Hey all, I have a question about the 2nd (?) season DVD collection. When I purchased it in Florida, I noticed there was a flaw in the DVD during the beginning of Any Old Port in a Storm. I saved the receipt and exchanged it when I arrived home in Texas and I was SHOCKED to discover the same problem at the exact same point in the DVD (it froze, skipped a few seconds, and continued, nothing really major but devestating to a completist like me). I even played it on a different player with the same result.

Anyone else experience this problem with that particular DVD in that particular episode?

Yup! I did. I believe it is when Adrian and his Cronies are drinking wine together...ane the whole thing freezes up....and I also tried it on another dvd player but it still didn't work correctly.
And also...this subject has come up before, Sean, and there were others who had the same problem.

Hi Cassavetes45
I've just got three DVD's and I haven't had any prolems with freezing or skipping,perhaps it is a US problem only.?

I have yet to watch this episode from season 3 on my DVD set. I wonder if it will happen on mine as well?! Yipes!

The problem you're describing is not unique. It alas is a typical case in so many DVDs put out by Universal when they were using the shoddy DVD-18s for their TV on DVD sets of trying to squeeze too many episodes on their discs to save space. Repeatedly, so many Universal sets have cases of bad pressings that in many instances will freeze up on many players though sometimes some players will compensate and play them normally. It usually can depend on what brand player you have. If you find that the same thing happens on more than one machine then you REALLY have a defective pressing.

I have thankfully never had this happen on a Columbo set but the horror stories I could share on bad discs on other Universal titles (Kolchak, Dragnet, Adam-12) could fill a book where I've had to do exchanges or in some instances buying new sets if I only discovered it months after the fact.

So I would recommend you try it on another player or get another set and if that one is bad too keep exchanging it until you get a good one. The pain in the butt factor is having to go through ALL the episodes again on a new set to make sure the whole thing is safe this time.

The good news is that Universal is finally abandoning DVD-18s and starting with Season 4 the discs were in the DVD-9 format which means these kind of problems are less prone to happen. So next week's Season 5 release should be okay.

I have skipping in more than just one of my DVD's. Interesting point. Mine freezes, then goes V-E-R-Y- slow, dialogue cuts out, screen gets all fuzzy. DVD has no scratches in it, at least as far as I can tell. But it's not just "Port", it's a couple of others too. At least for me.

Fortunately, when I returned mine, Best Buy just let me exchange out the one disc, so I didn't have to it and watch all of it again to test it out.

Has anyone tried calling Universal about this? Maybe they'll send a new one with proof of purchase? Or are they just evil and would ignore our pleas? I would try to exchange mine again if I had the receipt still, but Best Buy doesn't exchange after 30 days anyway.

What ticks me off is that I have the (sometimes) below-average quality VHS tapes sitting around for years and when they finally release them on DVD, I drop my $30 only to find that a flaw in the disc makes it even worse!!!!!

No glitches whatsoever here, but then I buy all of my DVD products from an outfit in Connecticut that won't stand for factory imperfections. If you'd like to know who they are, drop me a line.

Remember folks, the quality standards are created in corporate offices here, but the product is produced in MEXICO. That's why junk retailers like Best Buy are willing to make exchanges.

im waiting to see if sabra has the problem.

you see sabra...there are people who remember you.....as do i!!

I had some problems with "Requiem for a Falling Star" in season 2, but I exchanged it for a new set, and the new set played fine.

On season 3, I had a few problems with "Mind over Mayhem," but I never bothered to exchange it because I don't like that episode that much, and all the other episodes played fine. And no problems with the bonus "Mrs. Columbo" episode (what a relief!).

No problems with season 1 or 4 for me...I still haven't had a chance to pick up season 5 yet.