Re: [NEWS] Some Warner Bros DVD releases suffering from 'laser rot'

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).