Frequently Asked Questions for this web site will be developed over time, however here are some FAQ’s from Blue Crane Digital that may be of assistance:

1. Where can I buy Blue Crane Digital products? You can purchase the tutorial DVDs directly from this website. We will also be establishing camera stores as dealers and will put links to those stores on our “Contact us” page as they become dealers.

2. My DVD won't play. Now what? DVDs can be played on either a set-top player attached directly to your television or on a DVD drive attached to or installed in your computer. We've broken the answer into two sections, one for each platform.

DVD drive on a computer:

2.1 Several customers who thought their computer had DVD drive actually had a CD or CD-RW drive. It can be confusing, as a lot of software comes with video but is delivered on CD media (which is also the same size and colour as DVD media). If you can’t see any files on the DVD disc, your drive may be a CD drive. For Windows operating systems,open Windows Explorer to ascertain whether files and folders are visible on your "DVD drive".

2.2 Test your DVD drive and player combination by inserting a DVD disc from a movie rental service or your home collection. Try this step even if you know the computer played movies in the past. The disc should have the DVD logo on the outside of the package. If a standard movie plays, but ours will not open, send us an email. We'll try and help you resolve the issue.

3. If #1 and #2 are definitely not the answer (you're able to watch movies on your computer), then there may be a problem with the DVD player software installed on your hard drive. If you are using Windows Media Player, be sure it is upgraded to version 10 or higher. Version 9 and below did not play DVD discs without a purchased plug-in. If you can find your DVD player software, launch the programme then try accessing the disc.

4. If you can see files in Windows Explorer, you have updated DVD software installed on your computer, but you still cannot get the disc to play, try playing it on a set-top box attached to a TV. If the disc won't play on the set-top unit, return it to your retailer or send us an email.

***NOTE: There have been many, many DVD player software applications released in the past several years. Some are very good, and others are poor. They skip, crash, don't play the sound, and generally act like they were written and distributed without any formal testing. If your player software is two or more years old, check with the manufacturer to see whether any free updates can be downloaded. The difference may astound you. In the past two years, we have seen the number of problems related to DVD player software really drop off. Again, if your software is a little older than two years, consider upgrading to reduce playback problems with all discs.

Set-top player attached to your television:

Check your DVD player by inserting a DVD disc from a movie rental service or your home collection. The disc should have the DVD logo on the outside of the package. If you can play rental movies, but not the disc, cross-check the disc on a computer that has a DVD drive. If you can't play it on the computer, return the disc to your retailer or send us an email.

5. There is a picture but no sound / there is sound but no picture / the picture is choppy / the sound stutters. How do I fix this?

Usually, this can be directly attributed to buggy DVD player software or to an old PC that is running an obsolete operating system. There is a considerable amount of misconception regarding DVD technology, especially since DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-ROM, and all other iterations have come into the consumer market. Following are some facts about Blue Crane DVDs that ensure low failure rates.

Blue Crane Digital's DVDs are manufactured at the same factory used by major film studios - the technology, file formats, data bandwidth, and encryption schemes are identical. Stamping or REPLICATING DVDs is completely different to burning or DUPLICATING consumer DVD-R or DVD-ROM discs. Stamped disc error rates are extremely low. After hundreds of thousands of copies, Blue Crane Digital have had only one return that was defective. You can easily tell the difference between a stamped disc and one created with a DVD-R or DVD-ROM format. Stamped discs are silver on the data side; consumer grade writable discs have a green or purple colour.

Sound Quality - Since everything on the disc is digital, any scratching, popping, or stuttering is a function of playback software. Either the file can be opened or it can't. Sound quality does not vary between discs.

Video Quality - Since the video is also digital, any stuttering or dropped frames indicate software incompatibility or an older computer that does not have a modern operating system or sufficient CPU power. Again, either the file can be opened or it can't. Quality is identical between discs.

If you can see a picture, but cannot hear the audio, the problem is probably with your equipment set-up or software. All file formats are standard and within ISO specifications for DVD players manufactured around the world.

If the sound is out of sync with the picture, it is without a doubt software related.

6. My computer gives me an error code stating the disc is the wrong region. What is that about?

Firmware in some DVD disc drives (Dell installed) insist that you choose a region code in order to play discs. Blue Crane DVDs are distributed throughout the world. When manufactured, they are coded with ALL valid region codes. The combination of software player and some firmware versions can cause a disc with multiple region codes to fail. Contact your computer manufacturer for firmware and/or software upgrades.

We're not saying there can't be a problem with Blue Crane discs. We want you to find a solution to your technical problem rather than exchanging the DVD and finding that you still have a problem. We've helped dozens of users who were sure they had a bad DVD. Based on our experience, the odds are extremely long in favour of software/ hardware issues.

If you are still having a problem after reading and following this FAQ page, please send us an email. We'll do our best to help solve your problem.