One of my DVDs has just died... (1 Viewer)

[classicmovieguy]

Last night I decided to spin my UK edition of "Star!" with Julie Andrews, purchased new from Amazon UK in 2009. It loaded the anti-piracy ad and the Fox 70th anniversary promo and then... nothing. Just strange whirring sounds in my DVD player. The menu would not load at all.

Same story on the second player I tried it on. Then I decided to try it on my Blu-ray player and the message "Cannot play disc" flashed across the screen as soon as I popped it in. And if a movie doesn't play on my bullet-proof multiregion Blu-ray player, I worry.

I've never had a disc "die" so finitely. I doubt it's layer rot because the disc has a very pronounced 'collar-guard' - and I've many Fox UK discs that are from the same period that play fine. Maybe the manufacturing just wasn't so 'hot' in this instance, though I certainly played the disc without issue when I first got it.

Anybody else have similar stories?

 

[Stan]

Last night I decided to spin my UK edition of "Star!" with Julie Andrews, purchased new from Amazon UK in 2009. It loaded the anti-piracy ad and the Fox 70th anniversary promo and then... nothing. Just strange whirring sounds in my DVD player. The menu would not load at all.

Same story on the second player I tried it on. Then I decided to try it on my Blu-ray player and the message "Cannot play disc" flashed across the screen as soon as I popped it in. And if a movie doesn't play on my bullet-proof multiregion Blu-ray player, I worry.

I've never had a disc "die" so finitely. I doubt it's layer rot because the disc has a very pronounced 'collar-guard' - and I've many Fox UK discs that are from the same period that play fine. Maybe the manufacturing just wasn't so 'hot' in this instance, though I certainly played the disc without issue when I first got it.

Anybody else have similar stories?

Have about 700 DVDs, so far never a problem, obviously haven't checked all of them, but so far no DVD rot issues.

Only issue I ever had was when I bought "Banacek" from Amazon (definitely aging myself with that one).

Arrived DOA. Sent it back for a replacement, same thing, never worked, and I tried it in three different players, even my APEX all-region player. They finally just gave me a refund.

Guess there will always be a few duds, especially with the early stuff before the technology got better.

 

[Walter Kittel]

I've had my share over the years. Off the top of my head a couple of Dreamworks DVDs come to mind although I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting or haven't found yet.

Two for certain that died are: The Peacemaker and Flushed Away. Really wish that Flushed Away would get a Blu-Ray release.

- Walter.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I've had this happen twice so far. Tomorrow Never Dies from the James Bond Ultimate Edition Vol. 4 and disc 1 from Tales From The Crypt season 3 won't play. They won't load at all, just get error messages. I've tried them on multiple players and my computer without any luck.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I've had this happen twice so far. Tomorrow Never Dies from the James Bond Ultimate Edition Vol. 4 and disc 1 from Tales From The Crypt season 3 won't play. They won't load at all, just get error messages. I've tried them on multiple players and my computer without any luck.

And those are Fox UK or US?

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

And those are Fox UK or US?

Mine are US releases.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I'm thinking that, perhaps in the UK disc of "Star!", there's simply too much information stuffed onto the disc. Crucially, the UK edition of "Star!" is single-sided (the US edition is a flipper with all the extras moved to the other side of the disc). Also, the UK disc has a DTS audio track (something not on the US disc, I'm quite sure).

I think that, over time, the disc has died because it had too much information to carry.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

The only DVD I've ever had an issue with was a DVD-18 from the first Farcscape "Starburst" release. And I have a few DVDs that date back to Fall 1998!

 

[TheSteig]

I had two DVDs literally stop working in the last two months - they froze, played, froze. One of the movies was part of a box set and to get that one movie I had to buy the entire set. It was horrible but I did it...and found ONE affordable box set
The other movie thankfully wasnt a problem like that. Im confident that neither will be on bluray anytime soon anyway

 

[classicmovieguy]

I had two DVDs literally stop working in the last two months - they froze, played, froze. One of the movies was part of a box set and to get that one movie I had to buy the entire set. It was horrible but I did it...and found ONE affordable box set
The other movie thankfully wasnt a problem like that. Im confident that neither will be on bluray anytime soon anyway

That sounds like the classic 'layer rot' syndrome. Something I thankfully haven't encountered in many years now.

 

[Carabimero]

I haven't read this thread, but try cleaning your disc with Windex and wiping it dry with a non-abrasive cloth making drying motions straight out from the center, never circular.

 

[classicmovieguy]

I haven't read this thread, but try cleaning your disc with Windex and wiping it dry with a non-abrasive cloth making drying motions straight out from the center, never circular.

Then I'd perhaps suggest you read this thread. Not all disc problems can be solved with a clean.

 

[Carabimero]

Then I'd perhaps suggest you read this thread. Not all disc problems can be solved with a clean.

Naw, next time I have the urge to try and help you, I'll think twice about your response and save my time.

 

[classicmovieguy]

We're talking about perfectly clean, visibly new-looking discs that suddenly quit working. I don't see how Windex is going to help.

 

[Carabimero]

You're welcome.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Thank you for your advice anyway.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had two Universal DVD discs die within weeks of each other: Spartacus and Vertigo. In the case of the former, it spurred me to buy the (much superior) Criterion Spartacus to replace it. With Vertigo, by the time I discovered it, there was a new two-disc Vertigo set that had just come out, so I got it. I was terrified that all my Universal DVDs were going to go bad, but the several I checked after that (Fried Green Tomatoes is one I remember checking immediately) were fine.

Now, both of these were years ago, not recent discoveries.

 

[TheSteig]

Layer Rot syndrome - thats a new one
How does that occur ? Old disc ?
It was so weird. The movie played but suddenly it got choppy, froze played again with choppy movements , froze
Both were Warner titles too , so I went on a little WB viewing to make sure those were the only two with layer rot..

 

[LeoA]

Happened with some of my Get Smart DVD's in my complete series set. For all of season 4's discs, 1 layer is intact and perfectly readable while the 2nd layer is failing and in some instances, can't be read at all on the worst couple of disc.

Haven't gotten up the nerve to view season 5 yet and wonder what's happened to seasons 1-3 since I hit this stumbling block with season 4 a year ago when I was in the mood to view the whole series.

It was fine with zero issues when I first got it back around 2008 or so and I tried them on my many DVD drives to confirm that it wasn't a failing DVD player, so it was definitely disc rot with one of the layers.

 

[classicmovieguy]

Layer Rot syndrome - thats a new one
How does that occur ? Old disc ?
It was so weird. The movie played but suddenly it got choppy, froze played again with choppy movements , froze
Both were Warner titles too , so I went on a little WB viewing to make sure those were the only two with layer rot..

It happens when the glue or adhesive that bonds the two layers of a DVD starts to come undone - the laser of the player no longer has a clear path and has trouble deciphering the disc. Here is an article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot