You might try VSO Inspector from VSO Software. it Checks Your BD drive on your computor and also scans the media disk.

OldMan55, dee1959jay, both of you thanks for the helpful suggestions.

I'll certainly give VSO Inspector a try. It sounds like this might be the answer I'm looking for.

dee1959jay:
I use a 60GB PS3 with the latest firmware as a player. For now I haven't cleaned the lens yet, so I'll check the tutorial and do that. A very good suggestion.
Unfortunately, yes, the problems occur both on the PS3 and Viao.

Regarding the Chronicles or Riddick problem, it seem a bad batch was released containing a mastering error as many people experienced the same issue I had, as seen on various forums.

For Prince Caspian I got a replacement disc and it plays perfectly in both my PS3 and Viao (whereas the first disc I had didn't play fine in either one of them and kept frame-skipping at the same time interval.

For Underworld Rise of the Lycans I have yet to receive the replacement disc, so I cannot comment on that yet, safe for the fact that frame-skips at the same spot both on PS3 and Viao.

Thanks for the help. I was getting really anxious as I have about 30 unwatched discs which I have  purchased over a month ago.

I'll start by checking a working disc as well as a faulty one with VSO Inspector. That'll give me an indication of whether or not the software does indeed detect such mastering or pressing errors ...

Quoting dee1959jay:

Quote:
If you're getting the same errors on the PS3 and the Viao, then the disc must indeed be faulty. Cleaning the lens won't solve that, I'm afraid.
Anyway, good luck! 

Thanks but I'll clean the lens anyway. Can't hurt to take good care of your equipment, I always say 

Quoting Katatonia:

Quote:
Hmm, I haven't experienced any playback problems with either of those discs...or at least that I noticed. Where do the disc errors occur in those films to check for them?

Let's see:

- Chronicles of Riddick: the disc freezes about 14 minutes into the movie. This seems to be a recurring problem with the first batches due to an error on the disc itself (http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=98395&highlight=riddick)
- Underworld Rise of the Lycans: between the 17:00 and 18:30 mark, the disc skips ahead for about 10 seconds, on two occasions. This seems to be an isolated incident
- Prince Caspian: Near the waterfall when Lucy thinks she saw the lion the disc skips ahead and shortly after that, while Caspian plead with the Narnians in the forrest, it skips ahead again. This seems to be an isolated incident.

All playback issues I've encountered so far seem to be due to errors in the authoring or pressing of the discs, causing freezing or skipping.

I haven't had any errors/skipping with any of my Blurays to date, including Prince Caspian.

Quoting widescreenforever:

Quote:
If you register (ie) your Disney Discs, you can get a lifetime (?) replacement on the registered discs..
and I believe if there is an 'authoring' playback 'faulty layering'  on any disc,, and there is enough of a 'movement'  of followers who would 'report this back'  to the many forums,, the DVD companies should stand behind any type of recall/ replacement program..
Remember Back to the Future fiasco a few years ago?
But  if only your self is reporting problems., it may very well be defective (lens issue) player,, or thumbprints on the surface..

I'm pretty sure you no longer have to register--you just send the whole thing to a special address with a check.

Quoting OldMan55:

Quote:
You might try VSO Inspector from VSO Software. it Checks Your BD drive on your computor and also scans the media disk.

Quickly jumping online during holidays to give a big thumbs up to OldMan55. VSO Inspector seems to do the trick. I scanned a batch of faulty and error-free discs and so far VSO Inspector has been spot on:
- Chronicles of Riddick (faulty one) : gave red error (read-error)
- Pitch Black (error-free) : gave all green
- Narnia Prince Caspian (faulty) : gave yellow errors (means the disc doesn't read well in some parts)

I'll test my error-free Riddick and some other discs when I get back, but at first sight, VSO Inspector seems to do the trick. Thanks a lot!