CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution are reacting to
consumer complaints about audio anomalies on the new box set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 1. A replacement
program has been instituted and replacement discs will be sent to consumers free of
charge. Following is the official press release with appropriate contact information:
Dear Star Trek Fans,
We have discovered an anomaly in the English 7.1 DTS Master Audio track in our Star Trek:
The Next Generation Season 1 Blu-ray Box set. There are some episodes that
inadvertently had their front channel designations incorrectly mapped, resulting in an
undesired playback experience when listening to them in a 7.1 or 5.1 Surround Sound
environment.
We are quickly working to remedy the situation. Replacement discs (Disc 1, 3 and 4) will be
made available free of charge. Please email phe.stng@bydeluxe.com for details regarding
the replacement program. You may also call 1-877-DELUXE6 (877-335-8936) between 8am
to 6pm Pacific, Monday-Friday.
We strive to provide our fans the best Blu-ray experience possible and sincerely apologize
for this inconvenience.
UPDATE: The fulfillment firm is simply sending replacement discs to those who can verify the code on the inner ring of any of the Blu-ray discs (it's very hard to read, so having a bright light is helpful). There is no need to mail in the defective discs. According to the fulfillment firm, replacement discs will be sent within 5-10 business days after August 10.
Awesome! Two minute call and discs will be sent out within five business days. You don't even have to send them the defective ones. Super easy. Does kinda make you wonder if they knew about this issue after the discs were pressed, this is awfully quick for them to have everything already redone. But hey, whatever, it's getting fixed, so who cares?
Called for my replacement and the operator said they will be mailed out within five business days AFTER AUGUST 10. Just want to clarify that. Still incredibly quick! Hats off to CBS for making this right & doing so very quickly.
VERY impressed by the response from CBS. It hasn't been out more than a week and already we have a fix! I'm gonna call them today.
Star Trek fans are gonna make or break this release so I guess they gotta be proactive. I hope every trek fan supports these releases so we can get all our shows on Bluray (DS9, Voyager, Enterprise).
Hmm, looks like I will have to wait to buy this one until fixed sets are on the market. I hope it will be clear that you are buying the fixed version when they are available too.
I've been sitting on hold for 10 minutes now, so it's not exactly painless. Can't stand when the recorded message tells you over and over that your call is important to them, but not important enough to answer apparently.
Good to see they are fixing the problem so quickly. I called and was on hold for just a few minutes. Replacements will be received after the 10th as other people have stated.
Encounter at Farpoint
Hide and Q
The Big Goodbye
Datalore
11001001
Too Short a Season
Just load up one of these episodes and you can tell if the spoken dialogue seems to come through your left and right channels. It should be coming out of only the center channel. This mixing error creates an echo like effect.
advanced pillow: You're probably right, I got my info from another site. The replacement program is giving you a new disc 3, which Haven is on so they will probably fix that one too. Maybe you just thought it was bad because Haven is bad in itself
The press release doesn't mention what episodes are specifically affected but I'm assuming they double checked all the season 1 episodes again if they are giving new discs out for disc 1, 3 and 4.
Glad that this issue is being taken care of good job by Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment. I'm sure it will be a few weeks before a 2nd pressing of the set will be on sale so I will wait.
I could not read the code on the inner ring until I used a huge magnifying glass. This sucks beyond measure. Why couldn't they just get it right the first time. This is truly a travesty and a total inconvenience. I will, however, change my mind when the replacement blu-rays come and we can finally watch it.
I just finished watching the episode "Justice" and at 9 minutes 15Secs into the episode I did notice that one of the voices did echo around several speakers at the front only lasted a few seconds, but it was there.
I have not picked up the set yet, but will do so in the future. Interesting that Paramount keeps having problems with their discs, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan, and now this. Glad that they are remedying the situation quickly, but you would think they would pay closer attention considering this is not the first time this has happened.
Hey Aussies, I've just been in contact with JB HiFi who got back to me immediately with confirmation that the issue does affect inbound sets but that they expect new stock within four weeks. Can't ask for any better than that!
Hello New Zealanders, I too have just spoken to JB HiFi (in NZ) and they said there is a worldwide recall on this set, not due to audio issues but due to some episodes being repeated on the same disc. They could not give an answer when it would be instock.
I'm really glad I held off on this release due to the price being too high for my liking. When this is re-released error free and the price drops I'll be grabbing it. Good to hear Paramount are trying to fix the problem but I have to agree with what others have said... you would think they would learn from their mistakes.
While the speedy fix is obviously welcome, it does worry me that people are experiencing problems with episodes that aren't listed (Justice, Haven, others?). And what about the 2.0 problem during Farpoint?
Are you SURE they're fixing everything? Or just what was identified in the initial complaints?
It's weird -- the first few times I called, a woman's voice came on telling me to enter the name of the person I wanted to contact using the telephone keypad. Nothing was said about the program, and there was no obvious option, so I hung up.
When you call, you want the guy's voice telling you to hold.
D Head: extremely unlikely with your nail in the coffin comment. They already committed to bringing out season 2 and I', sure most Star Trek fans will still purchase the set when the issues are resolved. Don't be so negative, sheesh.
lanceandnade: "I could not read the code on the inner ring until I used a huge magnifying glass. This sucks beyond measure. Why couldn't they just get it right the first time. This is truly a travesty and a total inconvenience. I will, however, change my mind when the replacement blu-rays come and we can finally watch it."
You're getting this mad over a Blu Ray release? Give them a break, they made a mistake and are going to send replacement discs free of charge. They acted pretty quick to correct the problem.
I think some people are completely over reacting to this situation. A mistake was made and is being corrected quickly and free of charge to the consumer. They could just not replace them at all so maybe we should all be a little grateful that they are at least correcting the problem. Now I am just anxiously anticipating the release of Season 2.
I called this morning and was on hold for 30+ minutes, but once they answered the process was smooth. The cost of the discs is nothing compared to what they might lose in future set sales due to bad publicity, so that's a large part of why they moved so quickly to remedy this problem. I'm just hoping that they do more thorough QA in the future and avoid the creeping sloppiness that is permeating our society in general (and REALLY hope for a lossless 2.0 track!).
I emailed every number I could find on the inner ring along with shipping info. When I phoned to make sure I didn't miss something I was told that they only need the SL number. I also verified that the email address provided above is accurate. I was told to expect a response via email.
I called 5:00 pm EST and got through in about 5 minutes. The process went smooth and quickly. The lady taking my info was very cordial and pleasant. BTW, I used my computer scanner to see the numbers. That way I didn't need to strain my eyes too much.
I called 1-877-335-8936 between 9am to 6pm Pacific Time and finally got a person to speak to. Earlier, I had only gotten a pre-recorded voice. They agreed to send me new Blu-rays of 3 discs. I gave them my mailing address, phone number, and e-mail. The DTS MA audio on the Haven episode was terrible.
It took about 24 hours, but I got a reply to my initial e-mail, asking for the ID numbers and my address/phone. Now we play the waiting game! Very cool that we don't have to send the original discs in, and very cool that they responded so quickly to the issue.
Space2099: it will be fixed regardless of where you are, CBS has stated they are committed to fixing this error. I'm from Canada and contacted the e-mail above and sent them my info. I'm still waiting on a confirmation.
Also looking to find out if they'll send replacements overseas. Have e-mailed but no response as yet. I guess worse comes worst, should be able to return to Amazon and get the "second print" later.
@Rocklandsboy, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Inc. has not made any statements about which episodes are known to be affected (none of the announcements through third parties I have seen do, either). They've only stated discs 1, 3, and 4 will be replaced. Haven is on Disc 3, so I am assuming it was reviewed and will be dealt with accordingly.
Called just now, they answered immediately; shocked me. I waited 20 minutes this morning but had the incorrect numbers off the discs so had to call back later this afternoon.
Haven't received my Out of Africa replacement disc after nearly three months. No response from the studio to my inquiries. Think I'll pass on future disc swaps and live with the flaws. Not worth the hassle.
This is interesting, AFAIK Paramount/CBS never recalled Star Trek TOS Season 1 blu with the low volume DTS track issue, nor issued replacement discs or repressed it with the DTS remastered correctly.
On the second disc now. I noticed the echo on the pilot, but I use surround headphones (since I live in an apartment), so while I noticed it, it didn't bother me too much. I'll try to remember to call tomorrow afternoon when I get home though. Might as well have the best quality I can when I watch it again in the future.
Did my request by email, and was relatively painless. However I'm still experiencing video delayed behind audio about 1/4 to 1/2 second on the special features on Discs 1 and 6. Very annoying and I'm concerned that this won't be addressed. I've seen the suggestion that this is a problem with Blu-ray player setup, but I have my player set for minimal processing (passing 1080/24p directly to the TV) as well as the TV and audio receiver. I'm also experiencing this ONLY on the special features and not on any of the episodes. Since this is unique to the special features, and to this Blu-ray set, I have a hard time believing this solely a player set-up issue, and I'm concerned that CBS does not appear to be addressing this.
KC-Technerd: I'm not having the issue you are mentioning, but I am using my PS3. Maybe you have done this already but have you updated your player to the latest firmware?
Are you able to try it with another Bluray player to see if the issue still exists?
I received my set on Friday (barcode 097361466040), and the dialogue is coming out of the center AND right speaker, which is different than what someone mentioned earlier.
I got a reply from the fulfillment company tonight, I had emailed a second time requesting an update and to confirm I am on the list for the replacement discs.
"Replacement discs will begin shipping on Monday, August 27, 2012. Thank you."
As was mentioned earlier, I've noticed some bad (echo) audio just when watching through TV speakers. Does anyone know if this will also be fixed with replacement discs?
