So what is the possibility that we are going to see the same issues with disc rot that we saw on DVD? I tried to watch 'This is Spinal Tap' last night, only to find out that my disc is rotted. My second 'Chasing Amy' disc is showing signs as well. Am I going to be burdened with multiple purchases of the same disc because of this?

What say you?

Hmm...I've had many instances of laser rot, but I have yet to see one of my DVD's go bad and I have a couple of thousand. Apparently one of the most notorious ones was Jodie Foster's Contact but I checked it out a couple of months ago and it was fine (purchased back when it originally came out). Hopefully this QC will translate over to the hi-def discs.

Yes, some DVDs do "rot". It has been noted many times in the past that some DVDs pressed from WAMO, some time back, were prone to going bad after awhile (as well as some other manufacturers).

Whether this will affect Blu-Ray discs will have to be seen, I highly doubt it though based on its cutting edge tech and stringent quality requirements. So, there will be less room for fudging than there is with DVD.

It's a little too early to tell, as has already been stated. I wouldn't think so, since engineers know more about pressing disks these days than they did back during the laserdisk period.

... I have yet to see one of my DVD's go bad and I have a couple of thousand. Apparently one of the most notorious ones was Jodie Foster's Contact but I checked it out a couple of months ago and it was fine (purchased back when it originally came out).

My DVDs (~500) are also fine -- not one failure I am aware of (including my 1st-edition release of Contact). I've had many problems with 3/4-year old data-backups on DVD+/-R, though.

My DVDs (~500) are also fine -- not one failure I am aware of (including my 1st-edition release of Contact). I've had many problems with 3/4-year old data-backups on DVD+/-R, though.

DVD+-/R is nothing but disposable media. I believe the consensus is that recordables only last about 2-5 years depending on the brand. I don't ever use recordables for data I want to save more than about 2 years

this rot phenomena really surprises me cuz I never came across any and let me tell you I have many old dvd's.

DVD rot is VERY real. My Apollo 13, Devils Advocate, and Vertigo discs are all unplayable. And all of those had massive reports of rot if you check online.

So lets check the record so far:

CD rot? Yup
LD rot? Yup
DVD rot? Yup
BD and HDDVD rot???

Well you can probably see a pattern emerging. ;)
Perhaps you're not storing your discs properly, or your player is having problems with older discs, but I have the three titles you mentioned, plus Contact and have never had a problem playing them.

If you are so concerned about rot, why don't you pick up a DVD-Burner and make backups, or even better, just rip the movie to a hard drive.

I have two copies of Contact and one is rotted. I have a copy of Tombstone Vista Series that lasted less than a year. It played right the night I bought it. Next time out, it frooze, skipped, jumped, and crackled all over the place as soon as it got to the second layer. Totally F'ed. Somebody told me that gamers boil discs that were going bad. I boiled Tombstone for an half hour. It didn't help it...didn't hurt it either. The first layer stille plays fine.

I worry about 2-layer BD's. If they've had so much trouble getting the players to read brand new ones, what about when a BD gets old and cloudy? The start of a 2-layer BD is on the bottom layer. If they go, I'm quessin' it's a whole lotta nothin'....you won't even get to see the first half! ;)

All discs die but some never really live....

I have never heard of DVD rot. I have hundreds of DVD's no problems. After reading your posts though, I will check my copy of Contact when I get home.
I have heard of Laser rot back in that format's early days (scared some people out of buying them too!) but they located the source of the problem (cant remember what it was). I never heard of it recurring after that.

I have never heard of DVD rot. I have hundreds of DVD's no problems. After reading your posts though, I will check my copy of Contact when I get home.
I have heard of Laser rot back in that format's early days (scared some people out of buying them too!) but they located the source of the problem (cant remember what it was). I never heard of it recurring after that.

The original LD prolem was edge glue that oxidized into the disc's interior and no effective seal. LD rot can develope on any LD that takes a hard shot to the edge that breaks the seal.

My rotted DVD's won't play the second layer or won't play them correctly. This is a different kind of rot. I haven't had a DVD give the "snow globe" effect. I have 3 known rotters out of 1000+. Of course, I have alot of discs sitting....and sitting. I bet I have a few that I don't know about.

This is obviously not a very prevalent problem. Maybe as DVD's age more, maybe it will be more common?

Whatever happened to the technology that TDK invented like 2 years ago that was supposed to make discs unscratchable? Will it ever be implemented?

I wonder if it is the same/similar stuff used on Panasonic dvd-ram discs?

As Rachael said LaserDisc rot was the result of oxidation of the reflective aluminum in the disc. Since LD video is analog, it showed up as white / multi-colored speckles in the picture.

DVDs are less prone to it because they use better adhesives, are smaller / less flexible, and are made of a polycarbonate plastic which is supposed to absorb less moisture than the LD material (acrylic I think). DVD's won't really show white speckles since the video is compressed digital.

I think with DVDs the term usually used is "de-lamination", and refers to failure of the adhesives that hold the two layers together. When this happens to a dual-layer disc, the first half of the movie can play fine, but the second half may be unreadable.

I would think this problem would be about the same for HD-DVD as it is for DVD – just minimized due to experience and matured manufacturing.

BD I'm not so sure about - but I would guess such problems would be less. Since the BD data is so close to the surface, chances of "de-lamination" seem slim. (e.g. CDs don't “delaminate” since they’re a single piece of plastic). The closeness of the data to the surface might cause CD-like problems (i.e. label-scratches / oxidation), but with all the effort Sony & Co. put into developing hard-coats to make the discs caddy-less, you would think these problems would be mostly fixed.

Hmm...gotta check my 'contact' dvd. The only problem I've had with dvd's I suspect could be the 'rot', is some episodes of Babylon 5, that tear up for unknown reasons (brand new discs)

I do have about 500 dvd's and that's the only example I have though.

Also, wondering if HD DVD will be worse than bluray, since the HDDVD campe is bragging about being able to convert/re-use dvd production lines. Ha, bet you Amir is worried about this being taken up! :)

PS: I don't own either, and think it is too early to decide which is the best format, BluRay or HDDVD..

So what is the possibility that we are going to see the same issues with disc rot that we saw on DVD? I tried to watch 'This is Spinal Tap' last night, only to find out that my disc is rotted. My second 'Chasing Amy' disc is showing signs as well. Am I going to be burdened with multiple purchases of the same disc because of this?

What say you?

Woa, you called it. LOL

As a manufacturer of Blu-Ray technology I would be happy to analyse any examples you guys can send me and report back - :) Yes there have been CD and DVD with Rot but I have not (YET ;) ) seen a Blu-Ray example

As a manufacturer of Blu-Ray technology I would be happy to analyse any examples you guys can send me and report back - :) Yes there have been CD and DVD with Rot but I have not (YET ;) ) seen a Blu-Ray example

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=857067

The Photo is only part of the story - was it a dual layer disc, which layer was affected etc...... I am happy to make a detailed chemical/mechanical analysis but need a piece of the disk as a minimum. What storage conditions did the disk see etc.

I am a prophet!

Technically, this was a minor manufacturing error with the protective layer, and not the actual disc itself. Now, if we see the plastics start to break down a year or two from now, I'm going to be worried.

Pff, as much as Moh...Ok i won't go there..

The Photo is only part of the story - was it a dual layer disc, which layer was affected etc...... I am happy to make a detailed chemical/mechanical analysis but need a piece of the disk as a minimum. What storage conditions did the disk see etc.
The disc referenced and photographed in that thread was The Prestige which is a dual layer BD50.

You'd have to contact the thread starter (Venom5) to see if they're willing to mail you their disc for analysis.