Netflix Blu-Ray DVD Damage Problem?

Mars Box is reporting that 5 out of 7 Blu-ray rentals have had serious cracks that have prevented viewing.

t’s just a theory, but there appears there might be a problem with older discs. This could be related to the age of the disc in which all Netflix Blu-Ray discs will eventually have the problem, or perhaps just a batch of first generation discs that crack going through the mail or some sorting machine. I say this because I’ve seen others with the same problem but the problem seems to go away. Perhaps they rent older movies at first and then move to new releases? Perhaps the first discs they rent are some of the first Blu-Ray movies available? I’m not sure, but I’ll update this post with any new information I get.

The defective Blu-ray DVDs were Casine Royale, The Holiday, and Flags of our Fathers.

I've always wondered if the high definition DVD formats were more fragile than traditional DVDs. Has anyone else had a problem with Blu-ray or HD DVD discs from Netflix or Blockbuster?

Comments

[MCWHAMMER]

I have not had a problem yet, but I find that a lot of new releases are DVD only, so I haven't been able to watch as many Blu-ray's as I want to.

In thought they were much better made than DVD's, and more scratchproof. But I have heard of early discs being defective (Including some from Disney). I think the problem has since been fixed though.

I don't even know what Marsbox is, how can I trust them?

[Pollardito]

i have a Blue-Ray copy of "Waiting..." shipping back to Netflix right now because it arrived with a 1/2" long crack starting at the edge of the disc that made it unplayable. That's just 1 bad apple out of the 5 or 6 Blue-Ray discs that i've checked out, so it's too early to say anything really.

[neilk2350]

no problems with hd-dvd. and i've gotten lots

[CJ]

During the last 6 months I've rented total of about 50 Hi Def DVDs, either HD-DVD or Blu-ray, from either NF, BB on-line, or BB Brick & mortar sources. I've rented zero defective disks.

Only problem I've had was one HD-DVD title ("Alpha Dog") would randomly freeze, however, that was a known problem that went away when I updated the player firmware.

Also, 6 months ago, it was easy to rent HD-DVDs and Blu-ray new releases - now all I see is "Long Wait"s or empty store shelves.

[DB]

I've definitely noticed this, this week alone I've rented Valley of Elah, Assassination of Jesse James, 30 Days of Night, and The Lives of Others. The only one that arrived WITHOUT a 1/4 inch crack in the disk is Assassination. Very frustrating.

[willied1978]

I have had a lot of problems with blu-ray movies on blockbuster online. I would say on average that only about 2 out of every 5 that I have received have worked correctly. I own between 20 and 30 blu-ray titles and have never had a problems with any of them.

[David]

Had to return Golden Compass as it failed to play. No cracks on the disk. My firmware is up to date. Another copy will be here 4-13-08. I have been told (NOT BY NETFLIX) that Netflix,Blockbuster,Walmart & other outlets my get their copies from different pressing plants and the codes on the disk may be wrong or missing. This could cause some players to reject them. Other players might play them. If they spent as much time standardizing as worrying about copy guards they would sell more discs. They forgot about the DVD problems in the past and it back fired on them.