[R1 DVD] Sakura Wars OVA 2 - Volumes 1 & 2 Playback Issues

[BigOnAnime]

Recently, I got a brand new sealed copy of Sakura Wars 2 - Volume 2: Wedding Bells from eBay, and the disc looked like this. I tested the disc in my PS3 (80GB non b/c model), and it would play fine, until Episode 6. Every time I tried to play it, I would get this error. I later tried it in my PS4 Pro, and it also wouldn't play Episode 6, resulting in this error. Tried it in the Samsung Blu-ray player that is also my 5.1 receiver as it's from one of those theaters in a box setups, wouldn't play Episode 6. Later tried it on my Xbox 360 E, PS2 fat, external UHD-BD drive, and the disc wouldn't even load whatsoever on those, they couldn't get to the menu. The Xbox 360 would try forever with no luck. Contacted the seller, they gave me a refund, said a prior customer had similar issues, and suggested cleaning the disc with isopropyl alcohol (which got rid of those marks) and trying it in an actual DVD player. Tried it in a Toshiba CRT/DVD combo, and it gave the error of "Incorrect Disc". Tried it again in the PS3 (to see if I didn't ruin the disc further), still would load everything but Episode 6. Tried it on the original Xbox as I didn't try that yet, wouldn't read it, tried a generic DVD player, everything worked except Episode 6.

Now I just got a used copy of Sakura Wars 2 - Volume 1: Return of the Spirit Warriors from a different eBay seller, the disc was immaculate, tried to see if it would work on my PS3, and Episode 3 would load, but with massive skipping issues. Tried it in my Xbox 360 E, it also would have skipping issues, but to a way lesser degree. Tried it in my external UHD-BD drive, and it would play in Media Player Classic (the final official build). Tried it in my PS4 Pro, and it played it perfectly fine. Also tried it in the Samsung Blu-ray player, and it worked.

Was there some authoring issue when these first came out in 2002? I have a hard time believing that I'm just simply this unlucky and how the last episode of these 2 discs refuses to work properly on my PS3 and Xbox 360. Did the OVA collection set have new discs (I noticed they have different disc art from this ended eBay listing)? I'm now worried that if I get a second copy of Volume 2, I'll run into the same problems regardless of it's a new or used copy.

[Hayate Kurogane]

I own those original singles. I'm also fairly certain I haven't tried to watch them in a long time. Meaning long enough ago that I would have been using pre-PS3 hardware, like a PS2 at most or a standalone DVD (only!) player.

I can check mine when I get home at the end of the day on my current hardware and see if they glitch on those episodes.

[Hayate Kurogane]

Results!

I tested volume 1 episode 3 and volume 2 episode 6 using a PS3 320GB and a Sony UBP-X700 UHD player.

The discs both loaded fine on both players.

I played the first 5 minutes or so of each episode (basically the avant title, OP sequence, and a bit of the main portion), then chapter-skipped to the halfway point for a minute, then chapter-skipped to the ED sequence. No problems starting the episodes, no abnormal stuttering or freezing or other playback issues, on either player.

I don't recall there being any sort of authoring issue or batch error, though we are also talking about discs from 18 years ago (oh god, give me back some of that time). And it seems unlikely that you're unlucky, or that I'm somehow lucky.

With all that being said, I don't know what the real situation could be with the specific copies you have. My best guess is that the whole batch might have been somehow more prone to disc rot than other discs, whether due to a manufacturing variance or whatever else, and so at this point in time almoat 2 decades after the fact (seriously, I want some of those years back), you're more likely than not going to run into that with these particular SKUs.

If you're willing to subscribe to that theory, then buying the complete OVA collection might not be a bad idea, since those discs would certainly be from a different manufacturing batch of DVDs considering that set was produced and released the next year.

[BigOnAnime]

Out of curiosity, what do your copies say on the copyright? I learned there's a way to tell if you have an earlier pressing or a later one.

That's the internal catalog SKU. The big tell is the copyright info. Early pressings say "© Red 1996, 1999" for the Red Company info. New pressings say "© Red 1999" Also, older pressings tend to have gold undersides, while newer pressings are silver.

https://twitter.com/sam_animeherald/...28805557272576

My copies seem to be the early ones.
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[Glorian]

This probably isn't too helpful, but I'll throw in my experience here. When you described this issue, it immediately sounded familiar. I got both discs used maybe 12-14 years ago (both are the gold bottom, 1996,1999 discs you described), and I remembered one of them having serious skipping issues on an episode. Haven't looked at them since, so I couldn't remember which disc it was. So I pulled out both discs and spot-checked all 6 episodes on both discs (using my Sony BD player), but I didn't find any errors, even though I remember an episode skipping badly enough to be unwatchable.

After thinking about it for a while, I might have been using a PS2 back in the day when I watched these (I had one that I used to watch DVDs on at the time, although I also used a standalone DVD player). So if it's some kind of Playstation/game console issue, maybe that's why I couldn't duplicate the error?

[Hayate Kurogane]

Both of my discs are earlier copies. Both show copyright Red 1996, 1999 on the disc silkscreens just like yours do in your photos, and both have gold undersides.