Page 1 of Do DVD`s die?

Laserdisc (the great grandfather of DVD) was the tragic victim of a condition known as Laser rot, whereby the picture information on the platter, after a short time, deteriorated to the point of being no longer watchable. Are DVD`s destined to suffer the same fate? Are we - the collectors - investing in a format that, in five years from now, will be nothing more than an expensive pile of coasters?

Kinjo.

This item was edited on Tuesday, 8th April 2003, 00:34

I flipping well hope not!!!
Are`nt dvd`s more or less identical to cd`s in construction?

This item was edited on Tuesday, 8th April 2003, 13:47

I don`t think that effected all Laserdiscs, otherwise why do the very first ones still work?

DVD`s won`t last forever, but they are supposed to last a lifetime. So I would say your (and my) collection is fine. Only thing is, when you die your grandkids might get a bunch of shiny old coasters that don`t work.

no probs there, as i plan to be buried with mine (am i selfish ? )

This item was edited on Tuesday, 8th April 2003, 21:20

ask james bond on may 2nd.....

I once read about some company planning to rent discs out, but they would be of a non returnable type - made of a light sensitive dye that would erode in a few days after being exposed to the players laser or daylight which would then render them unusable again or something similar to this, honest .

Yeah, wayne3765, you`re right.

--
Richard Booth
DVD Answers
www.dvdanswers.com

Treat your discs with respect and they will last a `lifetime` or at least until you move onto some other format. But then again, look what happened to the original Silence of the Lambs and Terminator dvd`s!!

I don`t know. I have a bad feeling about this!

I`m pretty sure that the main problem with Laserdisc is the fact that it`s an analogue format, with no error correction - meaning that any deterioration of the disc surface has a big effect on the picture quality. The digital data on CDs and DVDs is far more robust.

For example, in the late `80s, Philips launched a hybrid CD/Laserdisc format called CD Video (not to be confused with Video CD of course). CD Videos were 5 inch CDs that contained a few minutes of Laserdisc format video, plus about 20 minutes of CD format audio that could be played on a normal CD player. People have commented that even when the video section is heavily affected by laser rot, the audio CD part plays flawlessly.

Mike