Meaning of Life on XBox

[feldon23]

Anyone ever heard of a DVD playing back that is stuttery, almost like there are ghosting or afterimages on an XBox?

I saw this at a friend's house on his XBox. The whole movie of the new Meaning of Life DVD had this problem. Hitting STOP which takes you to the XBox menu and then resuming playback cleared up for some time, sometimes a chapter stop, sometimes less.

Maybe there is some bizarre progressive/interlaced flagging?

[brian]

Yeah, my Xbox's dvd playback is horrible on all discs. Stuttery looking, very ugly. I really couldn't stand watching movies on it.

[brian1234]

is it true this is flagged wrong and plays interlaced?

[shnikey]

I had this problem on my JVC XV-S502. A good example of the problem is when the credits role for the opening "mini-film" when the old dudes go crazy. It was choppy as hell, I had to fast forward it was so bad. Is anyone else having this problem? The other time it happened to me was when the camera would pan left or right. On zooms and stills I had no problems.

-Shnikey

[oldbenway]

So I have a normal DVD player, not even an XBox and it has HUGE friggin interlacing problems. Everytime there is motion, you can barely see what is going on. Does anyone know how to complain to the studio to get this frigging thing fixed? I can't even watch the movie it;s so bad and annoying.
-oldbenway

[sirmikael]

I have a launch-day Xbox, and I'm having this problem as well. The disc plays fine on my Philips 793CH and Pioneer DV-333, but it is basically unwatchable on the Xbox.

[Buffalo Bill]

Mid November corrected discs will be mailed out. Call 1-800-433-4673 and they will take all of your information down and send you a prepaid mailer. We have another BTTF (except this time the csr I got could speak English).

[sirmikael]

Has anyone (not just Xbox users) actually received the return envelope from Universal yet? I called on the first or second day after they gave out the 1-800 number, and I didn't think about it until today.

Also, an update to my prior post.....When I first tested it, I forgot to turn on progressive scan on my DVD player. Once I did that, the problems were there.

[bobletteross]

...to return disk #1 to Universal. Hopefully, we can get a watchable disk back before the end of the year.

[SilentBob]

Originally Posted by brian1234

is it true this is flagged wrong and plays interlaced?

Well i'm a bit late but here is what to expect with the glitch everyone is talking about (thanks to IGN DVD.com )

[sirmikael]

I received my mailer yesterday, so all that's left now is the waiting. I sure hope they don't send the new disc back to me the same way that I'm sending the bad disc to them!

[Region2dude]

I'm a bit disapointed that DVDFile hasn't written a review of this DVD.

[Anti-Hero]

My friend has an Xbox, Im a PS2 person myself, but we tried to watch my brand new copy of 'The Terminator' on his xbox and it would freeze up and skip like crazy..

[Buffalo Bill]

The sheet that comes with the prepaid mailer says that product will be available mid-November 2003. I've emailed them 3 times this week & called the number given (not the toll free number with the illiterate refugees answering with the prepared script). I got voice mail from the 972-293-5903 asking for my name & number to call but no response also. Just wondering if anyone has received their replacement discs or heard anything back on this.

[Buffalo Bill]

Haven't watched it yet but my replacement disc arrived today in a sealed jewel case. Like the BTTF it has V2 stamped on the disc on the outer rim.

[Wesly Moore]

I haven't yet sent for a replacement disc for Meaning of Life, but saw this reported on www.dvdreview.com:

Universal replaces bad discs with bad discs

"It is truly sad to witness and speaks volumes for the state of the studio, but Universal Home Video is once again making headlines of the bad sort. After releasing bad DVDs of Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life into the market earlier this year, the studio is currently sending out replacement discs to its customers. But before you get too excited, here’s the problem. These replacement discs are just as defective as the original ones, if not even worse-looking than before.
"At this point I am at a loss for words really. Universal really needs to get their act together. Their reputation is entirely down the gurgler and the studio does not seem to have any ambition to work on improving it. Selling people defective DVDs is bad to begin with, but having the audacity to actually replace these discs with another batch of defective ones is beyond comprehension. Once again, we can only recommend to stay away from Universal Home Video releases as good as you can, until the studio actually proves to the public that they are worth your hard-earned money."

Has anybody received a replacement disc and checked it out? I don't want to get a replacement disc that's just as bad as the disc being replaced.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Wesly Moore

I haven't yet sent for a replacement disc for Meaning of Life, but saw this reported on www.dvdreview.com:

Universal replaces bad discs with bad discs

Wow... this is unbelievable....

Peace...

[Buffalo Bill]

I watched the V2 & it is the same as the original but then again I had no problem with it except when in pause mode being blurry (Pioneer 563a). They did send me a letter about a week later saying:

Re:"Monty Python's: The Meaning of Life" DVD Replacement

Please disregard the replacement version 2 disk for "Monty Python's: The Meaning of Life" you recently received. A new updated version will be sent to you shortly.

For further information please email or call toll free:

universalstudios&dreamworks@leemarketing.com

888-304-0608

Sincerely,

Universal Studios Home Video

Consumer Relations Department

I read on another site (can't recall where) that Universal admitted to accidentally making the V2 disks from the same master as the originals & that they were aware and would shortly be sending what would I guess be a V3. They didn't ask for the V2 to be sent back so when the corrected disk comes I'll be able to give the V2 to my nephew who has a player which doesn't have a problem with the disk. I don't know how long we have to wait but a corrected disk will eventually be shipped.

[Notoriousaurus]

Interesting to note. I bought this and first watched it on my friends PS2 where I had this problem. Then I tried it on my Sony DVD player (old school 1998 model) and it played perfectly, So I am not returning it.

Still it must have some weird problem with some hardware.

[Trebor]

Was this every disc like BTTF or just some discs? Mine looks fine, I had no problems what so ever.

[UserNameUndecided]

I just learned about this (obviously I haven't been keeping up on the DVD sites lately), but this is just horribly absurd. I will want to own this movie someday.

Half-assed businesses are one of my biggest pet peeves, so I thought I'd spend a few minutes writing them (and another few telling all of you kids about it!).

I recommend everybody else who thinks this situation is as ridiculous as I do write them too. Just go here, accept the little agreement, scroll down to Home Video & DVD under Entertainment, that will lead to a FAQ that has a small link to contact them under the FAQ's title.

Here's what I told 'em, and notice how I never actually said I ever bought the title in question:

Concerning the Meaning of Life faulty discs AND faulty replacements -- get your damned act together! This, and I had to send back my Back to the Future discs last year.
From now on, I'm buying my Universal discs used from trade-in or rental stores. It's a shame that I feel I have to do that, but at least the wait after the release date will give me some time to check around to see if the disc was faulty.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by oldbenway

So I have a normal DVD player, not even an XBox and it has HUGE friggin interlacing problems. Everytime there is motion, you can barely see what is going on.

For those questioning the flags on the discs, if you have a cadence reading DVD player (like the Panasonic DVD-RP91, RP82, XP30, CP72, Denon DVD-1600, DVD-2200, DVD-2900, DVD-3800, DVD-5900, etc), then your player should be immune to improperly flagged DVDs since the flags aren't "blindly" read.

Of course, this isn't necessarily the cause but it is something to keep in mind, nonetheless.

What kinds of DVD players are people experiencing "interlacing" problems with (besides the Xbox)?

Peace...

[oldbenway]

I just became an XBox owner, the newest bundle version. The Meaning of Life dvd has the interlacing problems on that machine. My original machine is a Malata DVP-520, a super dvd player that does PAL-NTSC conversion, region-free, all that jazz, and it still has interlacing problems. I also exprience the problem when watching on my brand new macintosh powerbook 15".
So I am 3 for 3, great friggin' job universal.
Just got off the phone with tech support, the rep said he is sure the dics have begun to ship. Looks like the pythons will lose money on this one, oh well. I hope it comes out of Universal's pocket, Eric Idle needs to stop touring and singing... Will check back in when I get my v.3 MOL dvd...

[bobletteross]

I received my second replacement disk...unfortunately it still says v2 2 days ago. It came 2 day delivery from UPS.

Hopefully all that received the first replacement disk had gotten the "sorry, my bad" letter from Universal. If not I would give them a call.

[oldbenway]

Just got my v.2 dvd- plays fine on my XBox (this season's model) and my Malata DVP520, what a relief.
-oldbenway

[The Mobius]

I recently bought this, and sent it in for a replacement - today I received V2 in the mail, which seems to work fine in my Xbox.

Did V3 ever materialize for people, and should I complain and get the newer version if it exists? I don't want my future players to baulk at the disk.
And if a V3 does exist, that really sucks that they would still send out V2s as a replacement, presumably to use them up!!