Laser Rot

[benleeys]

Hey Guys,
I presume you all know about the curse called "laser rot" in the days of the laser disc. I had to condemn $6k worth of discs in my collection.

Now I think I'm seeing the same curse on my DVDs. Have any of you experienced this?
Ben

 

[socialxray]

Never heard of it. How can a laser that only reflects light off of an aluminum disc cause the disc to go bad?

 

[DTB300]

Never heard of it. How can a laser that only reflects light off of an aluminum disc cause the disc to go bad?

The talk was small holes in the plastic allowing air to get to the reflective layer over time. Also discussion about the type of material used in some of the reflective layers.

Personnally I have discs which are very old, in fact some of the very first discs put out, but I have no trouble playing them. For me, the only thing that has really affected playing a disc is severely scratching them.

Dan

 

[risabet]

For me, the only thing that has really affected playing a disc is severely scratching them.

Dan

What about the sound? Just Kidding, mostly, somewhat, a little!

 

[DTB300]

What about the sound? Just Kidding, mostly, somewhat, a little!

Hey now, the sound of the discs are great once I have the tracking weight, inner groove, outer groove, oooops forgot to clean it, POP, CLICK, POP...what was that, and to think on the second time I played it??? Hey that was a great track. Dang, now I have to get up, lift up the arm, move it back to the spot, let it back down again, just to hear that track again. Oh yeah...I don't have to worry about all of that.

Back at ya!!!

And not a problem on the comments. We all have our preferences. Enjoy!!

Dan

 

[ralflar]

Hey Guys,
I presume you all know about the curse called "laser rot" in the days of the laser disc. I had to condemn $6k worth of discs in my collection.

Now I think I'm seeing the same curse on my DVDs. Have any of you experienced this?
Ben

No, not at all. My oldest CDs are about 25 years old, and are fine. I wonder why all of your's (what, 400+ ??) have gone bad so sudden-like.

Dan, your witty quip re. old vinyl vs old CDs made me smile.

 

[theWB]

Hey Guys,
I presume you all know about the curse called "laser rot" in the days of the laser disc. I had to condemn $6k worth of discs in my collection.

Now I think I'm seeing the same curse on my DVDs. Have any of you experienced this?
Ben

Ben, I think I remember once reading an article about what your talking about affecting people who live near the ocean,something to do with the salt air which creates the small holes or erosion of the plastic Dan's talking about,living in Singapore this could be your problem.Of course I could be wrong,sometimes I forget my name,memory doesn't work like it use to in my younger days.

 

[Bimotarich]

Rot Rot Till U Drop

Yes I have heard of it and it seems to be a real issue. I have heard that it is due to a bad seal around the outter edge of the disc (especially pre 90s CDs) that allows air/moisure to get between the layers and cause pitting and even rotting. I have had problems with some of my older CDs which when you hold them up to the light have many holes in the reflective layer. These holes usually are not too problematic but occasionally DO cause skipping on my player and as a result there are some CDs that I no longer listen too. Someone else mentioned that salt air can have an adverse effect and I must admit to recently living near the ocean (for the last 5 years) but prior to that I was land locked in St. Louis and many of my discs seemed to have suffered BEFORE my move to my island in the sea. I have not had the problem with newer discs (YET?). One fix (really more of a preventative) I have heard of is to use a layer of clear fingernail polish around the outter edge of the disc. You might also try using the rubber surrounds that can be had for discs (I love those things as they protect the disc when others handle it carelessly, but the ring does interfere with playback in some systems (I cant use em with my Sony 9000es for example. DOH!) They are also a bit expensive.

 

[benleeys]

Now, how did CDs come into the picture? I was talking about DVDs only!

Strangely, my CDs, some of which are more than 20 years old, are perfectly OK. Well, at least the sound doesn't seem to have suffered. But on DVDs, it is another matter. The rot manifests itself in the form of white small star-like flashes on the screen. And it gets worse over time. The sound doesn't seem to suffer though and the disc looks perfectly fine, ie. one does not see any holes in the reflective layer.

ralflar,
The $6k junking exercise was on about 200 laser discs. The rot affected the discs one by one over time. When it got really bad, the sound also became distorted.

theWB,
No, I am in the center of this island, about 8 miles from the nearest salt water. The only corrosion comes from the methane I sometimes release.

Ben

 

[MiTT]

Benleeys, I have both heard of it and experienced it first hand. Back in the day when I was toiling away in the record store we handled a lot of Laser Disc's. My boss had a "great opportunity" one time to pick up and entire box car full of LD's that had been sitting in storage in New Orleans. Turns out that about 40% of them exibited the dreaded disc rot you are referring to. I was able to pick through a good many of them for myself and to the best of my knowledge the ones I have aren't affected, but I haven't played any of them for at least 3-4 years, ever since I started going to DVD exclusively. I should pull some out and check them though since you mentioned it.

I have never heard of this problem with either CD's or DVD's, but I imagine it could happen.

For what it's worth I have no rot of any sort on any of my vinyl!

 

[twich54]

For what it's worth I have no rot of any sort on any of my vinyl!

hey Tim, I suspect that will all change if you keep eating that Mexican food and forget to use your "pillow port stuffer" !!!! maybe you can get a attachment to your record cleaning machine !!

 

[MiTT]

hey Tim, I suspect that will all change if you keep eating that Mexican food and forget to use your "pillow port stuffer" !!!! maybe you can get a attachment to your record cleaning machine !!

Aw Dave, that was in an entirely different thread and didn't need to be brought up here.

But, yeah, good point.