Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[johndoyle123]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

The Canadian study shared here details recordable discs, not pressed. There's absolutely no info about the 10-20 year lifespan they suggest. And the FilmStories author's "study": "It took me only 13 discs to find one that would no longer work at all, and 11 more to find another." Come on.

I was a teen in the 80s and just the right age to be an early adopter of CDs. I've worked in music stores, had my own online media resale business starting with ebay in 1998, and worked in the music business for 30 years now. In all that time of handling at least 10,000 CDs, I could count on one hand the CDs I've seen that have literal rot, and usually of known titles from the 80s. Of my own CDs -- at its height, I had about 3000 -- and 2000 DVDs and BDs, I've never had a single one deteriorate or become defective. Do I think they'll last "forever"? Of course not, but carefully stored and only removed when playing is the bar we should be judging by.

It mentions pressed discs in the bottom chart

But yeah I can’t find any scientific studies or ageing tests showing or backing it up
Everything I’ve found has shown disc media lasts much longer than predicted in the case of burnt discs

And exceptions are made for bad production and bronzing discs etc

[jkoffman]

Originally Posted by johndoyle123

It mentions pressed discs in the bottom chart

Yes, I saw that, and as I said, there is no further info about how they arrived at that in the study.

[BijouMan]

(Ultra HD) Blu-ray Discs should last forever if they were well-manufactured and are well-kept. Believe it or not, there is a type of BD-R called the "M-DISC" that is rated to last 1,000 years. If a disc "rots," that disc was poorly made.

[BijouMan]

(Ultra HD) Blu-ray Discs should last forever if they were well-manufactured and are well-kept. Believe it or not, there is a type of BD-R called the "M-DISC" that is rated to last 1,000 years. If a disc "rots," that disc was poorly made.

[thebarnman]

Originally Posted by chriscreep23

I have read an alarming article from the Canadian Conservation institute that estimates the life-span of read-only, pressed blu-rays. Although most of the article is about DVD-Rs etc at the bottom of the article there is a small section about read-only blu-rays and a chart that estimates the life-span of them up to 10-20 years. Is that true?

If it helps, I have CDs that are almost 40 years old and they still play like new.

[rdodolak]

I'm not concerned and that table appears to be based on another paper from the same author. Below is the referenced article and an abstract of aid article:

Blu-Ray Media Stability and Suitability for Long-Term Storage

The most recent generation of optical disc media available is the Blu-ray format. Blu-rays offer significantly more storage capacity than compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) and thus are an attractive option for the storage of large image or audio and video files. However, uncertainty exists on the stability and longevity of Blu-ray discs and the literature does not contain much information on these topics. In this study, the stabilities of Blu-ray formats such as read-only movie discs as well as many different brands of recordable and erasable media were evaluated. Testing involved the exposure of samples to conditions of 80 °C and 85 % relative humidity for intervals up to 84 days. Overall, the stability of the Blu-ray formats was poor with many discs significantly degraded after only 21 days of accelerated ageing. In addition to large increases in error rates, many discs showed easily identifiable visible degradation in several different forms. In a comparison with other optical disc formats examined previously, Blu-ray stability ranked very low. Other data from the study indicated that recording Blu-ray media with low initial error rates is challenging for some brands at this time, which is a factor that ultimately affects longevity.

[thebarnman]

I'm not too concerned about the longevity of Blu-ray or UHD Blu-rays. The important thing is I'm sure they will outlast your lifetime.

To whom it concerns needs to be more worried about the longevity of their disc player and if they will still be around when it stops working.


I still have VHS and BETA tapes that are fine, but my video players/recorders stopped working a long time ago.

[chriscreep23]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

I'm not concerned and that table appears to be based on another paper from the same author. Below is the referenced article and an abstract of aid article:

Blu-Ray Media Stability and Suitability for Long-Term Storage

That article worried me even most! So what he describes is not valid? 80 and 85 % humidity can happen in many places. His test included read-only discs. Also he implies that blu-rays have even lower longevity than DVDs

[chriscreep23]

Originally Posted by johndoyle123

It mentions pressed discs in the bottom chart

But yeah I can’t find any scientific studies or ageing tests showing or backing it up
Everything I’ve found has shown disc media lasts much longer than predicted in the case of burnt discs

And exceptions are made for bad production and bronzing discs etc

Here's a a study/stress test article that someone on this site posted yesterday. The article made me more worried about the stability and longevity of blu-rays. The guy actually performed stress tests under certain conditions and blu-rays rated very poorly. In fact if you look at table 5, single layer read-only blu-rays scored even poorly than single layer read-only DVDs which means that even read-only DVDs have higher longevity than read-only blu-rays.

"The most recent generation of optical disc media available is the Blu-ray format. Blu-rays offer significantly more storage capacity than compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) and thus are an attractive option for the storage of large image or audio and video files. However, uncertainty exists on the stability and longevity of Blu-ray discs and the literature does not contain much information on these topics. In this study, the stabilities of Blu-ray formats such as read-only movie discs as well as many different brands of recordable and erasable media were evaluated. Testing involved the exposure of samples to conditions of 80 °C and 85 % relative humidity for intervals up to 84 days. Overall, the stability of the Blu-ray formats was poor with many discs significantly degraded after only 21 days of accelerated ageing. In addition to large increases in error rates, many discs showed easily identifiable visible degradation in several different forms. In a comparison with other optical disc formats examined previously, Blu-ray stability ranked very low. Other data from the study indicated that recording Blu-ray media with low initial error rates is challenging for some brands at this time, which is a factor that ultimately affects longevity."

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...68bd1c8d6663ab

[chriscreep23]

Originally Posted by mdo7

As everyone on this thread said, I think you got a case of a defective discs (that's the problem with the early days of BD). So just follow direction on how to get it replaced.

Also BD don't seem to have disc rot problem, although one article from last year talked about disc rot, and this got my attention:



So please keep an eye out on your BD in your collection if you see any sign of disc rot or degradation.

Vice News in 2017 had an article about disc rot and why it's a big concern for archivists. Blu-ray is not talked about in the article, but there's a reason why a lot of movies that got DVD release, but no 2K/4K scan restoration blu-ray release is a big concern for DVD owners. Your movie in your DVD collection, keep checking them periodically from time to time to see if they don't show sign of disc rot/degradation.

So far as of now, it doesn't look like BD have any major disc rot problem. But keep checking your BD disc in your collection to make sure from time to time to make sure the disc doesn't show any sign of disc rot.

This article may prove you wrong.Here's a a study/stress test that someone on this site posted yesterday. The article made me more worried about the stability and longevity of blu-rays. The guy actually performed stress tests under certain conditions and blu-rays rated very poorly. In fact if you look at table 5, single layer read-only blu-rays scored even poorly than single layer read-only DVDs which means that even read-only DVDs have higher longevity than read-only blu-rays. In this study read-only CDs seem to last longer that read-only blu rays. I don't know if it is true.

"The most recent generation of optical disc media available is the Blu-ray format. Blu-rays offer significantly more storage capacity than compact discs (CDs) and digital versatile discs (DVDs) and thus are an attractive option for the storage of large image or audio and video files. However, uncertainty exists on the stability and longevity of Blu-ray discs and the literature does not contain much information on these topics. In this study, the stabilities of Blu-ray formats such as read-only movie discs as well as many different brands of recordable and erasable media were evaluated. Testing involved the exposure of samples to conditions of 80 °C and 85 % relative humidity for intervals up to 84 days. Overall, the stability of the Blu-ray formats was poor with many discs significantly degraded after only 21 days of accelerated ageing. In addition to large increases in error rates, many discs showed easily identifiable visible degradation in several different forms. In a comparison with other optical disc formats examined previously, Blu-ray stability ranked very low. Other data from the study indicated that recording Blu-ray media with low initial error rates is challenging for some brands at this time, which is a factor that ultimately affects longevity."

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...68bd1c8d6663ab

[chriscreep23]

Originally Posted by jkoffman

Yes, I saw that, and as I said, there is no further info about how they arrived at that in the study.

Here's how

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...68bd1c8d6663ab

[johndoyle123]

Originally Posted by chriscreep23

Here's how

https://www.semanticscholar.org/pape...68bd1c8d6663ab

As I’ve said before these are very aggressive tests being performed putting the medium in a process that realistically no disc will be up against.

It’s semantics, countless tests have been done prior to this by manufacturers etc and other “scientific studies” have shown replicated media and burnt media lasting far beyond estimated life spans

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by chriscreep23

Testing involved the exposure of samples to conditions of 80 °C and 85 % relative humidity for intervals up to 84 days. Overall, the stability of the Blu-ray formats was poor with many discs significantly degraded after only 21 days of accelerated ageing.

So what exactly is the fact that Blu-ray discs fail after 21 days of 80 degrees Celsius heat (which is 176 degrees Fahrenheit) supposed to prove?

[chriscreep23]

Originally Posted by johndoyle123

As I’ve said before these are very aggressive tests being performed putting the medium in a process that realistically no disc will be up against.

It’s semantics, countless tests have been done prior to this by manufacturers etc and other “scientific studies” have shown replicated media and burnt media lasting far beyond estimated life spans

Thanks for your reply. One final question. If you exclude environmental conditions, does frequent playback of a blu-ray pressed disc result in data loss or deterioration of the disc? Are Dvd's better in that department?

[johndoyle123]

Originally Posted by chriscreep23

Thanks for your reply. One final question. If you exclude environmental conditions, does frequent playback of a blu-ray pressed disc result in data loss or deterioration of the disc? Are Dvd's better in that department?

I’m not sure on this one tbh

[Anthony P]

1) I think they will outlast me.
2) that study is for recordable media so it does not apply to prerecorded
3) personal experience

a) I have BDs since 2006 (when it launched)
b) I have DVDs that are over 20 years old
c) I have CDs that are over 35 years old

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

So what exactly is the fact that Blu-ray discs fail after 21 days of 80 degrees Celsius heat (which is 176 degrees Fahrenheit) supposed to prove?

don't use it to cook your pizza on for movie night (or you might not be able to watch the film afterwards)

[Anthony P]

Originally Posted by chriscreep23

Thanks for your reply. One final question. If you exclude environmental conditions, does frequent playback of a blu-ray pressed disc result in data loss or deterioration of the disc? Are Dvd's better in that department?

No. playback has no effect on a pressed disk.

That being said the more you manipulate the disk the more chances of fingerprints or scratches....

[HorrorBlu]

There's a thread on here where people report when their discs have gone bad. For the most part, most of the blu-ray issues are isolated to LionsGate and Fox releases circa 2006-2012. As for DVDs, Warner's dual-layered discs are the most likely to go bad over time.

Of course, there are always exceptions, but outside of these companies, most seem pretty reliable.

[alchav21]

Do any of you guys know how many Disc Factories are left? I don't think each Studio has their own. I heard in North America there were two left. Of course each Studio has to make their own Digital Master for a particular Disc.