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From: super70s <super70s@super70s.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [NEWS] Some Warner Bros DVD releases suffering from 'laser rot'
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2025 00:39:24 -0500
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On 2025-03-23 01:05:54 +0000, Pluted Pup said:

> On Sat, 22 Mar 2025 17:31:48 -0700, super70s wrote:
> 
>> 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."
> 
> Do get another blu/dvd player and that might solve the
> skipping problem.

I have one Blu-ray/DVD player and two older regular DVD players. The 
DVDs I have problems with will skip at the same point on every player.

My Blu-ray collection isn't nearly as large as my DVD collection and 
I've only come across one Blue-ray that skipped. I just gave it back to 
Goodwill where I bought it from, maybe it will work in someone else's 
player.

>> I don't own any that
>> show the kind of problem of the picture in the article.
> 
> That might have been a misleading picture. The rare
> cases of disc rot I've found in my own collection
> and in library discs, two in total, had no visible
> marks at all to indicate the rot.

Sure I've bought discs that skip that look perfect, but I'm not sure if 
it was because they "rotted" -- it could have been some kind of 
manufacturing defect. And they weren't necessarily WB discs 
manufactured between 2006-2008.

>  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.
> 
> Pinpricks in old CDs aren't supposed to be a problem, doesn't
> that old Who's Next CD with the pinpricks play?

Best I can remember it will play but with skipping.

> If the Canadian CD is as old, it may be as good. Starting in
> the Mid-90's the Who catalog has been mastered by monkey
> engineers who muffle the quiet notes with "noise reduction"
> and muffle the loud notes with Dynamic Compression.

We're talking at least 10 years here, when I replaced it I did some 
research and the Canadian pressing was supposed to be a better 
remastering job than the American version, for some reason. The 
Canadian one is on the MCA Records Canada label. In addition to a 1971 
copyright date (when the album was released) it also has a 1986 
copyright date, but it could have been remastered after that date I 
guess.

I'm sure there have been later remastered versions released, in fact I 
have a cassette of a Who's Next re-release with a lot of bonus tracks 
on it but as long as the Canadian CD is playing OK I don't have a 
desire to shell out money to replace it.

The old rotted one pressed in West Germany on Polydor I bought used in 
a used record shop long ago, it was probably the original release of 
this album on CD and it looked and played OK for the first few years I 
owned it. I've held on to it because I didn't want to trade it in and 
stick someone else with a bad CD, and I doubt if a used store would 
take it in anyway as it has about a dozen little pinpricks where the 
"silver" has dropped out.

I do have a few other really old CDs on Polydor that were made in W. 
Germany, a Gregg Allman - "Laid Back" that I bought around 1988 for 
example when I was just getting into CDs, that don't exhibit this 
problem (yet, lol).