How Now Brown Blu-rays

[Jakamarak]

This happened to me on Pierrot Le Fou....I thought my player was acting up, as when I ejected the disc and tried the same part it played fine. I'm using a Momitsu 799 btw.

I had the same experience with Pierrot Le Fou. Although it used to play perfectly, I recently discovered that it freezes at 1:01:01. I checked it on multiple machines and got the same results.

I can't see any discoloration (yet?), however.

[cdnchris]

I don't know if it's a coincidence or not, but of the problematic titles in the first post I had issues taking screen captures on all but Days of Heaven. For the others my process would freeze up halfway through the film and then crash my system. M was easy to get around but the other two I had to do some scripting to get it to continue on. The odd thing was they played fine on regular players. Another one I had severe issues with (as bad as Walkabout) was Wings of Desire, though checking that one it still plays fine, so not sure if all of this is tied together.

My Days of Heaven is still fine, but M is glitchy and both Walkabout and Summer Hours are screwed.

I never had issues with Pierrot and my copy still plays fine as well.

[zedz]

I must say I'm disappointed in the thread title when The Browning Version was just sitting there waiting for its day in the sun, even if it was under false pretences. Or, for you country and western fans, there was always "Don't It Make My BluRays Brown?"

I had a quick look at some identified Blus last night and couldn't notice anything untoward by sight, but I did start getting paranoid about the slightest difference in tint. I suppose I'll have to play everything to be sure.

[swo17]

I wouldn't want anyone associating "The Browning Version" with disappointment.

Also, you can check your Blu-rays quickly by just fastforwarding through all the content. Even at high speed, it will become readily apparent if the disc has gone bad.

[Numero Trois]

I must say I'm disappointed in the thread title when The Browning Version was just sitting there waiting for its day in the sun

Or even better- The Browning Version, Part Deux

[CSM126]

Checked my copy of Summer Hours. It's very slightly brown, but more perplexing is the fact that the numbering on the inner ring has all but completely faded away, only visible under very particular lighting, whereas it's very clearly visible on all the other blus I compared it against. Will have to spot check the disc soon.

[DeprongMori]

For naming the topic, I am partial to "Don't It Make My BluRays Brown".

Tested "Summer Hours", "M", "Days of Heaven" and "Walkabout". "Summer Hours" freezes, though not every time. "Walkabout" won't load at all any more. The other two are checking out okay so far -- at least the features, as I didn't check the supplements.

[domino harvey]

Unlike our copies of Summer Hours, the title will not be changing

[Rupert Pupkin]

It's really annoying :

it's a good test for us to see if we have O.C.D...
well I have checked some Blu-Ray with special radioactive gloves (I've seen the Melting Man) + a geiger and here's the result :

Walkabout : purchased day 1 (I almost bought a multiregion player at that time just for this movie!)
I have 2 Blu-Ray because I ordered at that time one at amazon.com and the other at axel music because one of the 2 didn't arrive at fast.

well: 1 Blu-Ray has an obvious browning syndrome on the surface layer (an email + photos has been sent to J.Mulvaney). I can post a photo if you want, but it's the same like the photo post in this thread.
No need to say that when I bought it the looks just looked fine.

The other Blu-Ray has absolutely no sign of browning or bronzing.

But this is clearly a physical/chemical reaction and it won't go better.

M : no sign of browning or bronzing.... for the moment ? :-# (I put it in quarantaine section for observation)

Days Of Heaven : (same here) I have 2 Blu-Ray- I watched this movie last month, and perhaps about 15 times since I have this blu-ray (then again purchased day 1) : no sign of browning or bronzing....

Vivre sa Vie (isn't on the list, but you asked to check some disks which came out near the Summer of 2010) I would have been really pissed-off if that one was browning

Did someone check "Mystery Train" ??? [-o< . I have it, but I was not in a good mood to go check every disk from 2010

Something I noticed about "Walkabout" :
although both Blu-Ray have been bought day-1 I noticed that the inner-circle (you have some numbers and or some codes) have some different info :
the disk which is browning is "marked" A01 / A02 on the inner-circle (I can post a photo here)

while the other "Walkabout" Blu-Ray which looks "physically" okay (so far) doesn't have the same info on the inner-circle.


So, although I was afraid, I I did check "Days Of Heaven" and I noticed that one of the 2 Blu-Ray has a mark "A01" while the other has not this mark.
Which implies- I think - like "Walkabout" that these 2 Blu-Ray don't come from the same "batch" although I have bought these titles when they were just released (I mean - not last year)
But both blu-ray of "Days Of Heaven" looks physically intact, so the "A01" mark is not necessarily a sign that "it will" "melt" (listening to Frank Zappa's "Drowning Witch")... But I would have prefered to see on some titles a totally different inner circle matrix/code.

That is to say, if you check some Blu-Ray/Criterion titles from the 2010 era, you will notice by looking at the number/matrix info on the inner circle that some have a "A0" code while some other are totally different.

Some playback issues with the "Walkabout" browning.
"M" plays just fine... so far....

I'll recommend to rip the blu-ray in paranoia mode and burn it on a BR-DL

regarding the name of the thread I would not associate 'browning' to such a lovely name as Ms.Emily Browning. I would like a replacement program + a reconfort program (because I'm traumatized to say the less - you can tell when you read my message) -with Ms.Emily Browning as a nurse like in Zero Theorem (if not available, Mélanie Thierry would be just fine)


PS: someone talked about "Lola Montès" above : I watched it 2 days okay, no problem at all and the disk as no sign of browning at all.

[o z o n e]

Hello,

I have checked my copies now and can confirm that my copy of Summer Hours has the "browning" and do stutter during playback.

The Days of Heaven & Walkabout disc's looks (no browning) and play's just fine for now. M is not in my collection yet.

I also checked the protective lacquer on the disc's edge and it is very uneven on Walkabout & Summer Hours.

Oxidation is probably the culprit here and the uneven protective layer is easy felt if the disc is rotated while holding the finger at the edge. It is also easy to spot if you let daylight pass through the material of the disc (as the finger "test" could very well speed up the oxidation process).

Went through random disc's in my collection and the protective lacquer is smooth and often perfect by the look and feel. No disc is near the unevenness of my copies of Summer Hours & Walkabout.

Please post your experience regarding CC handling this for non US customers. I will contact Mulvaney after this weekend and will give you feedback when the reply is coming.

[tenia]

I'm in France and will have a look this weekend at the discs discussed here. I think I own most of them, except M and Summer Hours.

Is there a master list on this thread of the suspected and known discs with issues ?

[NABOB OF NOWHERE]

Mark me down for a freezing Summer Hours (Is that the same as a Cold wind in August? ) Happens around the 59 minute mark and needs to be FF'd to about 1.07 before it kicks back in. I didn't buy this at release date but some while after in 2012 B&N sale I think but it could have been gathering dust there I suppose.
I am also in France so don't know whether we will get either B&N or Criterion themselves to rectify. My M seems perfect.

[Pepsi]

Same here! Both Summer Hours and Walkabout are switching to brown, like a desese!
Why can't Criterion investigate the problem, and honestly tell on their site all the titles that are defected, and have a change program!

[nick]

Just checked my Summer Hours and I've got the issue as well. I agree that Criterion should list the titles with these problems on their site to make it easier to identify for those purchasers who may not regularly visit these forums.

[swo17]

Is there a master list on this thread of the suspected and known discs with issues ?

See the first post of the thread.

[RobertB]

It is now four days since I emailed Mulvaney, and so far I have not had any reply. I would like Criterion at least to acknowledge the problem.

[Drucker]

Photos and video evidence are helpful. One time I had a DVD playback issue and Mulvaney gave me the usual "check disc/check firmware" BS. When I sent them a video I shot illustrating that one disc in the box set played but another one wouldn't, I got a friendly thanks and a quick replacement disc.

[RobertB]

Photos and video evidence are helpful. One time I had a DVD playback issue and Mulvaney gave me the usual "check disc/check firmware" BS. When I sent them a video I shot illustrating that one disc in the box set played but another one wouldn't, I got a friendly thanks and a quick replacement disc.

I included photos.

[Forrest Taft]

I didn't include any photos and forgot to mention that I had a Browning version. I did, however, find my order confirmation from april 2010, and pointed out that the store I purchased it from, http://www.playusa.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, no longer exists, so contacting them is not possible (that was the "advice" I got the only other time I've contacted Mulvaney about a defect product, as I was an international customer, and they could only help US customers ). No reply yet. Should check my Days of Heaven disc too.

[Bando]

When I checked my Walkabout disc just to make sure and fast-forwarded it to the 50-minute mark or so, not only did it freeze, but the player started making noises that approximated what I would think it would sound like before it blew up. That isn't normal...

[DeprongMori]

Has anyone gotten any response back from Criterion? By all reports, no one has yet received any reply on this issue. I've got a couple of emails in to Jon Mulvaney, but only in the last couple days. I know others have reported this much earlier.

I should hope there will be an official statement on replacement policy soon.

[warren oates]

At this point it seems pretty clear that they've gotten enough email inquiries that I'd be surprised if they weren't taking this very seriously and taking some time to investigate how widespread the problem is and plan some kind of recall. If anyone wants answers sooner -- however provisional they might be -- why don't some of the folks with FB just ask them outright on the CC FB page?

[tenia]

I checked Days of Heaven, Walkabout and Pierrot le fou. Days of Heaven and Walkabout freeze on my computer BD drive but playback perfectly on my Panasonic player.
I only checked Pierrot on my Panny player and it playbacks fine too.

None are bronze or turning bronze.

[rspaight]

I got my Walkabout replaced the last time this came up. I still need to check on M, Days, and Pierrot. Since it sounds like CC is in a holding pattern on this (I got a pretty prompt reply for Walkabout), I think I'll wait to see if there's a larger-scale recall on these titles.

[vsski]

Just came back from a long business trip and immediately started checking.
Summer Hours is completely brown and freezes around the 51m mark, M is also quite brown and is a complete mess and doesn't even play properly at all (Summer Hours was bought around release date, M a long time afterwards).

Walkabout has a clear brown outer ring, but fast forwards fine throughout (hoping that SWO is correct and fast forwarding clearly shows the problem and I don't have to watch every second of every movie again). Days of Heaven and Pierrot show very minimal browning and no problems when fast forwarding through the movie (Only Pierrot was bought on release date, the others quite some time afterwards).

As to waiting for a reply from Mulvaney, I always took the route of sending in the defective discs right away and every time I received a replacement in the mail, even if I hadn't e-mailed beforehand.

The bigger concern I have is whether or not this is becoming an on-going problem and from now on I have to constantly check the discs.