Aiieeee - What the #%^^$# is with double-sided DVDs ?!

[Sisko_is_my_captain]

Can someone give me one frickin' good reason why anyone should still be producing double sided DVDs (i.e., the kind you have to physically flip over to continue viewing additional content?

I just picked up 'The Pretender' season 1 on DVD and of course that's how they had to go and package it.

 

[Christopher]

How is that any worse than putting the same content on two separate one-sided DVDs? At least it uses less material and takes up less space. And it's more convenient -- you just have to open the drawer, flip it over, and reclose. With two discs, you have to open the drawer, take the first disc out, put it back in its box, take the second disc out of its box, put it in the drawer, and reclose.

Also, I've seen some double-sided DVDs where the two sides had the same content in alternate formats, like letterbox and fullscreen. It gives people a choice.

 

[Sheep]

Double-sided DVDs are notorious for being much flakier and much harder to produce than their single-sided counterparts. I'm not sure if that's still the case with current production lines, but I certainly found that to be the case with the early Farscape Starburst sets which had flippers--I exchanged 3 or 4 of them because the initial sets I got didn't play correctly on multiple DVD players.

 

[That Weirdo In The Corner]

The little annoyance I have with double sided DVDs is that I have to take it out and flip it. I guess cost and size was the issue in the early days of producing a DVD with a laser above and below the DVD, and now there are so few double sided DVDs it's probably not worth it.

 

[Brent]

It's the same thing though as having to go and replace the dvd with the second dvd

 

[Marc]

Brent said:
It's the same thing though as having to go and replace the dvd with the second dvd

yes but at least you can tell which side is which without having to decipher the 2pt font around the centre of the disc.

 

[Arrqh]

You're also only have to be half as careful with a single sided DVD when it comes to fingerprints

 

[scotthm]

Christopher said:
How is that any worse than putting the same content on two separate one-sided DVDs?

They are harder to handle and have really tiny labels. Also, some people have had reliability problems with them.

The point is, they're just worse than single sided discs.

---------------

 

[Johnny Rico]

Christopher said:
How is that any worse than putting the same content on two separate one-sided DVDs? At least it uses less material and takes up less space. And it's more convenient -- you just have to open the drawer, flip it over, and reclose. With two discs, you have to open the drawer, take the first disc out, put it back in its box, take the second disc out of its box, put it in the drawer, and reclose.

Also, I've seen some double-sided DVDs where the two sides had the same content in alternate formats, like letterbox and fullscreen. It gives people a choice.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

The OP isn't talking about convenience here...he's talking about substandard manufacturing of the double-sided DVDs (DVD-18s) where the layers don't adhere good and thus cause playback issues. DUH!!!

 

[RobertVA]

Johnny Rico said:


Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

The OP isn't talking about convenience here...he's talking about substandard manufacturing of the double-sided DVDs (DVD-18s) where the layers don't adhere good and thus cause playback issues. DUH!!!

NO

The original post said nothing about quality problems with double sided DVDs. It was limited to a inquiry about why the DVD publishers would use the format.

YES I have read reports of people having problems with unreadable double sided DVDs and attributing the problems to layer separation issues. I've haven't experienced the problem with the few double sided DVDs i own though. The only problem I've experienced is difficulty reading the small text around the spindle hole.

 

[Johnny Rico]

RobertVA said:
The only problem I've experienced is difficulty reading the small text around the spindle hole.

Hint #1: You have to turn the DVD as you read it.

Hint #2: Have your eyes checked. You might need some correction.

 

[Trekker4747]

I hate double-sided DVDs. I like looking at DVDs at a glance to know what it is and not have to strain to read around the spindle hole, I don't like having to be "extra careful" with the disc because now there's TWO sides that can be marred and, frankly, it just looks cheap.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Agreed.

This is a problem with a lot of Trek DVDs, such as Voyager and TOS-R.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Plus it sucks if you own a DVD carousel player, I know I'm in the minority but hey....

 

[RobertVA]

Johnny Rico said:Hint #1: You have to turn the DVD as you read it.

Wow! what a novel idea!

Actually there are some people, myself included, that can read text in unconventional orientations. We might not be able to read it quite as rapidly as upright text, but we can still read it.

Hint #2: Have your eyes checked. You might need some correction.

Well EXCUSE ME for not being in the early part of the cycle between eye exams and the accompanying eyeglass replacements. It's not exactly a good font size for the modest light levels people have near their TV when they want to avoid reflections on the screen and see those low light scenes that directors seem so fond of. I just have to turn the lights up long enough to figure out which side goes up in the player, a process that's usually unnecessary with the larger fonts on the more common single sided disks.

I'm not bothered enough by to small text to be worried about it. To me the space savings by having a double sided disk instead of two conventional DVDs aren't sufficient to make them a benefit either.

Poor contrast on storage case spine labels is a bigger annoyance.

 

[Starbreaker]

It pisses me off because I can never remember if the text on top corresponds with the bottom of the disk or the top.

 

[Sheep]

Starbreaker said:
It pisses me off because I can never remember if the text on top corresponds with the bottom of the disk or the top.

Heh, that's my problem too. When you drop the disc in the tray, the label you can read will be played. For example, after putting the disc into the DVD player tray, if the label you're looking at says "Widescreen", it'll be the WS version.

 

[Saturn0660]

Johnny Rico said:

Christopher said:
How is that any worse than putting the same content on two separate one-sided DVDs? At least it uses less material and takes up less space. And it's more convenient -- you just have to open the drawer, flip it over, and reclose. With two discs, you have to open the drawer, take the first disc out, put it back in its box, take the second disc out of its box, put it in the drawer, and reclose.

Also, I've seen some double-sided DVDs where the two sides had the same content in alternate formats, like letterbox and fullscreen. It gives people a choice.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

The OP isn't talking about convenience here...he's talking about substandard manufacturing of the double-sided DVDs (DVD-18s) where the layers don't adhere good and thus cause playback issues. DUH!!!

Funny you would say that... DVD manufacturing is adhearing two disks together.. As compared to CD manufacturing is one disk..