK
04/07/09 D Day Coll - OK

 

[Robin9]

I finished testing the movies in all of my Warners DVD box sets over the weekend and listed the results below. I used a Sony multi-region Blu-ray player. I did not test any extras/shorts/bonus features/documentaries/commentaries. I only tested the movies. Below you’ll see the year that Warners released each film collection (according to Amazon), the name of the collection, and either “OK” to indicate that all of the discs (in my box set) played without problems, or the name of the film(s) within the set for which a disc failed. (I’ve abbreviated “Signature” as “Sig” and “Collection” as “Coll”; I think the other abbreviations are easily deciphered.) Enough release years are listed to see almost exactly when the “big problems” occurred (about mid-2006 to mid 2008), and 2007 is definitely the worst year of the epidemic (Greatest loss: Rooney & Garland collection failed 100 percent.) I only tested discs released as part of box sets, not individual releases.

Remember that just because a disc played or did not play for me, doesn’t mean that you will have the same results. And by the same token, just because a disc played this week doesn’t mean it won’t play in another week or two. Case in point: I watched The Fighting 69th (James Cagney Signature Collection)just a couple of months ago with no problems, and now it won’t play without freezing.

I just think that the more information we share, the better we can understand the problem and then remedy our collections. Thanks again for all of your wonderful contributions to this thread!

05/04/04 Marx Bros Coll - OK
06/01/04 C Grant Sig Coll - OK
03/01/05 Classic Comedies Coll - OK
04/19/05 E Flynn Sig Coll 1 - OK
06/14/05 J Crawford Coll 1 - OK
06/14/05 B Davis Coll 1 - Mr. Skeffington
08/02/05 The Thin Man Coll – OK
08/16/05 F Astaire & G Rogers Coll 1 - OK
09/06/05 G Garbo Sig Coll - OK
10/04/05 Val Lewton Horror Coll - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 1 - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 2 - OK
10/25/05 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 3 - OK
11/15/05 Tracy/Hep Sig Coll - OK
03/14/06 Miss Marple Coll - OK
03/21/06 B Berkeley Coll 1 - OK
04/04/06 Films of Faith Coll - OK
04/25/06 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 1 - OK
05/02/06 T Williams Coll - Cat on Hot Tin Roof
05/30/06 B Davis Coll 2 - OK
06/06/06 John Ford Film Coll - OK
07/18/06 WB Gangsters Coll 1 - OK
08/15/06 R Reagan Sig Coll - OK
08/15/06 J Stewart Sig Coll - Firecreek
10/03/06 H Bogart Sig Coll - Action in the North Atlantic
10/10/06 Motion Pic Masterpieces - David Copperfield
10/10/06 Motion Pic Masterpieces - Pride and Prejudice
10/10/06 Hollywood Legends of Horror Coll - OK
10/24/06 F Astaire & G Rogers Coll 2 - Roberta
11/07/06 G Cooper Sig Coll - OK
11/14/06 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 4 - Disc 3
11/21/06 Classic Comedy Teams Coll - Nothing but Trouble
12/05/06 Forbidden Hollywood 1 - OK
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Billy Budd
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Captain Horatio Hornblower
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - Madame Bovary
03/06/07 Literary Classics Coll - The Three Musketeers
03/27/07 E Flynn Sig Coll 2 - Charge of the Light Brigade
04/24/07 J Cagney Sig Coll - West Point Story
04/24/07 J Cagney Sig Coll - The Fighting 69th
05/15/07 Droopy Theatrical Coll - OK
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - The Corn Is Green
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Undercurrent
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Without Love
05/29/07 K Hepburn 100th Anniv Coll - Dragon Seed
07/24/07 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 2 - The Pirate
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Strike Up the Band
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Girl Crazy
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Babes in Arms
09/25/07 Rooney & Garland Coll - Babes on Broadway
10/16/07 The Jazz Singer - OK
10/30/07 B Stanwyck Sig Coll - Executive Suite
10/30/07 B Stanwyck Sig Coll - Jeopardy/To Please a Lady
10/30/07 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 5 - Disc 2
10/30/07 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 5 - Disc 4
02/12/08 J Crawford Coll 2 - Sadie McKee
03/04/08 Forbidden Hollywood 2 - A Free Soul/The Divorcee
04/01/08 B Davis Coll 3 - Watch on the Rhine
04/08/08 Classic Musicals from Dream Factory 3 - Hit the Deck
10/21/08 Looney Tunes Gold Coll 6 – OK
11/11/08 Warner Bros & The Homefront Coll - OK
01/27/09 Warner Bros Romance Classics – OK
03/24/09 Forbidden Hollywood 3 - OK
04/07/09 D Day Coll - OK

Just to remind you that three of the films on your failed DVDs are now out on Blu-ray disc: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof; Billy Budd and Hit The Deck.

 

[Marc Hampton]

Played 2 Warner DVDs this week: Ninotchka and Crime Wave. Both froze up for me. Both pressed discs from original boxed set releases. No issues with DVDs from other studios. I’ve had quite a few from DVDs from WB die over the years. Don’t even get me started on the Warner Archive titles.

Disappointing.

No issues with blu rays yet. I’ve been buying more films on iTunes lately...they look better than the DVDs and lots of classic films in HD are available for about $6.

Even if they take them away some day ...losing $6 is less heartbreaking than $20 DVDs rotting and going in the garbage.

 

[TheSteig]

Ninotchka IS on Blu-ray ! Upgrade that one. Crime Wave can be exchanged for their MOD release.

 

[TJPC]

I do not have a lot of Warners titles. Most of my DVDs of movies from the classic era are recorded from TCM, but I do have some commercial releases. I often check any that appear in this thread and haven't had a problem yet. (I am knocking on my head as I say this!) All my discs from the early 2000s were bought in either the Toronto or Buffalo area. Do we have any information about this problem with Canadian discs? Were they pressed at the same plant?

I must have a couple 100 Warner Archive discs, and also had no problem with these at all. They even play on my computer and recordable DVD players.

 

[Richard M S]

Thanks to roger.howerton's list I decided to further explore my own dvd sets beyond the ones I already knew about and I began by opening the James Stewart box set, which in all likelihood I purchased on 8/15/06. Anyway, The Stratton Story pixilated beyond belief with about 10 minutes to go. Having never seen it before and finding it really entertaining, I went right to Amazon and rented it for $2.99 just to see the ending.

 

[TheSteig]

I have TONS of Warner DVDs, mostly pre-1960, black and white classics. Several of them I had to exchange for the MOD re-releases which is fine. Others I upgraded to Blu-ray but there are still plenty more I would love upgrades for. Some of them it seems like will remain on DVD for a long while as the output for classics in HD is few and far between. I hope the DVDs will continue to play since that's the case !

 

[roger.howerton]

Folks, thanks for all of the great replies and for keeping this thread going. I would like to report that even though many Warner discs from 2006 to 2008 are failing, at least Warner has reissued many of these, and as I replace the bad discs in my collection, I have found all of the reissues to play reliably. Here are a couple of good reports:

I had reported that four of the six discs in the Katharine Hepburn 100th Anniversary Collection had failed. That set was released in 2007. In 2012, Warner reissued the set in another box set (still with the pink color, but this is not a folding gate box set; instead it has the page-like, moveable disc holders) titled Katharine Hepburn Collection. The discs look exactly the same and have all of the bonus features as in the original box set, and they play perfectly. Just watch for the differences in the two sets to be sure you're getting the 2012 reissue.

I had said that all four of the movie discs in the Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection (2007) had failed. I found a great used copy of a Warner reissue, TCM Greatest Classic Legends: Rooney & Garland (2011). All four discs are exactly the same as in the original collection, with the exact disc graphic, all bonus features, extras, etc. intact. Unfortunately, though, this TCM Legends set doesn't include the FIFTH disc, a trove of bonuses, including the wonderful Judy Garland Songbook of 21 songs from many of her movies. However, that bonus disc from my original collection works perfectly (maybe it was pressed on a different machine?). So, before you throw out that very nice collector's dream set from 2007, replace those discs with the TCM Legends discs. Hopefully, your bonus disc will still play, but if it doesn't, at least you'll have good copies of the four discs with the movies.

Thanks for all of your comments! Terry Carroll, if all of your Warner discs from these years are playing, HALLELUJAH!! I'm fortunate that most of mine from this time period are still playing, but I'm going to test them from time to time to be sure.

Good luck and good movie-ing to all!

 

[Robin9]

I watched Easy To Love from the second Esther Williams box-set last night. I'm very pleased to report that it played without any problems.

 

[TheSteig]

My WB DVDs of The Narrow Margin and Executive Suite played fine after watching them. I had to replace Executive Suite a few years ago and it played without any issues.

 

[davidmatychuk]

Systematically going through a lot of Warner DVD's I hadn't played in years since finding "Desperate Journey" and "Across The Pacific" gone bad, I just hit the 100 mark without finding another and I'm feeling pretty good about it. I must say that if anything in my pristine Astaire/Rogers box had failed, I might have jumped out the window. I live on the ground floor, but still.

 

[Matt Hough]

My WB DVDs of The Narrow Margin and Executive Suite played fine after watching them. I had to replace Executive Suite a few years ago and it played without any issues.

Executive Suite is open matte when it should be a widescreen ratio, but otherwise, mine plays just fine, too.