Finally--my 1st case of "DVD rot"? (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

Its been a few years since i had a disc rot. But if i recall, its mostly older Universal, and Anchor Bay releases.

 

[Thomas J.]

My DRAGONHEART dvd doesn't play anymore. "Disc is unreadable" type of error. Those original Universal DVDs seem to be the biggest culprits.

 

[Malcolm R]

Tried to play my Disney "Great Mouse Detective" today and it wouldn't play one of the layers. Not sure if that's rot, or a manufacturing defect.

Tried two different players. The disc would not load, but if you press "play" it would play the film up to the layer change then freeze. Nothing I did could get it to move on to the other layer to finish the film (with only about 15 mins left, I'd think they could have fit the whole film on one layer).

My older release version of "Nightmare Before Christmas" wouldn't play on one of my players, but would play on another. Not sure what that was all about, but I replaced it with the newer release.

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

Cees... please let us know if you find that number / manufacturer's info!

I haven't had DVD rot that I know of but then again I don't play my discs that often and they stay stored. I am wondering if people who smoke or have smokey environments like wood stoves, could be getting a film on the discs and just need a good washing? Or maybe people with greasy fingers eating while handling the discs? I handle mine like in a "clean room" environment.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I've had a number of discs rot, maybe a dozen or two. Universal, Anchor Bay, Criterion, Warner. It is a defect in the disc, it isn't from leaving discs lying around, getting them dirty or over playing them. They just go bad protected in their cases.

Most show faint speckling under the playing surface, almost like condensation. Rings or creaminess aren't the culprit, although I don' know if they help.

It's interesting to watch these if they are still playable, the error correction in the players creates some great Mandelbrot patterns onscreen.

I have a few LDs that went bad, but unlike digital which is either all or nothing, they still played. After losing several hundred (if not thousand) dollars worth of DVDs to deterioration, I am wondering how BR will stand up given the even slimmer error margin on higher density discs.

 

[troy evans]

Exactly. So far the only company I've had trouble with is Universal. That's not to say I may not find other titles in my collection that have corrupted. I take extremely good care of my collections from comics to dvds to Blu-rays and feel this is a manufacturing defect. From what I've read the problem is almost non exsistant now for sd dvd. If you do stumble across it these days it's rare and isolated like the "Prestige" Blu-ray. Of course I can't be 100% certain, but, sd dvds produced after 2001( with a few exceptions) are pretty safe by comparison to sd dvds from 1997-2000. It sucks that this happens at all, but, no format is perfect and even with this flaw VHS had far worse problems on a larger scale. If I have any one complaint or worry it's that something in my collection that goes bad will be OOP when it happens. Therefore, making it unreplacable until a re-release and some of the titles in my collection won't be seeing one of those, I'm sure.

 

[Bryan^H]

The fact that a dvd disc supposedly has a archival life of 60-200 years, I'd say it's an authoring issue. Shame on the studios for lack of quality control.

 

[Cees Alons]

It's ancient ....

OK, I found an explanation in Jim Taylor's DVD Demystified FAQ. That paragraph also references two web articles, one of which is no longer present. However, one still is (except the pictures).

Key sentence here seems to be: Looking for identifying markings, I found that these disks all had "IFPL" followed by a number in very tiny letters near the disk hub. This may identify the plant or it may mean something else.

Although I will be searching further, I doubt if much more is to be found.


Cees

 

[Eric Huffstutler]

I also saw elsewhere that it was WAMO who manufactured these and I believe still does Warner discs? believe an early pressing of The Matrix was problematic?

I also noted that many early pressings had that milky look in sections which they say is "not" rot and will not affect playing. I have quite a few of those but haven't went back to address it. I have many of my early purchases which include the first batch of DVDs Warner distributed including "Batman" and "Outbreak". I even have one of the VERY first DVDs released prior to Warner through Lumivision - "The Rain Forest" IMAX which came in the small music CD clear jewel cases made then for DVDs.

Since I don't watch the older ones on a regular basis, no need to replace unless I have a special interest like replacing my original "Ten Commandments" from 1999 for the 50th Anniversary set from 2006. But even then I swapped my discs from a 2004 set with the 2006 because I feel in certain scenes, even though supposed to be an identical pressing, the older disc 2004 one is a bit sharper especially in super HD resolution mode and some colors shift differently.

I do have a few older Universal discs but my Hitchcock stuff is newer remastered sets. But I am now rambling

I wouldn't hurt to do a good cleaning of the disc to see if it helps? I have even seen people boil them or place them in ovens to soften up the glue and seal them better (I am guessing?)

Rot itself can not be seen with the naked eye so I have read.

Eric

 

[Jefferson]

Mine is Paramount's first release of WHITE CHRISTMAS...just pixilates and locks up, after playing nicely for years.

 

[MielR]

Sometimes it does affect play, and it still happens today (if we're talking about the same thing). I recently got the new Xanadu 2-disc release from Amazon, and I immediately noticed 'swirly' marks in the playing surface and they were pretty pronounced. The disc froze up about 30 minutes in, so I got a replacement from Amazon. The replacement disc also had swirl marks, but they were less pronounced, and the disc played fine all the way through.

I'm sure there are other discs in my collection that have these marks, but they evidently aren't severe enough to affect play.

I think it's a manufacturing defect in the metallic layer of the disc, and probably not likely to get worse over time.