DVD Failure Causes

[davidmore]

Hi All,

I wonder what experience the forum has had with DVD's ceasing to be usable when carefully cared for and having their playing surfaces looking absolutely pristine.

My copy of Avia worked 3 months ago and now does not play in 3 different players - despite the fact it has a totally pristine and unscratched playing surface. Have a similar problem with another disk that seems to have turned a little brown - makes me wonder about oxidation of the internal layer?

Any experiences to share would be fascinating! (My collection is about 700 titles so it is not a huge failure rate - but it is worrying that the discs seemed fine when first played - another thought I had was that the discs had been damaged by heat as they are often a bit warm coming out of players?)

Thanks and cheers

David

 

[nav]

Is the back of the DVD (the "label side") scratched at all? It's easy to ruin the reflecting aluminum layer through that side as it's normally relatively thin.

I've yet to see a heat-damaged CD/DVD that wasn't pretty warped (left in a hot car for long enough in a bad CD case), but I'm sure weirder things have happened. Edit: on second thought, how would I know it was heat-damaged otherwise ? Very useful insight, I'm sure .

I've read a number of articles on proper back up online, normally relating to taking care of your CD-Rs and DVD-R/+Rs, but they might have some useful information on the unseen natural forces that could have damaged your DVD.

 

[davidmore]

Both Sides are Pristine and Unmarked

Hi All,

Thanks for the comment - both sides are both disks look perfect.

Cheers

David

 

[Dumar]

My copy of Avia worked 3 months ago and now does not play in 3 different players - despite the fact it has a totally pristine and unscratched playing surface. Have a similar problem with another disk that seems to have turned a little brown - makes me wonder about oxidation of the internal layer?

I can't imagine why the Avia disk stopped working, perhaps you can get them to send you a new one.

Regarding the other disk: there is a phenomenon that has started to surface recently called "disk rot". Apparently on some disks, the aluminum layer that reflects the player's laser beam is separated from the CD label by a thin layer of lacquer. If the manufacturer applied the lacquer improperly, air can get to the aluminum causing it to oxidize, which obviously destroys the disk. You may actually be able to see small holes in the aluminum layer if you hold the disk up to the light.

Bummer eh?