The Petra Zone

I've been a Petra fan since someone gave my family a dubbed (read:copyright infringing) cassette of "Not of This World" in 1983. Not only was it my first introduction to Petra, but it was the first time in my life that I started to appreciate music of any kind. Fast-forward to today, and I own at least one copy (usually two or three) of every album and video they've ever put out. As a kid I bought cassettes, as a young adult I bought CDs and as a newly minted vinyl enthusiast, I bought records. I've seen them in concert 5 times, including Night of Joy 1992 (Unseen Power Tour), the 1995 No Doubt Tour, New-Year's Eve 1999 (God Fixation/Revival), the Farewell tour and the Classic Petra tour.

When Classic Petra started up my childhood dream of seeing the Petra I fell in love with in concert was finally fulfilled. Getting to finally meet Greg Volz and Bob Hartman was a wonderful and terrifying experience because I was so excited I made a complete idiot out of myself. It's a crying shame that CP didn't last. One of the first things I did, however, was to buy a copy of the Back to the Rock Live performance on Blu-ray.

Here's where the help part comes in. It seems that, unlike the DVD edition, the Blu-ray edition was not professionally duplicated. Although it was 100% legitimate and purchased directly from classicpetra.com, it was a BD-R, and evidently not a very well made one. Over the few short years since I bought it, it has deteriorated to the point where it won't play properly in any of my Blu-ray drives or players. I just spent a week with a recovery program trying to pull the data off of the disc in hopes that I could at least preserve it for posterity, but I'm getting nowhere. I've been scouring the web for weeks trying to find someone with a copy for sale in hopes of getting a hold of one that still plays properly - the sad reality is that they're probably all useless by now, but a guy can hope. I even went as far as to buy another Blu-ray drive in case it might have an easier time reading the disc.

Does anyone know where I can get another copy of the Blu-ray?

first off nice to meet you and happy to have a new pethead roaming around. I would probably contact Greg X Volz via his web site to see if he has any copies left in the bin. Greg had complete control over everything Classic Petra so I would think he would be the one to have some merchandise left.
Something like this happened to me when I bought Stryper's "Live in Puerto Rico" DVD about 5 years ago. I and others that have bought this have never been able to watch it because it can only be viewed on first or second generation DVD players(which haven't been on the market since the late 90's). This has something to do with the type of physical DVD the product was put on and these can only be played on those older type DVD players. BTW I never got anywhere with it in getting a refund and/or replacement; I was stiffed by the merchandise company and never got any reply from the band when I sent them several emails asking questions. Every time I'm at garage sales I'm always looking for an old DVD player just so I can see this video.

That's about it. Good luck. I don't anticipate a resolution to your problem... but welcome to the Zone!

Any burned disc is going to give up the ghost because it is not pressed. When subjected to sunlight, heat, the lasers, the data goes bye bye. I would find another copy, save it on my hard drive and make a back up.

It would be pretty lame if the BluRay is really just a copy and not a factory pressing. I have the BluRay but I've never watched it, since I don't have a BluRay player, which means I've also never managed to make a back-up.

I doubt that they'd have the BluRay on Amazon, since it's only ever been available through classicpetra.com and never as a retail release. Asking Greg or Bob would be your best chance, but I think they're all long gone by now. And I've never seen the BluRay show up on eBay either.

If ever I get a BluRay player/burner, I would gladly make a backup copy for you, but for now I can't help you.

Update

Well, I didn't get responses back from Bob Hartman or from Greg Volz (and honestly I didn't expect to, but I had to try). But someone did finally put another one up for sale on eBay. I got taken to the cleaners, but I got it. The seller claimed that it was a legitimately purchased copy (and I believe him), and it was also a BD-R. Oddly enough it was slightly different from the one that I purchased. The printing on the top of mine covers the entire upper surface, but the one I got from eBay has an unprinted white ring in the center. Long story short, the new copy works perfectly. Dutifully I have ripped it and made a couple of backup copies.

Thanks for all your responses. If anyone else encounters this problem with their copy of the Blu-ray, I'm now in a position to help so feel free to message me.

-Samson-

I saw that one on eBay. It was indeed quite pricy.