Longevity of BD-R Releases

[jee]

Greetings,

As a long term collector I have always tried to avoid BD-R releases, luckily they are few and far between but they are not non existent and in a few cases I have had to settle for them as there was no other option via import etc.

I now have 4 BD-R releases, not many but depending on the outcome of this thread I may be getting a handful more.

My BDRS:
Let Me Make You a Martyr - Filmrise
Ken Park - MaddyGTV Terrible quality, like a dvd but the film is really rare now-a-days and after importing Larry Clark/Harmony Korines other film Kids from Germany (beautiful mediabook btw if you can read Deutsch) I knew I had to get Ken Park as well. These films were very present when I was in High School and they had just come out, and thus had an impact.

My 2 most recent are from a publishing firm called MRG (Meridian) / Noel Film. They have released a bunch of titles that seem to all be similar in genre. Folk Horror by the looks of it. I want to buy the rest of their offerings but before I dive in to collecting BD-R's I want to get an idea of how long they will last under ideal circumstances.

Properly manufactured media from a master when kept and maintained in ideal conditions is essentially indefinite (not enough time has passed since the introduction of optical media to give a real indication at how long the data can be maintained). For example I still have first production run music cds from the 80s that have not been kept under ideal circumstances and function just as well today (nearly 40 years).

Anyone had any experience with the longevity of single write optical media, specifically blu ray? I did alot of burning back in the day CDs & DVDs but I never ended up keeping anything more than a year or 2 and they all ended up in a recycle bin at some point.

Anyways, its a topic for discussion and imo worth having as there are some obscure releases out there available legally and officially in BD-R that will likely never have a pressed master production run so this would be the last opportunity to get them on physical media.

I plan to get at the very least one more BD-R title regardless, and that is Happiness (Also from MaddyGTV) which I expect will be barebones dvd quality.

Thanks

[Geode]

Originally Posted by jee

Greetings,

As a long term collector I have always tried to avoid BD-R releases, luckily they are few and far between but they are not non existent and in a few cases I have had to settle for them as there was no other option via import etc.

I now have 4 BD-R releases, not many but depending on the outcome of this thread I may be getting a handful more.

My BDRS:
Let Me Make You a Martyr - Filmrise
Ken Park - MaddyGTV Terrible quality, like a dvd but the film is really rare now-a-days and after importing Larry Clark/Harmony Korines other film Kids from Germany (beautiful mediabook btw if you can read Deutsch) I knew I had to get Ken Park as well. These films were very present when I was in High School and they had just come out, and thus had an impact.

My 2 most recent are from a publishing firm called MRG (Meridian) / Noel Film. They have released a bunch of titles that seem to all be similar in genre. Folk Horror by the looks of it. I want to buy the rest of their offerings but before I dive in to collecting BD-R's I want to get an idea of how long they will last under ideal circumstances.

Properly manufactured media from a master when kept and maintained in ideal conditions is essentially indefinite (not enough time has passed since the introduction of optical media to give a real indication at how long the data can be maintained). For example I still have first production run music cds from the 80s that have not been kept under ideal circumstances and function just as well today (nearly 40 years).

Anyone had any experience with the longevity of single write optical media, specifically blu ray? I did alot of burning back in the day CDs & DVDs but I never ended up keeping anything more than a year or 2 and they all ended up in a recycle bin at some point.

Anyways, its a topic for discussion and imo worth having as there are some obscure releases out there available legally and officially in BD-R that will likely never have a pressed master production run so this would be the last opportunity to get them on physical media.

I plan to get at the very least one more BD-R title regardless, and that is Happiness (Also from MaddyGTV) which I expect will be barebones dvd quality.

Thanks

Nine years ago I won a couple of auctions on eBay for Blu-ray movies "Lust, Caution" and "Seven Samurai" and when they arrived they were obvious bootlegs on BD-R. The seller refunded my money when I complained and I ended up with them. "Lust, Caution" bit the dust a couple of years ago, and sports hundreds of clear bubble-like holes in the recorded layer. Ironically I just ordered a legit copy yesterday. "Seven Samurai" is still OK, but probably not long for this world if the linked source is correct, which gives a life of 5 to 10 years.

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...-cds-dvds.html

[Jay H.]

There are lots of different answers regarding the lifespan of a BD-R. I've seen as little as 5 years, and as long as 50 years. Who knows what the right answer is? I own a few, and have for several years - they work fine.

If you want a title badly enough, and you know it won't get a pressed release, I would go for it. I'd bet the BD-R will last longer than whatever player you're using.

[unberechenbar]

Sorry that this is kind of unrelated but is CD-R expected to have a shorter lifespan too? One of my favorite soundtracks (Passengers) is on a CD-R so I'm kind of worried.

[jstxanothrxstory]

If it helps, I have DVD-Rs that I burned over a decade ago that are still working fine.

[HDTV1080P]

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=340752

[C.C. 95]

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...-cds-dvds.html

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...-cds-dvds.html

[Show spoiler]

I wouldn't trust that table in the slightest. They say pressed DVDs and Blu-ray Discs will only last 10-20 years; that's ridiculously low.

[C.C. 95]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

I wouldn't trust that table in the slightest. They say pressed DVDs and Blu-ray Discs will only last 10-20 years; that's ridiculously low.

I hope they are way off too. I have a lot of both. And a lot of burned media as well.

[J.P. Samson]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

I wouldn't trust that table in the slightest. They say pressed DVDs and Blu-ray Discs will only last 10-20 years; that's ridiculously low.

One has to consider that a library archive does not want to lose their assets due to neglect. They are very risk adverse. Therefore, I expect the lifespans in that table are conservative. They want to make sure media is duplicated for preservation sooner rather than later, rather than risk losing it to age. For example, several Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured between 2006-2009 have failed, giving them a lifespan of only 15 years or so.

JP

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by J.P. Samson

One has to consider that a library archive does not want to lose their assets due to neglect. They are very risk adverse. Therefore, I expect the lifespans in that table are conservative. They want to make sure media is duplicated for preservation sooner rather than later, rather than risk losing it to age. For example, several Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured between 2006-2009 have failed, giving them a lifespan of only 15 years or so.

JP

I find it very strange that a conservative estimate puts pressed discs at 10-20 years but puts various types of burned discs at 20-50 years (and some at 50-100 years).

There are obviously pressed discs with manufacturing defects that have lasted much less than they should but there are also plenty of burned discs that have died in less than 5 years. Why are pressed discs be judged by their defective discs but burned discs aren't?

The whole table makes it sound like burned discs will last longer than pressed discs and that's not accurate. That's why I wouldn't trust anything the table says.

[C.C. 95]

Also- the failure (disc rot,etc.) of certain discs is largely based on who manufactured them and at what factory. Early discs had manufacturing errors that caused the failure.
(Which is why you had specific instances- i.e. "this movie" from "this factory" will likely experience disc rot.
And the wide variance of quality across blank media- makes it hard to get any reliable data.

[meremortal]

Even pressed discs can fail prematurely. But in general, I'd much rather have the peace of mind of a pressed release and feel disappointed when companies release via bd-r/dvd-r.

[Moonlight Shadow]

I've never had a BD-R or DVD-R fail yet.
I have some of the earliest Warner Archive DVD-Rs and I have self-burned DVD-Rs that are so old I don't even remember HOW old they are. All of them still work perfectly well.

I've had a handful of rotting pressed discs though...and PLENTY of rotting CD-Rs. Pretty much all CD-Rs I burned in the early 2000s are gone.

[8mile13]

Stuff like BD-R releases, which likely are bootlegs, might use cheap quality BD-R to save money. So one needs to be able to indentify brand and check for quality issues. If that is not possible just do not buy them. Except if you want to rip them.

These days you can buy M-DISCs which claims way better longjevity than other recordable disc options. So they maybe best for life long ownership of burned movies and CDs that do not have a protective layer

[brtracker2023]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...-cds-dvds.html

We're coming up on 10 years since the first major studios released movies on made on demand BD-R's.

[meremortal]

There are already too many bootleggers selling fake releases as a bd-r under the guise of 'MOD'. Few of them would take the effort to have them pressed. In addition to potential longevity, pressed discs have a better sense of authenticity. And at this point of physical media when most people are streaming, pressed releases just make the physical product a more complete purchase for archival.

[Uptight]

Originally Posted by C.C. 95

https://www.canada.ca/en/conservatio...-cds-dvds.html

All these studies and estimations are full of "CHEAT"... For example, I once read the opposite for BD-RE (rewritable), that lasted less than BD-R (and now you can barely find any rewritable).

Same about BD-R DL (50 GB+) not as reliable as SL (25 GB)...

About CDs:

CDs and hard drives: A long-term solution of storing? | SLICE - YouTube

It's all about how you (properly) store them, and against what conditions all these discs are exposed. If you are in luck (and these were not poorly made to rot very soon - and by soon, I mean 10, 15 years), they will last decades.

[Telemachus]

I've never trusted buying a burned BD don't have any. But I bought a few stacks of Verbatim DVD+R about 12 or 13 years ago and when I burn them now I've started to notice I get coasters or some burns that will finish but glitch out when I watch them so I think the dye is going bad. Never had any such problems with CD-R I still have discs from the early 2000s with pictures on them. All the backups these days seem supremely cheap the plastic is so thin I can flex it with my fingers. But when even pressed Blus from 2015 can die I don't think it's worth stressing over either way.

[Maddox121]

I think the thing with DVD-Rs and BD-Rs is that they are made on the absolute CHEAP. Even more cheap than today's Made in Mexico releases. 100 discs for $17 is a task that requires corner-cutting.