The Abyss? DVD Rot? Or Not? Oh dear... - DVDfile.com forum for DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD

Saberdance · 01-31-2002, 04:15 PM

Okay; I am a newbie so I don't know absolutely everything, which is why I need some opinions and advice. Fox announcing the new fullscreen editions of their titles sort of prompted me to go out and buy the current edition of THE ABYSS a few weeks ago. I watched it the first time, and it played perfectly fine. This morning, however, I watched it again, only this time there are strange, annoying pauses through the film, specifically during chapter 19 (of the special edition), "The Crane." I played it on my Hitachi DV-P315U model DVD player, and that's what happened.

Taking out the disc and inspecting it, I noticed some very small, barely noticable scratches. I didn't inspect the disc when I first bought it, but nothing has happened to it that would cause a great deal of wear and tear. I tried wiping the disc very very very very carefully, but not much improvement. I tried cleaning the DVD lens, but no improvement.

Strangely enough, when I play the disc on my computer using PowerDVD, it works perfectly fine.

Does anyone know what could be causing this (hopefully not this legend of DVD rot that I've heard something about), or any other information that I should know?

Thanks in advance.

Mr. Mike.

mbowen · 01-31-2002, 04:23 PM

Were you watching the Director's Cut of the film? I don't know much from DVD model numbers and such, but my guess is the pauses you're experiencing are probably from the seamless branching the disc uses to "edit in" the extra scenes. It could be those scratches too, but usually those will casue a lot of pixle-y picture breakup, not full-on freezing.

Try asking this questing in the glitch forum as well. Maybe someone can help you there.

Prospero · 01-31-2002, 05:44 PM

mbowen's answer sounds right. I'd add that the probable reason it doesn't pause on your computer is because it has a (much) larger buffer than your DVD player, so that the editing in or the layer switch is unnoticeable.

On the other hand, if the pauses were due to seamless branching, wouldn't they come between (and not during) chapters? Hmmm.

01-31-2002, 04:15 PM	#1 (permalink)
Saberdance Supporting Actor Join Date: Jan 2002	The Abyss? DVD Rot? Or Not? Oh dear... Okay; I am a newbie so I don't know absolutely everything, which is why I need some opinions and advice. Fox announcing the new fullscreen editions of their titles sort of prompted me to go out and buy the current edition of THE ABYSS a few weeks ago. I watched it the first time, and it played perfectly fine. This morning, however, I watched it again, only this time there are strange, annoying pauses through the film, specifically during chapter 19 (of the special edition), "The Crane." I played it on my Hitachi DV-P315U model DVD player, and that's what happened. Taking out the disc and inspecting it, I noticed some very small, barely noticable scratches. I didn't inspect the disc when I first bought it, but nothing has happened to it that would cause a great deal of wear and tear. I tried wiping the disc very very very very carefully, but not much improvement. I tried cleaning the DVD lens, but no improvement. Strangely enough, when I play the disc on my computer using PowerDVD, it works perfectly fine. Does anyone know what could be causing this (hopefully not this legend of DVD rot that I've heard something about), or any other information that I should know? Thanks in advance. Mr. Mike.

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01-31-2002, 04:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
mbowen Actor Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Omaha,NE,USA	Were you watching the Director's Cut of the film? I don't know much from DVD model numbers and such, but my guess is the pauses you're experiencing are probably from the seamless branching the disc uses to "edit in" the extra scenes. It could be those scratches too, but usually those will casue a lot of pixle-y picture breakup, not full-on freezing. Try asking this questing in the glitch forum as well. Maybe someone can help you there.

01-31-2002, 05:44 PM	#3 (permalink)
Prospero Actor Join Date: Mar 2001	mbowen's answer sounds right. I'd add that the probable reason it doesn't pause on your computer is because it has a (much) larger buffer than your DVD player, so that the editing in or the layer switch is unnoticeable. On the other hand, if the pauses were due to seamless branching, wouldn't they come between (and not during) chapters? Hmmm.