Badmovies.org Forum

Since everyone was so helpful here with my problems concerning the cheapo Attack of the Crab Monsters DVD I'm hopeful I can get some help from you guys concerning a more top-tier DVD release....

I ordered the DVD for North by Northwest for Christmas from Columbia House. We've never had any problems with them before, but for some reason, the North by Northwest DVD has a rather odd glitch. The picture stops at the auction house scene! The audio continues but the picture remains frozen. So we sent the DVD back and requested a new copy. The new copy arrived and....it did the same thing, at the exact same spot in the exact same scene! Does Columbia House have a bad batch of DVDs or what?

It's as if the video portion of the movie just ceases to exist beyond that scene. I've tried everything, even going to the chapter menu. Nothing would get either of the copies I had to play past that scene, which is driving me insane because I really love the climax of the film.

Did you try it on someone else's DVD player?  I'd do that first before lodging another complaint. 

How old's your DVD player?  It might be time for a new one.  I have the standard release of NNW and I haven't had any problems.  Let me know how it turns out.

We have two DVD players. I've tried both DVDs on both. I've had problems with my DVD of The Princess Bride not playing on one player, but doing so smoothely on another. I've never had two different discs of the same title fail to play on two separate players before. I've even tried ripping the DVD (don't tell anyone!), but that doesn't work; the ripping program tells me there's some kind of error with the data. I can't remember the specifics, and, in fact, now that I mention it, I'll try that again and get back to you with what it says. 'Cause I know it gave some kind of specific reason.

Are your two players the same or similar make/models?  Sometimes, certain DVD players, or DVD players from the same manufacturer, all have problems with specific discs.  I've ran into that a couple of times.

The external DVD drive for my computer is an Iomega Super DVD. The regular DVD player we have in the living room is a Sony model of some sort.

I recently learned that the moment the video freezes up is exactly where the "changeover" happens on the disc, 1 hour and 27 minutes into the film. I was told that sometimes, DVD players are just finicky and that for whatever reason both players are having difficulty reading the second layer of the disc. So I bought a DVD lens cleaning disc and used it, but the DVD still will not play. So the logical conclusion, my mom and I have come to, is that there's just gotta be something wrong with the batch of DVDs Columbia House is using.

But I'll know more when I borrow my sister's copy of the DVD and see whether or not it'll play past the 1 hour 27 minute mark on either player. Since hers plays fine according to her (she didn't get hers from Columbia House as far as I know, heh), the outcome of this little experiment will determine whether the problem is with either of my copies, or with the player(s). But since she lives a good distance from us it'll be a while before I'll be able to go over and get the disc.

Having the exact same problem with North by Northwest.  Happens just as you say, scene in the auction house, video freezes but audio continues.  DVD purchased from Amazon.  Reported the problem, Amazon sent us a new DVD.  Same results!!!  New DVD does same thing.  This time I popped the disc in the computer -- again, same results, video becomes corrupt at the same scene.

Question -- have you found a DVD that actually works???  Does anyone from Warner Bros. (or whoever makes these DVD's) know about the problem?  I'd really like to have this movie for my collection, so I'd like to find a way to get a good DVD....

I was unfortunately never able to borrow my sister's DVD since a friend of her fiance's borrowed a lot of their DVDs without asking including North By Northwest. But we have still a third copy coming in the mail from Columbia House so we'll see what the future holds and I'll keep you posted. If this one doesn't play I'm gonna probably try someplace like Best Buy.

Oh, glorious day! They say that the third time's the charm, and they're right, in this case. I received my third DVD of North By Northwest from Columbia House, and I was able to watch scenes past the auction house without any difficulties. Seeing the climax in widescreen is awesome! The only downside was that the keepcase was cracked in shipping, but I just replaced it with the one from Superman II (sorry, Supes).

So, ATK, if you're reading this, my only advice on how to get a good DVD of this film, or any film, is just to keep trying, if feasible.