How Now Brown Blu-rays

[Werewolf by Night]

I own M, Days of Heaven, and Pierrot le fou...and all three are fine.

Ditto for me. Sorry for those who have the issue, though.

[Bando]

The strange thing about my Walkabout disc is that I bought it in the BN sale last fall. So there must be old stock out there still floating around, if indeed this was a problem from early on in the pressing history.

[Charles]

Just to add to the stats...

I never got Pierrot le fou (sad to say), and I still haven't upgraded M to Blu, but as of yesterday my Walkabout, Days of Heaven, and Seventh Seal all look and play fine. Now, do I remember how close to the release dates I bought each of these? No, but let's say "pretty close".

[Drucker]

The strange thing about my Walkabout disc is that I bought it in the BN sale last fall. So there must be old stock out there still floating around, if indeed this was a problem from early on in the pressing history.

Two years ago a bunch of long-out of print Studio Canal titles showed up for new on Amazon. Boxes of stuff just found, lying around in warehouses, I suppose!

[Ted Todorov]

I emailed this Mulveney this morning about non-playing, non-loading (and now that I have found this thread, yes, brownish) Paris, Texas. Just looked at my Summer Hours - very brown. I'm afraid to look at the rest of BD my Criterion collection. Very, very distressing.

P.S. no answer from Criterion yet -- are they normally prompt?

[Seaward]

Hi, recent lurker, but I had to join to say my thank you for this site and the astute Criterion watchers. My copy of Summer Hours has definitely browned, and froze up consistently at 51:37. the disc would then skip to 1:25. I have about 23 of the blu-rays from 2010 period, some purchased at the time of sale, some later.

They are all going to the top of the pile to be watched to check for any issues and browning. I would have never known until I went back to revisit a title if there was an issue. Many thanks to the keen-eyed board members!

[mckeldinb]

My blu of M is now a slightly bronzed coaster... I was alerted of "brown" problem via the DVD Beaver listserv and I immediately checked M, DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE SEVENTH SEAL and PIERROT LE FOU... only M showed a problem (though I also noted brown discolorization on DAYS OF HEAVEN as well)... My copy of M would barely load, and then when I would try to play it, it froze while still on the Criterion logo..., I could advance chapters, but it would play only very haltingly. I tried it on both my BD players. Does anyone know if there is something I could do to retard the deterioration (I'd like to save DAYS OF HEAVEN while it can still play)?

[captveg]

Another browning M here. Only one so far, fortunately.

[_shadow_]

I have a Walkabout with oxidized discoloration and Pierrot le Fou that appears to be normal. I've sent an e-mail to the Mulvaney address asking for a replacement for Walkabout.

This reminds me of laser rot back from the days of LD.

Is anyone aware if it's more difficult to secure a replacement from Criterion for an out-of-print title such as Pierrot le Fou?

[swo17]

It's impossible.

[criterion10]

It's impossible.

I'm sorry, but this is all I could think of when you said that:

[FrauBlucher]

I emailed Jon Tuesday. Have not heard back. Criterion's lack of a public response is quite disconcerting. Especially after Ryan Gallagher reached out to CC. Are they ignoring the problem or do they think it is not their problem? You would think they'd want to address this before the Wexner talks.

[warren oates]

I emailed Jon Tuesday. Have not heard back. Criterion's lack of a public response is quite disconcerting. Especially after Ryan Gallagher reached out to CC. Are they ignoring the problem or do they think it is not their problem? You would think they'd want to address this before the Wexner talks.

Yeah, and if they don't, could somebody who's going or who's planning to submit a question remotely please ask about it?

[RyanGallagher]

I emailed Jon Tuesday. Have not heard back. Criterion's lack of a public response is quite disconcerting. Especially after Ryan Gallagher reached out to CC. Are they ignoring the problem or do they think it is not their problem? You would think they'd want to address this before the Wexner talks.

I still haven't received an email response either, regarding this issue.

[Yakushima]

Same here. I have not received any response from Jon after 3 days. This is extremely disappoining to say the least. [-X

[vertovfan]

Over two weeks since my first email to Mulvaney, and no reply. I emailed again a couple days ago in case the first one got lost in the shuffle somehow.

[pedromvu]

I sent my first email to Jon on sep 9, today i sent my third one, since there has been no response, i also checked all the usual suspects but only "Summer Hours" is deffective.

I see someone mentioned here for the first time Paris, Texas :S, i guess i have to check all my discs to be sure.

[pedromvu]

Bad news, just checked all my Criterion discs that were released before 2011 and found another one with the defect.

It is Stagecoach, it doesn't look as bad as Summer Hours but it still it is noticeably brownish compared to regular discs, i checked it all and found that in the movie it only skips a few minutes around the 15 minute mark, but it skips like 30 minutes in the supplement Bucking Broadway, which i remember seeing without issues like 2 years ago.

[bevilacq12]

Someone on blu-ray.com is saying their copy of Stagecoach is also affected. The more this issue is explored, the scarier it gets...

edit: D'oh, he also seems to have posted here, right above me.

If this is just a matter of some random sampling of discs being defective, then the problem is containable. If all the discs from these pressings will eventually go bad, just over slightly different timelines, then Criterion (and us, as collectors) are in for quite a bit of trouble...

[domino harvey]

I just checked my copy of Stagecoach and it's maybe ever so slightly browner than A Christmas Tale or Bigger Than Life (two random Criterion Blu-rays I pulled at the same time), but Blu-rays in general have a somewhat brownish tint to them

[bevilacq12]

I just checked my copy of Stagecoach and it's maybe ever so slightly browner than A Christmas Tale or Bigger Than Life (two random Criterion Blu-rays I pulled at the same time), but Blu-rays in general have a somewhat brownish tint to them

But will it get browner over time is the real question, for your copy of Stagecoach and for every copy of an increasingly long list of titles.

[domino harvey]

Kent Brockman: Professor, without knowing precisely what the danger is, would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?
Professor: Yes I would, Kent.

[bevilacq12]

Humorous references aside, the question of how widespread this is / will be is troubling. What started with "my Summer Hours disc has gone bad" has very quickly been revealed to be something much more. I'm not suggesting any extreme course of action (sue Criterion, boycott Blu-ray discs, feast on head goo), so I don't feel bad raising the question at the heart of the issue as we currently understand it.

[domino harvey]

I'm hoping that the reason we're all getting radio silence from Criterion on this is that someone is researching what lab pressed the problem discs, identify other possible future problematic titles, and institute a more organized exchange program, perhaps introduced in tandem with the forthcoming Criterion Store sale

[pedromvu]

But will it get browner over time is the real question, for your copy of Stagecoach and for every copy of an increasingly long list of titles.

Well the Walkabout disc was released on May 18 2010, and according to the news on blu-ray.com Criterion posted about the issue in June 9.

As far i know there aren't reports of issues on movies released after that date, Stagecoach was released May 25 2010.

The problem with Walkabout was probably identified because the discs were already old before the pressing but they probably decided to stop using those discs (or that company not sure how is the process here) from then on.

So my guess is that any title before that could randomly have the issue at different point in time, but depending on the pressing (how good it sells probably) there is still a good chance it doesn't happen.