"DVD/CD rot" goes mainstream. Interesting story from AP. (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Rarely does a mainstream news story about our favorite software format contain information of any use to an HTF member. But this one is a little more informative than usual. Also, to those of you who are a little heavy-handed when removing a cherished disc from its keepcase, please note the cautionary paragraph about flexing the things.

DVDs and CDs not so indestructable after all.

 

[DanMarquardt]

I was hoping that they would have investigated the time that CD-R and DVD-R/W's can last. but I'm glad that it was mentioned at least.

but how many DVD/CD's has anyone lost to this kind of rot?

 

[Zen Butler]

Interesting, although I thought I was being set up for yet another Onion article.

 

[Thomas Newton]

One of the things I dislike about many recent DVD and CD cases is how hard they make it to extract the disc, in a way that doesn't involve unwanted flexing.

 

[Randy Korstick]

Except its a Catch-22. When they make them looser then you get floaters which leads to scratched disks and disks that won't play and then the studio catches hell for "putting out bad disks".

 

[Paul_Scott]

this is one reason i've come around from despising snappers to more than tolerating them.
i have never once had to exert any effort to pry them from their case.
yes, i would still prefer an amary with the ying/yang hub release- but the fact remains i have never had any non-asthetic problems with a snapper



i've had 2 that i know of go bad.
there could very well be more, but there are many titles in my collection that may go several years without being pulled out and watched.
i could esily have a dozen or more that are fully corupted at this point and not know it.

there is no way that anyone can make a statement about something lasting 100 years, unless it is already 100 yrs old.
i take any statements like this with a huge grain of salt-
especially after being told repeatedly in the early 90's that the "LD rot problem" i had been hearing whispers about was confined to discs manufactured in the early 80's and that changes in the replication processes had eliminated that as a concern.
i was being told that by salsmen as well as other supposedly informed collectors.

 

[Steve Y]

I have not once had a serious problem extracting a DVD from a snapper or "standard" case. Not once. And I've removed a lot of DVDs from virgin cases of all styles. I have honestly come to the opinion, after having observed friends opening cases and heard countless stories here, that some people have "the touch" and some people don't. I doubt it's even an acquired skill; I honestly feel for those who are frustrated by the act of removing discs.

The main trick, though not the only one, is to concentrate on the center hub and then work the disc gently from side to side rather than prying/forcing out the disc directly from the edges. I often hear people removing discs with a loud SNAP that sends shivers down my spine. It's one of the reasons I don't like loaning discs out to people I don't know well.

The hardest disc I've ever had to remove was from Buffy (TVS) season four or five; oddly enough, these are also the only cases where I've ever experienced a DVD floater that turned out to be scratched and defective as a result of its "time afloat"!

s

 

[WillardK]

Hubs differ, and some are excessively difficult to extract a disc from (or require the special skill of someone as gifted and dexterious as Steve Y ).

I've never liked dvd cases (amrays, snappers, whatever) and 'decant' mine into sleeves. Even the smaller sized cases at my local video rental can tend to have a 'floater.'

Jewel boxes are curiously more advanced in security, portability and economy of space.

I've noticed pin-prick holes in the metal layer of one or two new unused cd-r's, but have not yet noticed any damage to pre-recorded cd's or dvd's.

 

[Anthony Hom]

I don't agree with that last comment about records. They may start to sound scratchy and even a record with a fracture or deep scratch can still play. If you crack a CD or even a deep scratch, kiss it goodbye.

 

[MattGentry]

I've never had a problem with getting discs out of hubs. I just press the center and out it pops.

I do find that most people I know handle their discs with utter disregard. One of my best friends bought a CD while I was with him and we decided to listen to it on the drive home.

He just grabbed and pulled. I thought it was going to crack in half. Then, he just pulled at it and held it in between his fingers. Not holding it by the center, or the edges, but just manhandling the damned thing. This, of course, coming from the guy who just throws all his cd's in one giant case with no regard to their safety.

It annoys me to no end. Everyone I know handles the discs that way (save for my parents, as I've informed them on how to handle them).

 

[Glenn Overholt]

That's one reason why I have DVD changers. I only have to 'pop' it out once.

Glenn

 

[Mick Wright]

Me either. Vinyl is a lot more durable than most people give it credit for. I have records 50 to 60 years old (that have had numerous owners I'm sure) that sound fantastic.

 

[Dick]

Hey, the record and DVD companies are probably smiling every time they see or hear about people treating their product so poorly. When I was young and irresponsible, I replaced such favorites as my ALL THINGS MUST PASS vinyl box three or four times. And we complain about double-dipping! Some of it we bring upon ourselves!

 

[Simon Basso]

Have you ever bought a Columbia title from R3? They use the most horrific spindle arrangement that means you can't get the discs off without bending them. They're even worse than those used in the original Fight Club and 2-disc Se7en releases. The latter discs loosened up with time, but these R3 cases are almost completely inflexible. On the plus side, they absolutely never ever ever drop a disc in transit.

 

[Chris Bardon]

The article talked mainly about CDs manufactured in the 80s though-surely manufacturing technology has improved since then. I'd be interested to see just how many DVDs have actually started to rot, although the oldest discs you're going to see now are only about 7 years old, so probably still too new for this to have really cropped up.

As for CDRs, I have a coupe of discs that were burned back in early 97 that are still reading just fine.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

And everyone seems to be skipping over the last paragraph, where it's disclosed that the guy in the photo was KEEPING HIS DISCS NEXT TO A WOOD BURNING STOVE! Well, no shit Sherlock, your plastic discs aren't in very good shape any more. What kind of moron does things like this and then whines to the national press??

 

[Jack Briggs]

I, too, am adept at removing DVDs from their various types of cases. However, with the Season One boxset of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I encountered a genuine challenge. On disc one, the center tab (not a traditional retaining spindle) possessed zero pliability; nothing seemed to work; the disc wouldn't dislodge no matter what I tried. Eventually I depressed the tab so hard that it snapped. So, to keep the disc from "floating," I folded a small piece of paper several times and placed it at the position where the tab once was. The disc remains secure.

I've also had trouble working the Twilight Zone boxsets from Image, but not to the extent with that first season of TNG.

Not once have I ever had trouble removing a CD from its jewel box.

 

[Grant H]

Yeah, I remember the dawn of DVD when we were told that they'd most likely be in jewel boxes so they'd take up so little space.

Too bad they didn't stick to that, since they're so reliable. The obsessed can even buy those "indestructible" jewel boxes like I put my SW SE soundtrack CD's in. I still have the original Last Action Hero DVD that came in a jewel box. Sticks out ike a sore thumb on the shelf.

I like the keep cases that have what looks like the Yin Yang symbon hub. Those are easy to pop (very pliable) and seem to hold really well. Great design. Don't know why they don't all use that kind unless it's some kind of patent the studios are too cheap to pay to use.

 

[Jason Hughes]

I actually thought the old Alpha cases were the best. All you had to do was pinch the two tabs in the hub and lift the disc out. Instead (in part due to the stupidy of the manufacturers) people would "lift here" and break the disc.

Never once did I have a "floater" with the Alpha's and I find them to be the easiest hub to remove a disc from (with the exception of snappers - one reason why I don't really bash them very much).

 

[Citizen87645]

Actually, the guy in the photo (Irons) is not the guy first mentioned in the article (Koster). The description of where Irons stored his discs was made in the context of warning readers about storage temperature.