Warner DVD's not working thread - watch to make sure they still play (2 Viewers)

[TheSteig]

Yeah, anyone that has "I Love you Again" from the Powell / Loy set need to watch it since it seems to be a major culprit

Luckily my Forbidden Hollywood sets are fine

Maybe that's one of the reason why WAC is re-releasing many of the titles as MOD

 

[Mooshkin]

Yeah, anyone that has "I Love you Again" from the Powell / Loy set need to watch it since it seems to be a major culprit

Luckily my Forbidden Hollywood sets are fine

Maybe that's one of the reason why WAC is re-releasing many of the titles as MOD

I feel very confident with my MOD discs.

The worst for me were the Rooney/Garland set discs.

 

[Richard M S]

I finally began reluctantly checking my collection. I say "reluctantly" because I purchased most the week they hit the store shelves, but many have never been opened by me.

Sure enough the playing side of the Forbidden Hollywood Collection Volume 2 disc of The Divorce and A Free Soul was covered in spots. The I Love You Again dvd from the Myrna Loy-William Powell set seemed to play fine when I put it in, but I know from reading the comments in this post that it needed to fully play. So I let it run and periodically checked it as I did other things at home, and sure enough a scene with William Powell froze and then started again every other second about an hour into the film.

I reported them via that aforementioned link on Wednesday, so I hope I hear back from them this week with replacement discs. I'll check the Garland-Rooney films next.

 

[Aunt Peg]

Watched Cannery Row tonight and it played fine.

 

[Thomas T]

I watched Night And Day and Firecreek and both played all the way through with no problems.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

in my experience out of the big cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturers over the past 15+ years, Cinram had the worst quality control.

They were responsible for all the rotted HD-DVDs out there. Warner got most of the blame for those since it was mostly their titles affected, but others from Magnolia and Rhino were made by them too and have the same problems.

 

[Likecats]

My Popeye vol. 1 disc 4 has gone bad. I tried to clean the disc, but it didn't work. It still freezes in the same spots.

 

[Movie Maven]

my popeye vol.1 disc 4 doesn't work at all ,pre-code vol 2 divorcee/free soul disc also covered in blotches, a free soul doesn't play. I will start checking several a day....have dealt with sherri in the past for replacement of that's entertainment vol.3 flipper...the replacement disc also froze on both sides in roughly same spots....if any legal minds in this forum, I wonder if class action lawsuit can be made, otherwise I think this is going to be a losing battle unless replacements were made in a different plant cause a lot of these titles are out of print, unless they send you a warner archive copy if they reissued them.

 

[Darby67]

The Land of the Pharaohs copy I bought on Ebay recently pixelates and freezes so it's being returned for a refund. This is the second time I've bought the DVD on Ebay and each one had the same issues.

 

[Mooshkin]

if any legal minds in this forum, I wonder if class action lawsuit can be made, otherwise I think this is going to be a losing battle unless replacements were made in a different plant cause a lot of these titles are out of print, unless they send you a warner archive copy if they reissued them.

They do send you MOD discs from Warner Archive if discs are out of print. I feel like they need a streamlined way to get replacement discs out. Dealing with Sherri is fine, but if you email them directly they don’t respond. I found Sherri’s contact info through this forum.

Many of us have had problems with the same exact discs. Is that good or bad? LOL

I watched Manhattan Melodrama, Evelyn Prentice and Double Wedding and they were all fine.

 

[Arthur Powell]

Well, I'm glad to have found this support group. I may have been one of the first people to bring some attention to this issue when I made a post about the subject at the Nitrateville website in June of 2015. At the time, I couldn't find any information on this problem, and the initial responses on Nitrateville were either "that's weird" or "my copies of those movies don't exhibit those problems." It almost seemed as if the film gods were punishing me for some major sin. It's comforting to know that at least I'm not alone with this problem. I'm getting ready to move right now, but once I'm in my new home, Sherri will be dealing with a big stack of discs from me!

I did re-purchase some of the affected titles because I figured that Warners would be hard-nosed about the issue (and in most cases I paid just a fraction of what I paid for the original discs). The upswing of that is that I have discovered it's often not difficult to identify the newer, non-Cinram pressings. First, either the shrink-wrap or the packaging will include a notice somewhere that the disc was manufactured in Mexico. Second, the newer pressings are typically in the supposedly more eco-friendly cases (the ones with the big holes in the them). While I would recommend those with defective discs to first go through the exchange program, for those who have never purchased the films but may be interested but apprehensive there is a way to distinguish between the Cinram and Mexican discs. For instance, I can confirm that the Meet the Baron/Gold Raiders double feature DVD did have a second pressing in Mexico. I have that disc and just watched both movies the other night (on the other hand, my original copy is essentially a drink coaster). Since that particular disc seems to be notorious for being affected by playback issues (look at the Amazon reviews and even the imdb page for Gold Raiders), I hope that piece of information can be helpful.

On a final note, I do want to mention that I've also had the same exact issue with Fox DVDs produced during this same time period. I have only encountered one other person during the past three years who has also experience numerous problems with these Fox discs (for that matter, I have encountered clearly rotted Fox discs at local library sales and thrift stores). Since Cinram was producing discs for Fox, I'm honestly surprised that I haven't heard of more problems with these discs. Those who have had problems with the Warner discs may want to examine some Fox discs. To give some examples of Fox movies I had had problems with, look at the Will Rogers, Mr. Moto, Charlie Chan, Alice Faye, and Tyrone Power collections.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Thank you Arthur, for that helpful information regarding the second Mexican pressing of MEET THE BARON (1933)/GOLD RAIDERS (1951)!

CHEERS!

 

[TheSteig]

My WB DVDs of Dinner at Eight, The Good Earth and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang were all fine when I played them. I have yet to encounter any freezing/skipping issues with Fox DVDs.. which are basically the Chan and Moto movies, along with a few Noirs

 

[Dave Jessup]

Dropped a note requesting assistance with the DVDs I own that have been mentioned in these posts to the WB "customer-service" link listed a couple pages back. No response so far after a week and a half; will sit tight a couple more weeks and see what develops.

 

[willyTass]

in my experience out of the big cd/dvd/bluray disc manufacturers over the past 15+ years, Cinram had the worst quality control.

After Cinram went into freefall (after Warner didn't renew their contract with Cinram) and eventually died, the worst large optical disc manufacturer is now Sonopress.

Yep and the Warner HD-dvds were pressed at Cinram and most have rotted

The majority of Blu Ray rot cases whether uni, Fox etc were using Cinram

Long ago I switched to Blu Ray discs pressed in Japan if available

 

[Movie Maven]

another title for your checking pleasure "David Copperfield" part of the motion picture masterpieces set....freezes up at chapter 22...blotchiness on playing surface

 

[Arthur Powell]

My WB DVDs of Dinner at Eight, The Good Earth and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang were all fine when I played them. I have yet to encounter any freezing/skipping issues with Fox DVDs.. which are basically the Chan and Moto movies, along with a few Noirs

While the Fox DVDs might currently still be playing well, you might want to inspect the data surfaces for any abnormalities, discoloration, pin holes, etc. Even before 2015, I had noticed some of those abnormalities but since I wasn't having any playback issues with them I figured it wasn't something to be worried. However, in short order in 2015, I experienced playback problems with The Black Camel, Rose of Washington Square, Lillian Russell, the Luck of the Irish/I'll Never Forget You double feature, Three Little Words, and Gentleman Jim. Pixelation, skipping, stuttering, skipping over chapters, etc. For your sake, I do hope your discs are in as good of shape as the day you purchased them.

Here are some images I took in 2015 of some of the "ailing" discs. If you see some of these problems on your discs, be prepared for possible playback problems.

Fox - Doubting Thomas from the Will Rogers Collection (my blu-ray player wouldn't even play this disc)

Fox - Rose of Washington Square from the second Alice Faye set (note - I think this is the most recently released disc I've had issues with)

Warner - the Meet the Baron/Gold Raiders double feature

Warner - Mogambo from the Clark Gable Signature collection. Note how transparent the disc has become (the first part of the film does play though, but it won't play past the layer change).

Fox - In Old Kentucky from the Will Rogers collection.

There are two other prevalent abnormalities which I don't have a handy images of. For one, the disc surface is covered with black pin-holes. With the other, the disc surface has become an almost uniform, dull and opaque, light brownish-coffee color (a few of my Forbidden Hollywood discs have that appearance).

 

[TheSteig]

I recently watched The Black Camel and had no issues .. I usually watch the Chan films once a year .. I dont have the other titles you mentioned.. Maybe Fox also has a disc replacement program ?

 

[Aunt Peg]

I've had no problems with any Fox discs to date thankfully.

I watched The Maltese Falcon last night and that was fine. I checked the 1931 version of The Maltese Falcon & Satan Met a Lady which are included and they both skipped from chapter to chapter to the end without problem.

Watched Blossoms in the Dust today and it played fine.

 

[Movie Maven]

here's a few more....Legends of Horror set: The Devil Doll & Return of Dr X......Film Noir Vol 4:Illegal/The Big Steal...Steal doesn't play