The quality of DS9 DVD:s again and how angry I am now!
- Thread starter Lynx
- Start date
Anyway, I've sent the box back to my retailer. Hopefully I get a new one in return. Then it will be exciting to see how long it last and which epåisode will be unwatchable first.
It's most likely your favorite episode. Or the episode you watch several times in a row. But I hope your new box will be fine.
Well, the reviews about the new US boxes haven't been encouraging, to say the least and I have no illusions that the ones shipped to Europe will be in a better shape.
But thanks for the well-wishes anyway. One can only hope for the best!
I will continue to harass them until I have a box which is not defect and where the records won't be unusable afte just a few views.
Kor wrote:
I will check this and see what they have to offer.
But do I have to pay over and over again when I want to watch an episode which is ruined on the DVD:s?
And is there a risk that the series all of a sudden dissapears from itunes?
I have DS9 and Voyager on DVD, and never had any issues with them. Except the lack of a 'Play All' option.
Though that was several years ago. They've been packed away for a while as I just stream them when I get the itch.
I bought the region 2 DVDs for all the series, TOS to Enterprise, via Amazon at a convention in London in 2012. I have had problems frankly with every season of every series...
I have a very recent Sony DVD / Blu-Ray / 4k player, and some episodes play OK, some hesitate, some don't play at all, and some discs just refuse to load.
I have laptops computers.
I can play the discs on my main laptop just fine, with the Windows DVD player... Which says to me that there is definitely something screwy about Star Trek TV series Region 2 DVDs. (I don't know about Region 1.) I have this problem with no other DVDs at all. I also have TOS on Blu Ray (I mean, why wouldn't you?) and these play fine. No problems at all! (As you'd expect.)
I have no idea what goes on with the Star Trek DVDs, but it doesn't reflect well on Paramount / CBS. I am wondering if it's a glitchy translation from Region 1 or something, but surely it can't be that simple?
Anyway... Good luck, everyone...
I have a very recent Sony DVD / Blu-Ray / 4k player, and some episodes play OK, some hesitate, some don't play at all, and some discs just refuse to load.
I have laptops computers.
I can play the discs on my main laptop just fine, with the Windows DVD player... Which says to me that there is definitely something screwy about Star Trek TV series Region 2 DVDs. (I don't know about Region 1.) I have this problem with no other DVDs at all. I also have TOS on Blu Ray (I mean, why wouldn't you?) and these play fine. No problems at all! (As you'd expect.)
I have no idea what goes on with the Star Trek DVDs, but it doesn't reflect well on Paramount / CBS. I am wondering if it's a glitchy translation from Region 1 or something, but surely it can't be that simple?
Anyway... Good luck, everyone...
Now, how on Earth did this thread bump up like this again? 
I must inform everyone here that it seems like this issue is solved for me.
As mentioned before in this thread, I bought a new DS9 box in 2019, obviously a new issue of the DS9 box and so far no problems at all.
I've watched all seasons and all episodes twice and now I've started my third re-run of the series and no problems at all.
I've made some comments about that in some posts here, about being able to watch the whole series from start to finish. But since this thread which I started some years ago in a very angry mood has showed up again, I found it appropriate to come up with some recent information and this time some positive comments from me!
I must inform everyone here that it seems like this issue is solved for me.
As mentioned before in this thread, I bought a new DS9 box in 2019, obviously a new issue of the DS9 box and so far no problems at all.
I've watched all seasons and all episodes twice and now I've started my third re-run of the series and no problems at all.
I've made some comments about that in some posts here, about being able to watch the whole series from start to finish. But since this thread which I started some years ago in a very angry mood has showed up again, I found it appropriate to come up with some recent information and this time some positive comments from me!
Are you sure that they are Region 2 and not Region 1 or another region’s disc? I know that on Amazon sometimes it’s hard to tell which Region the discs are for. Unless you are using a region-free DVD player, you’ll have issues; most of the time the DVD will just not play. You can always do a search for your DVD player to see if people have discovered how to turn off the region lockout.
On computers there are a lot of free DVD programs, like VLC that will simple ignore the region coding and play any region disc.
Great point. I noticed when makers started doing that (not a bad thing) so I bought those sleeves that have thin plastic linings to prevent scratching from occurring. Blu-rays are coated to keep scratches (on either side?) minimal, especially as microscratches would adversely affect a thinner laser such as blu-ray's.
Unfortunately, in the US, even the re-release was a fully plastic case. I've not had problems yet... under ideal conditions a DVD should still last the better part of a century. Even the glue used to keep both layers (8GB total) attached should remain viable for decades, under proper storage conditions.
Babylon 5's getting a Bluray release. It's not a ground up remaster like TNG was, but they've cleaned up and upscaled the SD vfx shots.
Not a massive leap in quality, but it could make Voyager and DS9 on Bluray a little more likely.
Which would be nice, just to avoid the DVD issue.
Not a massive leap in quality, but it could make Voyager and DS9 on Bluray a little more likely.
Which would be nice, just to avoid the DVD issue.
My Voyager DVD:s which I bought in 2006 are still working perfect.
Or look at what the BBC are doing with Doctor Who - releasing often very poor quality 1970s and 80s material in lavish, limited edition Blu-ray boxsets with tons of new special features. These things sell out as soon as they are up for pre-order.
The DS9 documentary proves there's a market for something similar for Star Trek. Even if they don't want to fund a full remaster, the DVDs are so old now that there would be gains to be made from freshly encoding the master tapes using much more forgiving modern compression. DS9 had so many darkly-lit scenes that would really benefit from the bit-rate available on Blu-ray. If they can re-render some of the CGI scenes, even better. It would be a big benefit here in PAL-land, as the DVDs are afflicted with the dreaded PAL-speed up.
CBS/Para seem to have no interest in exploiting Star Trek with these kinds of releases. Perhaps they still feel burned by the TNG-R outlay, or they want to put all their efforts into streaming. It's money for old rope if they get the product and the marketing right.
I have never purchased DS9 season sets brand new. But over the years, I have gotten a few seasons secondhand (verifying that the discs are in good physical condition). Without fail, at least one episode on one disc will freeze up. And CBS Home Video (or whoever is in charge of these things) will not sell you a single disc as a replacement.
Kor
Kor
Similar threads
