Weinstein HD DVDs have playback problems
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business,01/05/2007
JAN. 5 | Reasons are unclear, but a number of consumers are reporting playback difficulties with The Weinstein Co. HD DVD releases.
In late December, a survey by technology site AVSForum.com reported that about 50% of respondents were experiencing glitches with Weinstein HD DVDs, which are distributed by Genius Products. Affected titles include The Matador, Derailed and Wolf Creek.
Weinstein releases HD DVD versions of Clerks II, Pulse and Lucky Number Slevin on Jan. 16, but early discs of Clerks II received by VB had the same problems.
Users have reported faulty playback using both Toshiba HD DVD players and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive. Problems include overly slow load times, picture freezes and unreadable discs.
Player firmware upgrades have helped, but some users experienced problems even after the upgrade.
Genius executives are researching the matter and hope to have customer complaints resolved soon.
“We take every precaution in testing our HD DVD titles and strive to provide our customers with the highest standard of products in the business,” said Michael Radiloff, executive VP of marketing at Genius. “We are aware that unforeseen issues involving the variability of players and the occasional need to upgrade firmware can be frustrating to a handful of users. With that in mind, we are closely monitoring these issues to make sure we provide the best viewing experience possible.”
VB has not experienced problems with discs from other studios.
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| Submitted by: | Stephen Hollas (stephen.hollas@ntlworld.com) 1/27/2007 4:45:39 PM PT |
| Location: | Hertfordshire United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | AV Systems Integrator |
I am having problems playing back a lot of the HD-DVD's, some play perfect some skip/freeze and have audio dropouts. I have a Toshiba XA1 player which has had the firmware V2 update, yet still have this problem. I have a friend who has the same problem as well. Toshiba have been poor in providing any support or suggestions. I think it may be the HD discs themselves and not the player. Regular DVD's play perfect, I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions that anyone might have as I getting very frustrated in not being able to watch "the perfect sound and vision" as the ad claims. Discs with skipping problems have been King Kong, Miami Vice (which also took 4 minutes to load!)Poseidon, Batman Begins, Eagles Farewell Concert, World Trade Center, Full Metal Jacket and the new Superman Returns film to name a few. Can anybody help !
| Submitted by: | Ken 1/5/2007 5:42:43 PM PT |
| Location: | USA |
| Occupation: | University business school professor |
Let me get this straight. Your "journalist" used as a source for the Weinstein article a MESSAGE BOARD POLL? Well now....that's scientific, isn't it! The source is especially expedient if someone apparently has an axe to grind (note: the last snarky sentence exposes the author's objectivity quite clearly).
| Submitted by: | Jack (email@yahoo.com) 1/5/2007 5:27:57 PM PT |
You guys need to watch a couple more discs from other studios because they all have some glitches.
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