"Sparkle in the Rain" Separating Fact from Fiction

[GOS]

Wow, what a surprise. I had a package in the mail today from Universal Music. A single, replacement disc. Works for me....I'll give it a listen. If it is good to go, I'll toss the defective disc...OK, OK. I'll probably keep it. But I'll stick the replacement disc "in it's place". In other words, they just sent me the replacement disc in a simple paper sleeve. Nothing else. :banana:

OK, and first...I gotta give Clint a shout cause I would have been clueless on how to get the replacement disc...and I even had my doubts after I did what he said....but it came. Thanks BRO...

Now what you've all been waiting for....it sounds like crap. I KID...I KID...

The replacement disk sounds way, WAY better than the original. Much more immersive, much cleaner, not a fraction of the muffled mess that the original was...and oh...the bass. New one has strong pop in the bass catagory...which the original had zip.

One small interesting note....the menu looks slightly different. Some additional little colors down in the part that lets you choose the mix. Also I notice a green play button that shows up in the upper right corner that was not there on my original.

So, it's a hit...it's good and worth the replacement efforts. I will actually play this now...

 

[fredblue]

OK, and first...I gotta give Clint a shout cause I would have been clueless on how to get the replacement disc...and I even had my doubts after I did what he said....but it came. Thanks BRO...

Now what you've all been waiting for....it sounds like crap. I KID...I KID...

The replacement disk sounds way, WAY better than the original. Much more immersive, much cleaner, not a fraction of the muffled mess that the original was...and oh...the bass. New one has strong pop in the bass catagory...which the original had zip.

One small interesting note....the menu looks slightly different. Some additional little colors down in the part that lets you choose the mix. Also I notice a green play button that shows up in the upper right corner that was not there on my original.

So, it's a hit...it's good and worth the replacement efforts. I will actually play this now...

Can I ask, what did you and Clint do?

Universal want me to send it back to Amazon..

 

[GOS]

Can I ask, what did you and Clint do?

Universal want me to send it back to Amazon..

Odd, emailed Universal directly. They never asked me to do anything....nor did they ever really confirm to me that I was getting replacement....which is why I had my doubts.

EDIT - I should say...I believe that's who I emailed.....right Clint??

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Adam. I live in the US, but pre-ordered from Amazon UK. Got the same email from Universal. Opened a chat box with Amazon UK and told them about my email from Universal. They indicated they were aware of the issue. They shipped a replacement blu ray with free three day shipping to the US! Didn't ask for me to ship the original back. The shipment is due to my house by tomorrow. The question is did Amazon receive new stock from Universal? How do I tell by the disc or packaging if it is the corrected version?

 

[GOS]

Adam. I live in the US, but pre-ordered from Amazon UK. Got the same email from Universal. Opened a chat box with Amazon UK and told them about my email from Universal. They indicated they were aware of the issue. They shipped a replacement blu ray with free three day shipping to the US! Didn't ask for me to ship the original back. The shipment is due to my house by tomorrow. The question is did Amazon receive new stock from Universal? How do I tell by the disc or packaging if it is the corrected version?

Steve:

The original menu, at least on mine didn't have little colored squares beside the different mixes. Just showed the mix...the new one has colored boxes to the left of the mixes.

Also, the physical disk itself (at least mine) is slightly darker yellow in color than original.

Finally, the original disk said "Original Mix" and the new disk says "Original Mix 24/96 LPCM Stereo. These are some of the subtle differences I can see. Otherwise...the striking increase in bass content on new one should be noticeable right away.

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Awesome! Thanks for the detailed information. I'm going to be pissed if they sent me another original. The first time I played the disc it was WTF! Just like the Thick as a Brick title. There was no way I could have said the mix was ok, but......it was terrible.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

Steve:

The original menu, at least on mine didn't have little colored squares beside the different mixes. Just showed the mix...the new one has colored boxes to the left of the mixes.

Also, the physical disk itself (at least mine) is slightly darker yellow in color than original.

Finally, the original disk said "Original Mix" and the new disk says "Original Mix 24/96 LPCM Stereo. These are some of the subtle differences I can see. Otherwise...the striking increase in bass content on new one should be noticeable right away.

Maybe some comparison photos would be helpful?...

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Great idea. I will post some pictures tomorrow.

 

[GOS]

Maybe some comparison photos would be helpful?...

Here's a couple of "poor" pictures from my iphone...I hate how it flips them on the side...oh well. You get the basic idea.

First pic is original disk...


2nd Pic is replacement disk...

 

[Snood]

OK - Snood emailed Universal about me receiving the DVD-A instead of the Bluray and Snood got 2 repsonses:

Hello Joe,

Thank you for your email.

Apologies, I have requested if the correct replacement can be resent.

Many thanks,

AND this one.............from the Steve guy that works for Universal

At first he told me everything was in the mail - Snood received it the same day then emailed back that it was the wrong one.........his reply was:

"Yes I'll sort that for you"

So fingers crossed............Snood will either get the Bluray or another DVD-A disc and pamphlet lol.............or nothing.

But Universal has been pretty good at customer support in the past.

 

[timothyemerson]

Glad to see someone else's dud BD had that dark smudge visible in the top of GOS' first pic (against the white background). I thought I had a few pixels out on my TV for a while there.

This smudge isn't visible on my replacement BD but there's another dark mark against the white background in a similar position.

Weird, as this suggests the background was possibly taken from a scan of the original artwork. Not a biggie - I just found it mildly interesting.

 

[patrick1]

OK - Snood emailed Universal about me receiving the DVD-A instead of the Bluray and Snood got 2 repsonses:

Hello Joe,

Thank you for your email.

Apologies, I have requested if the correct replacement can be resent.

Many thanks,

AND this one.............from the Steve guy that works for Universal

At first he told me everything was in the mail - Snood received it the same day then emailed back that it was the wrong one.........his reply was:

"Yes I'll sort that for you"

So fingers crossed............Snood will either get the Bluray or another DVD-A disc and pamphlet lol.............or nothing.

But Universal has been pretty good at customer support in the past.[/QUO
Hi Snood. I also got the DVD-A instead of the Blu-Ray, and have misplaced the email avenue to request this disc. Can you assist me, please?!??! Thank you.

 

[Snood]

OK - Snood emailed Universal about me receiving the DVD-A instead of the Bluray and Snood got 2 repsonses:

Hello Joe,

Thank you for your email.

Apologies, I have requested if the correct replacement can be resent.

Many thanks,

AND this one.............from the Steve guy that works for Universal

At first he told me everything was in the mail - Snood received it the same day then emailed back that it was the wrong one.........his reply was:

"Yes I'll sort that for you"

So fingers crossed............Snood will either get the Bluray or another DVD-A disc and pamphlet lol.............or nothing.

But Universal has been pretty good at customer support in the past.[/QUO
Hi Snood. I also got the DVD-A instead of the Blu-Ray, and have misplaced the email avenue to request this disc. Can you assist me, please?!??! Thank you.

Hi Patrick not a problem - here are the 2 Snood has

[email protected]

and this guy Steve from Universal

[email protected]

Hope they help :banana:

 

[Perp]

You'll know you have the corrected disc when you go to play the two-channel and it plays in stereo, not mono.

I finally received my DVD-A today and will give it a spin on Friday night.

 

[rtbluray]

Well I still haven't received my replacement disc yet, even though I emailed them about it as soon as the email address went out.
I would email them again about it, but I think I'll wait until I'm moved in to my new place in mid-July, and if it still hasn't reached me anywhere by that point, then it'll definitely be time to enquire...

 

[Perp]

I couldn't wait. It's everything GOS says it is.

 

[fredblue]

Adam. I live in the US, but pre-ordered from Amazon UK. Got the same email from Universal. Opened a chat box with Amazon UK and told them about my email from Universal. They indicated they were aware of the issue. They shipped a replacement blu ray with free three day shipping to the US! Didn't ask for me to ship the original back. The shipment is due to my house by tomorrow. The question is did Amazon receive new stock from Universal? How do I tell by the disc or packaging if it is the corrected version?

Only just seen your message Thank you SO much!

 

[Steve Schoultz]

Aaargh! Amazon UK sent me the original version!

 

[GOS]

Aaargh! Amazon UK sent me the original version!

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How is this happening???

 

[Steve Schoultz]

I'm checking with them now.