Defective or Disappointing UK Anime Discs

Hanners said:
One suspects a "proper" western home video release would also use a westernised version of the show's logo and also create their own opening and ending credits with English language credits and minus the Japanese karaoke text. Compared to the lack of a sign subtitle track, it's a minor niggle.
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Considering that the Naruto Shippuden releases are of similar quality, no signs, original language credits, sponsor cards, it is consistent across the brand, leaving the only real complaint the ugly as sin subtitle font and format errors.
 
Really? I've never checked out any of the Naruto DVDs in full as they've never been on my review docket, but I always assumed they at least got the same treatment at Bleach in that regard.
 
When Marnie Was There Blu-ray - Studio Canal

Or When Marnie tried to break my Blu-ray player.

Zavvi sent out my order early, and I got it yesterday, and StudioCanal have goofed up big time on the authoring. The film itself plays without issue (although I didn't watch it through). It's the way that it's laid on the disc that is the problem. It should be linear, you start playing and the disc spins smoothly all the way to the end, changing layers once if it has to.

The Marnie disc is in bits. The disc will spin up, then suddenly stop, the laser head will reposition, and it will spin up again, and stop, reposition, spin-up...

It does this all the way through the film I assume, and in the quieter moments in the film you can hear the player clunking once every couple of seconds. Blu-ray players aren't supposed to work like that, the laser head shifting is just for chapter search, changing layers, accessing different titles. It shouldn't be doing this during normal playback. I was scared that too much of it would damage my player, so I just ejected the disc. It's a Panasonic SC -BTT 490 Blu-ray player if it's just an isolated compatability issue.
 
Got my copy of When Marnie was there early today.
Went to watch the Blu-ray version everything loaded up fine. Hit play film on main menu and hard crashed my Blu-ray Player. Model I have is a Toshiba BDX1200. Tried again, still a hard crash from hitting play film. Tried to start the film from scene selection. Hit chapter 1. Still crash as soon as the Ghibli logo loaded. In order to get the film to actually play I had to select chapter 2 in the scene select menu and rewind all the way back to the start of the film. Was rather annoyed at doing this I didn't even bother to watch the film. Going to check again tomorrow to make sure the rest of the film plays fine.
 
Tried it on my three bluray players.

LG BP125. It's ironic that my budget player performs best out of the three. The disc spinner is constantly speeding up then slowing down then speeding up then slowing down again. The film is perfectly watchable, but I would recommend headphones be used to cover up the sounds made by the struggling player.

PS3 slim. Not good. The laser is moving back and forth constantly and loudly. The film plays okay but there is no point watching the film if you can't hear any audio over the noise coming from the console.

Xbox One original. The laser is moving all over the place just like in the PS3, albeit much more quietly. The film stops and stutters constantly, making this unwatchable.

Whoever authored this disc needs to find another job. Hell, maybe it would be better if StudioCanal just left anime alone from now on considering how they messed up both the BD authoring and the CE packaging, even Kaze would struggle to screw up this much. I think a product recall is in order here.

EDIT: Just checked the DVD, it seems fine. Picture quality is rubbish compared to the BD though, it's like watching it on freeview.
 
Damn, guys... reading this, I really feel for all of you. Marnie's a high profile release and it clearly deserves better attention than it got. My heart always sinks when I hear about widespread issues with a release like that.
 
Did anyone already report this to Studio Canal ?

After that many reports here, it seems this is very much a problem of the Blu-ray disc was encoded/manufactured. My copy from Zavvi has also shipped but i haven't received it yet but reading this, my Oppo player will probably also fail on it :(
 
Will be interesting to see if any more reports of this come in - still, even to just see two separate reports of such serious issues with the disc is pretty shocking - especially on such a high profile title.
 
Of course this news would come out in the interim between my copy being dispatched and arriving. I guess I'll be flinging it back to Amazon the moment it pops through my door. Such a fantastic movie deserves far better than this.
 
I get the feeling this When Marnie Was There issue is universal. I was going to hold off trying to watch it till my lady was with me but after seeing the issues I decided to open mine and see if I had the same problems...

Short answer: Yes.

Long Answer:
Sony BDP-S1100: Blu-ray Player, Some stuttering, lag, very loud due to constant laser movement.
Playstation 3: Barely lagged but again very loud due to constant laser movement.
Xbox One: Same again but this actually froze up my Xbox's BD app,
PC- LG BDRW drive (BH16NS40): Update loop on Cyberlink PowerDVD 10, Missing AACS on VLC despite latest dll, bypassing AACS allowed it to be played but it would move at normal speed for about 10 seconds then freeze on a frame & just repeat like that over & over.

So it looks like When Marnie Was There's Blu-ray is ballsed >_< I ordered 2 copies as well, one as a present. I have emailed Studio Canal with the info.
 
Oh man that really sucks, I was gonna pick this up from HMV this week (and probably another if it was part of their 2 for £25 deal) :/ Hopefully they do something about it and it doesn't take too long.
 
On my LG-BH4030S it plays without crashing or lagging. At the usual volume I watch films, I can barely hear the player struggling over the film, but if I mute it, I can hear the player make a noise every 2 seconds

Edit: PS4 plays it without lag as well. Though it doesn't make any more noise than usual by the sound of it.

Edit 2: PS3 Super Slim also plays it without lag, though this one really sounds louder than usual reading the disc.

Edit 4: Original Xbox One lags and stutters trough the movie while loudly reading the disc.

So it's watchable on 3 out of my 4 bedroom players. That'll do me. Might still pick up Madman's release at some point if StudioCanal don't do something about it.
 
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Typical. It should be arriving any moment with me via. Amazon. Not sure what to do now. I can only see one post tested on PS4. Not sure if it's safe to use on that.
 
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Well mine's arrived with an almighty spine slash - replacement arranged with Amazon, but will check to see if it works on a Xbox One S and my Sony BDP-S7200.

UPDATE: The BD disc plays OK in my Sony BDP-S7200, you can hear the read head moving around but there is no stutter/lag.

However, the Xbox One S is a different matter - again there is noise, but also plenty of stutter/lag which would make it unwatchable from this unit alone.
 
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So judging from the various tests performed by users here, it seems like the XBox One (and S) are the most affected by these issues?
 
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