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Will this offer be extended to anyone outside the US though, I wonder?

Mr Finch wrote:Will this offer be extended to anyone outside the US though, I wonder?

Yes and no. Unless anything has changed in the system, Criterion can and will replace discs for anyone outside of the US but they can't themselves send the product out of the country. To replace a disc from the Mr Arkadin set, I had to have a third party lined up (in the US) who could relay the disc on to me from Criterion. It was, to say the least, a pain in the arse.

on the other hand, the missing booklet in Clean/Shaven was a known Criterion "problem", and I give my addy in France to Jon Mulvaney and Criterion sent me the booklet.
But it's probably different with CD/Blu-Ray.

One thing I did notice with the blu-ray, is that if you look in the booklet of Walkabout, the Blu-Ray authoring/mastering is not made by Criterion. It's a different company than the DVD edition. I don't know if this means that for Blu-Ray, Criterion can not supervise as well the Blu-Ray mastering/product.

I don't have the problem described with Walkabout. I watched the film twice.
I did have a problem of freeze with Days of Heaven (but the freeze occurs before the 51mn), which I described on blu-ray.com forum. For reason I don't understand, I had to eject the bluray and he did play again with no frame skipping or freeze
The second and third time I watched Days of Heaven Blu-Ray it plays just fine.

why 51 mn btw ? is it the change of layer mark/timing ? I thought it was different from each movie.
Perhaps this has something to do with the location of the menu bar on the disc (the way the blu-ray is authored).
Perhaps a good thing would be to refresh to bookmark, and add some bookmarks if there are some problems with a BR which would have the same I.D than a previous disc played.
I this problem is recurrent with several Criterion Blu-Ray releases, there something wrong with the full compatibility of their Blu-Ray authoring...

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 watched my "Pierrot Le Fou" BD recently on a 60GB PS3 and it played fine, no 51 min. prob. "Vivre Sa Vie" BD is on tap for tonight, wish me luck.

Sometimes I think you are the only person on this board who watches Criterion movies

Unfortunately, same problem with Walkabout here. My BD freezes at 49min 57sec mark and I can't move past that point neither by skipping chapter nor by fast forwarding, nor even by trying to open next chapter through menu.
I am using Momitsu 799.

Watched the Blu Ray Thursday night on my Panasonic player. No problems.

I have not seen Walkabout in 15 years, but is it the film where aboriginal boy teaches the children to scoop from the bottom of pool of water in order to get cooler water or am i thinking of a completely different film?

I watched the blu-ray yesterday on my 80GB PS3, very smooth.

gufazi wrote:I am also having a problem with the blu-ray release. It freezes right before the 1 hour mark on both my PS3 and Sony BDP-960. The disc is clean and the players' firmware is up to date. The 960 won't even recognize it or load it after the freeze until I change the slot and disconnect internet access to the player.

Mine plays fine on a Foehn & Hirsch/Momitsu clone.

The transfer is outstanding. Piercing blue sky's contrasting with the red sands. Looks so much better in motion than the beaver caps indicate.

Movietyme will post a replacement disc to me. They haven't said if they've tested it beforehand so fingers crossed I'm lucky second time round. [-o<

It plays fine on my Oppo.

Had the exact same problem (think I have a Sony Bdp 350s) - froze at around 51 minutes won't load at all. Amazon is replacing without requiring a return.

So has anyone enquired and/or received a reply about this issue, or any other BRD freezer, or is Mulvaney in silent mode?

Received my replacement from Amazon - but exact same problem. E-mailed Mulvaney just last night.

Worked fine on my Panasonic BD80. Have you guys tried updating firmware?

At times, stunning transfer. Really enjoyed re-visiting the film, would have liked a meatier booklet but for the price (caught it at $22 at amazon) I am more than happy.

Matango wrote:So has anyone enquired and/or received a reply about this issue, or any other BRD freezer, or is Mulvaney in silent mode?

I received this reply from Mulvaney regarding the Walkabout BD problem:

"I'm very sorry to hear that your WALKABOUT Blu-ray is freezing and would be happy to help you secure a replacement. May I ask what type of Blu-ray player you own?

Before sending the disc in, please make sure that your firmware is up-to-date. Many customers that report their Blu-ray discs are freezing usually find that the problem is resolved as soon as they update their firmware! Also, Blu-rays are very finicky and even the slightest smudge can cause the main menu motion disappear. If you do see any fingerprints, you can use a little soap and water or even your shirt to clean them off. Or you can hold the disc under running water, and with clean hands, use your thumb to clean the surface by rubbing outward from the center only. Dry the disc thoroughly by sandwiching it between several layers of paper towel. Do not rub the disc!

If the disc proves to be defective, please mail the disc along with a copy of your address, to my attention at the address below. As soon as I receive it, I'll send you a new one!"

I have mailed my copy of Walkabout to Criterion for replacement last week.

I can't argue with any of the suggestions Mr. Mulvaney offers, but is this problem occurring with all Blu-rays coming out these days or just two consecutive ones from Criterion? This seems to be a specific problem, not one related to general maintenance.

Re above question: it seems to be a specific problem with Walkabout and Days of Heaven only since no other CC Blu seems to have shipped with a batch of faulty discs (I certainly hope that Mystery Train won't be plagued by the same issue!). The other CC Blu's I own, Sanjuro and Stagecoach, work just fine.

It may be a compatibility issue rather than a pressing issue, because I have both of those discs and they both work fine on my player.

I'm not sure about that. I've had a bad disc not work on two different players, and a good disc of that same title work on both of them.

My replacement copy is faulty as well although not quite so bad. Now the freeze occurs about 10 seconds later and "only" lasts a minute or so. I'll try a firmware upgrade over the weekend and if that fails, I'll get in touch with Criterion.

Mr Finch wrote:My replacement copy is faulty as well although not quite so bad. Now the freeze occurs about 10 seconds later and "only" lasts a minute or so. I'll try a firmware upgrade over the weekend and if that fails, I'll get in touch with Criterion.

Latest from Mulvaney regarding BD freezing issue:

"Thank you very much for your response and for mailing in your disc. We are checking on the issue now with our pressing plant. I'll be sure to notify you as soon as I have more information!

Thank you in advance for your patience and for supporting Criterion!

Sincerely,

Jon"

Walkabout Blu Ray recall.