How Now Brown Blu-rays

[rrenault]

Has anyone actually encountered playback issues with Andrei Rublev or any of the other Mexico-pressed releases? I have Andrei Rublev but my copy is still in shrink wrap.

[zackm72]

I thought this might be helpful or ar least good to catalog. I emailed Criterion because I bought a used copy of M which I didn't know had disc rot and I wanted to get it replaced. This is the email I got back, with both the primary list of known/acknowledged blu-rays and a secondary list of acknowledged titles. I'll now also be sending in Wings of Desire, Gomorrah, and Bigger Than Life. Had I not gotten this list, I wouldn't have checked the latter 3 films.

"We have confirmed that certain Blu-ray discs pressed at a replication facility that we used for a period in 2010 have become defective, showing a noticeable bronze discoloration on the underside and developing playback problems.

We have confirmed the problem on ten titles, but not on all copies of these titles. All of these titles have since been re-pressed at a different pressing plant, and the vast majority of discs in circulation should not be affected.

The confirmed potentially affected Blu-ray titles are:

SUMMER HOURS
WALKABOUT
PARIS, TEXAS
M
THE SEVENTH SEAL
PIERROT LE FOU
HOWARDS END
MONSOON WEDDING
MONTEREY POP
RIDE WITH THE DEVIL

In addition to the confirmed list, please review any copies of the following you may have in your collection:

Gomorrah
Wings of Desire
Vivre Sa Vie
8 1/2
A Christmas Tale
Days of Heaven
In the Realm of the Senses
Kagemusha
Lola Montes
Stagecoach
Paths of Glory
Bigger Than Life
Revanche

These titles seem to have less discs that were affected. Not all runs of these discs were affected with the disc rot. The best way to tell if your disc from the list is defective is by looking on the underside of the disc (the shiny side) and if you see the letters 'BVDL' your disc will be fine. If you don't see those letters you should send in your disc.

If you have found that your Blu-ray copy of one of these titles does not play, please send your disc in to the following address for a replacement:

The Criterion Collection
Attn: Jon Mulvaney
215 Park Avenue South
5th floor
New York, NY 10003

Please include only your discs -- no packaging from the titles -- along with your address and a note indicating that you've received a replacement.

If you decide not to send in a disc that is playing fine and it starts to show signs of the defect at a later date, we will be happy to exchange your disc at that time. If we learn that other titles are similarly defective, we will add them to the list and continue to replace them as well (excluding discs that are out of print that aren't listed above)."

[The Pachyderminator]

Ah, that explains the problem with my Stagecoach disc. The letters BVDL are indeed missing in addition to a bronze tint. My copies of Days of Heaven and Paths of Glory are still fine though.

What's the significance of those letters? Do they indicate a particular pressing facility other than the problematic one, or are they put on all the discs in such a way that they disappear when the disc starts to decay?

[domino harvey]

I believe they do indicate the pressing plant

[mike_cannon]

Does anyone know if Criterion are still issuing replacement discs for Days of Heaven, after it has fallen out of print? Doubtful, I know, but...just wondering.

[Brian C]

Helpful tip, thanks zackm72. I went through a double-checked a bunch of discs ... my Bigger Than Life disc looks like shit but plays through fine. Lola Montes, however, looks even worse and does not play fine. So, I guess I'll have to send away for a replacement of that one, at least.

Fortunately, I didn't buy Days of Heaven until some years after its original release, so it has the BVDL blessing.

[FrauBlucher]

Does anyone know if Criterion are still issuing replacement discs for Days of Heaven, after it has fallen out of print? Doubtful, I know, but...just wondering.

Sounds like a question for Criterion's customer service

[therewillbeblus]

Does anyone know if Criterion are still issuing replacement discs for Days of Heaven, after it has fallen out of print? Doubtful, I know, but...just wondering.

Sounds like a question for Criterion's customer service

Definitely (well, you'd have to go that route anyways to get one!), but I can't imagine they wouldn't. I got a replacement for Pierrot le fou a couple years ago, which had been OOP for a while- they clearly have discs available in the warehouse even for titles they no longer have the rights to. There must be some loophole about supplying a disc already bought rather than issuing a new product itself, and if they had discs of Pierrot lying around then I have to think they'd have Days of Heaven, a more-recent OOP title that also seems to have been very unexpectedly and abruptly removed from their market. I'm sure there are many discs just sitting somewhere, and unless there's some unique clause from Paramount that nixes the policy in place from other OOP titles (which would be odd, and I'd think would require some exhausting work not beneficial to any party to put time and effort into pushing) this should be the same deal.

[Amazing Goose]

They were replacing Days of Heaven as of a few weeks ago.

Also, the process has changed from a few years ago. This is from an email I received a few weeks ago:
------------------

n order to receive replacement discs, please email us back with the following:
Your name and a mailing address that will be valid for at least the next 3 months
A complete list of the titles in your collection that have bronzing discoloration and/or playback issues
A photo of the defective disc(s) with your name and date written on the front/art side (using a sharpie or paint marker - you can write this info on the lighter portion of the disc, and take a photo against a light source so your name and date are visible)
A photo of the underside of the disc(s) - the shiny side
You no longer need to mail us discs affected by discrot, though any titles that are not listed may still need to be sent in for closer inspection in order to be replaced. We do not cover the shipping or provide mailers for these returned discs but we will send the replacements to you worldwide free of charge. We will alert you which discs need to be sent in, if any. Please note that except for the 4 titles below, we cannot replace out of print releases.

Discs are replaced on a rolling basis and we can typically send out replacements within 1-3 months.

The best way to tell if your disc from the list is defective is by looking on the underside of the disc (the shiny side) and if you see the letters 'BVDL' your disc will be fine. If you don't see those letters you should have it replaced.

The confirmed potentially affected Blu-ray titles are:
8 1/2
Bigger than Life
For All Mankind
Gomorrah
In the Realm of the Senses
Kagemusha
Lola Montes
M
Monsoon Wedding
Monterey Pop
Paris, Texas
Revanche
Ride with the Devil
Sanjuro
Seventh Seal, The
Stagecoach
Summer Hours
Vivre sa Vie
Walkabout
Wings of Desire

Days of Heaven - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Howards End - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Le Cercle Rouge - out of print but affected discs are still being replaced
Pierrot le Fou - the version released 2008-2010 is out of print but affected discs are still being replaced with our 2020 version of the release

Not all runs of these discs were affected with disc rot. If your disc is displaying discoloration and/or having playback issues, please report it. Replacements will be honored for the foreseeable future, so there's no rush to request a new copy if there's no apparent problem.

If you decide not to send in a disc that is playing fine and it starts to show signs of the defect at a later date, we will be happy to exchange your disc at that time. If we learn that other titles are similarly defective, we will add them to the list and continue to replace them as well (excluding discs that are out of print that aren't listed above).

[therewillbeblus]

That’s a bummer Pierrot le fou’s original print isn’t being replaced, but not surprising. I believe we speculated this back when it was reissued

[fdm]

Interesting that A Christmas Tale and Paths of Glory are not listed by Criterion this time. But nothing new otherwise, at least officially.

(Time to do some more replacements...)

[dwk]

That’s a bummer Pierrot le fou’s original print isn’t being replaced, but not surprising. I believe we speculated this back when it was reissued

I believe that they were offering people the choice between the old disc and the new one, but they must have finally run out of copies of the old disc.

[hearthesilence]

That’s a bummer Pierrot le fou’s original print isn’t being replaced, but not surprising. I believe we speculated this back when it was reissued

I believe that they were offering people the choice between the old disc and the new one, but they must have finally run out of copies of the old disc.

Wouldn't the new disc be preferable? I thought it was both the new restoration AND a corrected one, so it finally got the tinting and day-for-night shots right.

[dwk]

Wouldn't the new disc be preferable? I thought it was both the new restoration AND a corrected one, so it finally got the tinting and day-for-night shots right.

The new disc is missing the green tints during the party scene. However, I do recall someone saying that Criterion was going to fix that, but I haven't seen any proof that it has been fixed.

[therewillbeblus]

Was it confirmed to be "corrected"? Either way, some people (myself included) prefer the day-for-night shot and color tinting at the party on the original release. I wouldn't go into a tailspin if I had to replace the disc, but as I plan to watch this on a frequent basis for the rest of my life, I'd like to view the film- especially the party scene- as I remember it

[hearthesilence]

There's a post here somewhere with a screenshot of an email that details the correction and instructions on doing the exchange - unless there's been a delay, the corrected disc should be available by now, but I don't know anyone who's exchanged an uncorrected disc for the new corrected disc. Anybody here try it yet?

[Pepsi]

Is there any replacement program for the bunch of GAUMONT (French) titles that are affected?

[omegadirective]

Couple questions on this thread:

Are there any out of print tiles that I should look at that they are no longer able to replace?

Also, is the only way to tell if there is disc rot that affects playback is to play the whole movie?
I just found this thread and according to the most recent list in this thread, I have all the movies listed, but the only one that had BDVL is my copy of Zoe Circle Rouge.
I don’t really have time to watch 23 movies just ondetermine if I should have them replaced.

[Brian C]

I fast-forwarded through the ones I have that were suspect. Took maybe 4-5 minutes per movie and found a couple that froze up.

[cdnchris]

Will confirm what Brian says: if there are issues with the disc it will start to freak out when you hit a problematic area when fast forwarding. You can then go and attempt to playback the area that freaked out just to confirm if you wish.

[Brian C]

Also it’s kind of fun to watch them fast-forwarded - each film reduced to a rapid-fire sequence of images. Hadn’t remembered how poor-quality the image on KAGEMUSHA is, though.

[omegadirective]

Thanks for the tip, guys.
I’ll give that a try.

[Rayon Vert]

Also, the process has changed from a few years ago. This is from an email I received a few weeks ago: (...)
------------------

The best way to tell if your disc from the list is defective is by looking on the underside of the disc (the shiny side) and if you see the letters 'BVDL' your disc will be fine. If you don't see those letters you should have it replaced.

So I'm taking that to mean regardless of whether the disc still runs well, we can ask for a replacement. Which in my case will mean Bigger Than Life, which is missing those letters, even though it played fine the last time, which was about a year ago. (My Pierrot le Fou also doesn't have those letters but I guess I'll just pray it continues playing - it's a rare case where I kept the DVD when I upgraded just because I was fearful of anything happening to the other disc given the film mean so much to me!)

What's the email address to write to for the replacement?

[therewillbeblus]

What's the email address to write to for the replacement?

mulvaney@criterion.com (unless it's mysteriously changed recently)

[Rayon Vert]

Thanks T. I thought that was it, but wanted to confirm!