Some fans encountering playback problems with DVD
Soft Cell‘s new 10-disc box set Keychains and Snowstorms includes a DVD with a wealth of content, including promo videos and TV performances. Unfortunately, some fans are reporting playback issues with this element of the deluxe set.
Messages from fans have been left on this site, on the Soft Cell Facebook page and via other social channels and the issue appears to be with two specific sections: the ‘Non-Stop Exotic Video Show’ and the BBC TV appearances. Fans report ‘sporadic’ playback issues, ‘juddering’, non-playback or the disc being very machine sensitive (i.e. works on PS3 or blu-ray, but not DVD player).
SDE has raised this with UMC. The label are aware and are currently looking into it. We will update you when there is further news. In the meantime, if you are experiencing any kind of issues with the DVD in your set, do leave a comment below, since the scale of the problem may influence any possible disc replacement programme.
Keychains and Snowstorms is out now.
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Soft Cell
Keychains and Snowstorms 9CD+DVD box set
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Disc 1 : The Phonogram 12″ Hits 1981-1984
- Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go 8.57
- Bedsitter 7.52
- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye 8.56
- Torch 8.29
- What 6.10
- Where The Heart Is 9.46
- Numbers 9.49
- Soul Inside 11.12
- Down In The Subway 7.50
Disc 2 : The Phonogram B Sides 1981-1984
- Tainted Dub/Where Did Our Love Go? 8.51
- Facility Girls (12″ Version) 7.17
- Fun City 7.33
- Insecure Me (12″ Version) 8.16
- So (12″ Version) 8.44
- It’s A Mug’s Game (12″ Version) 8.11
- Barriers (12″ Version) 7.10
- You Only Live Twice (12″ Version) 6.58
- Her Imagination 5.20
- 007 Theme 3.27
- Disease & Desire 4.04
- Born To Lose 2.55
Disc 3 : New Extended & Reworked Mixes
- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Dave Ball Lateral Mix) 7.08
- Youth (Dave Ball Wasted On The Young Mix) 5.41
- Secret Life (Extended Mix) 5.17
- Chips On My Shoulder (Extended Mix) 6.14
- Facility Girls (2018 Mix) 7.43
- Heat (Alternative Version) 6.04
- Kitchen Sink Drama (Extended Mix)
- The Art Of Falling Apart (Extended Mix) 8.47
- Martin (Hallowe’en Mix) 6.14
- Barriers (Dave Ball Broken Down Angels Mix) 7.09
- Meet Murder, My Angel (Extended Mix) 6.00
- Slave To This (Life Of Existence Mix)
Disc 4 : Rarities, Alternative Versions and Curios
- The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Original Version) 4.57
- A Man Could Get Lost (Daniel Miller Vocal Edit)
- Memorabilia (Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing Version) 5.21
- Forever The Same (Unreleased Extended Version) 10.58
- Heat (US 7″ Version) 4.01
- Loving You, Hating Me (Special USA Mix) 7.45
- Martin 10.13
- Hendrix Medley (Hey Joe, Purple Haze, Voodoo Chile) 10.22
- Numbers (7″ DJ Version) 4.26
- Down In The Subway (7″ Remix Version) 4.21
- L’Esqualita (7″ Version) 4.22
- Soul Inside (Demo) 5.21
- So (Dave Ball Demo Outtake) 3.16
Disc 5 : The Early Years 1978-81
- Memorabilia (Original Daniel Miller Mix)
- Persuasion (Original Daniel Miller Mix)
- Metro MRX (Flexipop Version)
- A Man Could Get Lost (Daniel Miller Demo)
- The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Demo)
- Tainted Love (Demo)
- Bedsitter (Demo)
- Potential (From Mutant Moments EP)
- L.O.V.E Feelings (From Mutant Moments EP)
- Metro MRX (From Mutant Moments EP)
- Frustration (From Mutant Moments EP)
- Red Tape, Sticky Tape (Demo – Previously Unreleased)
- Martin (Original 1980 Demo)
- Paranoid (Black Sabbath Cover)
- Science Fiction Stories (Demo)
- Bleak Is My Favourite Cliché (Demo)
- Cleaning Fanatic (Demo)
- Mix (Demo)
- A Man Could Get Lost (Original Version)
- Walking Make Up Counter (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
- Occupational Hazard (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
- Persuasion (Live at Leeds Polytechnic, December 1979)
- Dave’s Theme (Previously Unreleased Demo)
Disc 6 : In Session / Reunion / Cruelty Without Beauty
- Entertain Me (Richard Skinner Radio 1 Session)
- Seedy Films (Richard Skinner Radio 1 Session)
- Chips On My Shoulder (Richard Skinner BBC Radio 1 Session)
- Youth (BBC Whistle Test)
- Sex Dwarf (BBC Whistle Test)
- Soul Inside (David Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session)
- Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed It Most) (David Jensen BBC Radio 1 Session)
- God Shaped Hole (Remix)
- Divided Soul (Hooker Mix)
- Somebody, Somewhere, Sometime
- Monoculture – Dave Ball Extended Mix
- The Night
- Darker Times
- Last Chance
- Together Alone
- Caligula Syndrome
- Desperate
Disc 7 : Non-Stop Euphoric Dubbing (Continuous Mix) & Remixes
- Barriers (Dave Ball Broken Down Angels Dub)
- Numbers (Extended Dub)
- Youth (Dave Ball Wasted On The Youth Dub)
- Where The Heart Is (Marcus Lancaster Dub)
- Seedy Films (Richard X Dub)
- L.O.V.E Feelings (Demo)
- L’Esqualita (Dub)
- Loving You, Hating Me (Dub)
- Baby Doll (Dub)
- Facility Girls (2018 Mix Dub)
- Little Rough Rhinestone (Solvent Dub Mix)
- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (Dave Ball Lateral Dub)
- Bedsitter (Erasure Remix)
- Where The Heart Is (The Grid Remix : 2018 Re-Edit)
- So (The Grid Remix)
Disc 8 : Live in Los Angeles, 83 Part 1
- Mr Self Destruct
- Soul Inside
- Forever The Same
- Insecure Me
- L’Esqualita
- Loving You, Hating Me
- Torch
- Youth
- Disease & Desire
- Where Was Your Heart
- Baby Doll
- Martin
- The Art Of Falling Apart
Disc 9 : Live In Los Angeles, 83 (Part 2) plus other live recordings
- Hey Joe/Purple Haze
- Memorablilia
- Heat
- Ghost Rider (with Clint Ruin)
- Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
- Live at Hammersmith Palais, 84 (Fan Recording)
- Numbers (Live) 5.29
- It’s A Mug’s Game (Live) 8.12
- The Best Way To Kill (Live) 5.20
- Down In The Subway (Live) 4.01
- UK Tour, Live in 2003
- Barriers (Live) 5.29
- Tainted Love Where Did Our Love Go? (Live) 9.00
- Sex Dwarf (Live) 6.17
- Surrender (To A Stranger) (Live) 4.22
Disc 10 : DVD (NTSC all regions):
THE NON-STOP EXOTIC VIDEO SHOW
Entertain Me + Bedsitter + Frustration + Torch + Seedy Films + Secret Life + Tainted Love + Youth + Memorabilia + Sex Dwarf + What + Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
ADDITIONAL PROMO VIDEOS
Where The Heart Is + Soul Inside + Down In The Subway + Monoculture
OXFORD ROAD SHOW PERFORMANCES (BBC)
(Two Appearances)
Chips On My Shoulder + Say Hello, Wave Goodbye + Bedsitter + Heat + Numbers
OLD GREY WHISTLE TEST PERFORMANCES (BBC)
Youth + Sex Dwarf
TOP OF THE POPS PERFORMANCES (BBC)
Tainted Love + Bedsitter + Torch + What + Where The Heart Is + Soul Inside + The Night (TOTP2 2003) + Torch (TOTP2 2002) + Tainted Love (Top Of The Pops Reunion 2001)
THE TUBE PERFORMANCES (CH4)
Where The Heart Is + The Art Of Falling Apart + Martin
THE SWITCH PERFORMANCES (CH4)
Soul Inside + Ghost Rider (with Clint Ruin)
SUPERSONIC CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 1983 (ITV)
Down In The Subway
LIVE AT THE AMNESIA CLUB, LEEDS 28/5/81
LOVE Feelings + Frustration + Metro MRX + Seedy Films + The Girl With The Patent Leather Face + Chips On My Shoulder + Tainted Love + Bedsitter + A Man Could Get Lost + Memorabilia
My copy has marks on the individual sleeves where there the discs are placed. Looks like whoever handled the discs has a strong grip on pressed too hard into the card.
I’m not a avid Soft Cell fans, though I like some of their early songs. I’ve got the 3-CD set of their 12″ singles and a DVD of “Non-Stop Exotic Video show”, but this is a good place to mention that there is an increasing problem with multi-disc boxed sets where the discs are packed into tight-fitting pockets. Inevitably, you’re going to get some of the discs in damaged condition. Usually, the discs will play,but not always.
The record companies, packaging designers and pressing plant personel are overconfident as to how much disc damage most players can ignore (I’m using high quality Oppo Blu-ray players, such as BDP-83,BDP-105D & UDP-205, plus other players by Sony & JVC.
I recently encountered problem with Disc damage on anoher Universal Music product, the 6-CD + 2-DVD set “The Moody Blues-The Polydor Years”, in which 1 CD & the two DVD’s had an assortment of scratches, scuffs and (unremoveable) stains. The CD and one of the DVD’s played normally, but alas, the documentary “the Other Side of Red Rocks” had problems; a stain, a small spot, which causes a loud digital error noise and momentary picture break-up. This program was what I was buying the set for. I already had most of the material in the boxed set. I guess that amazon.co.uk would have paid my postal costs to send the set back, but a replacement may well have been worse. I was able to make a somewhat better copy on my computer. The digital error noise is still there, but without the picture break-up. It’s too bad that there’s no way for a consumer to actually contact Universal Music. The defect is in a song that is exclusive to “The Other side of Red Rocks”(I.E. not included in the box’s other DVD “a Night at Red Rocks”
People spend substantial money for Deluxe boxed sets, and we deserve to get the discs in good condition. Or at least,discs that will play normally. Other boxed sets where I encountered disc damage (though the discs were fully playable) included Esoteric’s “Barclay James Harvest”(debut album) 3-CD + DVD set(3 out of 4 discs damaged), and Sony’s “Alan Parsons Project-Eye In The Sky” CD/L.P./ Blu-ray set (the damage is to one of the CD’s) and Warner’s “Jethro Tull-Heavy Horses” CD/DVD set (the damage was on one of the DVD’s , though it played O.K.,and a replacement was no better.)
Lot of errors for me too-playing on Sony dvd and bluray payers
Only problem here seems to be the original BBC version of “Tainted Love”, it’s freezing two times for a second and then permanent, so that I have to stop the playback. So far all other DVD tracks seem to play fine.
Is the banned Sex Dwarf hidden somewhere?
Pingback:Universal Music blame ‘hand-packing’ issue for Soft Cell DVD problems | superdeluxeedition
It’s a “packing issue” apparently.
http://www.softcell.co.uk/keychains-snowstorms-dvd/
Hi thanks for the heads up,mine wouldn’t play either so just emailed Universal to see if they honour replacement in a timely manner. Shame really we go through this regularly, had same problem with Simple Minds Super deluxe
DVD not recognised on my Sony Blu-ray player – just grinds away for a while then says ‘disk not recognised’. Such a shame as otherwise the box set is very well done. Hope Universal will sort out a replacement.
Three different DVD Players, two bluray Players, three different PCs – DVD is either not recognized or not playing or freezing. Every 2,99 Euro DVD works better than this Thing.
Will there be a replacement?
DVD crashes, plus issues with the audio on disc 3 (I’ve yet to listen to the rest).
Frus-tra-tion indeed!
I’ve noticed a few comments regarding the cds themselves not playing a track or skipping a track. This may have something to do with a few of the discs breaking the red book cd specification and having a running time of well over 80 minutes. Some CD players (especially older) will struggle with this. If it doesn’t have “Compact Disc digital audio” anywhere on the cd or packaging then there’s a chance it might not play!
Another entry in the deluxe Hall of Shame. Some of these box sets, although very well thought and put together, always seem to have a glitch or two.
It’s hard not to sympathise with buyers, harder still not to feel very annoyed as problems like the above seem to be ignored over time.
Let’s hope we get better quality control from The Beatles in November
Alas. The dvd crashes in my new Sony dvd/blu-ray player too during the live concert. I hope for a replacement disc.
I can get some parts of the DVD to work by selecting individual tracks rather than play all. This is a real pain in the u know what as the program returns to the menu after each vid. Yet another dodgy DVD from Universal.
I also have received the set and am experiencing playback issues. The disc simply won’t load whatsoever. I really hope the label is willing to send replacements. I’d hate to have to return it for a refund to Amazon UK.
any news on how to get a replacement Paul??
Not yet.
Just adding my two-penneth – early BBC TOTP segments won’t play on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player, and it stops working if I try to FFWD anything else. Strangely it worked on my Mac using macOS, but not in Windows 10 (boot camp) on the same hardware (using VLC player). I also tried it in an old Sony DVD player and it worked much better there too – but there were buffering-type problems and it was slow to play, with some discolouration.
Like many people, my DVD won’t play at all. The DVD player won’t even recognize it exists. Really disappointed as this was a major selling point for the boxset.
BBC section won’t play on mine either.
Despite the complaints, I’m looking forward to receiving mine – it’s yet to ship from Amazon. I’m sure a replacement program will be undertaken and maybe they could chuck in the two new tracks on a CD when they’re sending out the discs. That would go some way to make up for the inconvenience. I was digging out my old SC CDs in anticipation and found “Soft Cell at the BBC” – something I’d completely forgotten about. I was surprised to see it had a lot of tracks not included in this set (it has 5 x R.Skinner tracks, 3 x D.Jenson tracks and the OGWT pair), not that the new set is declaring itself to be definitive. Nevertheless, I’ll be keeping my old CDs.
Regarding some of the comments, it does point to an authoring problem and I have read that the “Young Guns” documentary was dropped. Is this confirmed? Could it be that its last minute excision was the cause of a hasty re-authoring? As someone else pointed out, NTSC is the usual format for music DVDs for widest global compatibility. Inclusion of PAL segments in blu-rays can cause these kinds of problems of half-working discs in places like the US but since this DVD is all NTSC, I’m inclined to think it’s the menu or indexing at fault. Philip says the colours are distorted but that might be either a critique of the NSEVS VHS origins or a problem with the DVD player settings not configured to output NTSC as NTSC (if the TV is recent) or NTSC to convert to PAL if the TV is old. If anyone has viewed the NSEVS segment, can they confirm this edition restores the cut sequences that didn’t make the last DVD issue (eg. p****d again comment by Marc). Shame the Sex Dwarf video wasn’t appended but I’m happy enough the original p-take version remains as an accurate facsimile of the original tape. The full video was (still?) on YouTube but as said before, it’s not controversial any more and more likely it’s omitted out of embarrassment or red tape/rights issues.
Promos didn’t play on disc 10 DVD and 4 things didn’t work on disc 10 The old grey whistle test on live was that other but the non stop Erotic video show did the Xmas one did but the Leeds amnesia froze while watching mutant moments couldn’t play the rest of that disc ghostrider and other track played DVD no TOTPS at all sorry I’ve repeated this that’s it on the last disc DVD the 4 issues are the no 10 disc last one love with the amnesia gig Leeds sadly one other issues is disc or track 7 not sure skipped one track only audio either light blue or pink I’ll have to see which track isn’t playing thsnks.
My dvd works fine until towards the end of the Amnesia gig, it refuses to play the BBC videos, but plays the others fine. When the picture freezes the only way to stop it is by unplugging it from the power. Tried on a 4 year Panasonic blue disc player and my home PC.
Ok the very last DVD the Leeds amnesia gig Leeds 1981 started then as it came to mutant moments sure it’s the third song froze I could play the rest of that sadly.
Or the Oxford Road show or the TOTPS appearances Live of course not working properly.
And one tracks skips I’ll find out I know it’s disc no.7 not sure if it’s the pink one or light blue audio CD those are my issues the rest is fine.
It seems to play on Samsung bog standard DVD player is the device I used to try mine on but was quite upset this had happened let me know when there would be a replace and I’ll get back to which disco audio wise it slipped the travel on it other those issues the rest play fine and I do love the covers are stunning.
I’ve tried disc 10 and it doesn’t play at all, I’ve tried
Several DVD players and Xbox but unfortunately nothing.
A would appreciate a replacement and the box set was a lot for many fans.
Thank you x
Hello, just went through the boxset and the problems I am having on the DVD are the promo videos will not play nor the BBC Sessions or any of the other content. The Non Stop Erotic Video Show plays fine. I have tried it on all of my Blu-Ray Players and my PC, and still the same problems. Lets hope they get this worked out.
Mines all over the place,if I wanted a dvd this bad I would have bought a bootleg!! Let’s hope they pull their finger out and sort it out!!
Yup, same here, DVD doesn’t play correctly. Poor quality control. Will have to see if Universal put this right, which they need to.
Mine freezing during the live gig and the menu plays up. Very poor
I have the same issue as the others. My DVD player will not play the BBC part of the DVD.
Tried out my Soft Cell DVD and it played fine on my cheap £20 DVD machine.DVD players are notoriously temperamental,rejecting some and playing others for no logical reason whatsoever.Some of you might just have one of those cursed machines that play some DVD’s and not others.I have one of those,which I rarely use now as I never know whether it will work or not.The irony I have is my cheap DVD machine plays DVD’s better than the more expensive one I have.The best way to work out whether you have a dud DVD disc(rather than a dud DVD player) is to find a way to try it on several different machines as see whether they all fail to play it properly.
Unfortunately my Soft Cell DVD won’t play/ read on any of my players, im really really disappointed.
Having Problems here too!!!
BBC Portion is NOT playable. Can`t navigate anything then!!!
So far. Record Company SOLVE this Problems!!!!!!!
THX Paul giving this Issues a Forum!!!!!!
The Early BBC TOTP performances don’t play on my Panasonic Blu-Ray player. If I try to FFWD it causes the player to hang and it has to then be powered off and on again. It makes a horrible clunking noise too and on some other videos it glitches like watching on a slow internet connection. It worked better and played the BBC material on another DVD player (not Blu-Ray) – but colour was a bit washed and still had some buffering issues, but didn’t crash. Seems to be an NTSC/Blu-Ray compatibility issue perhaps?
Yes, I have problems with the DVD too.
Still not played my DVD yet, I almost don’t want to until there’s some official noise from UMC about replacements. My brother had the same issues with it though, it would not play at all on his DVD player but works on his Blu-ray player except for the BBC stuff. I wonder if it’s a coding error for the BBC?
I am waiting with a mixture of anticpation and treperdation for the upcoming Bobbie Gentry set also on Universal, hoping it might be glitch free unllike PIL and Soft Cell. The Dead or Alive set was on Edsel I think, they seemed to have dealt with that quite efficiently. I hope Universal do as well – if they want to keep consumer confidence that is.
It all feels like a rush to keep up with deadlines and production dates, maybe more speed and less haste etc and definitely make some time for quality control listening before rushing to production.
Won’t play . Judders , poor colour , feeezes . Not impressed
I have the same problems. Love the boxed set, just saddened by this one DVD.
I am having problems with the DVD too… my DVD player dosen’t read it.
Dvd wont play on any of my players
Dvd distorted colour, unwatchable
Yes, unfortunately I am having problems with the DVD too, in the same areas as stated by others. Such a shame after so long waiting for this fabulous box set.
Fantastic site though Paul – check everyday for the next great release. Keep up the brilliant work.
Tried several times to get the dvd to work. It sticks most of the time as though its jammed.
Thanks to SDE, I now know I’m not the only one.with issues.The DVD freezes on the BBC content and then it doesn’t want to eject from blu ray playe!. But the BBC portion will play on my Japanese international DVD player. Go figure.
Please keep us posted
Thanks Paul
Mine won’t play the BBC section on my blu ray player or my desktop. I’m not going to go up in the loft and seek out any old DVD players or external DVD players just in case they work better.
I’ve jumped around the other sections and haven’t had a similar complete breakdown but I haven’t watched everything from beginning to end so I’m not going to discount there being any other errors.
Similar problems to others in my Sony Blu-ray player. No longer have a standalone DVD player.
It just froze on me and did not want to read the disk. Had to pull the plug out, leave for a few minutes and plug in again and finally let me eject the disk without trying to get disk to auto play again. Needs to be replaced.
Problem with DVD freezing
My DVD refuses to play in any of our DVD players but will play on my laptop but this is only sometimes, it comes up no disc.
It’s as shame this is happening to everyone as it’s a great box set overall just hope they will send us replacements
Was hoping I wasn’t going to have any issues playing my DVD on my Sony Blu-ray player but alas, I experienced the same issues as many others have noted. The Non-Stop Exotic videos played fine and so did a large portion of Live at the Amnesia Club. When I try to access the BBC content, the disc just makes a loud clunking noise and nothing loads. Difficult to stop the disc once this happens and it takes what seems like forever for the machine to power down when you turn off the power. I was able to view some of the Channel 4 videos and the bonus promo videos. I have tried to load the disc into my Macbook but it keeps ejecting it and won’t even load it.
Very disappointing to experience these issues. I debated and debated purchasing this set and finally decided to splurge and buy it only to find the DVD is faulty. I am hoping Universal will do the right thing and offer us a replacement DVD once the problem has been rectified. And
hopefully we don’t have to send the entire box set back to get the replacement.
I was asked did my dvd work when I received my boxset Saturday. I private messaged Soft Cell HQ who insisted the dvds were checked and that they were all NTSC compatable with all dvd players and that I should try another player. The PC was the same, playing only parts of the disc on 5K Player! There must be a replacement or some explanation that it’s Blu-ray only! They’ll be selling these at the O2 Merchandise Desk with thousands in circulation that are rendered useless. All the cds are perfect, it’s just that icing on the cake dvd. I hope they get the live show dvds right next may.
The official Soft Cell web page states it’s being investigated with Universal and they’ll get back to fans with these issues.
The picture froze on some of the videos, sound dropped off for a couple of seconds on one video and the proper sex dwarf video is not even on it. Not amused being treated like a middle-aged under 18 year old.
Played the dvd on my bluray player. Haven’t checked the BBC stuff yet.
Just a question, why was the Canadian mix of Tainted dub/where did our love go vocal missed off & the bog standard dub mix of both put in it’s place? And will this be rectified at all?
The DVD doesn’t play on any DVD player !
Quite a shame for such a huge amount of money…
May we expect a DVD replacement ?
Thank you !
My home DVD player doesn’t play the BBC section.
Using a Laptop on the same BBC section it skips tracks and got the message Damage Surface.
I really do hope Universal can help us replacing the defected dvd.
I wish to thank you Paul for bringing this issue with the Soft Cell Box set to our collective attention.
My DVD will not play at all on my DVD player and plays partially on my blu_ray machine.
The DVD clearly displays a defect which lies with the manufacturer of the disc to put right.
So, time, persistence and patience will pay.
Thanks again Paul.
Tried DVD on 2 multi region players and neither worked. One of the players didn’t register that there was a disc in the drive and the other it just kept spinning in drive and was difficult to eject.
Mine doesn’t play
Same thing… refuses to load on the Samsung Blue-ray; the Philips DVD player freezes on the first track of every menu. An ancient Insignia portable will play parts, but freezes a lot. Hope they hurry with a replacement programme.
DVD will not play on any DVD player, Blue Ray or other. It will only play on my Spanish laptop. I hope this wont be the same for the live DVD of the O2 show……£70 is alot of money but just bought the collectors edition of the O2…£250….will keep my fingers crossed.
My dvd disc freezes all over the place and it wouldn’t let me eject the disc, I had to turn the power off and back on again to take the disc out. I also have a multi-regional blu ray player so it’s nothing to do with the NTSC
Same problem here with disc freezing and not ejecting. Hopefully Universal can come up with a solution.
There are also availability issues. Amazon.uk showed out of stock for weeks and Amazon Germany had it out of stock the past few days although it looks like it’s back in stock at both. My pre-order from Amazon Germany still has not shipped.
Mine is fine until 29:40 on the Leeds gig,picture freezes and stops,returning to the menu.I have played the dvd on a Sony blu ray & a Panasonic Hdd/Dvd with the same outcome.
My dvd doesnt play at all ..tried several dvd playerz
My boxset arrived today… first disc I tried was the DVD.
It will not load or play, the most alarming thing is that it took 15 minutes to get it out of my Blu-ray player!
This is really not what you would expect from Universal, where is the quality control?
This must be resolved quickly!
Just type in “Universal” and “replacement” in the search bar at the top right of this site and you won’t be so surprised anymore. ;-)
The DVD with my set will play on my PC but not in my Blu-Ray player which says that it won’t load. Very disappointing.
Oh dear, seems my DVD won’t play properly either on BBC part and it’s just frozen solid.
Sad to say my DVD’s also suspect – the Non-Stop Exotic Show plays fine on my Sony Blu-ray, but it freezes solid half way through the Live set, and I can’t get anywhere near the BBC section :-(
My DVD player and my laptop will only load the contents menu. They won’t play any content.
My DVD player makes a lot of noise and dont play the tv appearances.
Hi Paul. Tried again just to check. Like others, keeps freezing, won’t play the BBC content and now heard the grinding described by others as the player struggles to read it. A replacement disc please UMC.
I wish I could tell you how the DVD works (or doesn’t), but the damn box hasn’t arrived yet . . .
My DVD doesn’t work in any machine at all.
My DVD won’t even load up, I’m makes you wonder if there is any quality control in place during the production! So not only do we cough up for the box set, we don’t get the 2 news songs and now a dodgy DVD to boot!
My DVD will load the menu options, but won’t play any of the content. I’ve tried on the DVD player, connected to my TV, in addition to using the disc drive on my laptop. Both devices produced the same outcome, when attempting to play content.
DVD is not playing …
Computer won’t load the DVD – it just attempts to read it before spitting it out again, which doesn’t usually happen. PS3 plays all of it just fine, though.
Hi Paul, My DVD won’t even play, does anybody at these company perform quality checks any any point in the production process????
My player hung while playing the Amnesia Club section. Haven’t tried playing any other parts of the DVD.
My brand-new Panasonic UB820 4K player wouldn’t read the discat all but luckily I managed to get it out. Played on PS4 but that’s not an ideal player to navigate disc contents with.
Hopefully a disc replacement will get organized.
My DVD player pretty much freaks out when I play certain videos of the dvd disc! I will need to see if I can get a corrected dvd replacement
Yes struggling to get the dvd to play. Played once but then failed
I’d like to say a big thank you to Paul and my fellow SDE followers because you have saved me $130!!!!
I had the box Set on pre order on Amazon USA….as it’s not released here till November 9 I have cancelled my order and will wait for further developments….
$130.00 USD? I’m in New York City and ordered mine from Amazon UK which came to $83.00 USD.
124 canadian in amazon.ca
I live in the Netherlands and my dvd has issues also. De dvd crashes (BBC performance) and after that I can’t get it out of my Blu-ray player. I have to cut off power first to open it again.
The DVD will not play the BBC content. Also, it is very temperamental when loading up. Sometimes it loads, other times it doesn’t. Both issues are present on two DVD players. Obviously a faulty disc.
I have checked the entire box this morning, and mine is working perfect, little Cell’d out right now.
The DVD is very poor, THE NON-STOP EXOTIC VIDEO SHOW looks just a rip right from a VHS tape… and where is the full video for “Sex Dwarf” Its been on YouTube for years. The best part of the DVD is the menu.
Exact same issue here. Shocking that this can happen with an expensive set like this. Perhaps as an apology as well as replacing the faulty disc they can give us the new studio tracks that are missing on disc as well…
I just recieved the box set. Ia m very pleased with it. Unfortunately the DVD has the same problems with the BBC… on my 1 year old Blu-Ray player.
Paul – while you’re in contact with UMC, can you ask them about the Public Image Ltd ‘The Public Image Is Rotten’ box set, disc 2 issue. After about track 9 each track cues in 15 seconds into the song, so the first 15 seconds of track 10 is actually the last 15 seconds of track 9 etc. I emailed their customer services, never got an answer. Has anyone else heard anything about a resolution on this? I have not tried the Soft cell Blu-Ray yet, only just started playing the audio which is great. Sorry to hijack the post on a different box but it is a similar glitch issue that should not have happened.
I have three different options to play a DVD disc on two of them seem to work fine (except the menu for the BBC part of the disc appears to be very unstable – it actually looks quite cool to me but I’m pretty certain it is not supposed to be doing that and is not consistent with other menus)
My oldest DVD player (which also has a VHS player – so it is old! but plays other discs without a problem) won’t even load the disc to a menu stage. So the disc definitely has some sort of issue…
Lovely to see the Tube footage again with Marc showing huge restraint at a failing mic – and the Oxford Roadshow footage where a dancer falls over just before the band are shown is classic youth TV – the poor dancer must be mortified that this footage is immortalised!
The box is brilliant – so many high quality rarities…..
The DVD got stuck for me on my first attempt to play the BBC section. I had to unplug the player to eject and try again…
My BBC disc won’t play at all. Need to restart the dvd player to get disc out.
The Top Of The Pops section and other BBC recordings on the disc won’t play.
Why can’t they do a testrun before sending it out.
The same happened with Dead Or Alive’s Sophisticated Boombox
Is it a case of a single disc trying to cram in too much? I initially had slight problems with my Human League DVD that came with their ‘A Very British Synthesizer Group’ box set. That was crammed with so much material I think it should’ve been spread over two discs. It would freeze on several occasions on my computer and my most recent DVD player. But I don’t think this was ever a known fault or ever reported, and it played fine on my old (and rather worn out) DVD player that I dug out from under the bed! I’ve even had this issue was some CDs. Some won’t play on my computer or decent expensive CD player in the lounge, but plays fine on the crappy £30 CD ghetto blaster in the kitchen!!??
Hi, Paul, having the same issue using a blu-ray player – will not play the BBC at all, freezes at other times.
As previously mentioned, in another thread on this box set, my DVD refuses to ‘load’ at all, rendering it unplayable. Have tried it in a DVD and a Blu Ray player, both with the same result.
Hi Paul, i actually came here right now to check on the original SC Keychains post and saw this post which is new of course.
I have no issues and for once i actually played the whole disc (on my Blu ray recorder). I have also heard of a report of a track on one of the CD’s not playing.
Now onto a seperate issue… This box would’ve sold quite well. I’m sure the Bananarama Blu ray via Pledge wouldn’t have sold as much (many people still seem happy for some reason with 1997 technology DVD as we approach 2019). I had an issue with the Blu ray. Mine did not play at all on my Blu ray recorder – a first! It plays in my 4K Xbox One S which i never use for Blu rays. Anyone else?
No issues with Soft Cell and also no problems with the Bananarama Blu-ray on my Samsung player -fortunately!
I had issues as described above and elsewhere. Initially attempted to watch on a laptop (via optical drive) and managed to watch just one BBC clip successfully in about 40 minutes. I had to reload the disc and/or restart the app about a dozen times as it kept locking up.
Then tried it in the Oppo Blu-ray player – it locked up once or twice, but I was eventually able to watch all the promo videos and BBC clips.
My DVD will only play the promo videos from Where The Heart Is to Monoculture and the ITV/Channel 4 clips.
Trying to play the BBC tracks just makes the disc grind in my player and the only way to stop it and eject the disc is to turn the player off and on again.
Yep I have this issue. BBC and other live material don’t play. Gets stuck and I have to power down my Opponent player. Bummer.
Thanks Paul for taking this on. A DVD that freezes on a DVD player is not great for an £80 box set, which is actually great otherwise. I hope UMC just replace the DVD so we don’t have to haul the whole thing back.
I checked this immediately on delivery after the issues were flagged on Twitter, and I’m happy to say my copy works fine on my Panasonic DVD recorder, but won’t play at all on my PC (though to be fair that’s also the case for about 50% of my DVD disks – I think I have an issue with my DVD drive…)
Content-wise, it’s a shame the pre-advertised “Young Guns” doc isn’t there (it’s not listed on the box either), but the “Live at Amnesia” footage is fantastic, justifies the DVD on its own!