The HD DVD ownership community has been up in arms over the past week or so after Universal's hotly anticipated 'Children of Men' Combo Format HD DVD with U-Control functionality failed to play on random Toshiba players and the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on drive. In my case, the HD DVD side of the disc returned a "cannot read disc" error on the Xbox 360 HD DVD player and a "disc error" message on the Toshiba HD-A1 after the Universal logo played flawlessly. The standard DVD side, however, played without a hitch on both players.
A couple days ago I cautiously approached Universal's next Combo Format HD DVD with U-Control functionality, 'The Good Shepherd.' My gut suspected the disc would suffer from the same playback issues as 'Children of Men,' but given how that disc's errors have been random across various players, there was at minimum a shot for success. Sadly, my gut was correct.
'The Good Shepherd' disc failed to play on both the HD-A1 and Xbox 360 HD DVD players with the exact same error messages 'Children of Men' returned. Whether my experience will be shared by the greater HD DVD community remains to be seen; however, it's our duty to pass along this caveat to those having pre-ordered the disc or plan to pick it up on Tuesday. Keep those receipts!
Tonight, I find myself reporting this issue instead of writing up 'The Good Shepherd' review, which was the original plan. 'The Good Shepherd' disc has been shipped off to Shawn Fitzgerald for review as he was able to view 'Children of Men' without issues. Keep your fingers crossed his Universal luck strikes twice, and accept our apologies for the review delay - and potentially bad news.
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