I want to start a list of HD-DVDs that had playback problems so we all have a reference to go back if we experience issues. I only want to include titles that we have personally experienced issues with, not titles that are said to have issues. Please included the disc title, players you tried it on and firmware, symptoms, and if you were able to do anything to fix it. We will try to help troubleshoot it or test it ourselves to see if its a widespread issue. I will update this post with titles that seem definitely have compatibility issues.

Sexual Freak by Digital Playground
Tried on HD-A3 and HD-XA2, both has firmware 4.0, tried two copies. Intro would loop, disc would never advance to menu or movie. Menu commands do not respond. Chapter skipping or fast forwarding only caused intro to loop sooner. Could not use search functions.

Issues with my discs
1) Matator has problems starting up, but plays flawlessly once it does.
2) Departed - Had a copy that just froze in the same spot. I eventually just replaced it when I found a cheap copy.

That's all I can think of now. I own about 120 of them, so I suppose that's not too bad.

Casablanca didn't seem to work when I had it. I got it later on BD and I didn't have any trouble.

No problems here with Casablanca on my Toshiba HD-EP30 - watched it this weekend
Really nice btw how they remastered this version - the black and white image is wonderful.

I had an issue with the Matrix on my HD-A3, but I tried again on my HD-XA2 and it played flawlessly. The issue was the movie would skip during one scene. I could get this to occur consistently in the same spot. The discs were brand new and showed no signs of damage. The HD-Xa2 played them without any issues.

It plays fine on the Xbox 360 Hd-dvd player.

It seems quite a few of these disc problems are player dependent. Maybe the HD A3 is horrible HD DVD player.

My European issue of Transformers have me trouble. Freezed. Then I got the US issue and it plays fine. Wired.

Had horrible experience with French pressed HD-DVDs: bubbles in the glue, misaligned layers.
Bought 5, 3 OK, 1 could never reach the menu, 1 could never start the film.

I claimed at the publisher who just replied "Hey! HD-DVD is over, Blu-Ray has won. We don't manufacture, hence guarantee, HD-DVD anymore."
Had the same experience with SONY dropping LD customer support right after they stopped pressing them.

That probably means that whatever they sell is supposed to retain 24h of market value then drop to 0?

Julien

I can't think of any HD-DVD titles with start up or skipping etc, expect when playing DVD on the Toshiba a few days ago when shuttle searching forwards and then wanting to stop on a given scene the disc will freeze? I don't get this on Phillips Bluray or the Sony or Pioneer DVD player or Laserdisc/DVD player. I'll have to run more tests to see if the HD-DVD locks up freezes when shuttling though the disc and then play then fast forwards or reverse to see if it freezes up? Other than that start up time is bit faster than the bluray discs I have. Seems like one trade of for the other?

Found out 2001 A space odyssey freezed at the same chapter. Got another copy and that one plays great.
Another problem title for me is Full Metal Jacket. Half way it freezes up. Curious if another copy would solve this issue.
Sahara (us import) sometimes refuses to load. After 2 or 3 loading attempts no more problems.Strange thing...
Watched Blade Runner last weekend without any problems. Happy to see that one does the job
Warner discs seem to be problem children.
Combo discs are sometimes problematic when loading but once they spin it's all good
A must have title like Eastern Promises gave me some issues when playing. Picture and audio dropouts after upgrading to Firmwire 4.0 all good to go. One of the best discs I own btw. Dvd version is great but "colourless" like it was meant to be but the hddvd has a surprising vivid color look while remaining a "darker" film.
Mission Impossible is a mystery to me. From time to time it plays without issues. Sometimes it's a real pain in the *** with freezing up at various chapters.
Terminator 2 never gave me any problems and is one of the best discs I own. T3 gave me some freezing before upgrading to FW 4.0. Happy to say it works great now
I tried various players and settings... same problem over and over again. I guess the discs are the suspects. I've been reading (and talking) about hddvd's so many different things I really can't make out what the problem would or can be. the discs? The players? a combination of both?
Oh well, I learned to live with it since I got them so cheap. Own about 120 hddvd discs now that I bought for a few "Euros" bucks
Found myself enough spare players to last a lifetime so I'm good to go for the coming years....

I'll report more when I watched them all.

I'll be Back

I am adding another HD-DVD to the list of discs that do not play, at least for me.

Player: Toshiba HD-A3
Firmware: 4.0
Movie: Santana, Hymns for Peace, Live at Montreux 2004

Symptoms: Disc is not recognized by the player at all. Repeated tries yield nothing.

Suggested use for disc: Drink coaster or small frisbee.

Not sure how many I've played at this point...maybe a dozen, I haven't had any trouble like that except for the player has the shutdown bug. I'm thinking about modifying the side panels so they can breath better. Removing one fixes the problem. I don't have Santana, I'll have to add it soon.

Add the movie 300 to the problem list.

Player: Toshiba HD-A3 with 4.0 firmware.

This disc is 2 sided with side 1 being HD-DVD and side 2 is DVD.

Problem: Side 1 gives a system error and is not read. Side 2 plays perfectly

Just fired up 300 (the dutch release) and it works great using the HD-XA1. it needed some time to load but no error of any kind... come to think of it it's not a combo disc!
I owned the Us released 300 hddvd once and indeed it didn't work on my HD-EP10 player .
After collecting numerous hddvd discs I find most trouble with US released discs.
I hear bad things about the Matrix and Oceans hddvd boxsets but my Dutch released ones play fine.
Have Miami vice (us combo) coming. I'm curious what it will do...? I own the Dutch MV release and it works great btw.
Maybe Us pressing are a hitt or miss ....?
Don't give up on the format just yet

Removing a panel?
What player is giving you this problem?
Only my EP-30 freezes up from time to time... maybe the same problem? Modifying it wouldn't be a bad idea if it did the trick? I have a few players to play around with anyway
Let me know what the results are with your player

The following HD-DVD's play their menus and the first 3 or 4 minutes of their movie on my Toshiba HD-A3 player (firmware 4.0) with no trouble:

The Bourne Identity
Serenity
Aeonflux
2001

After I play them their full length will I give a full review of their playability (is there such a word?).

I have The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultamatum, Troy and Purple Rain HD-DVD's on order from Amazon.com. After I get them, I will view them and give a report on this thread.

Update:

The following HD-DVD's play their entire movie with no problem on a Toshiba HD-A3 with 4.0 firmware:

U-571
Bourne Identity
Bourne Supremacy
Serenity
2001
Aeonflux
March of the Penguins (added to this list on 2/11)
Stardust (added to this list on 2/13)
Children of Men (added to this list on 2/21)

The following HD-DVD's have definite problems:

Purple Rain freezes at about 15 minutes of run time.
300 combo disc has an unplayable HD-DVD side; but, the DVD side is okay.
Santana, Hymns for Peace, Live at Montreux 2004 will not play at all.

Well after probably 30 movies on the XA2 I ran into a movie that wouldn't even load. Deliverance. There's some fine scratches on the surface, but strangely it was a brand new disc freshly opened. I think I'm going to get another copy and try again. I'm not ready to label this one as a bad title.

My XA2 has the shutdown bug too. No problems as long as I boot it up correctly.