Disc Rot?

[vwnut13]

This is my copy of The Love Bug on DVD from the Disney Herbie 4-Movie Collection.




I watched the movie and it played fine, but I'm concerned as none of my other DVDs look like this.

[Legend293]

Originally Posted by vwnut13

This is my copy of The Love Bug on DVD from the Disney Herbie 4-Movie Collection.




I watched the movie and it played fine, but I'm concerned as none of my other DVDs look like this.

I think I may have a few that look like that and I think they all work fine.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by Legend293

I think I may have a few that look like that and I think they all work fine.

Same here, and many looked like that brand new. Pretty sure it isn't disc rot.

[CV19]

I've come across a number of DVD's with that "cloudy/milky" pattern (not sure how else to describe it), but they've always played perfectly and the discs were already like that from new. In fact I still have some discs from way back to the early years of DVD's which have that pattern and they still play fine - no problem.

On another forum when this has been mentioned, one reason given was because of the adhesive used between layers not drying evenly. It certainly won't be disc rot, as otherwise I would have thought the DVD's would become unplayable within a short period of time after buying them.

[Katatonia]

I think it's just the silver metalized reflective layer that's imperfect, or something like that.

I have quite a few pressed DVD's from various studios that look that way (since they were newly purchased) but they play perfectly fine and I've not had any playback problem with them years later. It's not the same as disc rot.

[canucksam]

I agree with the comments above. If you have a disc that looks like that and doesn't play right, the appearance is most likely not the cause. I have a lot of DVDs right out of the box that looked like that and all played fine.

[PileOfFudge]

I purchased Clear and Present Danger on DVD back in 2006 and the disc had that same exact cloudy/milky pattern on it. It still plays just fine all these years later.

[zeze]

I got an Xbox 360 game (Halo Wars) like that on release day and had no problems with it for several years before I sold it. I'm fairly confident that is not disc rot.

[seafiant]

Disc rot makes the outside go a funny dark golden copper color. A couple of mine have done so and it always starts at the outside. As a best note its supposed to be DVDs have a best before life of 20 years.

I was looking at picking up the TV show Angel recently for a really cheap price on the original release but as it was put out in 2000 I skipped it. Since the re-release discs were 2011 or so it means I won't have to worry about the discs warping any time now, but instead in a decade.

Maybe this helps to know.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by seafiant

Disc rot makes the outside go a funny dark golden copper color. A couple of mine have done so and it always starts at the outside. As a best note its supposed to be DVDs have a best before life of 20 years.

That's not true at all. Most discs will never have any disc rot and should last more than 100 years. Disc rot is only a problem for poorly manufactured discs.

[orangerunner]

In my experience the titles that have "rot" have all appeared to be perfect, no blemishes or marks.

I had a few Anchor Bay titles such as Kentucky Friend Movie and Spacecamp that had the copper-like appearance when they became unplayable.

[AnamorphicWidescreen]

I recently started re-watching The Sopranos on the old DVD sets.

And, most of the disks have been playing fine - with the exception of Season 3, Disk 1: Episodes 1,2, and 4 play perfectly. But, Episode 3 will barely play - it skips & freezes. I looked on the back of the disk, and there are what look like thumb-prints on the surface of the disk; I tried to rub them off, but they are actually embedded into the disk itself. I guess this is what's considered disk rot, given that the disk doesn't play completely all the way through.

[HorrorBlu]

Originally Posted by AnamorphicWidescreen

I recently started re-watching The Sopranos on the old DVD sets.

And, most of the disks have been playing fine - with the exception of Season 3, Disk 1: Episodes 1,2, and 4 play perfectly. But, Episode 3 will barely play - it skips & freezes. I looked on the back of the disk, and there are what look like thumb-prints on the surface of the disk; I tried to rub them off, but they are actually embedded into the disk itself. I guess this is what's considered disk rot, given that the disk doesn't play completely all the way through.

Though I'm perfectly satisfied with the PQ on these DVD sets (it's better than some other TV shows I've seen from this era), this may still be the perfect excuse I need to upgrade to Blu

I had issues with my Sopranos sets too.

Warner dual-layered DVDs are prone to failure. They have a ridiculously high fail rate. There's an entire thread about it here:
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=273487

[PriestWhiteLotus]

I have 2 or 3 dvd's that are getting the cloudiness on the bottom. The worst one is my Dances with Wolves Special Edition. It can no longer play through the section where it's all cloudy. Tried in 2 different dvd players and the dvd player in my computer. I eventually replaced it.

If i recall correctly the other 2 had issues with playing but i think i was able to get past it.

A lot of my dvd's don't get watched anymore so who knows how many more also have it.

On the video game side of things i have had a few with cloudiness but it never affected them. Only my dvd's

[ps3bd_owner]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

That's not true at all. Most discs will never have any disc rot and should last more than 100 years. Disc rot is only a problem for poorly manufactured discs.

Agreed with that, but a DVD I bought from Brazil has become completely transparent. It doesn't work at all and I always made sure to be careful so it wouldn't get scratched. Darn the manufacturer for using cheap quality.

I uploaded a photo of it to a different thread on here somewhere, but I dunno where now.

[Cevolution]

Originally Posted by seafiant

Disc rot makes the outside go a funny dark golden copper color. A couple of mine have done so and it always starts at the outside. As a best note its supposed to be DVDs have a best before life of 20 years.

This kind of disc rot can happen with Blu-ray's too:

IMG_4182.jpg

Handling discs with hot hands that are perspiring, and cloudy moisture forms on the underside of the disc around where your finger tips are touching the sides of the disc, can cause this.

[aaronhooker]

That is not an issue, as long as the DVD is working fine.

[VictoryAtNight]

My worst disc rot (discoloration & swirls) that I have is my 2007 Pathfinder DVD. I was hoping to watch the entire movie (first time), but it freezes after an hour. I need to buy another copy, so I can finish this movie.

[meremortal]

Haven't come across many dvds with genuine rot issues, but it was fairly common with LD and hd dvd. Some blus from earlier releases through Lionsgate, Criterion, etc. had problems as well.

[banbro]

I have several in my collection that look like this, but only one that will not play completely. Cast Away gets almost 1/2 way through and then just freezes. There are not any other marks or scratches on the disc, so I assume the reason is due to the discoloration. Thankfully it is a title I can easily replace, it would be really frustrating if it were a popular OOP title that everyone was hoarding :-)