Issues with DVD discs and players

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Pale Horse - Pale Rider

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Hello. I wish you're all having a good day. The reason of this post is that I just purchased the season 3 region 1 in december the 23th, 2005. Amazon.com sent it to me and it just arrived yesterday --I live in Tijuana B.C., M?xico, so I always wait two or more weeks for every season I buy--. Now, why did I wait until december when it came out in may? Well, as a matter of fact I didn't do that because I bought my first set, season 3, at that time, but the quality of that set was sub-standard, the image freezes in the episode "Black on white on fire". My dvd player --and my friends' and uncles' dvd players, actually--, skipped the first and third scenes and jumped to the second and fourth scenes. First I tried to clean it up with some electric dvd/disc washer I have because I thought I scratched it, and with other scratched dvd's --even with double-sided, dvd 18 discs-- it always works, and plays normally again after a good washing, but with the first disc of the third season R1, it couldn't work, same frozen images --and probably more--, so ok, maybe universal discs are not easy to repair when they get damaged, I thought...

And then season 3, second set R1 I purchase, arrives yesterday. Totally protected --amazon does a great job--, totally clean, nothing broken or scratched... go grab it, go open it, go to my dvd player, insert the first disc on it, and... Oh, surprise!!! It's worse than a sub-standard set! The first season 3 set I got was even better than this!

The leap home - Freezes at the introduction, the teaser, image gets pixeled --like a cheap bootleg copy-- at the title and credits.

The leap home part 2, vietnam - Frozen images near the end, when the girl jumps and explodes.

Leap of faith - Close your eyes and then open them quickly, did you see that 'darkness' for a little bit of time? Well, that's how this episode looks like. Frozen images at the introduction and at the leap-out.

Black on white on fire - The same episode that showed me the problems in the first set... Well, same scenes frozen, same scenes skipped. Every time a scene gets skipped, I press my "rewind" button on my dvd control dec, and the scene IS there. Press "play" again, and it freezes, and then plays, freezes and plays again, and then just freezes and that's it, nothing happens.

Disc 2 and disc 3 are excellent --same as the first S3 set I got.

I don't know if I can do something, like send these sets back to universal studios, guys, so they can send me back my money, at least, or a replacement. I'm afraid to purchase another set in the same bad conditions. It's not well digitalized. Problems are always shown in the first disc, but it's not really fair, a great show, and look what kind of dvd that is. I'd buy the region 2, but the problem is that I don't have a PAL dvd player, and I've read on this site that those discs don't have a good sound also, so maybe I'll stop purchasing the series and wait until the show airs here in M?xico again --horribly dubbed to spanish, but well, at least it doesn't freeze.

I've seen an adress at the bottom of the box' backwards that is from universal studios, do you think I can send them back their sets and they replace my money, or someting like that? I mean, this is the first time something like that happens to me with a dvd. I know this has been discussed many times, about the bad quality, and universal butchering the show, and everything, I know you've written so many complaints about this also, but did something like this happen to you? Have you sent back something to universal, and have they treated you good, or rude, or how? Any help will be entirely appreciated. Can any of you provide me some universal adresses, like e-mails for complaints, or special attention, like clients attention, or any other street adress where I know I can send them back those sets and they won't turn their back on me, or anything like that please...?

On the other hand, I'd like to know about their responses. What did universal tell you when you sent all those complaint letters, did, or did they not turn your back on you, or did they provide concrete answers or just your typical "Thanks for your question/commentary/suggestion. It will be sent to the correct area and you'll be receiving an answer ASAP", and that answer never showed up, or what happened? Please, I need to know what to do. I've already purchased the fourth season, I think I'm gonna have to cancell it. Sorry if this post was too long, but please, need some answers as soon as possible, and I think this is the only place where I can find them.

Thanks for your help already, and you have a nice day.
 
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Hmmm...i think this is the first post where someone is pissed off about the DVD and its NOT about the music. I'm sorry, I can't think of anything other than sending it back and getting another one if they can do that.

Samantha Beckett
 
I have never had the kinds of problems with my discs that you are describing. And you say that other discs work fine? Because when things like that happen to mine, (Brand new disc skipping, picture all jittery, ect.) it usually meant my DVD player was starting to go.

As far as the e-mail I sent to Universal to complain about the DVD's and how they presented them, I just got a generiic, thanks for your e-mail responce.

This is the website I went to to find the E-mail address to send my complaint. Hope it helps.

http://corpinfo.universalstudios.com/faqs.asp?section=HV
 
Al's Handlink said:
I have never had the kinds of problems with my discs that you are describing. And you say that other discs work fine? Because when things like that happen to mine, (Brand new disc skipping, picture all jittery, ect.) it usually meant my DVD player was starting to go.

As far as the e-mail I sent to Universal to complain about the DVD's and how they presented them, I just got a generiic, thanks for your e-mail responce.

This is the website I went to to find the E-mail address to send my complaint. Hope it helps.

http://corpinfo.universalstudios.com/faqs.asp?section=HV

Thanks for the link.

As for the player, I'm afraid it isn't so, due to my player is brand new, and I play DVD's on it all the time. I just played a movie there 1 hour ago, and it worked just fine, and it's also a double-sided 'dvd-18' disc. But I tried to play quantum again, and nope, the same problems, same scenes freezing, etc. It's the universal disc the one with the problems inside.

Now I've read some reviews at amazon, I'm not the only one having these problems. A fellow writes in a middle of a review: "I am BOYCOTTING Universal DVD's". He complains about the same thing, he bought a set that had frozen images, just as me, and he wrote to universal, and they told him to purchase another one, so he did it, and got another set in bad conditions. Now, anyone could think it's amazon.com the one who's sending the discs already scratched, but nope, the problem is that the disc does not have any scratch, and they send a lot of things, everything's in good conditions, even the quantum set I received yesterday.

I'll probably do what you say, Sam, hope it helps, but what if a replacement ends up being in bad conditions too? I don't trust universal anymore. What a shame really, this being a great show! But ok, thanks for everything. More help of any kind will be appreciated. You have a nice day.
 
Pale Horse - Pale Rider said:
Thanks for the link.

As for the player, I'm afraid it isn't so, due to my player is brand new, and I play DVD's on it all the time. I just played a movie there 1 hour ago, and it worked just fine, and it's also a double-sided 'dvd-18' disc. But I tried to play quantum again, and nope, the same problems, same scenes freezing, etc. It's the universal disc the one with the problems inside.

Now I've read some reviews at amazon, I'm not the only one having these problems. A fellow writes in a middle of a review: "I am BOYCOTTING Universal DVD's". He complains about the same thing, he bought a set that had frozen images, just as me, and he wrote to universal, and they told him to purchase another one, so he did it, and got another set in bad conditions. Now, anyone could think it's amazon.com the one who's sending the discs already scratched, but nope, the problem is that the disc does not have any scratch, and they send a lot of things, everything's in good conditions, even the quantum set I received yesterday.

I'll probably do what you say, Sam, hope it helps, but what if a replacement ends up being in bad conditions too? I don't trust universal anymore. What a shame really, this being a great show! But ok, thanks for everything. More help of any kind will be appreciated. You have a nice day.

Define "brand new"...mine was less than a year old before it croaked. It had been working perfectly well until it just froze in the middle of "Catch a Falling Star" never to start up again. I would try other DVDs and it would would say it was a "wrong disk".

Is amazon the only place u can get them? I got mine from Circuit City and they've worked just peachy. I know u live in Mexico, but if there is a CC or a Best Buy, you could try there.

Samantha Beckett
 
Samantha_Beckett said:
Define "brand new"...mine was less than a year old before it croaked. It had been working perfectly well until it just froze in the middle of "Catch a Falling Star" never to start up again. I would try other DVDs and it would would say it was a "wrong disk".

Is amazon the only place u can get them? I got mine from Circuit City and they've worked just peachy. I know u live in Mexico, but if there is a CC or a Best Buy, you could try there.

Samantha Beckett

Brand new: Well, I bought this player just a month ago. It's not the player, as I've said before. And it's not amazon.com, they have brought me a lot of movies, and audio and laser-discs, and everything's always fine, it's the universal DVD. Considering I'm not the only one having these problems, and this is the second time this happens specifically with the quantum leap season 3 region 1 set --because not even the second season discs, which I've dropped a couple of times, as badly as them to be hardly scratched, play that awful--, you can disprove it's my player or the amazon.com service the one that's doing anything "wrong".

As for the CC and the Best Buy. I don't think they physically exist here. Probably just their sites, but no thanks, Amazon is the best way to me.

They bring the seasons sets over here to Tijuana, two months after they come out originally, to a Physicall store named "Mixup", but they get so expensive over there, like 900 pesos, say $85.00/90.00. It's the same at Wal-Mart.
 
Al's Handlink said:
I have never had the kinds of problems with my discs that you are describing. And you say that other discs work fine? Because when things like that happen to mine, (Brand new disc skipping, picture all jittery, ect.) it usually meant my DVD player was starting to go.

As far as the e-mail I sent to Universal to complain about the DVD's and how they presented them, I just got a generiic, thanks for your e-mail responce.

This is the website I went to to find the E-mail address to send my complaint. Hope it helps.

http://corpinfo.universalstudios.com/faqs.asp?section=HV

Thanks so much for the link, Tom, again. I've already written them. Let's see what they respond.
 
Once again, my DVD player screwed up royally with a QL dvd inside. The ep has always worked before, but I had "Thou Shalt Not..." in it, and it just froze then it said "unable to read disk". Granted, my DVD player is my PS2, but it never did anything like this before. The episode before it, and the ep after it worked just fine, it was just that one particular episode that screwed up.

Curse you, Lothos!!

Samantha Beckett
 
Samantha_Beckett said:
Once again, my DVD player screwed up royally with a QL dvd inside. The ep has always worked before, but I had "Thou Shalt Not..." in it, and it just froze then it said "unable to read disk". Granted, my DVD player is my PS2, but it never did anything like this before. The episode before it, and the ep after it worked just fine, it was just that one particular episode that screwed up.

Curse you, Lothos!!

Samantha Beckett

So what are you going to do now?
 
Pale Horse - Pale Rider said:
So what are you going to do now?

Well, it works on other episodes and other movies. I watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail today and there were no problems. I'll try that episode again in a few days. My PS2 prolly just has a cold...i'll wait for it to feel better. hehe

Samantha Beckett
 
You have to watch those PS2's sometimes. One night, after a 16 hour session playing on it, he shut it off and went to bed. A couple minutes later, BOTH he and his wife heard the PS2 ask, "Where did everybody go?" And his son was not old enough to talk at the time
 
I haven't approached 16 hours yet, but I have been having like 4 and 6 hour gaming sessions of NASCAR 2006: Total Team Control. Actually, I am off to play it again in a moment.

The game that I have done the 16 or 18 hour gaming sessions with was one of the first titles to hit the PS2.

SSX

There is still not a better game on any system than SSX. That game is so addictive it is not even funny. And both or the sequals that are out for it are almost as good.
 
OK, it's official... Tom and Greg need to do a stand-up comedy routine together. :lol

But seriously, the PS2 has been known to experience problems with certain disks after some time has passed. Something about the laser and/or the speed that the disk spins; after a while, they don't work as good as they used to. My PS2, for example: I got it for Christmas in 2001 and it worked fine for about 2 years. After that, I started having problems with certain DVD movies, but I didn't worry about it too much because we have a regular DVD player. Then, around last year and part of the year before, it would no longer play most of the CD-ROM format PS2 games (the ones that are blue on the bottom). Even some of the newer DVD-format games don't work half the times, which is frustrating. After I bought and installed the HDD, it worked a bit better at first, but now it's not really working that good again. So, I've been using my sister's PS2 that I bought for her when she went away to college last year; she left it here when she left to study abroad in Japan this past September.

Damon
 
Haha, indeed Damon! I would travel to see that show! You should hear/read the banter that goes on in the chat room. THAT'S a fun show!

I would REALLY hate for my PS2 to die since it's my only way to watch DVDs. And for as much I love moves (Tom can vouch for that, lol) I would like die if that happened.

Samantha Beckett
 
The truth is that some DVD players don't like certain discs. My first ever DVD player from 6 years ago, didn't like any discs made by Universal.

The answer is I'm afraid, that if you like a lot of Universal TV shows, then you'll have to get a DVD player that likes them too.

Ask the people that don't have problems with them, what brand of DVD player they have.,
 
I had a problem with a couple discs on my Nip/Tuck set. I discovered that near the center or hole of the disc there were bubbles where the press didn't make a correct seal. I could only play that disc on a player with progressive scan. Perhaps that's what's wrong with yours. It's a manufacturing error.
 
Leaper4Life said:
I had a problem with a couple discs on my Nip/Tuck set. I discovered that near the center or hole of the disc there were bubbles where the press didn't make a correct seal. I could only play that disc on a player with progressive scan. Perhaps that's what's wrong with yours. It's a manufacturing error.

For sure it is. I have no other choice than send those sets back to them, so they can give me a good-conditioned replace or my money back. I wrote them a complaint letter, and they just sent me a typical answer: "Your commentaries will be sent to the proper area. Continue enjoying Universal products."
 
Pale Horse - Pale Rider said:
For sure it is. I have no other choice than send those sets back to them, so they can give me a good-conditioned replace or my money back. I wrote them a complaint letter, and they just sent me a typical answer: "Your commentaries will be sent to the proper area. Continue enjoying Universal products."

Sounds like a standard email notification. As soon as someone DOES read it and recieves your set they should replace them. Did you notify the seller of the product as well? They may be able to get back to you faster.
 
Leaper4Life said:
Sounds like a standard email notification. As soon as someone DOES read it and recieves your set they should replace them. Did you notify the seller of the product as well? They may be able to get back to you faster.

No. I didn't notify the seller of the product. Was it really necessary?
 
I don't know why Universal use DVD's double side because I think that the probability of that DVD has a mistake is really high.Fortunately I don't have any problems with my DVD's of Quantum Leap and I hope wont have this problems with Fourth Season and Fifth Season on DVD.
 
I've had few issues with the DVD quality, one was just my dvd player copped out, and somehow my PS2 couldnt read the disk. I actually don't mind the double sided disk, it makes things a bit more convient for me really.

Samantha Beckett
 
Can't understand why you didn't just return the faulty discs to whoever you bought them from - they would have replaced them without any question.

I finally bought season 3 region 2 at the start of last week and my only complaint is that after just a few days the little plastic clips that keep the discs in place in the boxes have broken so every time I open them the discs fall out.
 
I've had no problems returning anything from amazon.com - and I've had to on several occassions. You're friend's problem with "Passion to Kill" may have been that instead of buying it directly from Amazon they purchased it through their "new/used" option (I just checked Amazon myself and this is the only option they have to buy it). In that case, all Amazon is doing is acting as a broker in the sale - not the actual seller (much like eBay is a broker not the actual seller). If that's the case a refund would have to be arranged through the actual seller - when the purchase was made information should have been provided as to who the actual seller was (I know the times I have purchased through Amazon in this fashion I was always provided with this informatin). It also may have been that the seller listed it through Amazon in "as is" condition - however you get it is how you get it.

As far as purchasing a brand-new product from Amazon and having to return it, so long as you follow their return/refund policies they are the easiest on-line store to return anything to.
 
Shaky Fan said:
Can't understand why you didn't just return the faulty discs to whoever you bought them from - they would have replaced them without any question.

I finally bought season 3 region 2 at the start of last week and my only complaint is that after just a few days the little plastic clips that keep the discs in place in the boxes have broken so every time I open them the discs fall out.

Yes. In fact I didn't know I could do that, but I read two weeks ago at the Client services page that same thing you posted (although I read your message 'till today), about accepting bad-conditioned products to return, etc., so I've sent the last discs back and they will replace them as soon as possible, they said.