DVD: Degradable Versatile...

jomaree writes "The SMH online reports that some DVDs are starting to corrode or "rot". Although somewhere between 1 and 10 per cent of DVDs are affected, it seems the distributors don't want to know. One list of affected movie titles reveals what might be a sinister pattern emerging: "One DVD website lists 18 titles known to have at least one bad batch, among them Planet of the Apes (1968), Men in Black: Collectors Edition, Independence Day and the Alien Legacy box set." Or maybe the person compiling the list only buys sci-fi movies."

Good for distributors.

[Agent Green]

After all, isn't making a backup somewhat illegal under the DMCA??

Man...I can't wait for another round of forced upgrades...or replacements in this case!

Woohoo! I'm glad to be a consumer!!

Spoilers

[nukey56]

Just thought I'd point this out

A Near Disaster

[felonious]

For a minute there I thought that it might affect the porn titles but luckily it didn't happen. I think we could have been looking at riots and possibly martial law.

You can steal my car, rob my mom, and beat my brother but DON'T FUCK WITH MY PORN!

Independence Day??

[commodoresloat]

Or maybe the person compiling the list only buys sci-fi movies.

Or maybe this only happens to bad sci-fi movies.

I have to buy another copy of "The White Album" ..

[Kong the Medium]

Wasn't it in "Men in Black" when Mr.Agent K shows a little silvery disc and says something like: This little thing will substitute the CD in the next years. SH**, so i havce to buy "The White Album" again. Maybe this is a similiar plan?

Plastic? Degrade?

[PetWolverine]

Okay, so this is the stuff that if you throw it in the landfill it'll be around for a million years (give or take), but if you make a disc out of it it'll decompose in two years. Pretty uncooperative of it, if you ask me.

Well, personally I don't worry about DVDs degrading. I just rip them to my hard drive, bit for bit, minus copy protection (so come arrest me, why doncha). Takes up a lot of space, but what the hey...it's cheaper than buying them, especially twice!

Re:A Near Disaster

[ATAMAH]

Actualy porn DVDs ARE the ones that are affected.
the "rotting" effect observed is just what "overuse" got mistaken for.

It has to be a DMCA Alien Government Cover-Up

[dWhisper]

[Sarcasm]

All of the titles are associated with aliens in some way? Coincidence? I think not.

Using the best fuzzy logic that caffeene and sleep-deprivation can provide, I can prove this fact.

The DMCA is evil, and has long conspired against anyone actually enjoying their information. It's also meant to make more money, and since people will have to purchase the "non-defective" discs, or more than likely pay twice the DVD cost in handling costs for a replacement, it makes them more money. The MPAA/RIAA is the main driving force behind the the DMCA.

The government has supposedly been covering up the existance of aliens for decades, and usually does everything they can to make it fictional. They tend to distroy anything with truth in it.

The government passed the DMCA, and it prevents these Discs from being copied.

The movies are all about aliens, and the government hides things about aliens.

Therefore, the people at the RIAA/MPAA who back up the DMCA must be aliens.

And that makes aliens evil.

[End Sarcasam]

Re:Spoilers

[hdparm]

What's your moderation like when you click the right one?

Re:Could it be related to this?

[Accipiter]

Geologist Victor Cardenes says he stumbled across the microscopic creature while visiting Belize.

I read that, and pictured a scene similar to the following.

Man steps off a plane, enters an airport terminal.

"Ahh, Belize! I cannot WAIT to get to..." *trip* (Man trips over something invisible while walking through the terminal)

"My, word! What's this? I say, it appears to be a microscopic organism that feeds on compact discs!"

That's strange, this article didn't start out as funny, but I'm laughing. heh.

High Technology

[TheRaven64]

He works as a failure analysis engineer, with access to an optical microscope.
An optical microscope huh? Wow. He must be a really important guy. You can't just by that kind of technology in a high street store. No, wait, actually, you can...

Re:Independence Day??

[guinnessnwhiskey]

Or maybe this only happens to bad sci-fi movies.

No. Episode 1 is not in the List.

Re:Life span of hard drives...

[cdrudge]

Duh. The obvious solution to backing up your hard drive is to get a DVR-R drive and backup everything to a couple of DVDs. :)

Re:Good for distributors.

[arkanes]

Notice the difference between "Upgrade because the new medium offers greater benefits" and "Re-buying all my content because the disc melted".

Final proof...

[SuperKendall]

Is yet to be determined - expert are currently examining the Alien Legacy boxed set to see if only the first two DVD's survived.

CD quality too

[Reziac]

I've noticed the same thing with CDs, albeit under a certain degree of abuse:

I use unwanted AOL and other CDs as "bird chasers" -- that is, I hang 'em outside in a tree to help keep the starlings out of my yard. Normally they pretty much last forever, or until the wind fairy steals 'em.

The newest "bird chaser" consists of one rather old AT&T Connect CD, and one newish AOL 7.0 CD (the "rainbow" version). The AT&T CD still looks like new. The data layer of the AOL CD started flaking after about 4 months, and had completely peeled away after about 6 months; all that was left is the naked clear part of the disk. I'd never seen that before, but it sure looks like "made real poorly" to me. Contrast this to an AOL 3.0 CD that had hung outside for over a year before being rescued because a friend needed that particular version. It still installed just fine.

Now, not that we care if AOL CDs fall apart, but I think it's probably a warning as to the current manufacturing quality of CDROM disks in general.