DVD Rot

[DAVID RAYNER]

I’ve been reading a lot lately about the serious problem of something called “DVD rot” (search through Google for that and you’ll find a lot of information on it).

It appears that our expensively purchased DVD’s, which were supposed to be good for at least 100 years and practically indestructible, are poised for extinction in the next few years because of chemical changes in the adhesive that bonds the layers of the disc together. These chemical changes begin to oxidise the delicate aluminium layer covering the recordings, making it impossible for the laser beam to read the information on the recordings and rendering them unplayable.

Apparently, this deterioration will occur anyway, even if the discs are properly stored and looked after and some discs only four years old are even now beginning to exhibit signs of DVD rot.

Now, I know many of you, like myself, have bought DVD’s of certain films in widescreen, either because they are not available on video in widescreen or because they also contain the original trailer for a film or some other special features never issued on a video release.

My advice is to keep the video version of a film that you already have in your collection and if you no longer have the video and only have the DVD version, to get the DVD recording transferred to video tape as soon as possible. Yes, I know the image quality won’t be as good as that on properly transferred DVD disc and there won’t be room on a video tape to transfer onto it all the extra features on a DVD release, but far better to have just the trailer and the feature film on video than nothing at all on an eventually unplayable DVD.

I know this is more difficult than it sounds, as many shops have stopped selling blank video tapes and it may require searching around for some and also mean finding a way of tuning in your video recorder to your DVD player in order to transfer the recordings (provided, that is, that you still have a video recorder).

The film companies are well aware of the problem of DVD rot, but will only guarantee the discs for 90 days, while knowing full well that most of the discs will start to show signs of deterioration within five years or so.

Apparently, the problem also applies to CD’s and CD-Rom discs, although CD’s are far less complicated in manufacture than DVD’s are.

With video releases disappearing off the shelves of stores such as HMV and being replaced by endless rows of DVD’s on a massive move to replace the far longer lasting video tapes, this is obviously a very serious problem that may have no easy solution.

[ 16. June 2004, 19:59: Message edited by: DB7 ]

[DB7]

It's been pretty much dismissed as a sensationalist story (or conspiracy) based on some poorly manufactured early DVDs. As long as they're stored and handled sensibly DVDs will last 50 years or more.... by which time another format would have arrived anyway.

I've some friends who've bought dirt cheap recordable DVDs and they often throw away 1 in 10 because the disc is corrupt.

[DAVID RAYNER]

I sincerely hope that you're right, DB7. I have only had a DVD player for six months and all my DVD discs have been bought new. I was really worried about them when I saw all these reports on the Internet about it.

[DB7]

There's a good article here

There's some good tips under "DVD Care and Handling", no end of people I know store DVDs in tight popping cd jewel cases.

[DAVID RAYNER]

Thanks for the link, DB7. I have saved it to my Favourites to read at leisure.

[smudge]

A friend showed me an article recently from one of the broadsheets (a Sunday ?) in which some 'Scandaweigen' professor was speaking about dye deterioration in home recorded CDs. He took several CDS over a number of years (allegedly) and put them into varying types of storage.

Even in 'proper', darkened cupboard, storage he reckoned that there was dye deterioration which lead to 10% of the discs being unplayable.

This (he said) is because in the digital binary medium the burner burns 1s and 0s - one being darker than the other ; I forget which way round. As the dye deteriorates, there is no darkness differentiation ; hence the laser has nothing to read.

He reckons DVDs are similarly affected.

Has anyone seen anything about this on the Web ?

SMUDGE

[DB7]

Not heard of it meself. The main problem appears to be delamination at the hub of a dvd and oxidation taking place.

It's all a moot point, HD-DVD/RW will eventually arrive with even better quality and more capacity for extras, and we'll be buying again. :mad:

[Ianlynn]

I produce lots of home videos on DVD and find the same problem. I only use grade A DVD's and on production they work fine. Within 3 months even when unused I have experienced problems Reading/playing that vary from player to player. My only solution to date is to reburn a straight copy of the DVD. So far the reburn as worked fine, but for how long?

Ian Warelow

Originally Posted by DAVID RAYNER I’ve been reading a lot lately about the serious problem of something called “DVD rot” (search through Google for that and you’ll find a lot of information on it). It appears that our expensively purchased DVD’s, which were supposed to be good for at least 100 years and practically indestructible, are poised for extinction in the next few years because of chemical changes in the adhesive that bonds the layers of the disc together. These chemical changes begin to oxidise the delicate aluminium layer covering the recordings, making it impossible for the laser beam to read the information on the recordings and rendering them unplayable. Apparently, this deterioration will occur anyway, even if the discs are properly stored and looked after and some discs only four years old are even now beginning to exhibit signs of DVD rot. Now, I know many of you, like myself, have bought DVD’s of certain films in widescreen, either because they are not available on video in widescreen or because they also contain the original trailer for a film or some other special features never issued on a video release. My advice is to keep the video version of a film that you already have in your collection and if you no longer have the video and only have the DVD version, to get the DVD recording transferred to video tape as soon as possible. Yes, I know the image quality won’t be as good as that on properly transferred DVD disc and there won’t be room on a video tape to transfer onto it all the extra features on a DVD release, but far better to have just the trailer and the feature film on video than nothing at all on an eventually unplayable DVD. I know this is more difficult than it sounds, as many shops have stopped selling blank video tapes and it may require searching around for some and also mean finding a way of tuning in your video recorder to your DVD player in order to transfer the recordings (provided, that is, that you still have a video recorder). The film companies are well aware of the problem of DVD rot, but will only guarantee the discs for 90 days, while knowing full well that most of the discs will start to show signs of deterioration within five years or so. Apparently, the problem also applies to CD’s and CD-Rom discs, although CD’s are far less complicated in manufacture than DVD’s are. With video releases disappearing off the shelves of stores such as HMV and being replaced by endless rows of DVD’s on a massive move to replace the far longer lasting video tapes, this is obviously a very serious problem that may have no easy solution. [ 16. June 2004, 19:59: Message edited by: DB7 ]

[Tony Pendrey]

?????

[ChristineCB]

If DVD-Rot is a real chemical phenomenon, then it's due to manufacturing design, and not a random error like Haley's Comet blinding the Disc Manufacturer as he was mixing the ingredients with his mortar and pestle.

(Isn't that the way they do it? They chop down half the rainforest, grind it into a paste in their mortar and pestle, then lay them out on cookie sheets for 30 minutes of baking? Well, that's what I heard).

I don't think "if" is a very big question. I can't think of any other episode where a manufacturer is actually building something to last instead of being replaced with new purchases. The fact that some smart person would figure a way to chemically destroy data-film while claiming much longer lifespans seems far more plausible than actually getting something that could last "100 years".

Brady photographs, anyone?

[Howse]

I am a member of a camcorder video club and I am seemingly stuck with the title of The Expert when it comes to finding problems relating to dvd. Anyway one question I was asked was how long a dvd would last and their durability. So I did a little experiment and thought what would be the worse thing I could do to a dvd at home without destroying it. I decided to put a dvd in the dishwasher along with the dishes through a full cycle and it worked fine after. On another occasion I bought a dvd in Asda and thought it had fallen out of the trolley in the car park. I found the dvd in amongst the bread in the freezer about a week later and again it worked fine.
Just thought I`d share that with you

Howse

P.S. Anyone know for a region 1 hack for a Candy Dishwasher?

[tvden]

I cant say I have had many problems with dvd apart from the odd duff disc when recording, but if its true that discs are not going to last a reasonable amount of time surely the manufacturers are to blame !!! they must have done lifespan tests, I must admit I did not know there was only a 90 day warranty on dvd discs,I never write on discs even with the special pens as this has led to discs becoming unplayable, I was going to transfer some VHS to DVD and then get rid of the vhs but in the light of this thread I think I wont bother and will keep the vhs

[DB7]

Originally Posted by tvden I cant say I have had many problems with dvd apart from the odd duff disc when recording, but if its true that discs are not going to last a reasonable amount of time surely the manufacturers are to blame !!!

I was talking to a mate about this last night and whilst neither of us had experienced a commercially authored disc failing = our DIY burns were. Maybe it's down to the method of authoring the disc.

[orpheum]

i have never been a great fan of DVDs.Too often i find problems on recording.I have video tapes that are nearly 30 years old and still play perfectly.
However what i would like to know is why when i try to "finalsie" a disc on my Panasonic does ity fail to do so,meaning that i can only play it on that machine.Also why when i have recorded on only half the disc do i find that i cannot record any more as the legend "Full" comes up on the display.I dont care about better picture quality only about reliability.The only reliable aspect of DVDs are that they are unreliable

[ChristineCB]

I fear the tape-gobbling capability of both the VCR, the cassette's rollers and the tape itself. Whatever quality differences between DVDs and tapes becomes minor at that point. I have more fear of losing valued tapes than I have of disc problems.

I was joking about our 3,000-odd titles. At 4.3Gb per title, I'd need 12,900 Gb (12.9 terrabytes) to store our files on hard-disks. That's a pretty hefty array, and, frankly, disk-arrays have their own problems!

So, I'd want to duplicate a disc-array onto another set. That's two sets of 12.9-tb disc arrays. Then, just when I realized the magnitude of this, Hitachi announces it has the technology to build single-platter 5-tb drives. Three of those - er, six of those - should let me do that.

And about six years to copy all those DVDs.