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Warner DVD's not working thread - watch to make sure they still play (1 Viewer)

Aunt Peg

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I watched The Star two nights ago and it played without a hitch.

Did some further testing.

The Women played fine. Could skip from chapter to chapter without any problems on my DVD player.

I checked Forbidden Hollywood Volume 1 on a different Blu Ray player. Simply could not get Red Headed Woman to play. However was able to skip chapter to chapter with Baby Face.

I tested The Old Maid on two other Blu Ray players. Bad news on this one. Couldn't get past the 40 minute mark on one player. In the other player I could skip chapter to chapter until the end but when attempting to watch the last chapter it kept freezing and skipping.

As for poor Sadie McKee she gets stuck at the same damn chapter on a different Blu Ray player. No wonder Warner's reissued the Crawford films on MOD discs. They must have had numerous complaints from people about them. Hopefully the will re-issue Red Headed Woman - it's my favourite Harlow and after trying on 4 machines I have had no luck with it.

Aside from these Warners discs I have had problems with a couple of others, notably the Criterion DVD of Gimmie Shelter, which played fine over 10 years ago and only a couple of weeks ago when I pulled it out to watch it, it simply would not play. I tested it on 6 different DVD and Blu Ray players - nothing. So I threw it in the bin and order the recent Criterion Blu Ray.

Also, recently I purchased the Blu Ray of Kedi and when watching it on one Blu Ray player it started to freeze. However, I then watched it in another player and it was fine. Tested it on two other blu ray players and it was fine.

Also a couple of months ago I purchased a limited edition of Sieranevada from Romania. It's the new film from crest Puiu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu). I had seen it at the cinema but given it hasn't been picked up for any English speaking markets I decided to purchase the limited edition. Had trouble with this disc in one Blu Ray player (freezing) but it played fine in two others.

The only other time I can recall problems with a new disc was the Fassbinder box set of Maria Braun, Lola & Veronika Voss from Criterion. Maria Braun & Lola played fine but VV froze at a particular point. I tested it in a number of machines and the same problem emerged. I remember contacting Criterion at the time about this but they basically dismissed my concerns. Hasn't stopped me buying their releases. Guess I was simply unlucky enough to have struck a person that had zero idea around 'public relations'.

Anyway, I will continue to check old Warner titles from time to time and post my findings.
 

TheSteig

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My copy of The Old Maid made it without any problems ..probably will be checking others here and there
EDIT - No issues with Fury and Blackboard Jungle which I also watched yesterday for the first time in 4 years (!!!) in between The Thin Man movies which I watch every year ..
 
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Aunt Peg

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I watched Baby Face (the pre-release version) from Forbidden Hollywood Volume 1 last night and it played fine.
 

Aunt Peg

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I'm afraid I have two more films to report.

Last Sunday I finally got around to watching Rich and Famous, having not seen it since it original cinema release. All was fine until about 53 minutes when it stopped playing.

Thankfully I was able to play the film without a hitch in another Blu Ray player.

I checked the disc on one of my DVD players and it stopped at about the 53 minute mark as well.

Tonight I was thinking of watching Shoot the Moon. Being a Warners title I thought I better skip from chapter to chapter to make sure it would play. Same problem encountered on 6 players (2 DVD players & 4 Blu Ray players). It stops at around the 1 hour 2 minute mark. If one reloads the disc and goes to a later chapter the film does play on the some machine but stops, starts and jumps.

Both discs look perfect! No DVD rot or scratches. This is really putting me off buying anything from Warners. Ironically both Rich & Famous and Shoot the Moon were both released in December 2007.

I'm very disappointed about Shoot the Moon. I saw it on it's first released and was underwhelmed with the film but after all these years wanted to revisit it because over time I have read so much appreciation of the film - and as we all know some film improve with age.

Anyway, Shoot the Moon has been flung into the bin.
 

Matt Hough

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I had three of the four discs in the Garland/Rooney box set go bad (Babes in Arms was the only survivor). Rebought them in the much cheaper TCM set and all played perfectly.

Discovered that Roberta from the Astaire/Rogers set has gone bad. Wouldn't play in two different players. Again bought a TCM set of four to replace it and will try the others in that set from the original releases to see if they have gone sour, too.
 

Todd Erwin

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I have found that Warner is pretty good about replacing defective discs, even years after they were purchased, provided they are still in print. Just fill out the form at https://www.warnerbros.com/customer-service, and someone usually responds within a few days. They may ask for a receipt, but when I tell them I either got it as a gift or that I lost the receipt (but remember who I purchased from), they are usually fairly lenient. Once approved, they will send you a label or mailer to return the entire disc and case in, and shortly after they receive your defective disc, a replacement will be shipped. I've had success with Superman Returns (even got the upgraded Dolby TrueHD version) and Phantom of the Opera.
 

Tony Bensley

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I have found that Warner is pretty good about replacing defective discs, even years after they were purchased, provided they are still in print. Just fill out the form at https://www.warnerbros.com/customer-service, and someone usually responds within a few days. They may ask for a receipt, but when I tell them I either got it as a gift or that I lost the receipt (but remember who I purchased from), they are usually fairly lenient. Once approved, they will send you a label or mailer to return the entire disc and case in, and shortly after they receive your defective disc, a replacement will be shipped. I've had success with Superman Returns (even got the upgraded Dolby TrueHD version) and Phantom of the Opera.
If they are still in print, or within Warner distribution, is key. Unfortunately, I was sol with my semi defective MEET THE BARON/GOLD RAIDERS Double Feature DVD from 2006, as the latter Three Stooges feature is no longer distributed by Warner. Worse still, GOLD RAIDERS is now only available as a U.S. based digital download, so I don't even have the option to repurchase this title.

Anyway, to answer general concerns regarding Warner DVD titles, their dual layer discs from 2006 - 2009 are the ones to watch out for. Since switching to a Mexico based manufacturer in 2010, the dual layer defect appears to have not been an issue.

Just be aware when buying used Warner DVDs or using Amazon Marketplace vendors to acquire older Warner DVD releases that it could be a bit of a minefield. The latter is where I got caught. I ended up getting Amazon credit, but I would have much preferred a viable same title replacement. C'est la vie!

CHEERS! :)
 

Aunt Peg

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I have found that Warner is pretty good about replacing defective discs, even years after they were purchased, provided they are still in print. Just fill out the form at https://www.warnerbros.com/customer-service, and someone usually responds within a few days. They may ask for a receipt, but when I tell them I either got it as a gift or that I lost the receipt (but remember who I purchased from), they are usually fairly lenient. Once approved, they will send you a label or mailer to return the entire disc and case in, and shortly after they receive your defective disc, a replacement will be shipped. I've had success with Superman Returns (even got the upgraded Dolby TrueHD version) and Phantom of the Opera.

That's for the feedback. I'll send Warners an email but I don't think I will have any luck as I live outside the U.S. and purchased the discs from Amazon. Also, they are all out of print now.

I checked a number of other Warners discs from 2006-2009 with mixed results

Would only play half way through, played in two machines, one DVD, one Blu Ray:

Personal Best (I'm devastated about this one as it is one of my all-time favourite films)
Crusin'
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
O Lucky Man (didn't check the second disc which has the special features)

Films that played fine:

Goodbye Mr. Chipps (Peter O'Toole version)
Cannery Row
The Damned Don't Cry
The Ritz
Zabriskie Point
The Grass Harp

I am going to check them on another player but I don't expect the results to be any different.

I rechecked Rich and Famous again as the disc didn't play in one player but was fine in other players. I noticed though that when skipping chapters past the middle all the players where slow to respond to each skip. I suspect this disc is on it's way out - just a matter of time.

The worrying thing about this is that what other discs (DVD or Blu Ray) are going to have the same problems happen sometime in the future. We won't know until the problems start emerging. Whilst some Warner's and Turner Classic discs from 2006 to 2009 are starting to fail, others from other companies are likely to follow the same pattern at some point.

I also don't know whether to hold onto the faulty discs in the hope that sometime in the future someone will come up with some sort of fix - or I am living in fantasy hoping for some kind of 'miracle cure'?
 

Tony Bensley

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That's for the feedback. I'll send Warners an email but I don't think I will have any luck as I live outside the U.S. and purchased the discs from Amazon. Also, they are all out of print now.

I checked a number of other Warners discs from 2006-2009 with mixed results

Would only play half way through, played in two machines, one DVD, one Blu Ray:

Personal Best (I'm devastated about this one as it is one of my all-time favourite films)
Crusin'
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
O Lucky Man (didn't check the second disc which has the special features)

Films that played fine:

Goodbye Mr. Chipps (Peter O'Toole version)
Cannery Row
The Damned Don't Cry
The Ritz
Zabriskie Point
The Grass Harp

I am going to check them on another player but I don't expect the results to be any different.

I rechecked Rich and Famous again as the disc didn't play in one player but was fine in other players. I noticed though that when skipping chapters past the middle all the players where slow to respond to each skip. I suspect this disc is on it's way out - just a matter of time.

The worrying thing about this is that what other discs (DVD or Blu Ray) are going to have the same problems happen sometime in the future. We won't know until the problems start emerging. Whilst some Warner's and Turner Classic discs from 2006 to 2009 are starting to fail, others from other companies are likely to follow the same pattern at some point.

I also don't know whether to hold onto the faulty discs in the hope that sometime in the future someone will come up with some sort of fix - or I am living in fantasy hoping for some kind of 'miracle cure'?
If Warner still carries the affected title in some form, I would definitely email Sherri Bogard. She is very helpful, and if there is no workable solution, will provide a straight up explanation why.

Good luck, and CHEERS! :)
 

Darby67

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If Warner still carries the affected title in some form, I would definitely email Sherri Bogard. She is very helpful, and if there is no workable solution, will provide a straight up explanation why.

Good luck, and CHEERS! :)

Completely agree, Tony. I've dealt with Sherri before regarding defective discs and she was terrific in terms of getting the issue resolved promptly.
 

Darby67

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I checked my Dinner at Eight today in one DVD player and it appeared fine. Was able to skip from chapter to chapter until the end of the film and watched the last scene.

Also tried my Buster Keaton discs on my Blu Ray player and presto they played fine, which wasn't the case with my DVD player.

The Star with Bette Davis played fine on my DVD player, however The Old Maid would not go past about the half mark when skipping chapters. However, The Old Maid skipped from chapter to chapter until the end without a hitch on my Blu Ray.

Worth noting that when I watched Land of the Pharaohs three years ago on my Blu Ray player the disc played up for a 5 minutes but it played fine in my DVD player. I should check that disc again.

I also recently sold Attack of the 50 Foot Woman & Queen from Outer Space from the same box set recently and the people that purchased them from me didn't come back with any complaints about playback so all must be well with those.

Does anyone know if this issue is affecting any of the discs in Warner's Cult Camp Classics collection? I just purchased all 4 volumes today via Ebay and Walmart and they have not arrived yet. I really hoping there won't be any playback issues on them.
 

Tony Bensley

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Does anyone know if this issue is affecting any of the discs in Warner's Cult Camp Classics collection? I just purchased all 4 volumes today via Ebay and Walmart and they have not arrived yet. I really hoping there won't be any playback issues on them.
Not having that set myself, my advice would be to check whether the discs were released between 2006 and 2009. Warner DVDs issued before or after that timeframe should be safe, so far as I know.

CHEERS! :)
 
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B-ROLL

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Does anyone know if this issue is affecting any of the discs in Warner's Cult Camp Classics collection? I just purchased all 4 volumes today via Ebay and Walmart and they have not arrived yet. I really hoping there won't be any playback issues on them.
They could be ...
https://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/cult-camp-classics-collection-warner-home-video

March 19, 2006 - Burbank, CA) — Warner Home Video will bring ‘camp” home this summer with the June 26 introduction of "Cult Camp Classics, Volumes 1 through 4." The studio which pioneered genre collections such as Forbidden Hollywood and Controversial Classics has gathered together 12 trashy treasures that will bring hours of kitschy fun in four volumes: "Sci-Fi Thrillers" ("Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman," "Queen of Outer Space," "The Giant Behemoth"); "Women in Peril" ("The Big Cube," "Caged," "Trog"); "Terrorized Travelers" ("Hot Rods to Hell," "Skyjacked," "Zero Hour!") and "Historical Epics" ("The Colossus of Rhodes," "Land of Pharaohs," "The Prodigal"). The "Cult Camp Classics Collections" boast the very latest remastered versions along with bonus content such as commentaries from actors, filmmakers and historians as well as original theatrical trailers. Colorfully packaged in super slim, eye-popping packaging, each volume contains three DVDs and will sell for $29.98 SRP and the single titles will be available for $14.97 SRP. Order due date for all is May 22.
 

Aunt Peg

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I tested Prince of the City (both discs as the film is spread over two), Rollover & Petulia and they were all fine.

I had Trog, Queen of Outer Space, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman - they were all fine and I recently sold them. I'll need to check my copy of Caged.
 

TJPC

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This is almost exactly what I do. I always intend to watch them again, “as soon as I finish watching the new ones I buy and make”, but this never seems to happen, and I have been retired for 9 years. The same was true with my VHS and Beta collections.

When I switched over to Blu ray, and double dipped, it was the first time I saw those movies and tv shows again.
 

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