How Now Brown Blu-rays

[McNulty]

The copy I bought years ago that ran perfectly, now does the skipping around 49:58. I've emailed Mulvaney twice about it, with no response. Is there a replacement disc available?

p.s. this is my first post.

[doc mccoy]

Has anyone watched Summer Hours again recently - there are reports on bluray.com that some discs that were perfectly playable before, are now suffering freezes and disc discoloration.

[DeprongMori]

I watched this again a couple of months back and was experiencing freezes and so forth (about 2/3 through IIRC) that I had not recalled previously. I wrote it off at the time as being a stray hair or inadvertent fingerprint. Researching this gives me a great excuse to watch it again.

[Brian C]

I had that issue a year or two ago - the disc wouldn't play and I noticed that it was discolored. Same with Criterion's M. Criterion acknowledged via email that both films had a defective batch of discs and sent me replacements for both, which have been fine since.

[warren oates]

Same issues with two different Blu-ray discs bought from Amazon -- one when it first came out years ago, one only weeks ago. It's the only reason I never made it into the film club discussion. There's browning on the surface of the disc, from the edges inward, looking worse on one copy than the other. But the disc invariably freezes up for me at almost exactly the same spot -- about 52 minutes into the film -- on two different players. And it's not one of those playback defects you can skip over or back into from the other side. Wrote to Mulvaney about the issue. Haven't heard a peep from Criterion since August 20th. But it does seem like Amazon's stock of the Blu-ray might have been recalled. They had a number of copies until suddenly they didn't. It's now listed as being back in stock on Sept. 9th.

[javi82]

I watched the entire film last night without any problems. I bought my copy around a year ago at a BN. It did not have any discoloration, and I played it on an Oppo 103. It was labeled as a first printing. Nevertheless, I will be periodically checking my copy for degradation now.

[vertovfan]

Mine played fine when I bought it on the release date, but now it has the brown discoloration and freezes up as others have described. Ditto for my Walkabout and M blu-rays. I'll email Criterion and hope for replacements.

[RobertB]

Mine has gone brown and bad as well. Any other discs that should be checked, in addition to Walkabout and M? I emailed Mulvaney'at'criterion a couple of days ago. No reply yet. Is he the best one to email, or should I try someone else?

[warren oates]

At this point I almost think this issue warrants its own thread -- call it, I don't know, "the browning." I think we should try to get the word out and encourage everyone to check their Summer Hours, M. and Walkabout Blus for discoloration and playback issues, regardless of how they might have played when they were first acquired. And, of course, to pipe up immediately about any other titles this weird instance of Blu-ray rot might be affecting.

Edit: Or maybe instead we should call this "The Bronzening" as it seems to be much more like the Blu-ray version of Compact Disc Bronzing. Blu-ray.com has a short thread about this problem where they refer to it as "coffee stain discoloration." If these Blu-rays are like the CDs in question, then it is a manufacturing defect that can affect playback and it is progressive. But there's also no way to tell if and when your disc will go bad as some discs with very visible bronzing still seem to play fine and others do not fare as well.

[swo17]

At this point I almost think this issue warrants its own thread -- call it, I don't know, "the browning." I think we should try to get the word out and encourage everyone to check their Summer Hours, M. and Walkabout Blus for discoloration and playback issues, regardless of how they might have played when they were first acquired.

I've done this, and also edited the first post with a brief explanation of the issue. Note: All of these problematic titles came out in 2010. Someone with some time on their hands might want to check other titles released around the same time as well.

Also, I prefer the ring of "The Brownening."

[domino harvey]

Also, unfortunately this has struck me. Here's a comparison pic between a recent normal Blu-ray and this issue:

[The Narrator Returns]

First David Wain makes a bad movie and now he's mocking you with how clean it is.

[Drucker]

Does this seem to only affect discs bought back then? I didn't have a blu-ray player until 2012, and I doubt the likes of Stagecoach, 8 1/2, Days of Heaven, and M, all of which I bought new, would have still been in the first run!

[The Narrator Returns]

Having checked my collection, M and Days of Heaven appear to be fine (I'll have to watch them again to make sure), but Summer Hours and definitely Walkabout appear to be defective.

[swo17]

Does this seem to only affect discs bought back then?

The brownening doesn't care if a disc has been sitting on your shelf or in a warehouse somewhere. All of the first pressed must die.

[warren oates]

As much as it's worth checking other erstwhile okay discs manufactured around the same time, I think it's equally worth delving into the functionality/accessibility of special features on the discs we know to have problems. For instance, is it possible to have a disc with browning/bronzing where the feature plays fine but the supplements don't? And are there any discs out there with no visible defects that still suffer the playback issues?

[RyanGallagher]

I posted the results of my examination here. I'll email Criterion as well, to see what is to be done about this.

[SpiderBaby]

So nobody has had issues with Vivre sa vie yet, correct? Re-watching my copy now as I received it on release day (so obvious first pressing), which was the same release date as Summer Hours if I remember correctly.

[Bando]

If anyone gets a response from Mulvaney about this, please post. Just checked my discs, Walkabout is brown as can be.

[Minkin]

Are all of your copies of Walkabout the original pressing or did your replacements get this as well? (If you recall, the first pressing of Walkabout didn't work on certain players - mine included - so I already had it replaced once). Either case, this seems like a concerning trend/worry (hopefully it really is just the 4 titles in the first post). At least Criterion are probably the best company for getting replacements (God help us if a major studio has this sort of problem develop as well).

[swo17]

As much as it's worth checking other erstwhile okay discs manufactured around the same time, I think it's equally worth delving into the functionality/accessibility of special features on the discs we know to have problems. For instance, is it possible to have a disc with browning/bronzing where the feature plays fine but the supplements don't? And are there any discs out there with no visible defects that still suffer the playback issues?

My slightly brown copy of M plays fine through both versions of the movie but starts having playback issues about halfway through "A Physical History of M."

[rwiggum]

I'll have to remember to check my copy of summer hours when I go home for the holidays.

First David Wain makes a bad movie and now he's mocking you with how clean it is.

This upsets me.

[boywonder]

"M" is now a psychedelic mess. "Walkabout" says "compalitability issues" sometimes freezes halfway through. "Summer Hours" seems and looks fine. All were bought on first day of issue. Jeez ...

[Jonathan S]

Edit: Or maybe instead we should call this "The Bronzening" as it seems to be much more like the Blu-ray version of Compact Disc Bronzing. Blu-ray.com has a short thread about this problem where they refer to it as "coffee stain discoloration." If these Blu-rays are like the CDs in question, then it is a manufacturing defect that can affect playback and it is progressive. But there's also no way to tell if and when your disc will go bad as some discs with very visible bronzing still seem to play fine and others do not fare as well.

If it's anything like the CD version, this will be a never-ending nightmare. I check suspect discs regularly and am still finding newly bronzed and partly unplayable CDs in my collection over twenty years after they were manufactured by PDO (though most rotted within five years). The CDs are easier to check as the discs deteriorate from the outer edge inwards so the last tracks are always the first to go. Contact with the CD booklets or packaging is believed to be a trigger.

[Roger Ryan]

For what it's worth, the Blu-ray copy of LOLA MONTES I rented from Netflix a month back developed playback problems in the third quarter of the film (approximately six minutes was unplayable). I couldn't find any smudges or scratches and assumed it was a manufacturer defect, but didn't notice any browning.