My search for skipping and freezing 4k discs led me to your channel. Your pro tip actually worked. I was beginning to get frustrated with 4k discs but have renewed my faith. Thanks. Newly subscribe.
My brand new Batman Begins 4K disc, purchased a few months ago, has a not too shallow scratch around the disc, deep enough for the movie to stop at the 100th minute and not be able to go beyond that point. It's a disgrace the way they treat buyers. A wonderful and very instructive video. Greetings from Spain.
If you research... the Sony UBP-X700M has specific issues when playing discs at the 1 hour 40 minute mark, which exactly matches what you said here. It's the player, not the disc. Look at forums and you'll see this issue.
Just recently I noticed the off gassing and lubrication on a disc. I also noticed finger prints and it was a brand new disc I was inspecting before playing. Then I come across your video and was happy to now know why but at the same time irritated to know how wide spread the issue is. Great video!
So, my brand new ALIENS 4k Disc kept pixelating and freezing at the moment that the Aliens bust into the room from the ceiling. I was annoyed, a freshly opened disc and it was already having issues. I took your advice and gently cleaned the disc even though it appeared to the naked eye flawless. That did the trick. I had already used your tips about settings from a previous video. Perhaps I should not have returned my copy of Batman 89…..that simply would not cross the halfway mark without permanently freezing. Thanks mate, I’m a subscriber that enjoys all your content.
Yeah sometimes that's all it takes... just a wipe down/cleaning of the disc. I hardly ever have discs freeze on me now. Usually cleaning seems to resolve most issues (unless there's actually some kind of manufacturing issue with the disc). Thanks for watching and chiming in! I'm glad to hear this helped.
Thanks for covering this. Bad QC has long been discussed on the forums but the reality is a TH-cam video these days always brings more awareness. To expand on what you said, almost all North American Blu-ray discs in recent years are pressed at the same replication factory in Mexico. That's why most US releases are plagued by scratches (Scream/Shout Factory, Criterion, major studios alike; although SF & Criterion do appear to be disproportionally affected). I personally estimate at least 30% of the discs I receive are scratched. Fortunately, European releases are mostly pressed in Europe, where quality control has been much more stringent, so a vast majority of the time imported discs arrive in pristine condition. This also applies to Arrow's US releases and, interestingly, recent Paramount releases because they've moved replication to Germany.
This is such an appropriate video, because I just had that problem yesterday watching "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish". The disc wouldn't play properly at first, as has sometimes happened with Universal disc. I had to open and close it a couple times and it started playing, it did freeze but was able to continue, unlike previously where I had to unplug and replug the power. I do have that Sony player, but this is the first freezing/non-playing problem that I've had in a while and I use that player almost daily, so I don't think it's the player, it's likely the discs, like you say.
I did also look at the back of the Last Wish disc, and yep, there are markings on it. Several almost fully circular lines, that I assume are left from the pressing of the disc.
The disc is a dual layer disc. Panasonic does a much better job switching layers than Sony does. My UB820 has not frozen yet, but my X800M2 and X700 both freeze occasionally.
No problem! That's exactly what I was going for with this series... I wanted to try and cover some of the issues that come up with physical media that people don't necessarily always talk about a whole lot. Thank you for watching and subbing! I really appreciate it. I'm glad I could be of some help.
Thanks Fuzz! Got in a brand new copy of the Mario movie yesterday and had these issues and the disc wouldn’t play. Your recommendation helped get it going.
I learned something today , thank you . Blue Rays bought from Walmart and Amazon always come in a sealed wrapper , i expect them to be untouched and perfect . I'll check more carefully from now on .
I've gotten into the practice of checking my discs before putting in these days unfortunately. Lots of off gasing coming from everywhere lately. Great video man!
Just got my freezing copy of Beverly Hills Cop 3. I cleaned the disc and it still freezes in the same spot. This is a defective disc. Sent it back to Amazon and received a replacement that worked!
I've only had a couple of problematic discs, the biggest ones being The Batman and Star Wars. The Batman skipped multiple times despite cleaning it. The other was Top Gun Maverick but after a cleaning, it worked perfectly. I have a Sony X800m2.
Subscribed. Very informative! I've had problems with both 4K's and regular Blu-Rays when ripping them, and found that washing them with dish soap and lukewarm water and then letting them thoroughly dry seemed to cure the issue. Now I know why!
I have the Sony UBD1100es and experienced some of the freezing/skipping on the 4K copy of Back To The Future. I adjusted the settings that you suggested and it has cured the problem so many thanks!
I “upgraded” my Samsung to an x700 solely for the purpose of playing sacds. When I first started using it it would always freeze for a few seconds about 10 minutes into the movie. It was pretty much guaranteed to happen every time. Even when playing a brand new sacd I had it freeze completely halfway through. But that only happened once so far. In very recent history it’s been pretty flawless so fingers crossed. Never had an issue with the Samsung wondering if it’s worth getting an x800 instead
Naw, I think you're probably better off just sticking with your X700 instead. The X800 isn't really much of an upgrade. My X700 has been very solid for me. Just make sure you don't leave the 4K upscaling turned on when you're playing 4K discs. That can cause some issues sometimes. Personally, I don't even use the 4K upscaling feature on my X700 at all. I leave it turned off and just let the TV handle the upscaling. But most of the time, I've found just wiping the disc down with a micro fiber cloth can resolve a lot of issues. If you're interested, I made a companion video addressing a couple settings tweaks you can do on the Sony players that may help (like turning off the 4K upscaling). Here's the link, if you haven't seen it yet: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
I have started putting all of my discs including video games, DVD, Blu-ray and 4k in paper sleeves in the case instead of clicking them into the actual case. It saves the inside of the disc from eventually cracking (especially DVD) and avoids the plastic off gassing onto the back of the disc. Paper sleeves are super cheap. I found 2 boxes of 100 each for only $3 at a thrift store and that solved my problem.
Some very good tips here! I've have noticed that even a brand new microfiber cloth can leave very light hairline scratches on CDs and DVDs. I collect and sell a lot of classic video games on this media. They aren't enough to harm the disc, but some buyers are not happy unless the disc surface looks pristine. I went from using the microfiber cloth to a drop of liquid soft soap and some warm water. Then I very gently clean it with a hand. Now the important part.. I rinse it thoroughly, then blot it dry with a tissue. Then I finish with some canned air to clean any lint off and ensure it's 100%clean around the inner ring. I don't do this on every disc, but maybe for example, on a game that is worth several hundred dollars. Then pristine matters more.
Good stuff! I've not personally needed to do too much more than I laid out in the video, but yeah, some good ideas here. I've not had any problems with light scratches using the microfiber cloths I have, but I am definitely VERY gentle when wiping. And I totally agree -- it's important to be super careful when cleaning these things so as to not leave any hairline scratches, etc.. In fact, I wish I'd emphasized that a little bit more in the video than I did. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
This always worries me since my primary 4K player is a relatively ancient Oppo 205. Fortunately all of the new releases I've purchased have played flawlessly. Fingers crossed this player lasts me until I'm dead! I'm also slightly amazed everytime a new disc plays without issue.
I have the oppo-203 and it’s better than 95% of current top players. I’ve had to exchange several 4k discs. Always check physical media immediately after buying. The new exchanged discs worked flawlessly. Don’t know why but I blame the manufacturer of the Disc.
Whenever a 4K Disc froze on me, on very close inspection, the culprit was a SINGLE speck of dust. Each time simply blowing that tiny speck away fixed the issue. Never had smudges, scratches or fingerprints on new discs.
I tried your work around for my sony blu ray player and turned off the 4k on the player and now no more skipping on any of my 4k disk. Thanks again for the tip.
Thank you. I’ve had some issues with 4K playback and have noticed oily residue on my discs. This video confirms my suspicions. It’s not my Sony player.
I've got a Sony x700, too. When I first encountered the problem, I thought it was just the disc. But as it happened more, I thought it was the player until I noticed that it seemed to happen the most on Warner titles. So, I then thought it was a label issue until I then started seeing the problem crop on other labels as well. Anyway, I've tried all the methods to various degrees of success or more often failure. At least so far, I've found the best success using Zeiss pre-moistened lens wipes that are safe for coated lenses.
Thanks for this video man. I bought a pana 824 as well and the disc drive was very loud at blurays and 4k discs so I decided to give the Panasonic 9000 a try. Its so expensive but you should try it out if you can - the unit itself and the disc drive are way better and graveyard silent. And now I always be wiping of my discs bevor I put them into my player 👍👍 I always done it wrong because of the ⭕️ motion what I have done 🫢🙈
I check every single disc that I purchase. I have always been a big user of micro fiber cloths. 4K and Blu-Rays are always checked first. This happens so often these days. I return any discs that are not in brand new condition when I receive them. Quality control is a major issue these days and even though these companies are aware of this, they appear to just not care. Yes, Scream Factory and Criterion are the worst, but it happens with other companies as well. I use a Sony X700 series player. The most recent disc to freeze up on me was “All Quiet On The Western Front” 4K. Thank you for posting this video. It’s a very important topic to me and many other collectors.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
Thank you for this video. My Universal Soldier 4k disc froze in 2 places, i got it second hand from Cex. However, the disc looked immaculate, cleaning it the way you shown resolved the problem. I use a PS5 as a player.
I've had 2 discs that skip on a Sony X700, both at the 3rd layer change, but they rip perfectly in an Asus drive on my PC. The 2 are: The Ten Commandments and Beastmaster. All of the forums I read indicate the same problem at the same time stamps on both movies leaving me to believe it is a problem with the player and some form of buffering issue when the 3rd layer change occurs.
Interesting. Yeah I'm sure the third layer change is a factor sometimes in some cases. I just kind of chalk that up to an imperfect technology doing glitchy things on occasion. But I haven't personally found BD100 discs to pose as consistent a problem as the quality control issues I've been noticing on the factory discs. I can't remember the last time I had any layer-switching issues with a BD100 disc, but it probably has happened once or twice. That said, I don't have the 10 Commandments 4K (I still gotta pick that one up!), but I do have that Beastmaster 4K from Vinegar Syndrome... I've only watched it once on my Sony X700, but I didn't have any problems with it when I did. So it's possible it might not even be a problem the next time you play those discs.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
I've been running a Sony X800M2 for a couple months now, upgrade from an Xbox One S. Haven't had any skipping issues with it yet. I don't get the hate some have on for these units.
I have started with the Sony X700M. I just got into 4K about two weeks ago. I’ve had no trouble with my Sony either. I think the gripers are those that just don’t know how to set it up properly and they don’t know how to customize the settings on their TVs. The only trouble I’ve had with 4K was with a disc, not my player.
It's funny, just after I posted this comment I had my first skipping issue while sitting down watching Back to the Future I, but I think the issue was with the disc than the player. I've watched 10 more discs since without issue.
I had another disc issue with "1917" 2 nights ago - sure enough I pull out the disc and there's a couple lines of grit on the disc. Brand new unopened movie too. Meanwhile 12 4K discs played between Back to the Future & 1917 played fine. Universal must be having quality control issues.
I have a Sony 700 4K player & have had trouble with 4K & Blu-Ray Discs. The only discs that I don't have trouble with are the simple DVD's. I will now buy some micro fibre cloths, and try your solution.
Thanks for watching. You may want to also check out my companion video to this one, which is focused specifically on Sony players (I have a Sony X700 as well, and mine runs like a dream). Some settings tips here for you: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
That's awesome! I have been using the condensation from my breath and a lint free cloth to clean disc media, all the way back to my very first CD player in 1986. Works like a charm.😃👍
I've usually run into problems due to disc glitches, not the player. These glitches appear always in the same exact spot, proven by my buying three different copies of the same film. (I have a 3 strikes policy on returns.) Said glitches also only appear either right after the half way mark or towards the last part of most movies. (Never had a 4K play for 5 or 10 min and then bam - a sudden glitch.) Thanks for the advice on cleaning, since I used to go crazy with alcohol lens cleaners, etc.
That off-gassing can be bad at times. My Rocky set was awful!. The case itself was clean but the flip-tray that held the additional discs was heavily coated. I had to wipe it down along with all the discs.
So glad to have found your video here. I have Panasonic's DP-UB9000. It's a very expensive player and the only reason I bought it was because I didn't know if the freezing was the disc or the player. Recently bought Criterion's 4K of The Rules of the Game and today just received from Amazon Dunkirk 4K. Both have a glitchy/freeze issue. I don't think I've ever had an issue with a standard Blu-ray but I've learned to check my 4K's as soon as possible. I pop the disc in the player and play it all the way through on the fastest search speed. I look for freezing or glitches. I'm going to try the microfiber cloth on these two and hope that does the trick, thanks!
Rules of the Game looks like it may be okay now. Dunkirk looks better though I may try cleaning it with soap and water (this is what Criterion suggested when I e-mailed them about my issue.) I've never heard of off-gassing residue before. I wonder how many 4K discs get returned when all they needed was to be wiped down. Wouldn't it make sense for the manufacturer to do a rinse or something before shipping them out? Anyway, thanks again for the video!
I NEVER have skipping or freezing. Definitely the player. I use a run of the mill $400 Phillips player that i bought in maybe 2017. Honestly, I can't remember a freeze or skip since the DVD days. Might have happened once or twice, but not enough to remember. And I watch lots of discs and have 1000s in my collection.
Appreciate your comments but I'm in the camp of player issues over disc. Yes disc can have issues but there's a couple reasons I think my Sony 800 is the source of most the errors. 1. I never have problems with DVDs or Blu rays. It would seem odd to me that manufacturers would consistently knock it out of the park with these older formats but 4ks they just haven't figured out after 5 or so years of production seems somewhat unlikely. Manufacturing is basically the same just with higher capacity disc. 2 most of the time I see skips and freezing after the 2hr play time. That seems to again point towards the player. It may be, like any computer, just getting bogged down with the amount of data it's processing. 3 if you shut down the machine and start playing again in the same spot on the disc and it works fine then it isn't a smudge or scratch on the disc. There are a few other reasons, I have, but basically I think the machine is pushing so much data it just crashes sometimes. Some times it is the disc and yes inspect and keep those disc clean. I think the Sony 800 is a fine machine but they push a lot of data to your TV when playing 4k UHD movies and we just have to accept that they will glitch occasionally. I hope the next generation players will master these issues.
Yep, Scream Factory has been the biggest offender of scratched discs. I have tried buying the 4k of Halloween 15 plus times, and every single time, the disc has had scratches
I have Sony x800m2 player,most of 4k blu rays where skipping, didn't have much problems with freezing, after last software update my all discs are working flawlessly,no skipping or freezing,it seems that this was an software issue on my player, cause those problems started after 7,8 months of using it,it wasn't a day one problem,so it seems that one software update started to causing these problems and this last one fixed the problem,at least in my case,I have 4k upscaling turned on and everything is working great for now and I hope it will stay for a long time, great player btw
Interesting to here about these issues that I wasn't aware of. I clean my discs in the same way as you. I actually do believe the issues I have are with my player 99% of the time. I'm thinking of buying the Panasonic to replace it. I currently have the LG 970. 7 out of 10 discs either freeze or digitally (go blocky) corrupt and freeze. Worst offender being Die Hard 4k.
Yeah you might be right about that. Now that you mention it, I have heard of other people having similar problems with LG players. My dad had one too, and he had a number of repeated issues with his LG player. He ended up upgrading to a Sony X800, and he hasn't had any problems since. The Panasonic players are good units too. I do like my Panny UB820.
This is a great topic to talk about I have Gemini man on 4k and it has skipping and freezing problems in one of the scenes tried all 3 of my 4k players all the same results I'll try this out thank you 👍 I'll see if it works or not on my Gemini man 4k disc
While a quick wipe down does help in some occasions, I disagree that the primary source of skipping issues is the disc, it's not. 4K players were released in 2016 and were designed to handle two layer BD-66 discs. Triple Layer BD-100 discs are the true culprit, the data density requires a more powerful laser and better processing found only on the better players.
Yeah it wouldn't surprise me to find that BD-100 discs can cause issues sometimes, depending on the circumstances (especially with bare-bones entry-level players, like the old Samsung units). It does seem like 4K overall is an imperfect technology, so I don't like to rule anything out. But I'd probably be inclined to agree with you more on that point if I had personally experienced a lot of issues with triple-layer discs myself. But I really haven't. Both my Sony X700 (my primary player up until a few months ago) and Panny UB820 have handled BD-100 discs just fine, without any issues when switching to the third layer, etc. (and I have quite a few BD-100 titles... the issue you're raising is something I really started paying attention to more after hearing others raise similar concerns). But I honestly can't remember the last time I had any kind of issue with BD-100s on either player. I'm sure I might have experienced a bit of a glitch or something at some point in the past... but if it has happened, it's been so infrequent and inconsequential that it didn't seem like a big factor to me. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
Yep. I had that same Samsung player and always either had issues later in films, or I got the skip/freeze action. I bought an Oppo 203 and not 1 freeze since on any disc- zero. It's the player not the discs in like 90% of the situations, or even a pass through receiver that's not premium.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
Also, I've heard that some of the freezing/skipping problems are because of certain BD 100 discs (not all of them) when they do the triple layer shift, that could cause a hiccup in your player on some rare occasions. I think that is accurate to some degree because I've had my player (I have the same Sony player you have) do that a few times and it was always a BD 100, but I usually just eject the disc and put it back in and it works perfectly after that. Triple layer 4K discs are a pretty new technology so it may still have some glitches on occasion, these aren't normal DVD or blu ray discs, it's a very different thing. I notice once that particular disc skips the first time you play, it never does it again when you watch it multiple times..... it's sorta like the player is getting used to that disc. It's very strange. Yes, it also could be smudges just like you said, and these discs need to be cleaned. Most of the time I have zero problems even with most new BD 100s, it's just on rare occasions and it's rectified by simply just ejecting the disc and starting over where I left off.
Yeah I've heard that as well about with BD100 discs, but I haven't really had any significant problems playing the triple layer discs. For that matter, I can't remember the last time I had any issue playing a BD100 discs... though I know that early on, I had a few issues on a couple titles. But I've found that most of time, if I keep the disc clean etc., I don't really have any problems (unless there's some problem with the disc itself... like some sort of factory defect or quality control issue. There have been a few titles I've had to return, and when I got the replacement discs, those played just fine). So i think it's possible the BD100 discs can be problematic on occasion, for the reasons you mentioned. But for the most part, I've had pretty good success with those discs. Thanks for watching and weighing in.
I am surprised more people don't use their PCs to validate disks. MakeMKV will instantly stop reading the disc if there is a problem - using this you can validate that you have a bit-perfect copy and it is totally hands-off. If it can't read perfectly, that's an immediate return from me! It's rarer with new discs, but I'd say around 5-10% of discs I buy used have issues and require replacements.
Likely Most people aren’t ripping so they won’t have the software or hardware setup. People probably don’t want to spend time validating, and just watch the film, and This also doesn’t take into account the disc surface contaminants.
I got a free copy of Aquaman with my Sony 4k player years ago that would freeze at a particular scene due to a barely noticeable tiny scratch. I have found that even the teeny tiniest particle, which wouldn’t affect a bluray disc or dvd, can cause problems freezing or stuttering. So I wipe every 4k movie completely clean before putting it into the player.
Yeah 4K discs can definitely be a little more sensitive to any kind of debris or dust particles, etc. I routinely wipe down my discs before I play them as well, and I hardly ever have any issues these days.
Good advice on dirty 4k UHD disks. I got the Jurassic Park 5 disk box set and I kept getting errors on Jurassic Park III. I had no issue with the first two when backing them up, so I tried the last two movies and they worked fine, also. So, even though I couldn't see the film on it, I cleaned it with a microfiber cloth a couple of times and it still had errors. I then used an alcohol wipe, followed by wiping with microfiber cloth and it worked. There was no offset gasing in the case and the film on the disk wasn't even noticeable to me. I had already filled out complaint to Ebay seller and tried one more time cleaning it, and it worked, so I never had to send that message.
Astonishing that in 2023, the industry still goes out of it's way to maintain Piracy as the 'Gold Standard'. Every CEO should be concerned, but alas, they couldn't care less. I'd almost say it's a conspiracy to keep people hooked into the scam that is 'Streaming'... but even then, the quality never comes close to a 4K physical release. The only good thing is all my regular 1080p Blu-rays are still good, and is all things you can't get on streaming/or special editions. Thanks for the video!
Interesting and helpfull. I am starting now to collect some 4K movies because I finally upgrade my """home theatre""" from FullHD to 4K just in these days (nothing serious, midrange stuff) and this video probably will help me not fell scared in case of freezing etc (now I know that I have to check and clean the disc before using it). Thank you :)
Welcome to 4K! It's actually a great format, and I don't really have that many problems very often. Most discs play just fine for me. And it does seem like maybe quality control has improved a bit since I made this video. I haven't noticed as many issues with discs these days as I did earlier last year leading up to this video. Thanks for watching!
How funny. My player has skipped 4k movies ever since I got it. I saw this title to see what was going on, and the player I have is the one you mentioned has been a good one, Sony X700. Most recently Reservoir Dogs and Jaws skipped for me. What worries me is, if it's not the unit then over half of my 4K discs are defective ... and if that's the case, what's the point of even buying physical 4k movies? My thought had been "at least I've got the collection and can enjoy them better when I have a better player". I've collected DVDs and Blu rays for years, have thousands of movies, take great care of them, and clean them carefully. Never had an issue, until I moved up to 4k. Even after cleaning the 4ks with microfibre cloths, the same issues occur. The only way I can watch the scenes that skip or freeze is to turn off the player and then go to select a scene and play it from there. Quite annoying, really. So go figure 🤷
Interesting. I don't think half the 4K discs are defective... Most of the time, my discs play fine (including on my Sony X700). But I too have noticed there are more issues with 4K discs from the factory than I ever had with blu rays or DVDs in the past. It seems to me like 4K is definitely not a perfect technology, even under the best of circumstances. I've noticed even Panny UB820 players can have problems sometimes, and those players are considered the gold standard for many people. As for other freezing/performance issues on your Sony, there are a couple other things you can do that might resolve the issue: (1) Do you have the 4K upscaling setting turned on in your X700 "screen settings?" If so, I would keep that turned off and not use that function on the Sony players (just let your TV do any blu ray upscaling -- Sony upscaling isn't very good anyway, in my view). (2) Also under the x700 "screen settings," you might want to try setting the Cinema Conversion Mode to "Video" and not "Auto." I've heard those two settings can affect performance on the X700, and that tweaking these may resolve any other freezing issues the X700 has been having (that's what I keep mine set to, and it's run very well for me -- I almost never have any problems). Thanks for watching and weighing in!
@@TheOriginalFuzzmy issue with sony x-700 it will not play any DVDS or special features on blu ray or 4k discs. Any idea what I can do will be very welcome.
@@mikefisher2673 Weird. I haven't had any problems playing DVDs on my X700 (although I've only tried a few, since I almost never watch DVDs unless it's like a music or film documentary or something). I know the X700 supports DVDs (and a bunch of other disc formats), so they're supposed to play on that unit -- Unless maybe they are from a different region? That's the only thing I can think of. The standard X700 model is region-locked for blu rays and DVDs (unless you have the multi-region version, which I do), so you wouldn't necessarily be able to play DVDs and blu rays from other regions. And I'm always able to watch the special features just fine on my X700, whether they're in HD or SD, on blu ray or DVD. But I do have to switch the region on my X700 for some European discs, because the special features are often included on a region B-locked blu ray. The standard x700 units don't allow for that, but I paid a little extra for multi-region capabilities. Otherwise, if that's not the issue, then I'd probably wonder if maybe there's a problem with your specific player, because I haven't heard of others having problems like that with their X700 units (outside of the region coding issue).
@@TheOriginalFuzz Thanks for responding it might need an update that will be my next test, but it's all dvds region free. It played them when first used the player then just quit playing DVDS.
@@mikefisher2673 Oh weird.... yeah that is definitely not supposed to happen with the X700. Sounds like a good plan... definitely try an update and see if that resolves the issues. And if you're still having issues, you can also try just doing a total factory reset on the player, restore it back to the way it was when it was brand new (I can't remember how to do a factory reset, but it's in the manual, or you can google it).
Hello- being a 4K disc collector i think sometimes it is the player. for instance The Fablemans is my favorite of 2022 and was delighted when the 4K disc was released. the first time i played it toward the end of the film when Sammy and Monica are dancing at the prom the disc freezes for a split micro nano second then skips a frame and the disc continues. but if i shut down the player then restart it and play that scene the freeze frame and skip doesn't happen.
Yeah that's a fair point. I think that's just the nature of the tech. Sometimes there are weird little glitches or what not that aren't necessarily a result of something on the disc surface. And even in the best of circumstances, weird stuff just happens sometimes with 4K. I think there's just a lot more information on the 4K discs, so the tolerances are a lot lower for any kind of errors that affect playback. Thanks for watching!
Shout Factory and Criterion are definitely the worst. It's a shame that at this point I expect to get scratches when opening their products. And Shout will only replace it if the scratch is a certain length lol. Pretty ridiculous but people keep buying so they are going to keep finding ways to cut costs.
Exactly! And that's the main reason I don't buy from Shout directly. If I'm going to get a scratched up disc that I have to return, I'd much rather deal with Amazon than Shout for returns.
I'll give it a go, and come back. I own Panasonic bd820. Issues ONLY arise with Paramount translucent top discs. Never had issues with discs that have a later of graphic/not see though disc.
My Sony UBP-X700 just started acting buggy after 18 months of pretty consistent performance on 4k discs. Superman: The Movie froze up and skipped about 3/4ths of the way through the film. Had to switch to the digital copy, which was a bummer. I was about to get the Panny until I saw this video. We'll see if the microfiber cleaning trick works before I invest in a new player. I hope it works.
Have an honest question I'd love to see a video on. Just acquired a Panasonic UB820. Great player, but it has one disturbing flaw. In order to turn it on, I have to power everything down, then power up the UB820 via either the remote control, or the power button on the 4k player. Is this normal, and can it be fixed? Configuration is UB820 to Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2.4 Earc soundbar to Hisense U6G 50" TV via arc port.
Honestly I've never had that problem with my UB820. I do use the eArc connection between my receiver and TV, but I have my UB820 connected directly into another HDMI port on my 4K TV. I don't run my UB820 through the receiver first. When I turn on the power on my UB820, it automatically turns the power on everything. But I do not have to power down anything to turn my UB820 on... if I'm on a different input, everything just automatically switches over to the Panasonic when I power it up on the remote. Maybe try running your Panasonic into your HiSense directly (into a different HDMI port than the eArc port on your TV... just leave the eArc port connection between the soundbar and TV, but don't run the Panny through the soundbar first. If you run it through the TV instead, the audio should route back out through your soundbar). I don't know if that will make a difference or not, but it might be worth trying.
Now I'm worried. (note: I own thousands of optical disks, so I'm not a newb) I store my UHDs in binders. Recently, I had issues playing back The Godfather. I had bought the set and watched the first film some months before, so it was only my second viewing. Checked it, made sure there were no fingerprints , etc. Tried it multiple times, no luck. Got a replacement and it worked fine. One disk, I figured, no big deal. I got a cleaner / microfibre cloth for any future problems. A short time later I took out Reservoir Dogs (which I bought and watched not long before) and it skipped. After cleaning and cleaning, it was still skipping, so I put it aside and replaced it. Hmm, weird, 2nd disk. Tonight, I was watching It Happened One Night and it started skipping. Uh oh. I've had this disk a few months but hadn't watched it. I got very concerned. Pulled out Jaws and fast forwarded thru it. It froze. Oh, shit. The Final Countdown, froze. I'm thinking all my disks are thrashed now. I haven't found a working one yet. I've had almost zero problems playing a new UHD, and I have hundreds of them. Is it the disk? My new copies of Reservoir Dogs and Godfather don't seem to have the issue. Is it the player? The problems seem to occur in the 30-50 minute range. Layer change? (The player is a first gen Samsung.) The binders? Could the material be causing fine scratches or contaminating the disk somehow? Any advice would be appreciated. I'm a little beside myself.
To test whether my binders could be scratching the disks, I took Jaws (which heretofore was played once when new and then inserted once into the binder) and shoved it in and out of the binder sleeve MANY times in all orientations, even dragged it around inside the sleeve. If my disks are getting so easily scratched, surely this would have added many more scratches. Nope, still hiccups at the same point, around 46 minutes in. My UHDs have been kept in good environmental conditions and not exposed to extremes or abuse, so the only disk-centric problem I can imagine is something like the delamination issue that struck early Universal 2 layer DVDs. Stacking them all together in a binder is mechanically stressing them, perhaps? But I've not had issues with regular Blu-Rays which I stack even more tightly. Maybe my player is just getting tired and is tripping on things a newer player wouldn't....
@@andyhutton7736 Honestly, I think it may be the player. I also have one of those old first gen Samsung 4K players, and they're not very good units (and Samsung doesn't even make 4K players anymore). In fact, I stopped using mine altogether within a fairly short time... it was my first 4K player, but I've since upgraded to a Sony X700, and then a Panasonic UB820. The Samsung players weren't very good for consistent, stable performance, and I suspect that they could be having problems with the layer changes, etc. I think because they're pretty low-end players, they tend to have a harder time with the 4K technology (especially with 100 GB discs)... at least in terms of reliable, consistent performance. While I'm not a fan of binders and wouldn't necessarily recommend using them, I don't think those are the problem here. If your discs still visibly look good and relatively clean with no/few scratches -- then I don't think it's the binders that are the source of the problem. You may want to consider investing in a little better player. Hope this helps a little. Thanks for watching, and feel free to reach out with any other questions.
I have had the skipping problem with my Back to the Future Part II and Part III from the 35th Anniversary set where they both skip around the 30-40 minute mark on my PS5. I have used lint free cloths to clean them, same method you have described, and I can't see any visible marks on either disc. But it's made no difference. I have found cases of other people having the same issue with these two movies in at the 30-40 minute mark. So I wonder whether this could be a manufacturing error literally in the disc code?
Yeah there have been circumstances people have described like that where I'm genuinely perplexed and don't necessarily have a good answer. So I'm thinking maybe there really was some sort of manufacturing error, like you suggested. I'm sure sometimes, there really are legitimately "defective" discs that have some sort of problem that we have no control over. Perhaps that's what's going on with your BTTF discs. I can tell you I have that same BTTF box set, and I didn't have any of those problems with my discs, playing it on a Sony X700. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
@@TheOriginalFuzz thanks for replying. I do want to get a dedicated player eventually, as the PS5 doesn't support Dolby Vision. I will consider the X700. I've also had the same problem with UHD of Tenet.
Decided to finally buy a 4K player and grabbed a less expensive LG unit and a film froze on that so took it back and paid a bit more and picked up a Panasonic DP-UB420 and no issues plus find it does a much better job with the quality. Highly recommend. Only issue for me is the remote and button placement. I do not think the issue is discs on these 4K discs - to me it is the player and the fact some of the less expensive players just do not read them as well, especially with them changing layers. There may be some issues on the odd disc but do not think it is the big issue as They Live froze for me and I wiped off and kept freezing is same spot on LG player but no issues on Panasonic player. Just find they do not make these players as well as they did with early DVD players.
Yeah I think you're spot on. I've heard a lot of horror stories about LG 4K players. My dad even had one and had issues with it... he ended up upgrading to another player. The lower-end players just don't seem to handle the 4K tech as well. I had the same problem with my old Samsung 4K player. Also, I've heard the Panny UB420 is a great unit (I have the UB820). But I totally know what you mean about the remotes on these. I ended up buying a UB9000 knock-off remote on eBay and it works with my 820 much better than the one that came with it. The button placement sucks on the remotes that come with the Pannies (except for the Panny Ub9000 -- that one is decent). Thanks for watching!
Great video, but the biggest issue I have encountered is the dreaded triple layer discs! I have the Sony x700 the Panasonic UB820 and a PS5. The Sony player was awful at first but a firmware update greatly improved things, however the player still struggles with some triple layer discs and I've also had audio sync issues. The Panasonic player is better but it still has issues with some triple layer discs. The PS5 is proving to be the best player as I have yet to have any playback issues at all. In my experience there are bigger issues with the format than just dirty discs and I doubt anything will be done about it. Although I enjoy the 4k quality I sometimes wish I had just stuck with standard Blu-ray.
Yeah it's definitely not a perfect format, and I don't mean to suggest it's always the disc every single time. Electronics can be weird. But I haven't personally had too many issues with BD100 discs. Both my multi-region X700 (my primary player for about 2 years before getting my Panny) and my Panny UB820 seem to play them just fine. I'm sure that can be a factor sometimes, but it's just not something I've personally run into a whole lot. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I had any issues with layer switching when playing a BD100 disc. Thanks for watching!
Residue is most propably paraffin wax, it's seeping from plastic case. Paraffin wax is used as release agent and nowadays manufacturers mix it with plastic granulate.
When I switched from my Sony X800 to the Panasonic UB820, every single disc skipping/freezing problem disappeared. So it's one point of anecdotal data, but it sure seems to me that it is the player. I cleaned every problem disc with microfiber from center out. BTW, I am not some sort of anti-Sony fan. Quite the opposite in fact. Nearly every other component of my home theater is Sony.
That's cool. That hasn't really been my experience with the Sony players. My X700 has been a solid unit. I've only owned my Panny UB820 for about 5 months, but even that has had an occasional issue with this weird pixelating/freezing thing (something I've heard other Panny owners mention on occasion as well). It's only happened with like 3 discs on the Panny for me, but when it did, I switched the discs over to my Sony X700, and they played in the same spot without any issues. Also anecdotal, but a little different experience, it sounds like. So I guess I'm leaning more toward the "imperfect technology" viewpoint here. But I do think that checking and cleaning the discs -- for those who don't already -- can cut down on a lot of potential problems with freezing and skipping, etc. Thanks for watching and weighing in.
So I switched those two settings around and it seems the issue is still occurring on my brand new army of darkness 4k disc. The disc is new and in good shape. Are there any other settings you would recommend me change, Fuzz? Thank you
Not really... If you've tried the settings changes and tried cleaning the disc, then it's entirely possible you just got a bad disc. That has happened to me a few times. Are you still able to return it and maybe exchange it for the same thing? I believe Army of Darkness is a Scream Factory disc if I remember right, and I have had these issues with some of their discs occasionally in the past. Usually exchanging it for another copy seems to take care of the problem.
@@TheOriginalFuzz funnily enough, I had already bought two copies, the regular and the steelbook. The freeze and lag did happen once after changing the settings, but after I unplugged and replugged the system back in, it’s been running very smooth. Hopefully it’s better now, otherwise, the fault is just on scream factory discs. I did have one question tho, if the disc has Dolby vision, will that still show if the Blu-ray player setting has Dolby vision switched off?
@@lydiawoolfy8952 No I don't think it shows up without DV activated. But I don't have access to Dolby Vision because I have a Samsung 4K TV. So I've never turned it on.
@@TheOriginalFuzz thank you for you help! It’s all fixed for me now. I cleaned the disc on both sides and I uncapped the fps on the system. Apparently it was capped at 24p by default
I also believed it was my player. I'm using a Reavon X100. I recently bbought "Chinatown" [1974] UHD-4K disk, and it won't play at all. It starts skipping immediately and simply won't play.
@@TheOriginalFuzz It was the disc. I cleaned the surface of the disc and now it plays. It still skips a little at a few spots, but is playable and looks great.
I’m also using Reavon X100 4K player. When I first encounter with the new 4K disc can’t play. I was thinking because of my player and went to various HiFi dealers to test with different players. Finally confirmed is a disc defective. Couple years down the line it is very annoying I have one out of ten new 4K disc defective either it’s can’t play at all or freezes at certain point. But this never happened to my 500 discs collection of HD blu rays. Since then if really wanted 4K disc I will purchase from used preowned disc instead……just to play save!
I bought Superman the Movie on 4K, looking utterly spotless and cleaner than a lot of other discs I own that work great and it freezes and pixelates when Clark goes to the North. So, its problably a mastering issue and doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about.
Sometimes there are just bad discs... even if they look clean. I've had that happen a few times. I would return it and replace with another copy if you're still able to. Most of the time when I have any issues like this (which is very seldom), returning and exchanging seems to take care of the problem. Do you have a Panasonic 4K player?
Got two 4K players a Sony UBP-X700 (only problem i`ve ever had with it was when the power source died) and a LG UBK90 both Multi Region for DVD & Blu ray. Think i`ve only had a few skips & freezes over the life time of both models even with buying 2nd hand disc`s from Amazon UK , ebay & CEX (to name a few).
Every dvd i have ever bought i have a quick check for any scratches or dust or fingerprints before i play it. I always hold it at the edges and if need be, give it a carefull wipe with a clean cloth. I only buy new discs and have done so for more than twenty years. I used to notice video cassette flicker or interruptions too which annoyed me until i got a dvd player. but Interesting that 4K may have problems. I still buy dvds if bluerays are too expensive, unless its a desired boxset or feature worth spending on. No 4K player or discs yet for me.
I have a few seconds of distorted image on my 4K Cat People (Scream Factory). Trying a careful cleaning, thanks. Player is a Panasonic DP-UB420, no problems with any other disc.
Are you getting these weird like pixelated- spots on the image for those few seconds? My Panasonic Ub820 occasionally does the same thing... and I haven't completely figured out why yet (though when it has happened for me, I seem to remember it mostly occurring with a less-than-pristine Scream Factory disc).
@@TheOriginalFuzz I'd say that's a good description. Kind of a splatter for a few seconds. It's not doing it now, I think the thorough cleaning did the trick. Thanks!
I buy both US and Japan discs (since I live in Japan) but the disc quality/quality control (including the type of plastic used) from Japan is legit 2 - 3 times better. No residue oils etc. Yes, they cost 2x3 times more but as a collector, I prefer buying one from here.
The good thing im noticing now is espec scream factory discs is there in rec plastic cases so there is cutouts were the disc sits which will obv help the off gassing grease problem
If you're referring to those eco-cases, I gotta say, I am not a fan of those (in fact, I'm actually working on a video right now about those cases). The discs aren't very well-protected in those cases, and I worry about the long-term ramifications. The way I see it, off-gassing residue can be wiped off easily enough, and it doesn't do any permanent harm to the disc. So it's not that big of a deal for me... I'd rather deal with wiping down the discs than risk any potential long-term degradation as a result of storing them in eco-cases.
Never had any of these issues since day 1 of starting my 4K journey with my Samsung one to the Panasonic 820 I’ve owned since it launched and still do to this day
I actually mastered in freezing discs at this point, all Mexican made, UK made, and Germany 4k disc they freeze. And also keeping them this secure is actually pain in the ass. So I found a solution, make sure you guys buy the Sony made discs for triple layers which is USA made, unfortunately all the WB, Paramount, Universal And Disney they all use these Mexican discs in us, even abroad like UK, and Germany all the Europe countries, discs they freezes after 2 to 3 watches. And I tried them all they freeze, and then I tried Asian triple layered discs, bought WB, Paramount and major other studios discs from Japan they use high quality discs, but they are expensive. So If you guys wanted a really good film in 4k get it from Japan.
Sometimes the disc can come loose inside it's case if posted, this can't be good for the disc! I try to look after my discs really carefully but it's so easy to leave prints on them, so I recommend checking the disc every time you play it. I've heard too many stories of the Sony players freezing during play back.. so much so that the new player I ordered today was a Panasonic! By the way, great to see so much physical media in the background, to hell with streaming, Blu Rays and CD's RULE!
Yeah it's really frustrating when the discs become dislodged from the trays. Sometimes it has resulted in a scratched disc, but not always. I've had a number of titles show up with loose discs, and the discs ended up miraculously being fine and scratch-free. So it just depends. But I agree -- I always check my discs before I play them. I haven't had any significant problems with my Sony player, but the Panasonic units are solid, so you'll probably be very happy with it. I have a Panny UB820 and it's been a great player. Is that what you got? The UB820 model? Thanks for watching and weighing in!
I need to check a couple discs for this (I do have a Sony X800). I remember after encountering sections of freezing I didn't see anything, but I was really looking for something something like a scratch, not clear residue.
Yeah sometimes if there's an issue, it's good to just give them a gentle overall wipe-down, just in case there's any film on the disc that's hard to see.
While i generally agree with your cleaning advice, occasionally even a bit more than a hot breath is needed. Like when I dropped a disc on my dinner plate. (Yeah, that's what I get for eating in front of the TV. 🤔) I found that a quick rinse under regular tap water followed by a wipe with the cleaning wipes specifically made for cleaning eyeware (pre-soaked with rubbing alcohol) worked great. I've used said cloths for cleaning literally dozens of discs over the years with great sucess. And they're dirt cheap. A box of 100 is around $6.
I have, bought a fast and the Furious collection as well as mission impossible collection. After research it looks like it was a flaw in the pressings of the discs. I checked every disc as I'm just not trusting and they all looked perfect.
The Sony’s are fine but I never like that you have to manually switch DV and HDR depending on the disc. I have a Panasonic 9000 and I’ve had very few issues with playback.
1. My first 4K was BLACK HAWK DOWN. Downscaling to 1080p via UB9000 produced five-second freezes around the layer changes. 4K on 4K TV...no freezes. 2. MALTESE FALCON 4K image broke up around 100-110 mins. Reverse and playback caused glitching at different time codes. Cleaned visually clean disc with AV cleaner and microfibre cloth. No more glitching.
Thank you for your video and it is true that some 4K discs have residue or scratches on them. Unfortunately, Sony 4K players inherently have issues. Explain this: you play a 4K movie and the Sony player plays it with no issue. The very next day, you play the same disc and it freezes and skips. How can it play with no issue one day the same disc but freeze another day? Or how about this: when it freezes, rewind or skip back to the previous chapter and plays on fine. Say it froze at 1:10 mark and the chapter starts at 1:00. mark. Skip back to 1:00 mark and this time it doesn't freeze at the same mark. So yes, Sony players have issues for sure. I have multiple 4K players and that's my experience.
Thanks for watching! Honestly, I don't really have problems like that with my Sony X700, and I've had it for a couple years now. It's run like a dream the vast majority of the time, with no issues... or if there was a problem, it was something with the disc. I mean, I think it's possible occasionally there might be a problem with the unit, but most of the time, from the experience I've had, the issues on Sony players can be resolved by a couple settings tweaks and/or cleaning the disc. (Although like I said, sometimes you do get a lame disc from the factory... that seems to have occurred more with 4K than other formats, for some reason). But I made a companion video to this where I go over a couple settings that may help with the issue on Sony players. If you haven't already checked it out, here's the link: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
A long time ago when Jason X had been just released on DVD we had to take it back 3 times to Kmart and explained to them that it kept freezing at the same time
Hi - interesting video - I have the Panasonic and noticed that it's the longer (BD-100?) discs that skip or freeze. However, they all play fine in my Xbox Series X - wondering why?
I'm not sure, honestly. Maybe different players/drives have different tolerances or something. It could just be the nature of the tech... and the fact that it's not a perfect technology. Interestingly, I've not really had many, if any, problems playing BD100 discs on my Panny UB820. But there have been a couple discs (just BD66 I think) where I got this weird pixelated/freeze type of thing going on (which apparently is a known issue with Panasonic units)... and I found when I played the same discs on my Sony X700, I didn't have any problems. And I've heard the X Box can be pretty reliable in playing 4K discs, even if they don't have all the bells and whistles of a dedicated player. Thanks for watching... and my apologies for the delayed response. This comment somehow slipped through the cracks on my end.
Yeah sometimes just giving it a wipe down with a micro fiber cloth can solve the problem, even if it doesn't appear as if there's any issue on the disc. And sometimes it really is just the disc itself... a manufacturing issue or something.
I just had the same problem. I took my scream factory 4k bride of Chucky back to Best Buy as it kept glitching and freezing. I though it was the disc that was defective and took it back for an exchange and the new one was even worse came with 2 deep 1/2 inch scratches had the same problem. I’m gonna try turning off the 4K upscale and see if that helps.
I received a brand new 4K Old boy Steel book shrink-wrapped. I checked before playing and there was a massive greasy fingerprint on the Disk. In most cases I find cleaning the Disk sorts out any issues however in some cases I find it could be a very poor quality disk. One such Disk? Deadpool 2 4K. The disk is so thin the print is visible on blank side!
Can this be the same situation with standard blu-rays? I've had some discs recently start to really glitch out. These are films that I've watched several times. Not excessively, but definitely more than twice, but they have been sitting around, on my shelves for years. Over the past year I've had Godzilla(2014), Monsters, Drag Me to Hell, and even more recently The Conjuring all freeze up and stop working quite a way into the film.
I haven't really found this to be the case with my own blu-rays much (unless they had some kind of smudge, debris or scratch or something on them... then yes, they can definitely be affected by those things). Did you try cleaning those discs with a micro-fiber cloth to see if it solved the problem? Otherwise, if cleaning the disc doesn't fix the issue, then it's possible it could be due to the age of the discs, depending on storage conditions, environment, etc. My last video was on the topic of "disc rot" and possible scenarios with aging discs. You can check it out here if you'd like: th-cam.com/video/-4GSVnlJkmU/w-d-xo.html
I hear you saying "I don't use water and soap", but that's exactly how to clean a disc properly. I do that with second hand bought blu ray discs as well, and they look brand new after this treatment. Only breathing on the discs and wiping is not the most effective way to properly clean it. Also, there's the risk of scratching the disc by doing this. There can be dust, sand or other barely visible stuff sitting on the disc.
You do you, if soap and water is your thing. If that works for you, knock yourself out. But I've never needed to use any kind of cleaner for my discs... and I hardly ever have ANY problems with my discs. I've been cleaning physical media discs like this for 35 years (going all the way back to CDs), and never once have I ever needed to use soap and water. My discs all look great and play great, so I must be doing something right. I certainly have never had any problems with scratches because I used my breath and a micro fiber cloth. If someone accidentally creates scratches, it's not because they used their breath, but rather, because they weren't careful in how they wiped the disc or in what material they used to wipe the disc with. Using their breath has nothing to do with it.
As someone who owned a Sony X700, my freezing problems vanished when I switched to a Panasonic 4K player. My friend had an X800 also freezing. I recommended he switch to Panasonic and he hasn't had any issues since either.
There are a few settings tweaks for the Sony players that help with the performance (which I covered in another video). As such, I don't have any issues with freezing and skipping on my Sony X700 (unless it's a problem with the disc). Same thing with my Panny UB820 -- which I agree is a great player (though I've still had like 3 discs do the freeze/pixelate thing that Pannys are known to do on occasion... But again, I just assumed it was an issue with the disc in those cases). Overall, both units have been solid players for me.
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My search for skipping and freezing 4k discs led me to your channel. Your pro tip actually worked. I was beginning to get frustrated with 4k discs but have renewed my faith. Thanks. Newly subscribe.
Awesome! That's great to hear. Thanks so much for watching and subbing!
My brand new Batman Begins 4K disc, purchased a few months ago, has a not too shallow scratch around the disc, deep enough for the movie to stop at the 100th minute and not be able to go beyond that point. It's a disgrace the way they treat buyers. A wonderful and very instructive video. Greetings from Spain.
I bought the exact disc and it also freezes around that time but has no scratch
If you research... the Sony UBP-X700M has specific issues when playing discs at the 1 hour 40 minute mark, which exactly matches what you said here. It's the player, not the disc. Look at forums and you'll see this issue.
@@smilesometimes I'm trying to get sony to replace mine but bet my new one will have the same issue.
@@noname__1617 I strongly suggest that people do not buy the Sony or any Sony 4k player.
Just recently I noticed the off gassing and lubrication on a disc. I also noticed finger prints and it was a brand new disc I was inspecting before playing. Then I come across your video and was happy to now know why but at the same time irritated to know how wide spread the issue is. Great video!
So, my brand new ALIENS 4k Disc kept pixelating and freezing at the moment that the Aliens bust into the room from the ceiling. I was annoyed, a freshly opened disc and it was already having issues.
I took your advice and gently cleaned the disc even though it appeared to the naked eye flawless.
That did the trick. I had already used your tips about settings from a previous video.
Perhaps I should not have returned my copy of Batman 89…..that simply would not cross the halfway mark without permanently freezing.
Thanks mate, I’m a subscriber that enjoys all your content.
Yeah sometimes that's all it takes... just a wipe down/cleaning of the disc. I hardly ever have discs freeze on me now. Usually cleaning seems to resolve most issues (unless there's actually some kind of manufacturing issue with the disc). Thanks for watching and chiming in! I'm glad to hear this helped.
Thanks for covering this. Bad QC has long been discussed on the forums but the reality is a TH-cam video these days always brings more awareness. To expand on what you said, almost all North American Blu-ray discs in recent years are pressed at the same replication factory in Mexico. That's why most US releases are plagued by scratches (Scream/Shout Factory, Criterion, major studios alike; although SF & Criterion do appear to be disproportionally affected). I personally estimate at least 30% of the discs I receive are scratched. Fortunately, European releases are mostly pressed in Europe, where quality control has been much more stringent, so a vast majority of the time imported discs arrive in pristine condition. This also applies to Arrow's US releases and, interestingly, recent Paramount releases because they've moved replication to Germany.
This is such an appropriate video, because I just had that problem yesterday watching "Puss In Boots: The Last Wish". The disc wouldn't play properly at first, as has sometimes happened with Universal disc. I had to open and close it a couple times and it started playing, it did freeze but was able to continue, unlike previously where I had to unplug and replug the power. I do have that Sony player, but this is the first freezing/non-playing problem that I've had in a while and I use that player almost daily, so I don't think it's the player, it's likely the discs, like you say.
I did also look at the back of the Last Wish disc, and yep, there are markings on it. Several almost fully circular lines, that I assume are left from the pressing of the disc.
The disc is a dual layer disc. Panasonic does a much better job switching layers than Sony does. My UB820 has not frozen yet, but my X800M2 and X700 both freeze occasionally.
This tip just worked on my 4K "Dune" disc!
I was about to drop some serious cash on a new UHD disc player...
Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve had this issue and had trouble finding anyone discussing it. Appreciate you, just earned a subscriber
No problem! That's exactly what I was going for with this series... I wanted to try and cover some of the issues that come up with physical media that people don't necessarily always talk about a whole lot. Thank you for watching and subbing! I really appreciate it. I'm glad I could be of some help.
Thanks Fuzz! Got in a brand new copy of the Mario movie yesterday and had these issues and the disc wouldn’t play. Your recommendation helped get it going.
I learned something today , thank you . Blue Rays bought from Walmart and Amazon always come in a sealed wrapper , i expect them to be untouched and perfect . I'll check more carefully from now on .
I've gotten into the practice of checking my discs before putting in these days unfortunately. Lots of off gasing coming from everywhere lately. Great video man!
Thanks so much Ken! I appreciate you watching and subbing!
Just got my freezing copy of Beverly Hills Cop 3. I cleaned the disc and it still freezes in the same spot. This is a defective disc. Sent it back to Amazon and received a replacement that worked!
I've only had a couple of problematic discs, the biggest ones being The Batman and Star Wars. The Batman skipped multiple times despite cleaning it. The other was Top Gun Maverick but after a cleaning, it worked perfectly. I have a Sony X800m2.
Subscribed. Very informative! I've had problems with both 4K's and regular Blu-Rays when ripping them, and found that washing them with dish soap and lukewarm water and then letting them thoroughly dry seemed to cure the issue. Now I know why!
Mate you should not be wetting ur discs this could cause even more issues you should buy a proper disc cleaner.
@@NewfieNick. Most of that is snake oil.
I have the Sony UBD1100es and experienced some of the freezing/skipping on the 4K copy of Back To The Future. I adjusted the settings that you suggested and it has cured the problem so many thanks!
Awesome! That's great to hear. Thanks for watching!
I “upgraded” my Samsung to an x700 solely for the purpose of playing sacds. When I first started using it it would always freeze for a few seconds about 10 minutes into the movie. It was pretty much guaranteed to happen every time. Even when playing a brand new sacd I had it freeze completely halfway through. But that only happened once so far. In very recent history it’s been pretty flawless so fingers crossed. Never had an issue with the Samsung wondering if it’s worth getting an x800 instead
Naw, I think you're probably better off just sticking with your X700 instead. The X800 isn't really much of an upgrade. My X700 has been very solid for me. Just make sure you don't leave the 4K upscaling turned on when you're playing 4K discs. That can cause some issues sometimes. Personally, I don't even use the 4K upscaling feature on my X700 at all. I leave it turned off and just let the TV handle the upscaling. But most of the time, I've found just wiping the disc down with a micro fiber cloth can resolve a lot of issues. If you're interested, I made a companion video addressing a couple settings tweaks you can do on the Sony players that may help (like turning off the 4K upscaling). Here's the link, if you haven't seen it yet: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
I have started putting all of my discs including video games, DVD, Blu-ray and 4k in paper sleeves in the case instead of clicking them into the actual case. It saves the inside of the disc from eventually cracking (especially DVD) and avoids the plastic off gassing onto the back of the disc. Paper sleeves are super cheap. I found 2 boxes of 100 each for only $3 at a thrift store and that solved my problem.
And the paper sleeves don’t scratch up your 4k and blu ray discs?
It's only the 4K triple layer discs usually. The players have issues with third layer changes.
Some very good tips here! I've have noticed that even a brand new microfiber cloth can leave very light hairline scratches on CDs and DVDs. I collect and sell a lot of classic video games on this media. They aren't enough to harm the disc, but some buyers are not happy unless the disc surface looks pristine. I went from using the microfiber cloth to a drop of liquid soft soap and some warm water. Then I very gently clean it with a hand. Now the important part.. I rinse it thoroughly, then blot it dry with a tissue. Then I finish with some canned air to clean any lint off and ensure it's 100%clean around the inner ring. I don't do this on every disc, but maybe for example, on a game that is worth several hundred dollars. Then pristine matters more.
Good stuff! I've not personally needed to do too much more than I laid out in the video, but yeah, some good ideas here. I've not had any problems with light scratches using the microfiber cloths I have, but I am definitely VERY gentle when wiping. And I totally agree -- it's important to be super careful when cleaning these things so as to not leave any hairline scratches, etc.. In fact, I wish I'd emphasized that a little bit more in the video than I did. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
This always worries me since my primary 4K player is a relatively ancient Oppo 205. Fortunately all of the new releases I've purchased have played flawlessly. Fingers crossed this player lasts me until I'm dead!
I'm also slightly amazed everytime a new disc plays without issue.
I have the oppo-203 and it’s better than 95% of current top players. I’ve had to exchange several 4k discs. Always check physical media immediately after buying. The new exchanged discs worked flawlessly. Don’t know why but I blame the manufacturer of the Disc.
@@gallynuts Absolutely.
I love when people share their opinion and experience that's it.
Whenever a 4K Disc froze on me, on very close inspection, the culprit was a SINGLE speck of dust. Each time simply blowing that tiny speck away fixed the issue. Never had smudges, scratches or fingerprints on new discs.
I tried your work around for my sony blu ray player and turned off the 4k on the player and now no more skipping on any of my 4k disk. Thanks again for the tip.
Thank you. I’ve had some issues with 4K playback and have noticed oily residue on my discs. This video confirms my suspicions. It’s not my Sony player.
I've got a Sony x700, too. When I first encountered the problem, I thought it was just the disc. But as it happened more, I thought it was the player until I noticed that it seemed to happen the most on Warner titles. So, I then thought it was a label issue until I then started seeing the problem crop on other labels as well.
Anyway, I've tried all the methods to various degrees of success or more often failure. At least so far, I've found the best success using Zeiss pre-moistened lens wipes that are safe for coated lenses.
Yes all my wb 4k don't play or freeze
I have had the same Sony for 2 years with no problems. I agree with you.
Thanks for this video man. I bought a pana 824 as well and the disc drive was very loud at blurays and 4k discs so I decided to give the Panasonic 9000 a try. Its so expensive but you should try it out if you can - the unit itself and the disc drive are way better and graveyard silent. And now I always be wiping of my discs bevor I put them into my player 👍👍 I always done it wrong because of the ⭕️ motion what I have done 🫢🙈
I check every single disc that I purchase. I have always been a big user of micro fiber cloths. 4K and Blu-Rays are always checked first. This happens so often these days. I return any discs that are not in brand new condition when I receive them. Quality control is a major issue these days and even though these companies are aware of this, they appear to just not care. Yes, Scream Factory and Criterion are the worst, but it happens with other companies as well. I use a Sony X700 series player. The most recent disc to freeze up on me was “All Quiet On The Western Front” 4K. Thank you for posting this video. It’s a very important topic to me and many other collectors.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
Yes, i bought 4 brand 4k disk new and all dont play without skipping and freezing..im using ps5 @warpathh
Thank you for this video. My Universal Soldier 4k disc froze in 2 places, i got it second hand from Cex. However, the disc looked immaculate, cleaning it the way you shown resolved the problem. I use a PS5 as a player.
I've had 2 discs that skip on a Sony X700, both at the 3rd layer change, but they rip perfectly in an Asus drive on my PC. The 2 are: The Ten Commandments and Beastmaster. All of the forums I read indicate the same problem at the same time stamps on both movies leaving me to believe it is a problem with the player and some form of buffering issue when the 3rd layer change occurs.
Interesting. Yeah I'm sure the third layer change is a factor sometimes in some cases. I just kind of chalk that up to an imperfect technology doing glitchy things on occasion. But I haven't personally found BD100 discs to pose as consistent a problem as the quality control issues I've been noticing on the factory discs. I can't remember the last time I had any layer-switching issues with a BD100 disc, but it probably has happened once or twice. That said, I don't have the 10 Commandments 4K (I still gotta pick that one up!), but I do have that Beastmaster 4K from Vinegar Syndrome... I've only watched it once on my Sony X700, but I didn't have any problems with it when I did. So it's possible it might not even be a problem the next time you play those discs.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
I've been running a Sony X800M2 for a couple months now, upgrade from an Xbox One S. Haven't had any skipping issues with it yet. I don't get the hate some have on for these units.
I have started with the Sony X700M. I just got into 4K about two weeks ago. I’ve had no trouble with my Sony either. I think the gripers are those that just don’t know how to set it up properly and they don’t know how to customize the settings on their TVs. The only trouble I’ve had with 4K was with a disc, not my player.
It's funny, just after I posted this comment I had my first skipping issue while sitting down watching Back to the Future I, but I think the issue was with the disc than the player. I've watched 10 more discs since without issue.
I had another disc issue with "1917" 2 nights ago - sure enough I pull out the disc and there's a couple lines of grit on the disc. Brand new unopened movie too. Meanwhile 12 4K discs played between Back to the Future & 1917 played fine. Universal must be having quality control issues.
I have a Sony 700 4K player & have had trouble with 4K & Blu-Ray Discs. The only discs that I don't have trouble with are the simple DVD's. I will now buy some micro fibre cloths, and try your solution.
Thanks for watching. You may want to also check out my companion video to this one, which is focused specifically on Sony players (I have a Sony X700 as well, and mine runs like a dream). Some settings tips here for you: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
That's awesome! I have been using the condensation from my breath and a lint free cloth to clean disc media, all the way back to my very first CD player in 1986. Works like a charm.😃👍
I thank you for the advice regarding breathing on the disc and wiping it. Saved me from having to send for a replacement Jurassic World six-film set.
I would probably send it back anyway, seeing as it has all 3 Jurassic World movies.
I've usually run into problems due to disc glitches, not the player. These glitches appear always in the same exact spot, proven by my buying three different copies of the same film. (I have a 3 strikes policy on returns.) Said glitches also only appear either right after the half way mark or towards the last part of most movies. (Never had a 4K play for 5 or 10 min and then bam - a sudden glitch.) Thanks for the advice on cleaning, since I used to go crazy with alcohol lens cleaners, etc.
Im relieved to hear i'm not the only one. Scream factory and studio canal seem to be the usual culprits lacking qc in my experience.
That off-gassing can be bad at times. My Rocky set was awful!. The case itself was clean but the flip-tray that held the additional discs was heavily coated. I had to wipe it down along with all the discs.
Great video. My new Trick or Treat 4k from Synapse and my 4k Murder on the Orient Express from Kino both freeze.
So glad to have found your video here. I have Panasonic's DP-UB9000. It's a very expensive player and the only reason I bought it was because I didn't know if the freezing was the disc or the player. Recently bought Criterion's 4K of The Rules of the Game and today just received from Amazon Dunkirk 4K. Both have a glitchy/freeze issue. I don't think I've ever had an issue with a standard Blu-ray but I've learned to check my 4K's as soon as possible. I pop the disc in the player and play it all the way through on the fastest search speed. I look for freezing or glitches. I'm going to try the microfiber cloth on these two and hope that does the trick, thanks!
Rules of the Game looks like it may be okay now. Dunkirk looks better though I may try cleaning it with soap and water (this is what Criterion suggested when I e-mailed them about my issue.) I've never heard of off-gassing residue before. I wonder how many 4K discs get returned when all they needed was to be wiped down. Wouldn't it make sense for the manufacturer to do a rinse or something before shipping them out? Anyway, thanks again for the video!
I NEVER have skipping or freezing. Definitely the player. I use a run of the mill $400 Phillips player that i bought in maybe 2017. Honestly, I can't remember a freeze or skip since the DVD days. Might have happened once or twice, but not enough to remember. And I watch lots of discs and have 1000s in my collection.
Appreciate your comments but I'm in the camp of player issues over disc. Yes disc can have issues but there's a couple reasons I think my Sony 800 is the source of most the errors. 1. I never have problems with DVDs or Blu rays. It would seem odd to me that manufacturers would consistently knock it out of the park with these older formats but 4ks they just haven't figured out after 5 or so years of production seems somewhat unlikely. Manufacturing is basically the same just with higher capacity disc. 2 most of the time I see skips and freezing after the 2hr play time. That seems to again point towards the player. It may be, like any computer, just getting bogged down with the amount of data it's processing. 3 if you shut down the machine and start playing again in the same spot on the disc and it works fine then it isn't a smudge or scratch on the disc. There are a few other reasons, I have, but basically I think the machine is pushing so much data it just crashes sometimes. Some times it is the disc and yes inspect and keep those disc clean. I think the Sony 800 is a fine machine but they push a lot of data to your TV when playing 4k UHD movies and we just have to accept that they will glitch occasionally. I hope the next generation players will master these issues.
4ks have bigger capacity meaning that scratch or finger print can cause more problems
@@Mowglibaloo2 obviously
Yep, Scream Factory has been the biggest offender of scratched discs. I have tried buying the 4k of Halloween 15 plus times, and every single time, the disc has had scratches
I have Sony x800m2 player,most of 4k blu rays where skipping, didn't have much problems with freezing, after last software update my all discs are working flawlessly,no skipping or freezing,it seems that this was an software issue on my player, cause those problems started after 7,8 months of using it,it wasn't a day one problem,so it seems that one software update started to causing these problems and this last one fixed the problem,at least in my case,I have 4k upscaling turned on and everything is working great for now and I hope it will stay for a long time, great player btw
Interesting to here about these issues that I wasn't aware of. I clean my discs in the same way as you. I actually do believe the issues I have are with my player 99% of the time. I'm thinking of buying the Panasonic to replace it. I currently have the LG 970. 7 out of 10 discs either freeze or digitally (go blocky) corrupt and freeze. Worst offender being Die Hard 4k.
Yeah you might be right about that. Now that you mention it, I have heard of other people having similar problems with LG players. My dad had one too, and he had a number of repeated issues with his LG player. He ended up upgrading to a Sony X800, and he hasn't had any problems since. The Panasonic players are good units too. I do like my Panny UB820.
Great video! This happened to me just last week w the JLA Snyder cut. Good to know it wasn’t my player…
This is a great topic to talk about I have Gemini man on 4k and it has skipping and freezing problems in one of the scenes tried all 3 of my 4k players all the same results I'll try this out thank you 👍 I'll see if it works or not on my Gemini man 4k disc
I've always cleaned discs as you say from central to edge but thanks for that breath tip.
While a quick wipe down does help in some occasions, I disagree that the primary source of skipping issues is the disc, it's not. 4K players were released in 2016 and were designed to handle two layer BD-66 discs. Triple Layer BD-100 discs are the true culprit, the data density requires a more powerful laser and better processing found only on the better players.
Yeah it wouldn't surprise me to find that BD-100 discs can cause issues sometimes, depending on the circumstances (especially with bare-bones entry-level players, like the old Samsung units). It does seem like 4K overall is an imperfect technology, so I don't like to rule anything out. But I'd probably be inclined to agree with you more on that point if I had personally experienced a lot of issues with triple-layer discs myself. But I really haven't. Both my Sony X700 (my primary player up until a few months ago) and Panny UB820 have handled BD-100 discs just fine, without any issues when switching to the third layer, etc. (and I have quite a few BD-100 titles... the issue you're raising is something I really started paying attention to more after hearing others raise similar concerns). But I honestly can't remember the last time I had any kind of issue with BD-100s on either player. I'm sure I might have experienced a bit of a glitch or something at some point in the past... but if it has happened, it's been so infrequent and inconsequential that it didn't seem like a big factor to me. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
Yep. I had that same Samsung player and always either had issues later in films, or I got the skip/freeze action. I bought an Oppo 203 and not 1 freeze since on any disc- zero. It's the player not the discs in like 90% of the situations, or even a pass through receiver that's not premium.
Almost all people reporting disc freezing have pristine discs. No finger prints. No scratches. Spend some time on hardware specific forums and you’ll see. It’s 100% the players, and most of the timing being reported is about the place where layer changes happen on the disc. This has been known for years.
Also, I've heard that some of the freezing/skipping problems are because of certain BD 100 discs (not all of them) when they do the triple layer shift, that could cause a hiccup in your player on some rare occasions. I think that is accurate to some degree because I've had my player (I have the same Sony player you have) do that a few times and it was always a BD 100, but I usually just eject the disc and put it back in and it works perfectly after that. Triple layer 4K discs are a pretty new technology so it may still have some glitches on occasion, these aren't normal DVD or blu ray discs, it's a very different thing. I notice once that particular disc skips the first time you play, it never does it again when you watch it multiple times..... it's sorta like the player is getting used to that disc. It's very strange. Yes, it also could be smudges just like you said, and these discs need to be cleaned. Most of the time I have zero problems even with most new BD 100s, it's just on rare occasions and it's rectified by simply just ejecting the disc and starting over where I left off.
Yeah I've heard that as well about with BD100 discs, but I haven't really had any significant problems playing the triple layer discs. For that matter, I can't remember the last time I had any issue playing a BD100 discs... though I know that early on, I had a few issues on a couple titles. But I've found that most of time, if I keep the disc clean etc., I don't really have any problems (unless there's some problem with the disc itself... like some sort of factory defect or quality control issue. There have been a few titles I've had to return, and when I got the replacement discs, those played just fine). So i think it's possible the BD100 discs can be problematic on occasion, for the reasons you mentioned. But for the most part, I've had pretty good success with those discs. Thanks for watching and weighing in.
I am surprised more people don't use their PCs to validate disks. MakeMKV will instantly stop reading the disc if there is a problem - using this you can validate that you have a bit-perfect copy and it is totally hands-off. If it can't read perfectly, that's an immediate return from me! It's rarer with new discs, but I'd say around 5-10% of discs I buy used have issues and require replacements.
Likely Most people aren’t ripping so they won’t have the software or hardware setup. People probably don’t want to spend time validating, and just watch the film, and This also doesn’t take into account the disc surface contaminants.
A lot of people's laptops, do not have a cd / dvd / blu ray player on them anymore.
I got a free copy of Aquaman with my Sony 4k player years ago that would freeze at a particular scene due to a barely noticeable tiny scratch. I have found that even the teeny tiniest particle, which wouldn’t affect a bluray disc or dvd, can cause problems freezing or stuttering. So I wipe every 4k movie completely clean before putting it into the player.
Yeah 4K discs can definitely be a little more sensitive to any kind of debris or dust particles, etc. I routinely wipe down my discs before I play them as well, and I hardly ever have any issues these days.
Good advice on dirty 4k UHD disks. I got the Jurassic Park 5 disk box set and I kept getting errors on Jurassic Park III. I had no issue with the first two when backing them up, so I tried the last two movies and they worked fine, also. So, even though I couldn't see the film on it, I cleaned it with a microfiber cloth a couple of times and it still had errors. I then used an alcohol wipe, followed by wiping with microfiber cloth and it worked. There was no offset gasing in the case and the film on the disk wasn't even noticeable to me. I had already filled out complaint to Ebay seller and tried one more time cleaning it, and it worked, so I never had to send that message.
You save my life today! 😅
Thanks and salute from Montréal! 🇨🇦
Astonishing that in 2023, the industry still goes out of it's way to maintain Piracy as the 'Gold Standard'.
Every CEO should be concerned, but alas, they couldn't care less. I'd almost say it's a conspiracy to keep people hooked into the scam that is 'Streaming'... but even then, the quality never comes close to a 4K physical release.
The only good thing is all my regular 1080p Blu-rays are still good, and is all things you can't get on streaming/or special editions.
Thanks for the video!
Interesting and helpfull. I am starting now to collect some 4K movies because I finally upgrade my """home theatre""" from FullHD to 4K just in these days (nothing serious, midrange stuff) and this video probably will help me not fell scared in case of freezing etc (now I know that I have to check and clean the disc before using it). Thank you :)
Welcome to 4K! It's actually a great format, and I don't really have that many problems very often. Most discs play just fine for me. And it does seem like maybe quality control has improved a bit since I made this video. I haven't noticed as many issues with discs these days as I did earlier last year leading up to this video. Thanks for watching!
How funny. My player has skipped 4k movies ever since I got it. I saw this title to see what was going on, and the player I have is the one you mentioned has been a good one, Sony X700. Most recently Reservoir Dogs and Jaws skipped for me. What worries me is, if it's not the unit then over half of my 4K discs are defective ... and if that's the case, what's the point of even buying physical 4k movies? My thought had been "at least I've got the collection and can enjoy them better when I have a better player". I've collected DVDs and Blu rays for years, have thousands of movies, take great care of them, and clean them carefully. Never had an issue, until I moved up to 4k. Even after cleaning the 4ks with microfibre cloths, the same issues occur. The only way I can watch the scenes that skip or freeze is to turn off the player and then go to select a scene and play it from there. Quite annoying, really. So go figure 🤷
Interesting. I don't think half the 4K discs are defective... Most of the time, my discs play fine (including on my Sony X700). But I too have noticed there are more issues with 4K discs from the factory than I ever had with blu rays or DVDs in the past. It seems to me like 4K is definitely not a perfect technology, even under the best of circumstances. I've noticed even Panny UB820 players can have problems sometimes, and those players are considered the gold standard for many people. As for other freezing/performance issues on your Sony, there are a couple other things you can do that might resolve the issue: (1) Do you have the 4K upscaling setting turned on in your X700 "screen settings?" If so, I would keep that turned off and not use that function on the Sony players (just let your TV do any blu ray upscaling -- Sony upscaling isn't very good anyway, in my view). (2) Also under the x700 "screen settings," you might want to try setting the Cinema Conversion Mode to "Video" and not "Auto." I've heard those two settings can affect performance on the X700, and that tweaking these may resolve any other freezing issues the X700 has been having (that's what I keep mine set to, and it's run very well for me -- I almost never have any problems). Thanks for watching and weighing in!
@@TheOriginalFuzzmy issue with sony x-700 it will not play any DVDS or special features on blu ray or 4k discs. Any idea what I can do will be very welcome.
@@mikefisher2673 Weird. I haven't had any problems playing DVDs on my X700 (although I've only tried a few, since I almost never watch DVDs unless it's like a music or film documentary or something). I know the X700 supports DVDs (and a bunch of other disc formats), so they're supposed to play on that unit -- Unless maybe they are from a different region? That's the only thing I can think of. The standard X700 model is region-locked for blu rays and DVDs (unless you have the multi-region version, which I do), so you wouldn't necessarily be able to play DVDs and blu rays from other regions. And I'm always able to watch the special features just fine on my X700, whether they're in HD or SD, on blu ray or DVD. But I do have to switch the region on my X700 for some European discs, because the special features are often included on a region B-locked blu ray. The standard x700 units don't allow for that, but I paid a little extra for multi-region capabilities. Otherwise, if that's not the issue, then I'd probably wonder if maybe there's a problem with your specific player, because I haven't heard of others having problems like that with their X700 units (outside of the region coding issue).
@@TheOriginalFuzz Thanks for responding it might need an update that will be my next test, but it's all dvds region free. It played them when first used the player then just quit playing DVDS.
@@mikefisher2673 Oh weird.... yeah that is definitely not supposed to happen with the X700. Sounds like a good plan... definitely try an update and see if that resolves the issues. And if you're still having issues, you can also try just doing a total factory reset on the player, restore it back to the way it was when it was brand new (I can't remember how to do a factory reset, but it's in the manual, or you can google it).
Hello-
being a 4K disc collector i think sometimes it is the player. for instance The Fablemans is my favorite of 2022 and was
delighted when the 4K disc was released. the first time i played it toward the end of the film when Sammy and Monica are
dancing at the prom the disc freezes for a split micro nano second then skips a frame and the disc continues. but if i shut
down the player then restart it and play that scene the freeze frame and skip doesn't happen.
Yeah that's a fair point. I think that's just the nature of the tech. Sometimes there are weird little glitches or what not that aren't necessarily a result of something on the disc surface. And even in the best of circumstances, weird stuff just happens sometimes with 4K. I think there's just a lot more information on the 4K discs, so the tolerances are a lot lower for any kind of errors that affect playback. Thanks for watching!
Shout Factory and Criterion are definitely the worst. It's a shame that at this point I expect to get scratches when opening their products. And Shout will only replace it if the scratch is a certain length lol. Pretty ridiculous but people keep buying so they are going to keep finding ways to cut costs.
Exactly! And that's the main reason I don't buy from Shout directly. If I'm going to get a scratched up disc that I have to return, I'd much rather deal with Amazon than Shout for returns.
I'll give it a go, and come back. I own Panasonic bd820. Issues ONLY arise with Paramount translucent top discs. Never had issues with discs that have a later of graphic/not see though disc.
My Sony UBP-X700 just started acting buggy after 18 months of pretty consistent performance on 4k discs. Superman: The Movie froze up and skipped about 3/4ths of the way through the film. Had to switch to the digital copy, which was a bummer. I was about to get the Panny until I saw this video. We'll see if the microfiber cleaning trick works before I invest in a new player. I hope it works.
Have an honest question I'd love to see a video on.
Just acquired a Panasonic UB820. Great player, but it has one disturbing flaw.
In order to turn it on, I have to power everything down, then power up the UB820 via either the remote control, or the power button on the 4k player. Is this normal, and can it be fixed?
Configuration is UB820 to Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2.4 Earc soundbar to Hisense U6G 50" TV via arc port.
Honestly I've never had that problem with my UB820. I do use the eArc connection between my receiver and TV, but I have my UB820 connected directly into another HDMI port on my 4K TV. I don't run my UB820 through the receiver first. When I turn on the power on my UB820, it automatically turns the power on everything. But I do not have to power down anything to turn my UB820 on... if I'm on a different input, everything just automatically switches over to the Panasonic when I power it up on the remote. Maybe try running your Panasonic into your HiSense directly (into a different HDMI port than the eArc port on your TV... just leave the eArc port connection between the soundbar and TV, but don't run the Panny through the soundbar first. If you run it through the TV instead, the audio should route back out through your soundbar). I don't know if that will make a difference or not, but it might be worth trying.
I have a Sony 4K player it works great. I have had a couple faulty disc but I just send them back and last been fine with the replacements
Now I'm worried.
(note: I own thousands of optical disks, so I'm not a newb)
I store my UHDs in binders.
Recently, I had issues playing back The Godfather. I had bought the set and watched the first film some months before, so it was only my second viewing. Checked it, made sure there were no fingerprints , etc. Tried it multiple times, no luck. Got a replacement and it worked fine. One disk, I figured, no big deal.
I got a cleaner / microfibre cloth for any future problems.
A short time later I took out Reservoir Dogs (which I bought and watched not long before) and it skipped. After cleaning and cleaning, it was still skipping, so I put it aside and replaced it. Hmm, weird, 2nd disk.
Tonight, I was watching It Happened One Night and it started skipping. Uh oh. I've had this disk a few months but hadn't watched it.
I got very concerned. Pulled out Jaws and fast forwarded thru it. It froze. Oh, shit. The Final Countdown, froze.
I'm thinking all my disks are thrashed now. I haven't found a working one yet.
I've had almost zero problems playing a new UHD, and I have hundreds of them.
Is it the disk? My new copies of Reservoir Dogs and Godfather don't seem to have the issue.
Is it the player? The problems seem to occur in the 30-50 minute range. Layer change? (The player is a first gen Samsung.)
The binders? Could the material be causing fine scratches or contaminating the disk somehow?
Any advice would be appreciated. I'm a little beside myself.
To test whether my binders could be scratching the disks, I took Jaws (which heretofore was played once when new and then inserted once into the binder) and shoved it in and out of the binder sleeve MANY times in all orientations, even dragged it around inside the sleeve. If my disks are getting so easily scratched, surely this would have added many more scratches.
Nope, still hiccups at the same point, around 46 minutes in.
My UHDs have been kept in good environmental conditions and not exposed to extremes or abuse, so the only disk-centric problem I can imagine is something like the delamination issue that struck early Universal 2 layer DVDs.
Stacking them all together in a binder is mechanically stressing them, perhaps? But I've not had issues with regular Blu-Rays which I stack even more tightly.
Maybe my player is just getting tired and is tripping on things a newer player wouldn't....
@@andyhutton7736 Honestly, I think it may be the player. I also have one of those old first gen Samsung 4K players, and they're not very good units (and Samsung doesn't even make 4K players anymore). In fact, I stopped using mine altogether within a fairly short time... it was my first 4K player, but I've since upgraded to a Sony X700, and then a Panasonic UB820. The Samsung players weren't very good for consistent, stable performance, and I suspect that they could be having problems with the layer changes, etc. I think because they're pretty low-end players, they tend to have a harder time with the 4K technology (especially with 100 GB discs)... at least in terms of reliable, consistent performance.
While I'm not a fan of binders and wouldn't necessarily recommend using them, I don't think those are the problem here. If your discs still visibly look good and relatively clean with no/few scratches -- then I don't think it's the binders that are the source of the problem. You may want to consider investing in a little better player.
Hope this helps a little. Thanks for watching, and feel free to reach out with any other questions.
I have had the skipping problem with my Back to the Future Part II and Part III from the 35th Anniversary set where they both skip around the 30-40 minute mark on my PS5. I have used lint free cloths to clean them, same method you have described, and I can't see any visible marks on either disc. But it's made no difference. I have found cases of other people having the same issue with these two movies in at the 30-40 minute mark. So I wonder whether this could be a manufacturing error literally in the disc code?
Yeah there have been circumstances people have described like that where I'm genuinely perplexed and don't necessarily have a good answer. So I'm thinking maybe there really was some sort of manufacturing error, like you suggested. I'm sure sometimes, there really are legitimately "defective" discs that have some sort of problem that we have no control over. Perhaps that's what's going on with your BTTF discs. I can tell you I have that same BTTF box set, and I didn't have any of those problems with my discs, playing it on a Sony X700. Thanks for watching and weighing in!
@@TheOriginalFuzz thanks for replying. I do want to get a dedicated player eventually, as the PS5 doesn't support Dolby Vision. I will consider the X700. I've also had the same problem with UHD of Tenet.
My ps5 does the same with 4 4k brand new movies.
Decided to finally buy a 4K player and grabbed a less expensive LG unit and a film froze on that so took it back and paid a bit more and picked up a Panasonic DP-UB420 and no issues plus find it does a much better job with the quality. Highly recommend. Only issue for me is the remote and button placement.
I do not think the issue is discs on these 4K discs - to me it is the player and the fact some of the less expensive players just do not read them as well, especially with them changing layers. There may be some issues on the odd disc but do not think it is the big issue as They Live froze for me and I wiped off and kept freezing is same spot on LG player but no issues on Panasonic player. Just find they do not make these players as well as they did with early DVD players.
Yeah I think you're spot on. I've heard a lot of horror stories about LG 4K players. My dad even had one and had issues with it... he ended up upgrading to another player. The lower-end players just don't seem to handle the 4K tech as well. I had the same problem with my old Samsung 4K player. Also, I've heard the Panny UB420 is a great unit (I have the UB820). But I totally know what you mean about the remotes on these. I ended up buying a UB9000 knock-off remote on eBay and it works with my 820 much better than the one that came with it. The button placement sucks on the remotes that come with the Pannies (except for the Panny Ub9000 -- that one is decent). Thanks for watching!
Great video, but the biggest issue I have encountered is the dreaded triple layer discs! I have the Sony x700 the Panasonic UB820 and a PS5. The Sony player was awful at first but a firmware update greatly improved things, however the player still struggles with some triple layer discs and I've also had audio sync issues. The Panasonic player is better but it still has issues with some triple layer discs. The PS5 is proving to be the best player as I have yet to have any playback issues at all. In my experience there are bigger issues with the format than just dirty discs and I doubt anything will be done about it. Although I enjoy the 4k quality I sometimes wish I had just stuck with standard Blu-ray.
Yeah it's definitely not a perfect format, and I don't mean to suggest it's always the disc every single time. Electronics can be weird. But I haven't personally had too many issues with BD100 discs. Both my multi-region X700 (my primary player for about 2 years before getting my Panny) and my Panny UB820 seem to play them just fine. I'm sure that can be a factor sometimes, but it's just not something I've personally run into a whole lot. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I had any issues with layer switching when playing a BD100 disc. Thanks for watching!
i wa sabout to say "why arent any ps5 owners here to say that they haven't had a problem?" lol
and here you are!
thank you!
lol
🤣🤣🤣
Ps5 does the same after a while
@PhillipLemmon I'm a ps5 user and it definitely does the same. Brand new 4k movies don't load at all. Example- The meg2, mortal kombat cage match 4k.
Umm my ps5 skips 4k, yours will eventually. Brand new disk that I replaced 4 times and all the skip/freeze. Different spots too😅 so it's the ps5
Residue is most propably paraffin wax, it's seeping from plastic case. Paraffin wax is used as release agent and nowadays manufacturers mix it with plastic granulate.
When I switched from my Sony X800 to the Panasonic UB820, every single disc skipping/freezing problem disappeared. So it's one point of anecdotal data, but it sure seems to me that it is the player. I cleaned every problem disc with microfiber from center out.
BTW, I am not some sort of anti-Sony fan. Quite the opposite in fact. Nearly every other component of my home theater is Sony.
That's cool. That hasn't really been my experience with the Sony players. My X700 has been a solid unit. I've only owned my Panny UB820 for about 5 months, but even that has had an occasional issue with this weird pixelating/freezing thing (something I've heard other Panny owners mention on occasion as well). It's only happened with like 3 discs on the Panny for me, but when it did, I switched the discs over to my Sony X700, and they played in the same spot without any issues. Also anecdotal, but a little different experience, it sounds like. So I guess I'm leaning more toward the "imperfect technology" viewpoint here. But I do think that checking and cleaning the discs -- for those who don't already -- can cut down on a lot of potential problems with freezing and skipping, etc. Thanks for watching and weighing in.
So I switched those two settings around and it seems the issue is still occurring on my brand new army of darkness 4k disc. The disc is new and in good shape. Are there any other settings you would recommend me change, Fuzz? Thank you
Not really... If you've tried the settings changes and tried cleaning the disc, then it's entirely possible you just got a bad disc. That has happened to me a few times. Are you still able to return it and maybe exchange it for the same thing? I believe Army of Darkness is a Scream Factory disc if I remember right, and I have had these issues with some of their discs occasionally in the past. Usually exchanging it for another copy seems to take care of the problem.
@@TheOriginalFuzz funnily enough, I had already bought two copies, the regular and the steelbook. The freeze and lag did happen once after changing the settings, but after I unplugged and replugged the system back in, it’s been running very smooth. Hopefully it’s better now, otherwise, the fault is just on scream factory discs. I did have one question tho, if the disc has Dolby vision, will that still show if the Blu-ray player setting has Dolby vision switched off?
@@lydiawoolfy8952 No I don't think it shows up without DV activated. But I don't have access to Dolby Vision because I have a Samsung 4K TV. So I've never turned it on.
@@TheOriginalFuzz thank you for you help! It’s all fixed for me now. I cleaned the disc on both sides and I uncapped the fps on the system. Apparently it was capped at 24p by default
I also believed it was my player. I'm using a Reavon X100.
I recently bbought "Chinatown" [1974] UHD-4K disk, and it won't play at all. It starts skipping immediately and simply won't play.
It might be an issue with the disc... I've heard those Reavon players are pretty good.
@@TheOriginalFuzz It was the disc. I cleaned the surface of the disc and now it plays. It still skips a little at a few spots, but is playable and looks great.
I’m also using Reavon X100 4K player. When I first encounter with the new 4K disc can’t play. I was thinking because of my player and went to various HiFi dealers to test with different players. Finally confirmed is a disc defective. Couple years down the line it is very annoying I have one out of ten new 4K disc defective either it’s can’t play at all or freezes at certain point. But this never happened to my 500 discs collection of HD blu rays. Since then if really wanted 4K disc I will purchase from used preowned disc instead……just to play save!
I bought Superman the Movie on 4K, looking utterly spotless and cleaner than a lot of other discs I own that work great and it freezes and pixelates when Clark goes to the North. So, its problably a mastering issue and doesn't have anything to do with what you're talking about.
Sometimes there are just bad discs... even if they look clean. I've had that happen a few times. I would return it and replace with another copy if you're still able to. Most of the time when I have any issues like this (which is very seldom), returning and exchanging seems to take care of the problem. Do you have a Panasonic 4K player?
Got two 4K players a Sony UBP-X700 (only problem i`ve ever had with it was when the power source died) and a LG UBK90 both Multi Region for DVD & Blu ray.
Think i`ve only had a few skips & freezes over the life time of both models even with buying 2nd hand disc`s from Amazon UK , ebay & CEX (to name a few).
Every dvd i have ever bought i have a quick check for any scratches or dust or fingerprints before i play it. I always hold it at the edges and if need be, give it a carefull wipe with a clean cloth. I only buy new discs and have done so for more than twenty years. I used to notice video cassette flicker or interruptions too which annoyed me until i got a dvd player. but Interesting that 4K may have problems. I still buy dvds if bluerays are too expensive, unless its a desired boxset or feature worth spending on. No 4K player or discs yet for me.
I have a few seconds of distorted image on my 4K Cat People (Scream Factory). Trying a careful cleaning, thanks. Player is a Panasonic DP-UB420, no problems with any other disc.
Are you getting these weird like pixelated- spots on the image for those few seconds? My Panasonic Ub820 occasionally does the same thing... and I haven't completely figured out why yet (though when it has happened for me, I seem to remember it mostly occurring with a less-than-pristine Scream Factory disc).
@@TheOriginalFuzz I'd say that's a good description. Kind of a splatter for a few seconds. It's not doing it now, I think the thorough cleaning did the trick. Thanks!
A tiny bit of isopropyl alcohol on the cloth work for even worse dirt on improperly stored discs. It drys very quickly, useful for tech stuff.
I buy both US and Japan discs (since I live in Japan) but the disc quality/quality control (including the type of plastic used) from Japan is legit 2 - 3 times better. No residue oils etc. Yes, they cost 2x3 times more but as a collector, I prefer buying one from here.
The good thing im noticing now is espec scream factory discs is there in rec plastic cases so there is cutouts were the disc sits which will obv help the off gassing grease problem
If you're referring to those eco-cases, I gotta say, I am not a fan of those (in fact, I'm actually working on a video right now about those cases). The discs aren't very well-protected in those cases, and I worry about the long-term ramifications. The way I see it, off-gassing residue can be wiped off easily enough, and it doesn't do any permanent harm to the disc. So it's not that big of a deal for me... I'd rather deal with wiping down the discs than risk any potential long-term degradation as a result of storing them in eco-cases.
Never had any of these issues since day 1 of starting my 4K journey with my Samsung one to the Panasonic 820 I’ve owned since it launched and still do to this day
Used a micro cloth and it’s done the job just right thanks for the info 👍
I actually mastered in freezing discs at this point, all Mexican made, UK made, and Germany 4k disc they freeze. And also keeping them this secure is actually pain in the ass. So I found a solution, make sure you guys buy the Sony made discs for triple layers which is USA made, unfortunately all the WB, Paramount, Universal And Disney they all use these Mexican discs in us, even abroad like UK, and Germany all the Europe countries, discs they freezes after 2 to 3 watches. And I tried them all they freeze, and then I tried Asian triple layered discs, bought WB, Paramount and major other studios discs from Japan they use high quality discs, but they are expensive. So If you guys wanted a really good film in 4k get it from Japan.
Sometimes the disc can come loose inside it's case if posted, this can't be good for the disc! I try to look after my discs really carefully but it's so easy to leave prints on them, so I recommend checking the disc every time you play it.
I've heard too many stories of the Sony players freezing during play back.. so much so that the new player I ordered today was a Panasonic!
By the way, great to see so much physical media in the background, to hell with streaming, Blu Rays and CD's RULE!
Yeah it's really frustrating when the discs become dislodged from the trays. Sometimes it has resulted in a scratched disc, but not always. I've had a number of titles show up with loose discs, and the discs ended up miraculously being fine and scratch-free. So it just depends. But I agree -- I always check my discs before I play them.
I haven't had any significant problems with my Sony player, but the Panasonic units are solid, so you'll probably be very happy with it. I have a Panny UB820 and it's been a great player. Is that what you got? The UB820 model?
Thanks for watching and weighing in!
I need to check a couple discs for this (I do have a Sony X800). I remember after encountering sections of freezing I didn't see anything, but I was really looking for something something like a scratch, not clear residue.
Yeah sometimes if there's an issue, it's good to just give them a gentle overall wipe-down, just in case there's any film on the disc that's hard to see.
Thank you so much I have a clear mind now
While i generally agree with your cleaning advice, occasionally even a bit more than a hot breath is needed. Like when I dropped a disc on my dinner plate. (Yeah, that's what I get for eating in front of the TV. 🤔) I found that a quick rinse under regular tap water followed by a wipe with the cleaning wipes specifically made for cleaning eyeware (pre-soaked with rubbing alcohol) worked great. I've used said cloths for cleaning literally dozens of discs over the years with great sucess. And they're dirt cheap. A box of 100 is around $6.
Nice! That sounds like solid advice as well. Thanks for watching and chiming in!
I have, bought a fast and the Furious collection as well as mission impossible collection. After research it looks like it was a flaw in the pressings of the discs. I checked every disc as I'm just not trusting and they all looked perfect.
The Sony’s are fine but I never like that you have to manually switch DV and HDR depending on the disc.
I have a Panasonic 9000 and I’ve had very few issues with playback.
1. My first 4K was BLACK HAWK DOWN. Downscaling to 1080p via UB9000 produced five-second freezes around the layer changes. 4K on 4K TV...no freezes.
2. MALTESE FALCON 4K image broke up around 100-110 mins. Reverse and playback caused glitching at different time codes. Cleaned visually clean disc with AV cleaner and microfibre cloth. No more glitching.
With regular dvds and blurays, do you have the upscalling function on or off?
@@andreassouth1523 The player seems to upscale all content to 4K first.
@@RodneyAllanPoe Τhank you!
Thank you for your video and it is true that some 4K discs have residue or scratches on them. Unfortunately, Sony 4K players inherently have issues. Explain this: you play a 4K movie and the Sony player plays it with no issue. The very next day, you play the same disc and it freezes and skips. How can it play with no issue one day the same disc but freeze another day? Or how about this: when it freezes, rewind or skip back to the previous chapter and plays on fine. Say it froze at 1:10 mark and the chapter starts at 1:00. mark. Skip back to 1:00 mark and this time it doesn't freeze at the same mark. So yes, Sony players have issues for sure. I have multiple 4K players and that's my experience.
Thanks for watching! Honestly, I don't really have problems like that with my Sony X700, and I've had it for a couple years now. It's run like a dream the vast majority of the time, with no issues... or if there was a problem, it was something with the disc. I mean, I think it's possible occasionally there might be a problem with the unit, but most of the time, from the experience I've had, the issues on Sony players can be resolved by a couple settings tweaks and/or cleaning the disc. (Although like I said, sometimes you do get a lame disc from the factory... that seems to have occurred more with 4K than other formats, for some reason). But I made a companion video to this where I go over a couple settings that may help with the issue on Sony players. If you haven't already checked it out, here's the link: th-cam.com/video/Sym8ayOpL-4/w-d-xo.html
The snarky side of me says the fox is a Panasonic 820. But microfiber cloth is the answer
Useful information 👍🏻
A long time ago when Jason X had been just released on DVD we had to take it back 3 times to Kmart and explained to them that it kept freezing at the same time
Hi - interesting video - I have the Panasonic and noticed that it's the longer (BD-100?) discs that skip or freeze. However, they all play fine in my Xbox Series X - wondering why?
I'm not sure, honestly. Maybe different players/drives have different tolerances or something. It could just be the nature of the tech... and the fact that it's not a perfect technology. Interestingly, I've not really had many, if any, problems playing BD100 discs on my Panny UB820. But there have been a couple discs (just BD66 I think) where I got this weird pixelated/freeze type of thing going on (which apparently is a known issue with Panasonic units)... and I found when I played the same discs on my Sony X700, I didn't have any problems. And I've heard the X Box can be pretty reliable in playing 4K discs, even if they don't have all the bells and whistles of a dedicated player. Thanks for watching... and my apologies for the delayed response. This comment somehow slipped through the cracks on my end.
Watched my vertigo disc like twice and now randomly started skipping and glitching out. No idea what happened. I try to be so careful.
Yeah sometimes just giving it a wipe down with a micro fiber cloth can solve the problem, even if it doesn't appear as if there's any issue on the disc. And sometimes it really is just the disc itself... a manufacturing issue or something.
The freezing with my x800 player ended when I upgraded the HDMI cables. Don't buy boutique labels, though.
I just had the same problem. I took my scream factory 4k bride of Chucky back to Best Buy as it kept glitching and freezing. I though it was the disc that was defective and took it back for an exchange and the new one was even worse came with 2 deep 1/2 inch scratches had the same problem. I’m gonna try turning off the 4K upscale and see if that helps.
I received a brand new 4K Old boy Steel book shrink-wrapped. I checked before playing and there was a massive greasy fingerprint on the Disk. In most cases I find cleaning the Disk sorts out any issues however in some cases I find it could be a very poor quality disk. One such Disk? Deadpool 2 4K. The disk is so thin the print is visible on blank side!
This was so helpful. I was watching The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers. This too solved it.
Awesome! That's wonderful to hear. I'm glad this helped a bit. Thanks for watching!
Can this be the same situation with standard blu-rays?
I've had some discs recently start to really glitch out.
These are films that I've watched several times. Not excessively, but definitely more than twice, but they have been sitting around, on my shelves for years.
Over the past year I've had Godzilla(2014), Monsters, Drag Me to Hell, and even more recently The Conjuring all freeze up and stop working quite a way into the film.
I haven't really found this to be the case with my own blu-rays much (unless they had some kind of smudge, debris or scratch or something on them... then yes, they can definitely be affected by those things). Did you try cleaning those discs with a micro-fiber cloth to see if it solved the problem? Otherwise, if cleaning the disc doesn't fix the issue, then it's possible it could be due to the age of the discs, depending on storage conditions, environment, etc. My last video was on the topic of "disc rot" and possible scenarios with aging discs. You can check it out here if you'd like: th-cam.com/video/-4GSVnlJkmU/w-d-xo.html
I hear you saying "I don't use water and soap", but that's exactly how to clean a disc properly. I do that with second hand bought blu ray discs as well, and they look brand new after this treatment. Only breathing on the discs and wiping is not the most effective way to properly clean it. Also, there's the risk of scratching the disc by doing this. There can be dust, sand or other barely visible stuff sitting on the disc.
You do you, if soap and water is your thing. If that works for you, knock yourself out. But I've never needed to use any kind of cleaner for my discs... and I hardly ever have ANY problems with my discs. I've been cleaning physical media discs like this for 35 years (going all the way back to CDs), and never once have I ever needed to use soap and water. My discs all look great and play great, so I must be doing something right. I certainly have never had any problems with scratches because I used my breath and a micro fiber cloth. If someone accidentally creates scratches, it's not because they used their breath, but rather, because they weren't careful in how they wiped the disc or in what material they used to wipe the disc with. Using their breath has nothing to do with it.
As someone who owned a Sony X700, my freezing problems vanished when I switched to a Panasonic 4K player. My friend had an X800 also freezing. I recommended he switch to Panasonic and he hasn't had any issues since either.
Oddly, the PS5 also never froze on me when I swapped to that for a while out of frustration. It was also made by Sony but played 4K discs fine.
There are a few settings tweaks for the Sony players that help with the performance (which I covered in another video). As such, I don't have any issues with freezing and skipping on my Sony X700 (unless it's a problem with the disc). Same thing with my Panny UB820 -- which I agree is a great player (though I've still had like 3 discs do the freeze/pixelate thing that Pannys are known to do on occasion... But again, I just assumed it was an issue with the disc in those cases). Overall, both units have been solid players for me.