Digital Video Discs Rot

[kfbkfb]

I have 1 CD that rotted (static + music when played) and
several 5" CD Videos that have rotted.

(all the discs mentioned above look OK,
just as shiny as good discs)

I haven't had any DVDs, Blu-rays or UHD Blu-rays rot.

What's you experience with optical disc rot (excluding
LaserDiscs)?

Kirk Bayne

[I KEEL YOU]

There is a thread dedicated to this in the blu ray forum:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=249210

Personally, I am lucky never to have experienced disc rot, but blu ray disc rot is very much a thing. Fortunately, it's not inherently a part of the blu ray technology, as in all blu ray discs automatically fail, but every case of rot can be traced back to certain factories that have had poor manufacuring standards.

The fact that companies are cutting costs when it comes to physical media production doesn't exactly leave me optimistic about UHDs. Even a tiny reduction of manufacturing costs could mean a big difference in the lifespan of a disc.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by kfbkfb

I haven't had any DVDs, Blu-rays or UHD Blu-rays rot.

What's you experience with optical disc rot (excluding
LaserDiscs)?

Never had any Blu-rays fail on me yet, but I have lost only a small amount of DVD's. The very early MGM release of Silence Of The Lambs (here in the UK) from the year 2000 had a problem where they rotted after a short while, but they put this down to a manufacturing issue and subsequently MGM offered a replacement (non-rotting) disc to all those who were affected.

Other than that, I've lost some Sony 'Superbit' titles, which leads me to believe these discs were manufactured in a separate plant to the normal discs as every other title I have from Sony is as good as the day I bought them - in some cases around 20 years ago.

[Lord Yellow]

Never had any kind of disc rot in over 30 years of collecting. Not saying it doesn't happen - but it's not happened to me.

[Retroj23]

Originally Posted by Lord Yellow

Never had any kind of disc rot in over 30 years of collecting. Not saying it doesn't happen - but it's not happened to me.

You are very lucky indeed. I've had multiple HD-DVDs, LDs and only 2 BDs that have rotted on me. Not any DVDs surprisingly though.

[Canada]

I have over 900 video DVD's/Blu-ray's and close to 100 CD's I have never had one rot on me yet.

[CV19]

I guess any issues with discs could be down to the quality control at whichever plant those discs were manufactured. Years ago on an audio/video forum I used to be on, there were always debates about which were the best DVD-R/+R blank discs to buy.

Taiyo Yuden's always came out best - these were made in Japan before production switched over to China a couple of years ago. Verbatim were considered very good too so long as they were manufactured in Japan, Singapore or Taiwan. Those that were made in India or China appeared to have issues with them in that there were batches which were unplayable after a few years.

For what it's worth, I have Taiyo Yuden's and Verbatim's going back to the year 2004 which was when I bought my first DVD recorder, and I have to say that they all still play perfectly so far. Not bad when you consider some critics only estimated about a 5 to 6 year lifespan on recordable discs.

[EricDent1]

Never had this problem that I remember.

[ZIROK]

I have had all the DVDs of my Andromenda Series get some kind of distorted haze on all of them , maybe plastic out gassing from the cases I do not know. but a micro fiber and some plastic headlight polish removed it from all of them. Lots of DVDs , lots of work. Might pick up the Blus just for the coating they have.

[stonesfan129]

I never had any problems except for one Blu-ray of Midnight Express that was defective. I returned it and got a different one that worked.

[oilers73]

Originally Posted by Canada

I have over 900 video DVD's/Blu-ray's and close to 100 CD's I have never had one rot on me yet.

No issues here, either. I'll even go further and say I have never had any problems with my many CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, or BD-Rs.

[The_Donster]

I thought I’d piggy back on this one instead of the other thread. My son is getting older (He just turned 10 ) and wants us to put away the movies and shows he’s outgrown. I know nothing is bulletproof, but what can I put his old DVDS and BDS in to prevent them from getting damaged?

[CV19]

Originally Posted by The_Donster

I thought I’d piggy back on this one instead of the other thread. My son is getting older (He just turned 10 ) and wants us to put away the movies and shows he’s outgrown. I know nothing is bulletproof, but what can I put his old DVDS and BDS in to prevent them from getting damaged?

Personally I'd leave them in their original cases and just store them all in a plastic container - which is how I have some of my old DVD's kept in. It's more important to avoid storing them in a humid area, such as the loft. Some people keep the discs in plastic sleeves, and while this does take up less room, I've heard mixed reviews about how it can affect the discs in the long term.

[Resettito]

Bringing this thread back from the beyond, but this is now the second Harry Potter UHD Blu Ray disc that doesn't work properly. I played the whole 8 films without any issues a while back. First three again recently, no issues and GOF and OOTP just start pixelating randomly, even when cleaning the discs so to speak, or fiddling with the HDMI cable. Frustrating. I immediately popped the Blu Rays and no issues, other UHD discs work fine but I'll test some more again.

I have a Panasonic UB700, I wonder if it's a kind of rot? I saw on the forum that some UHD BD WB discs have issues with playback as well.