"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - numerous tiny pinhole spots and two examples of air bubbles (arrowed).
Symptoms: Pixellation and skipping from the layer change at 45:25 to around 62:00 mark.
Background: Peter from Newcastle posted in the aus.dvd newsgroup commenting that his copy of 'Planet of the Apes (1968)' was pixellating badly from Chapter 13 onwards. Since this sounded like a post-layer change problem I popped my own copy in my player simply to confirm the layer change occurred at around this time (it does - at 45:25, during Chapter 13). To my horror I discovered that my own disc was also pixellating and skipping very badly after the layer change.
Analysis results: This disc has been very poorly manufactured. Not only are there large numbers of pinhole spots present, but there are many air bubbles trapped between the two layers and some larger "blobs" of corrosion - all in the aluminium coating of the second layer only.
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - numerous tiny pinhole spots and two examples of air bubbles (arrowed).
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4 - close up on an air bubble trapped between layers.
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - a large "blob" of corrosion in the reflective aluminium coating of the second layer, surrounded by smaller pinhole spots.
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - close up on the corrosion "blob". The 'regular' pinhole spots that appear to be the usual symptom of layer deterioration are indicated.
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - another "blob" of corrosion (arrowed) surrounded by 'regular' pinhole spots.
"Planet of the Apes (1968)" Region 4, layer 2 - close up on the "blob" shown above.
Symptoms: A couple of glitches shortly after the layer change (at 94:28 approx). Balance of main feature fine. 'Making of' docos pixellate extremely badly from the 4:00 mark onwards (disc sometimes locks up completely). Glitches peeter out gradually to a single glitch only in the release trailer.
Analysis results: Concentration of "spots" at the outer edge of the second layer, in the region of the layer change:
"Moonraker" Region 4, outer edge of layer 2.
Moving in from the outer edge of layer 2, the spots vanish, only to reappear with a vengeance around the mid-point of the layer (probably corresponding to the location of the 'making of' docos):
"Moonraker" Region 4, roughly in the middle of layer 2.
Symptoms: This disc belongs to a friend of mine. He reported severe picture break-up for several minutes after the layer change (at 47:10 approx). He also reported that the disc had played fine when first purchased.
Analysis results: "spots" were observed across the entire second layer, although the heaviest concentration was located in the region of the layer change (adjacent to the outer edge of the disc):
"Men In Black" Collector's Edition Region 4, outer edge of layer 2.
"Men In Black" Collector's Edition Region 4, inner edge of layer 2.
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