Disc Rot

[Splatterdragon73]

Originally Posted by TALL DUDE

Dunno how many others may be affected in my collection,dreading finding out.

I know the feeling!

I've still got a great many new and sealed DVDs going as far back as 2002 (maybe even before? i'm not too sure now!) and i only hope these titles are still playable when i eventually get around to checking 'em out!

[Chucky]

The only DVD this has happened with to me is Never Say Never Again, the unofficial Bond movie.

It was the first DVD I got, a present along with my first DVD player.

I only put it on the once on Christmas day.

Since then it sat in my bottom drawer. A few years later I took it out to have a look at it and the disc was in some state. It was like something had been spilled all over it.

I didn't know what the hell had happened to it.

Now I know, from this thread, there's something called disc rot!

[platostotal]

Sorry to hear about you guys falling victim to the 'rot', odd thing is I've been using dvd recorders since 04 and as long as the recording is ok(never sure til it's finalised) none, even the early ones on 4 for £1 discs have had any probs, maybe the stamping itself went wrong. Seems very rare thankfully. Until last year I thought retail dvd's were burnt not stamped.

[BioZombie]

Not sure if this relates to disc rot, but I heard somewhere (unfortunatly, the I cant remember exactly where) that DVD only have, on average, a 10 year life span.

[platostotal]

Originally Posted by BioZombie

Not sure if this relates to disc rot, but I heard somewhere (unfortunatly, the I cant remember exactly where) that DVD only have, on average, a 10 year life span.

Yeah, if I remember it was the disc lasts like 100 years but the data on it will corrupt long before that, and home burnt discs even less. But it's probably load of tosh, I think audio cassettes are much more fragile, but I have some audio-books on cassette from mid 70s still going strong. Bound to get a few duff discs tho, as this thread shows, just don't use em as coasters tho(not kidding, seen people chuck em about like frisbees)

[Splatterdragon73]

Originally Posted by BioZombie

Not sure if this relates to disc rot, but I heard somewhere (unfortunatly, the I cant remember exactly where) that DVD only have, on average, a 10 year life span.

I'm pretty certain i have DVDs in my collection going back further than a decade that still play fine. I also own titles brand new and still sealed close to ten years old too!

[the blob]

MGM actually did and exchange over here once for Terminator and Silence of the Lambs which I took advantage of back then. One other that was meant to be bad was the ABUS Frankenstein Created Woman. I haven't had a problem with it so far though.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

I have discs from 1998 that are still fine.

I never heard of this problem other than with the above mentioned MGM discs.

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by BioZombie

Not sure if this relates to disc rot, but I heard somewhere (unfortunatly, the I cant remember exactly where) that DVD only have, on average, a 10 year life span.

They said VHS cassettes would have a life span of 7 or 8 years...

...I still have a few working VHS cassettes from 1982 - 1984.

I think these numbers are like "Best Before" dates on food - overly cautious and "just in case", but not really applicable in most real cases.

[platostotal]

Looking into dvdr lifespan came across some lab results, peeps seemed to be ok with findings...All cdr(including cheap unbranded) showed a life of 15+ years(data as well), with dvdr only 47% were the same, with the worst disc tested going 1.9 years. Retail stamped discs should be 3x as good, so no worries, those platters should outlast us. Tho I bet that only happens with perfect burns and storage. So 45+ years for music cd and 20-45+ years for film dvds.