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From: Your Name <YourName@YourISP.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [NEWS] Some Warner Bros DVD releases suffering from 'laser rot'
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2025 13:42:07 +1300
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On 2025-03-23 00:31:48 +0000, super70s said:

> On 2025-03-20 02:19:06 +0000, Your Name said:
> 
>> You might be eligible for a replacement ... if one still exists (and 
>> possibly US only).
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Still Clinging to DVDs?
>> Some Warner Bros. Discs Have Started Rotting Away
>> -------------------------------------------------
>> You might be eligible for a replacement or a refund, depending on
>> whether your malfunctioning DVD is still in print.
>> 
>> If you're still hanging on to your physical DVD collection, you
>> could be in for a nasty surprise.
>> 
>> Many DVDs manufactured by Warner Bros. between 2006 and 2008 have
>> been hit by an issue known as "laser rot," where DVDs simply stop
>> working due to a rotting of the layers, an investigation by movie
>> review site JoBlo reveals. So far, it doesn't seem like Blu-ray
>> discs or HD-DVD are affected.
> 
> I surely have some Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured between 2006 and 2008 
> (58 discs from all studios of movies that came out in 2005 alone) but I 
> haven't noticed the kind of obvious physical "laser rot" like that 
> displayed in the original article. 
> (https://www.joblo.com/warner-bros-dvds-dont-work/)
> 
> It mentions Shawshank Redemption as one of those affected, I have a 
> 2-disc "10th Anniversary" edition of Shawshank Redemption but I have no 
> idea what year it was manufactured (no date on it but its 1994 original 
> release year). It looks and plays fine.
> 
> I've encountered plenty of DVDs that skip badly but I don't think it's 
> necessarily because of this kind of "laser rot." I don't own any that 
> show the kind of problem of the picture in the article.
> 
> In fact the only rot problem I've ever had is with one of my 700 CDs, 
> an early pressing of The Who's "Who's Next" made in West Germany on the 
> Polydor label. You can hold it up to the light and see several tiny 
> "pinpricks" shining through it. I replaced it with a Canadian version 
> that was supposed to be a superior mastering job anyway.

Discs getting rot and the rate they deteriorate will depend on a lot of 
factors, including how they are stored, temperature, quality of the 
original manufacturing and materials, etc. You might well not see any 
problems for years or even never, while your neighbours collection is 
already only useful as beer mats.

The problem is that there's no real way of knowing without constantly 
checking them.

Same of course goes for pretty much every other format of anything: VHS 
tapes, cassette tapes, floppy disks, etc. Even paper copies of things 
can deteriorate. Carving into solid rock isn't guaranteed to last 
forever either.

Despite many manufacturers claims. There is no storage format that will 
last hundreds, let alone thousands, of years. (Even assuming anyone in 
a thousand years could even read the storage format.)