CBS Offering Free Replacement Blu-ray Discs To Fix Star Trek: TNG Surround Sound Problem

Since the release of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation on Blu-ray last week there have been a number of fan complaints about audio issues related to the surround sound track on some of the episodes. Today CBS has officially acknowledged the issue and offered to provide replace discs free of charge. More info in the official statement from CBS below.

 

 

Official CBS Statement

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 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  – August 27

We now also have contact information for Europe/UK sets :
E-mail stng@sonydadc.com OR call 01992 657 739 (UK)

The discs have been delayed for a couple of weeks according the Bill Hunt at The Digital Bits:

we’ve gotten word that shipments of CBS’s fixed Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season One Blu-rays have been pushed into early September. The reason is that it seems one of the episodes on Disc Five was found to be missing a visual effect, so that’s being fixed as well.

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Proper response…

Anyone got any info for the UK? I’ll need R2 replacements. Glad to see they acknowledged the error. I thought I was going mad!

As long as there are no scratches on the discs, i ll pass.

Do we dare tell them that one of the episodes “Heart of Glory” is missing a phaser blast?

Hopefully they’ll replace the copies already out there, mark the new sets like they did the Back To The Future DVDs with their framing problems.

A missing phaser blast in “Heart of Glory” ?

“We have discovered an anomaly”…coincidentally, a popular line from ST:TNG.

I’m curious if I wait to buy the Blu Ray set if it will contain the fixed version or the original.

#7, yes there’s a missing phaser shot

http://imgur.com/a/tjr4t#0

Mr. LaForge, perform a level 5 diagnostic on the mass storage devices immediately. Number One, schedule a department heads meeting for 1400 hours so we can get to the bottom of this.

When will the discs on the shelf be right so I don’t have to wait for the fix?

Thanks for posting this information! I’ve sent them an e-mail already requesting details.

Did anyone also notice that the opening Spacedock shot in 11001011 is missing it’s flashing nav lights in it’s composite?

After going through mentioning all their hard work re-scanning elements, compositing them and making passes and elements blend nicely, it was surprising to see them forget that.

Strangely, they did a second version of the composite for the section of the special features where they discuss this actual shot that HAS the flashing lights! Did they then forgot to put it into the actual episode?

Kudos on Paramount/CBS to make this available so quickly though. Does the current email/phone number work for us in Canada too?

@13: Not having seen this episode, it occurred to me that maybe it was intentional? Maybe that’s a thing they did that they thought would be neat, for starships to turn off their navigational lights while at Spacedock?

Man that’s gotta suck having to now deal with hundreds of thousands of callers, and emails for this massive sound screw up..

Last time I had seen a sound issue on dvd/ or blu-ray was with my InnerSpace dvd from ten years ago.. In 5.1 you could hear a distinct crackle sound at diff points from scene to scene, but was never something that got dealt with haha.

Whoever handled sound quality control is probably now out of a job. That’s just inexcusable to mess up something like this on such a huge project..

I was planning on getting it. But think I will wait a couple of week’s. Good that C.B.S is taking action. No wonder they are the top network on T.V

@15 But it’s the Spacedock’s directional nav lights that are missing.

The first few minutes of “Haven” had badly messed up sound on my set. I thought my player was just glitching out. I’ve only watched up through “Datalore” so far.

Nice work on the response. Accidents happen.

The set itself is fantastic, BTW. Worth every penny.

I got through to their number.. All they do is have you read this really tiny number, on the backside of any of the blu-ray discs, they input it, take your name, address, phone # and email, and claim the replacement discs will be shipped out by August 10th..

So pretty much zero hassle involved. I was worried they were going to need you to mail them a copy of receipt or part of the case.

20. Well, it is well worth $59. Sure wouldn’t have been worth $120 though.

Well I warned everyone not to buy these out of the gate — this is just another reason, in addition to the price. Wait two months, and not only will the price be down to $45, but you won’t have to worry about the hassle of getting replacement discs.

23. MJ – July 30, 2012

There doesn’t appear to be any hassle beyond picking up the phone. They’re apparently not even asking for the old disks to be mailed back.

I grew up in a far less technologically advanced time…it doesn’t get much more hassle free than this. lol

Since blurays are designed to go online… Why not offer revisions and fixes as downloads like games consoles.

@ 3. Elias Javalis:

Why would you not want to participate in a free disc replacement program? You don’t even have to mail your current discs back.

The sound problems are quite real, I assure you.

Will there be a Total Recall of these sets from stores?

@ 25 Bugs nixon:

Unfortunately, the problem can’t be fixed in that manner. Also, DTS-HD MA 7.1 tracks are quite large (about 1.5 GB per episode x 7).

@24. Still, it just adds another reason for folks that have not bought it yet to wait a few weeks and save an additional $15 as well.

When I buy a blu-ray set, I want both value and reliability. So I will wait and buy a set in two months for $45 that has discs that all work properly.

25. Bugs nixon – July 30, 2012

Uhm, how would that work exactly? The episodes are on discs…the bluray player isn’t capable of burning the corrected files onto the disc. The discs have to be recreated with the fixes. Totally different from video game consoles that store the installed game on your hard drive and can apply the fix to your installed game.

I am rather disapointed to here this. I don’t mean this to say that I am pissed that these little things are showing up. What I am saying is that after all the work that the Okuda’s, and others, went too to make this really good, there is now problems.

There may have been some stylistic changes, which would account for the running lights not there, however I do hope that the phasor shot is not really as bad as it seems.

@31. Agreed. We heard so much from some posters on this site about why we should be willing to spend nearly $100 on this because of all of the hard work that went into it. And I do realize that a lot of hard work went into this, but obviously quality control was an issue. Well, I did try to warn folks not to buy this out of the gate. :-) Lesson learned!

@ 29. MJ:

What makes you think S1 will be $45 in two months? It’s already gone back up to $80 at all the major retailers. The $59.99 price was just a week of release sale.

Anthony, is this replacement program available in Canada as well? Thanks.

@33. We shall see. I just don’t think TNG Season 1 is all that marketable beyond its initial release to hardcore TNG fans. It was a pretty poor season of Trek. I think that there are a lot of casual fans like me of TNG (who preferred TOS or maybe DS9) who will not pay $60 to $80 for it, but if the price drops below $50, would go for it. Again, we shall see….

StarTrek.com is reporting that details for non-US customers and forthcoming.

Does anyone know what CBS and Paramount spent on this restoration?? It can’t be cheap guys, no way. You’re talking payroll for a project that’s probably going to take a full year to knock out all 7 seasons, the “added” digital effects shots they obviously had to spend money on as well..

Here’s my question though… if it’s become way more cost effective to do this, what’s the wait on fixing Star Trek 5?? So many shots that need fixing in that film, the shuttlecraft shots to be exact, and how the Enterprise isn’t even moving or looks like it’s lit on the approaching shots from Nimbus 3 to the ship…

@ 36. Genesis:

9 Million for Season One.

omg, 9 million bucks a season basically?!?! I’m REALLY surprised someone high up wanted to spend the money on this… Are they really going to earn it all back and make a profit??

Lastly, here’s a new review of season 1/Blu–

http://gromsrealmoviereviews.blogspot.com/2012/07/star-trek-next-generation-blu-ray-review.html

I wont buy them on blu-ray, but I am happy that the problem gets solved so quickly…..

Is this ever going to be available in the iTunes Store? If so, then when?

@38. Justin, what is your source for that figure?

The $9 million seems reasonable…the thinking at Paramount isn’t just Blu-ray sales…but making something that’s going to endure long-term, be able to show on TV, streaming, etc. Plus all the new fans they’re hoping to bring it, sell merchandise to in the future, etc. So investing roughly $60 to $70 million to restore the entire series (probably closer to $50 million, as costs will go down per season as they better streamline the process) seems like a good gamble. I have to say I’m SO impressed with Season 1, I’m actually willing to pay those $70 to $80 prices for the remaining seasons…even the BAD episodes are entertaining because you’re seeing details you NEVER saw before.

Just got a hold of them. They will be shipped 5 business days after August 10th.

@ 42. MJ:

http://www.amctheatres.com/movies/star-trek-the-next-generation-25th-anniversary-event

It’s important to note that the rest of the seasons will cost less. S1 needed a lot of R&D and basic startup costs like shipping the negatives (2,500 cartons) across country. Also they are re-using a lot of assets remastered during S1 throughout the series.

Yea, no doubt a lot of sunk costs are included with season 1. If each season on average (including the sunk costs for Season 1) costs 5 million to make, then, assuming Paramount gets an average of $35 per set, that means that they have to sell 143,000 on average for each season. That sounds like it may be doable, but I doubt they are going to get rich on this. No doubt the real profits will come from expanding these new masters to iTunes and cable/satellite in the coming years. Over time, they’ll make a decent profit on this.

Is there a chance amazon will lower the price again to 60?

I sent an email to the address provided this afternoon and have not recieved a reply. It appears that calling may be the better route.

The Superman 1998- 2006 DVD box had similar problems with the Superman 3 disc and with the audio track on another. I sent for the replacement discs- the only option was to send the defective discs to the company for the exchange- and I never received the corrected discs and lost the discs I had.
This was Warners not Paramount and it was a contracted fulfillment company not Paramount, but just be wary.