The low quality of Star Trek DVD:s

[Lynx]

Once again I must bring up the horrible quality of Star Trek DVD:s.

A couple of years ago I had a long thread running in the DS9 forum about the lousy quality of DS9 DVD.s. It took years before I could get a decent collection which made it possible to watch the series from start to end. Some of the DVD:s started to malfunction after one or two viewings, some of them were defect from the start.

There was a constant traffic between my home and the retailer I ordered the boxes from befgore I was able to buy a box with discs that laste longer than one or two viewings (I keep my finger crossed that it will stay that way).

The whole sad story can be read here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/what-the-is-wrong-with-my-ds9-dvd-s.262327/

and here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/the-quality-of-ds9-dvd-s-again-and-how-angry-i-am-now.298231/

But now it is the TNG DVD:s which are starting to self-destruct.

I was watching the episode Preemptive Strike on Saturday and all of a sudden everything just freeze.

I managed to get through the "freezing point" with the fast forward option but the part of the episode where Ro laren and Kalita are stealing the medicine surplies from the Enterprise is totally unwatchable.

On Sunday I visited a good friend who has a better, or at least newer DVD player and the result was the same.

I bought this box in 2015 or 2016 I guess and I have watched this particular episode maybe five or six times since then. I expect a DVD disc to last longer than it did in this case.

Compare that to the Voyager DVD:s I bought in 2006. They are still playable and I guess that I must have watched some episodes 15-16 times now.

As for my TOS box, the DVD:s are still working. But will they do that next time I will watch them? I bought that box around the same time as my TNG box.

I really wonder why Paramount are producing such crap DVD:s. It's actually insulting to their customers.

But obviously the latest DS9 box I bought was of a newer batch and (hopefully) of better quality.

Anyway, my retailer has the TNG box for a fair price. But the box on a picture from the retailers website looks the same as the one I have which means that there is a risk that the DVD:s will be unwatchable after 3-4 viewings.

They also have TNG on Blu-ray which is a bit more expensive. Therefore I wonder if there is anyone on this forum who knows anything about the quality of the Blu-ray discs. I rather buy a product for the double price, knowing that it will last than buy another example of the DVD-box where there's a risk that I have to buy the box again in about 3-4 years.

 

[XCV330]

Blu-Rays may be more scratch resistant than DVDs (not to much resistant, as much as the smaller blue laser beam can get around those problems easier, from what I was told. I could be wrong). but their lifespan may be 10 to 20 years. But then again its still too early to be sure. People were convinced LaserDisk could survive decades (and some have) but in the 70's, no one predicted laser rot.

 

[Takeru]

I bought the individual TNG seasons on Bluray when they were released and haven't had a problem yet.

 

[Vger23]

The BR disks of TNG and TOS are solid.

I always worried about buying box sets of the other DVD's particuarly online, as I never knew for sure if they were actual CBS releases or if they were very good knock-offs. You may be having issues because you have the "Chinese knock-off" version of a set.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Is it possible that your discs just need cleaning? A few of my second hand DS9 DVDs wouldn't read at first until I cleaned them up a bit.

 

[Amaris]

Once again I must bring up the horrible quality of Star Trek DVD:s.

A couple of years ago I had a long thread running in the DS9 forum about the lousy quality of DS9 DVD.s. It took years before I could get a decent collection which made it possible to watch the series from start to end. Some of the DVD:s started to malfunction after one or two viewings, some of them were defect from the start.

There was a constant traffic between my home and the retailer I ordered the boxes from befgore I was able to buy a box with discs that laste longer than one or two viewings (I keep my finger crossed that it will stay that way).

The whole sad story can be read here:
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/what-the-is-wrong-with-my-ds9-dvd-s.262327/

But now it is the TNG DVD:s which are starting to self-destruct.

I was watching the episode Preemptive Strike on Saturday and all of a sudden everything just freeze.

I managed to get through the "freezing point" with the fast forward option but the part of the episode where Ro laren and Kalita are stealing the medicine surplies from the Enterprise is totally unwatchable.

On Sunday I visited a good friend who has a better, or at least newer DVD player and the result was the same.

I bought this box in 2015 or 2016 I guess and I have watched this particular episode maybe five or six times since then. I expect a DVD disc to last longer than it did in this case.

Compare that to the Voyager DVD:s I bought in 2006. They are still playable and I guess that I must have watched some episodes 15-16 times now.

As for my TOS box, the DVD:s are still working. But will they do that next time I will watch them? I bought that box around the same time as my TNG box.

I really wonder why Paramount are producing such crap DVD:s. It's actually insulting to their customers.

But obviously the latest DS9 box I bought was of a newer batch and (hopefully) of better quality.

Anyway, my retailer has the TNG box for a fair price. But the box on a picture from the retailers website looks the same as the one I have which means that there is a risk that the DVD:s will be unwatchable after 3-4 viewings.

They also have TNG on Blu-ray which is a bit more expensive. Therefore I wonder if there is anyone on this forum who knows anything about the quality of the Blu-ray discs. I rather buy a product for the double price, knowing that it will last than buy another example of the DVD-box where there's a risk that I have to buy the box again in about 3-4 years.

I still remember when they wanted around $120 to $150 per season while other TV shows were running $30 to $50 a season.

 

[Kor]

I know that laser rot is possible, but I've never actually had a DVD deteriorate over time. It either worked correctly from the get-go, or ran into an error on the very first attempt to play it, necessitating an exchange right then (and hopefully not getting another copy with the exact same error).

Kor

 

[Tosk]

All my Trek DVDs are from decades ago and still going strong...except for disc 2 of the double-disc Generations, which went kaput a few years ago.

 

[Lynx]

Is it possible that your discs just need cleaning? A few of my second hand DS9 DVDs wouldn't read at first until I cleaned them up a bit.

I did clean it up. Then I tested it on my DVD-player and also on the DVD-player of a friend of mine.
Still the same result with the picture "freezing" in the middle of the episode.

 

[suarezguy]

I still remember when they wanted around $120 to $150 per season while other TV shows were running $30 to $50 a season.

Paramount would like to be a mainstream hit but in its decisions seems to always actually prefer making it into a niche product with a pretty small but dedicated, intense (and/or exploited) fanbase.

 

[Amaris]

Paramount would like to be a mainstream hit but in its decisions seems to always actually prefer making it into a niche product with a pretty small but dedicated, intense (and/or exploited) fanbase.

I agree, they want mainstream popularity at niche prices.

 

[Firebird]

I know that laser rot is possible, but I've never actually had a DVD deteriorate over time. It either worked correctly from the get-go, or ran into an error on the very first attempt to play it, necessitating an exchange right then (and hopefully not getting another copy with the exact same error).

Kor

Certain labels/manufacturers have known issues with bum discs happening months/years down the line. One of the worst is a batch of Warner Bros. discs made between 2005-2007 at a Mexico plant. These discs are fine for the first half of the disc, but once it tries to go to the second half, it freezes and becomes unplayable. I've lost a lot of WB discs to this issue, but luckily their consumer products division has almost always gotten me replacements, even if it was a disc I bought used.

 

[Kor]

Certain labels/manufacturers have known issues with bum discs happening months/years down the line. One of the worst is a batch of Warner Bros. discs made between 2005-2007 at a Mexico plant. These discs are fine for the first half of the disc, but once it tries to go to the second half, it freezes and becomes unplayable. I've lost a lot of WB discs to this issue, but luckily their consumer products division has almost always gotten me replacements, even if it was a disc I bought used.

Ah, interesting. I can't remember if I have any WB DVDs from that time period. I'll have to go through my movies and test out any of those I may have.

Edited to add: So far I've found one from 2005, but I can't tell where it was manufactured. There's a tiny letter/number code on the disc itself near the center hole. I wonder if that tells what plant it came from.

Kor

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I’ve had a number of problems with dvds over the years. I got the DS9 dvds when the first sets came out and they’re were a few episodes that wouldn’t plays parts of the episodes. I’ve never had problems with the TNG blu-rays.

Generally speaking blu-rays are pretty good quality wise. I almost never find issues with them. DVDs on the other hand have given me problems over the years.

 

[Lynx]

I’ve had a number of problems with dvds over the years. I got the DS9 dvds when the first sets came out and they’re were a few episodes that wouldn’t plays parts of the episodes. I’ve never had problems with the TNG blu-rays.

Generally speaking blu-rays are pretty good quality wise. I almost never find issues with them. DVDs on the other hand have given me problems over the years.

You did probably buy the same DS9 DVD-batch as I did. I was struggling with that for years, sending back boxes with malfunctioning DVD.s to the retailer, just to get new ones which started to malfunction after on or two times or directly at the first tile I did watch them. I still feel sorry for the company which I bought them from. They were always helpful and it wasn't their fault that the DVD.s were so crappy. it was Paramount's fault.

I actually wrote to Paramount about the problems two or three times but to this day I've never got any reply.

You can read my rantings about the problems following the links in the original post above.

Fortunately the recent box I bought seem to be of better quality. I'm into my forth (or fifth) re-watch of DS9 on this recent box and still no problem.

But now it is the TNG DVD.s which are starting to malfunction after five or six times of watching.

However, the reports about the Blue-Ray discs seem comforting so I will probably buy the series on Blu-Ray in the near future.