I have DiscoVision copies of Animal Crackers and Frenzy in the original open-top boxes. Now these boxes have special felt sleeves that supposedly "protect the disc". Well, when I bought them and took them out for the first time, they had a strange slippery feel on the felt which felt shouldn't feel like. They are starting to leave a sticky residue on the disc surface and the sides are split. Should I replace these and where could I get more of these felt sleeves?
And is this actually normal?

I've only got one Discovision title, it has the felt sleeves and I don't have the problem you're describing. Is it happening with all the discs or just one? To me it sounds like there's something on the insides of the sleeves. I've seen a post somewhere on here about the glue from the edges of the disc coming free, could explain the sticky residue.

I have many many Discovision titles with the felt sleeves and have never experienced that either. You'll probably want to replace them. The only way I know of getting more of the sleeves is to find more Discovision titles.

Well maybe I decribed it wrong. They feel kind of greasy and gummy. I haven't got any more Open-tops so would it be okay to replace them with the side-open sticker sleeves? (the ones that say Patent #3.337.119) I have a few of them.
I hope it's not the humidity that we have in Australia.

Yeah, you should be able to. The original Discovision paper sleeves have a liner that is also good protection. They are very thick in comparison with others used later in the laserdisc timeline. They were used for the first couple of years with Pioneer discs coming from the old Discovision plant in Carson, with the "elephant condom" sleeves coming with titles made in Japan. Early Criterion titles also used the "thicker" paper sleeves. Being the crazy collector I am, I always pick up Discovision titles that I already have if they have the felt sleeves.

MCA was worried about moisture affecting the discs at first, thus the felt was coated with a weird silicone coating that breaks down and leaves a powdery residue on the disc - Windex will easily remove it. To repair the felt sleeves that have split, use a thin line of Elmers glue. Then, use the plastic elephant condom type disc liner inside the felt so you can keep using the felt sleeves and not get the residue on the discs. Not all of the felt sleeves do it - just some. It's weird and unpredictable, but when it coats the discs, it makes them play poorly because the laser beam is scattered. But like I said, it's super easy to remove with Windex or other cleaner that's safe for plastics.

Thank you. Just tryed it out on the infamous Frenzy Side 5 and it works.

Isn't that the side that NEVER works since some idiot placed a stop code on every frame?

On the Pioneer CLD-D704, hold down the play/still button on the front panel for a few seconds, & PSC ON will appear on the screen. This cancels the stop code.

Cheers for the info. I get the impression that there's very few players that support that feature though.

Yes. I only got it because it is an anomily. I'd just watch up to side 5 and swap to the DVD version after then.