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 I recently started renting high definition movies on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs from Netflix. So far I’ve received 7 Blu-Ray discs from which 5 have been defective. All five of them have the exact same small crack at the edge of the disc. The crack is usually a little more than a quarter of an inch long, somewhere along the edge of the disc. Before noticing the crack, I thought I was merely having trouble playing the new discs. New technology, new headaches; I’m used to that. A friend mentioned to look closely around the edge of the disc for a small crack. The crack was so faint and small I hadn’t noticed it. Problem solved I thought. A couple clicks on Netflix’s well designed site and I would have my replacement disc in a mere day. No dice. The next disc was cracked as well.
I’ve been a paying customer for around 4 years now and I can only remember receiving one or maybe two bad discs during that time. I have phoned Netflix a couple times so far. I initially called to confirm whether other people where having this problem or if it was just me. I had receive 3 bad disc out of 4 at that point. The representative said they were unaware of anyone else having issues with the Blu-Ray discs. She offered me a discount on my next month’s service, which only made me feel cheated when I saw other people getting bigger discounts for 6 months. I called again when I recevied the forth defective disc. I wanted to verbally update them that I’ve 4 out of 5 now, and thought perhaps a different representative might have more information than the first. The second agent also stated they were unaware of any issues with cracked Blu-Ray discs. I questioned why I received a small discount on my next month’s service while I had read others had received a 6 month discounted service. To this the new rep offered me an extra movie a month for two months. I really like Netflix, so it’s hard to be mean, but a couple a free movies and a small 1 month discount versus 50% off for 6 months... (sigh, nice guys lose again).
It’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. So far the defective (cracked disc) movies I’ve received are:
9/13/2007 – Casino Royale (Not recognized by player)
9/17/2007 – Casino Royale
9/18/2007 – Flags of Our Fathers (Would not play)
9/18/2007 – The Holiday
9/21/2007 – The Holiday
9/27/2007 – The Holiday
9/27/2007 – Planet Earth: Complete Collection: Disc 1
10/02/2007 – Happy Feet
10/02/2007 – Babel
10/04/2007 – Happy Feet (Played OK)
10/04/2007 – Babel (Played OK)
10/09/2007 – Babel (Played OK)
10/18//2007 – The Fountain (Freezes near end)
13 cracked out of 24 as of 2007-10-18
2007-10-04 Update:
I received two more Blu-Ray discs today, and on a whim I tried playing them. I was surprised that they both played perfectly even though both had the same hair line crack at the edge of the disc. I let them run through while I was working in my office. I wasn’t in front of the screens the entire time, but I believe they each played fine with no freezes or sound problems.
I’m now curious if some of the other disc would have played okay even though the crack was present. I tested some of the disc in the past but not all of them. The first two discs I received that were cracked, I had tried in multiple players and even took them to a friend’s house to try. The disc were not recognized by the player at all in that case. I had tried a couple of the other discs I had received but not all of them. My experienced with the first two disc mislead me to believe that the present of the crack would indicated a defective disc. When updating this post in the future, I will note if the disc played or not.
The first thing that pops to mind about this new evidence is perhaps Babel and Happy Feet did not span the entire disc to where information would have fallen in the area where the disc was cracked.
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September 24, 2007