Do DVD-Rs rot over time?

[Carlos Garcia]

Hi there, I know that alot of laserdiscs have been known to "laser rot" over time, causing the picture to eventually become totally unwatchable. I have also heard that some dual laser DVD movies have experienced similar problems. My question is can DVD-Rs also suffer from laser rot, or something similar over the course of a few yrs? Also, what kind of media would be best to use that would lesson the chances of having them "rot" over the course of time? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

CG

[alexnoe]

Crap discs can degrade within months, as bad CD-Rs do.

[Carlos Garcia]

Just which are "crap" discs that will degrade, and which are good ones that will last 50 yrs or more?

[alexnoe]

No one can say for sure which media will last for 50 years, but discs made by Pioneer, TDK, Verbatim, Maxell, Taiyo Yuden and Mitsui should last long. Note that some TDKs seem to be fake and actually be bad.

One can do simulations about such life spans, but no one can really verify them...these all are only guesses, based upon measurements of lifespans in bad environments.

CMC are likely to degrade (their CD-R are :scared: ), as well as bad Ritek batches (as to CD-R, Ritek makes virtually any quality, from crap up to really good ones). Some Princo CD-R degrade within months, so I wouldn't trust their DVD-R either. I have never seen or read about Panasonic CD-R, so I cannot even guess the durability of Panasonic DVD-R (the write quality on them is very high, but that tells nothing about durability).

Generally, one can hope that manufacturers whose CD media lasts long also make DVD media which lasts long, but this is not something you can be 100% sure about.

All comes down to guessing and hoping :sly:

[Carlos Garcia]

How about double sided DVD-Rs? Should they deteriorate before single sided DVD-Rs, or theoretically should their lifespan be as long as the single sided discs? I have been using PrimeDisc double sided DVD-Rs for about 3 months now, and have experienced no problems with them, however, since I have a DVD 300 disc changer, and my DVDs live inside the unit, I am concerned that heat inside the unit may eventually destroy my DVDs, should I be concerned?

CG

[padre]

Carlos, I believe you'll find that double-sided DVD-R's have the same life expectancey as the single-sided ones. They use the same dyes and materials. PrimeDisc doublesides are basically two Ritek G3's.

As far as total life extpectancey of any DVD-R, Alexnoe is correct - no one really knows the true life of ANY DVD-R from ANY manufacturer. And that includes Pioneer, Verbatum, TDK, Ritek, etc. They all state on their websites that they are 'long life media', but who's to say they won't break down in 25 years?! No one, since they haven't been in existance for 25 years, it's all speculation.

I have 8 month old Ritek's that play perfectly, as well as Pioneer and TDK discs. Does that mean they'll all play in 24 or 99 more years? Flip a coin. Besides, well before then we'll be converting the media to something else (holagraphic storage is next!).

[atreides93]

I have 10 year old generic CD-R's that still play ok...

so i don't know what to say...i'm sure that most dvd-r's (except the princo and meritline cheapies) will last a couple of years...long enough for the next dvd-HD format where you'll want to copy them again

[bgates222]

how about riteks?

[waldok]

This area is far too young for anybody to know exactly what happens after years of DVD-R life...
We are the beta-testers for this I'm afraid.
I don't really see the point in asking what brand will degrade faster than the other and so on (although I myself wory a bit about it too), simply because no one knows for the moment.
Sticking to known brands (checking Mabufacturer ID too) may be safer, but who knows what the future tells ?

Just cross fingers and hope you picked up the good ones.:D

Waldok:cool:

[Tiffany]

Reading many threads on different forums about CDR degradation, I dug deep and came up with an old VideoCD that I had recorded about 3 years ago. Sure enough there were the on-screen "sparkles" and slight stutters that I had not seen when I first recorded this VideoCD and watched it. So, I thought, CDRs really do decay over time. I began to think of ways of re-recording my valued SVCDs.

But a friend of mine borrowed the VideoCD and played it on his settop DVD Pioneer, and it played perfectly. WTF !!!!

End of story: I bought a new settop DVD player (which also played the VideoCD in question perfectly) rather than spend hours of time and money backing up my vast collection of SVCD VideoCDs.

Now I am not saying that CDRs and DVDs do not decay over time. As this thread has indicated, noone really knows for certain. I have no doubt that some cheaper brands probably would. BUT, I am just adding a little more to the "thinking pot". Next time you see screen sparkles, ask yourself "Is it my media, or is it my DVD player"? Maybe the laser head needs cleaning?

Tiff

[atreides93]

Good post tiff. I'm glad you tried it on a friend's player.
I suppose all we can do is wait and see how they do. I have some movies I burned a little over a year ago. I haven't tested them in a while though.

[Ollie W. Holmes]

I think we need a guinea pig on this one. Burn a movie, put it in the freezer, take it out, expose it to mid-day sun for a week, bury it in sand, use it as a frisbee, and let the dog or cat have at it. Rinse it off. If it still plays after a month of environmental abuse, then maybe you can trust it for 5 years.

I have some verbatim dvd-r discs that are 17 months old. They were burned on a Panasonic dvd-recorder, and still play fine. Looney Tunes. They better play perfectly because who knows when W-B will put out the dvds.

[Carlos Garcia]

Hey Ollie, I feel your pain, I recently bought a laserdisc player and recorded every Looney Tunes title available onto DVD. I know because of political correctness, these classic cartoons will never be released uncut on DVD, so I'm protecting them like gold, and hopefully the discs won't rot at least until the next format comes out, and we can back them up.

CG

[pwav]

Its not how long it last, its how you copy a movie and when you play it, it freezes up on a certain scene. Then you discover (under a magnifying glass) that there is a "hole" on recording side of the DVD that caused it. Now that sucks !!....Coaster.

[Ollie W. Holmes]

Yup, that's why I also copy to dvd-ram, and write-protect the caddy. Some old films and cartoons are just irreplaceable, whether the original source was laserdisc or vhs. The good thing about cartoons is that you get to view them often, and if anything goes awry, you go back to the original laserdisc and copy them again. Fortunately, this has not happened since I use Panasonic dvd-ram blanks, and Verbatim dvd-r blanks.

[pwav]

I usually get about 100 DVD-R ( Ritek )at a cost of less than a dollar each. But somewhere in that batch could be a bad DVD-R with a hole or holes in it.

[Arky]

Hmmm...while I do not dispute that this is a very valid discussion, given that the vast majority of this forum's members appear to be "backing up", rather than actually authoring original material, I wonder if it is really such a problem if the backup degrades a little after 5years, since the pressed original is likely to outlast the DVD-R by several times. All of you have the originals anyway, right? ;)


Arky ;o)

[Carlos Garcia]

"All of you have the originals anyway, right?"

Sure do! My originals are on my Netflix cue ;)