The quality of DS9 DVD:s again and how angry I am now!

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by Lynx, Feb 8, 2019.

  1. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    As some of you probably remember, I've had a lot of serious problems with the DS9 DVD:s I've bought which has been described in details in this post:

    https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/what-the-is-wrong-with-my-ds9-dvd-s.262327/

    Unfortunately the problems are getting worse for each time I watch the DVD:s.

    Last year I finally managed to watch the last seasons of DS9. I bought a box with all seasons and in this thread:

    https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/a-wonderful-expreience.294699/

    I described how much I appreciated the series and that I was going to start a DS9 relaunch in the near future.

    I did that but after watching season 2, the whole thing has been turned into a nightmare. A lot of the episodes in season 1 and 2 are unplayable.This evening I was trying to watch "Tribunal" and "The Jem'Hadar" and both were almost unwatchable in the last 10 minutes.

    And these are the CD:s which I bought in the box with all seasons last year which I've only watched once.

    Thank you Paramount, now you have ruined my day! Again!
    So I have to ask you Niners out there: Are there no way of solving those problems? Will there be any Blu-Ray release of DS9 in the near future?

    Buying a Blu-Ray player and the whole series on Blu-Ray will be cheaper for me than to have to buy certain seasons on DVD over and over and over and over and over and over again. I've already spent hundreds of $ on DS9 DVD:s the recent years and we all know that the substandard crap the criminals at Paramount has shipped to Europe and insulted the European Star Trek fans with won't last for more than one viewing.

    I'm really p***ed off right now so if there is anyone working for Paramount or connected to Paramount who reads this post, then I would like to tell you this:

    Paramount are nothing more than a bunch of criminals, cheaters and thieves who are selling substandard crap to European fans and by doing so stealing our money!

    I won't change this statement until the problem with defect DS9 DVD:s are solved in an acceptable way for me. Until then, everyone connected to Paramount know where they can stuff their substandard DVD:s and where to go.

    And no, I won't bring up "the Kes case" this time. :mad:
     
  2. tomswift2002

    tomswift2002 Commodore Commodore

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    Have you tried a different DVD player? Sounds like it might be an issue with your DVD player? I’ve had my DS9 DVD’s since 2003, and I’ve found that the cheap DVD players (that only cost about $25 at the local department store) will wear out within 18 months and a sign of the player wearing out is a ton of skipping on DVD’s. The cheap DVD players use cheap lasers that weaken in 18 months (think of a flashlight when the batteries are dying, it gets dimmer and dimmer) and will not read first DVD-R/-RW’s and then pressed discs. And Zi find the DS9 DVD’s will skip on these after 18 months. Whereas I’ve had my PS3 for 8 years and it has a very high quality that is still going strong and my DS9 DVD’s play fine.
     
  3. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I have the same f****** problem. Both DS9 and Voyager episodes are unwatchable for the last 10 minutes. My favorite episodes. I'm very disappointed. The Jem'Hadar is one of the unwachable episode. It stops, pixeled, shortly before the Odyssee explodes. It doesn'te explode - but I do so! I'm also very angry. It was UK Import. I don't want to buy Trek DVD's ever again. And I don't want to register at Netflix where they get my money regularly. I never wanted Pay TV and streaming services are not different from that. Some of them even lure you with low prices just to increase them several month later.... I'm done with DVDs of any kind and I can relate to @Lynx anger.
     
  4. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I have tried different DVD players. It's not the player, it's the bad quality of the DVDs.
     
  5. Dukhat

    Dukhat Admiral Admiral

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    It's also possible that the discs got damaged because of the packaging. You tell me: are the discs packaged in cardboard sleeves that the discs rub against when you remove them or put them back? Cardboard sleeves are the worst type of packaging for DVDs/BDs because not only do the disks get damaged upon removal, even keeping them in the sleeves for an extended amount of time without removing them will still damage the discs over time. That happened to me with my M*A*S*H complete series box set.
     
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  6. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, the DVD:s in this box are packed in cardboard sleeves.
    But that's not the main problem.

    I bought the first three seasons of DS9 one by one before I found this box at a Swedish retailer and there are the same problems with them. I have the first season of DS9 on three different sets, two of them in plastic sleeves and one (in the whole series box which I bought last year) in cardboard sleeves and there's the same problem with all of them with some unwatchable episodes, all of it described in the thread I started in 2015 (see link in my first post). For some strange reason, the episode "Move Along Home" is unwatchable on all three CD:s. The problems starts when Sisko, Kira and Dax are in the cave just before the end.

    I have TNG in a simliar cardboard box but so far there are only slight problems with two episodes, at least so far.

    I bought the first three seasons of Voyager in 2006, each of them in huge plastic sleeves and they are still OK.

    I've posted the thieves and criminals at Paramount about this years ago and so far haven't got a single reply. :censored:

    The retailer I bougt the box from are reliable. I've bought a lot of CD's and DVD's from them and no problems.

    The point is, what do I do now?

    With some luck, I can complain to the company I bought this box from and if they have any of those boxes left, I might get a new one. But that won't solve the problem because obviously those DVD.s are of such a lousy standard that they will start malfunctioning again after one view. In fact, some of them are so lousy that I can't even watch them once which happened when I watched the episode "In Purgatory's Shadow" where the last 10 minutes were unwatchable.

    As for buying from other sellers, I'm not a millionaire and I don't want to pay 1000 of $ for the same product over and over again. Not to mention that the ongoing trade problems between the US and the EU makes it even more expensive to buy products from the US. OK, if I knew that someone would sell good, functioning DS9 DVD:s, then I might consider buying all seasons of it again. But I don't want to spend a lot of money and having the same problems over and over again.

    It looks like I will never watch DS9 again. :weep:
     
    Last edited: Feb 9, 2019
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  7. SpocksOddSocks

    SpocksOddSocks Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    On the packaging, I can tell you that I have the UK version in the original big chunky plastic cases, and the same with TNG and Voyager. Whilst I had no problems playing the discs for some years, it was evident fairly early on that the inner part of the discs were cracking on removing them from the plastic holders. Eventually, one of the discs broke in two from the wear. TNG and VOY have not suffered this problem.
     
  8. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    It looks like we have the same problem.
    In fact, on my DVD, the problems in "The Jem'Hadar" starts exactly at the same point as you mention which proves that all the DVD:s shipped to Europe are of the same low standard with the same problems.

    Some of my TNG records have some issues but not as much (yet) as the DS9 DVD:s despite the fact that I have watched them more times.

    Fortunately, my Voyager DVD:s are still functioning. Maybe those DVD:s which I bought in 2006 are from an earlier pressing and of better quality than the recent crap.

    Have you solved your problems in some way or is it impossible for you to watch DS9? There must be some way to solve this?
     
  9. Tosk

    Tosk Admiral Admiral

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    I know buying them all yet again isn't the solution you wanted, but my R2 DS9 DVDs turned to crap after a few years so I replaced them with R4 copies. No problems since.
     
  10. Kilana2

    Kilana2 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Honestly I gave up on this. And: all the unwatchable episodes were watchable when I first watched the episodes. And DS9 is currently running on German TV in the evening. But this problem keeps me from buying Discovery on DVD. I'm afraid to encounter the same problem again.
    And: I'm not inclined to rebuy crappy Voyager episodes like Threshold again.....;).
     
  11. Reyman

    Reyman Commander Red Shirt

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    Maybe it's time to switch to blu-ray where possible and not just for the jump in picture quality. You get far fewer issues with the actual disks. I've never had an issue with a single disk in over a decade.
     
  12. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Is DS9 available on Blu-Ray?

    If it is, I might consider buying a Blu-Ray player and the whole series on Blu-Ray as soon as I'm 100% sure that there are no defects and no problems with the Blu-Ray discs that the Paramount crooks are selling.

    Otherwise it doesn't matter since everything available on DVD is possible to watch except Star Trek.

    Kilana2 wrote:
    This looks really sad because now you seem to be dependent on what the TV station will air or not.

    At least German TV have the decency to air Star Trek. The retarded Swedish TV hasn't aired anything Star Trek since "Enterprise" was cancelled. In fact, the retarded Swedish TV doesn't air anything worth to watch on any channel, except for NCIS which is the only series worth to watch these days (and the hockey games which are aired on a special channel which I have to pay extra for). Everything else is downright crap which I wouldn't watch if they paid me for it.

    "Threshold" is at least a bit funny. There are later Voyager episodes which are not funny to watch. But we can take that debate in the Voyager forum, I'm sure that you know what I mean. ;)

    As for "Discovery", I just have to see a glimpse of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who are supposed to be Klingons to lose interest and to pay for it is definitely out of the question. In fact, that series confirms my theory that no series or movie worth to watch has been produced since 2010. The 2010's is really "The dark ages" as I see it. The music s***s and so does the movies and TV series as well.

    Which is also a reason that I need to have TNG, DS9 and the first three seasons of Voyager available to watch, otherwise I will die of boredom. :(
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2019
  13. Nakita Akita

    Nakita Akita Commodore Commodore

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    I have had a boxed DVD set for years and I'd say almost from the beginning there were ones that skipped.

    I posted a week or so ago about a Worf episode that I had either never seen or possibly saw it when I first got the DVDs.

    I had a DVD player that stopped working completly a few months ago and I bought a bluray player and for the first time watched,
    The one with Dr. Bashir on his birthday and the creepy nightmarish bird looking guy chasing him as he aged.
    I had never before seen all of that episode.
    From the first time I watched them, that episode skipped portions.( freeze frame, them be suddenly ahead to another part)
    The voices were just barely off from the video.

    I also, for the first time saw the one where Kira and Bashir end up in the mirror universe. Mine always stopped when the other Kira shows up at Quark's in the same dress as real Kira.

    I also for the first time saw the entire episode where Kai Winn helps Sisko look into the Orb for help.
    With the bluray player I'm seeing a lot more episodes now.
     
  14. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Is DS9 available as Blu-Ray or are you playing your CD:s on a Blu-Ray device?
     
  15. Nakita Akita

    Nakita Akita Commodore Commodore

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    DS9 is not available on bluray as far as I know.
    I just use a bluray player.
    And I have to edit the above:
    I can see more of the "Rapture" ( I belive is the title) episode.
    I watched it last night and I Still miss about 3/4 of the 8th chapter.
    Or the final portion where there is a meeting with all if the "gentry".
    I think my conclusion is that the bluray player helps but unfortunately it seems there are episodes or portions of episodes that will not play.
    I bought my set used so probably it has scratches. As for your set, it sounds like a bad "pressing" or recording or burn or however the hell they make DVDs.

    I am thinking of buying another season 5 to see the episode above and also the episode
    After that one, as it didn't play last night at all.
    I will try an alcohol (isopropyl, not getting drunk) cleaning on the disc though too.
     
  16. Kor

    Kor Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Realistically, DS9 will probably never be available on blu-ray. There was a very lively and long-lived thread on this very topic, but for some reason I can't find it now.

    Kor
     
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  17. marlboro

    marlboro Guest

    It's not illegal to rip your dvds to your computer, is it? As long as you don't share them, of course. I'm no lawyer, so I don't know.

    Anyways, it seems like ripping them and storing them on a spare hd might be your best bet.
     
  18. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Honestly, I'll soon be reaching a state where I don't give a d**n about what's legal or not.
    The Paramount criminals have basically stolen money from me and cheated me in the worst possible way by selling substandard crap to me, thus forcing me to buy the stuff over and over again.
    That's the way they treat their loyal fans and loyal customers who are buying their products the legal way.

    They haven't even bothered to reply to my mails.

    As long as they won't correct this by coming up with quality products, then I will continue to call them thieves and con men and if I have to "cross the line" to watch one of my favorite series, so be it. :mad:
    I'm really p***ed off with this. Even the retailer I've bought the stuff from understand my frustration over this. They might give me a new box in exchange for the one I got but the problems will most likely be the same with that box too.

    Paramount has become a foul word for me. First they insult me by destroying my favorite character and then they steal my money.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2019
  19. Nakita Akita

    Nakita Akita Commodore Commodore

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    Can't you watch the episodes on YouTube?
    I agree after you've spent a bunch of money,
    Tough cookies to them.
    It sounds like they know that the dvd's sucked and they didn't care.
    So I think they should forfeit more profit from you.
     
  20. Lynx

    Lynx Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Are they available on Youtube?