Has this happened to anyone ?

[George Bellefontaine]

I've had two cases now of older dvds that will no longer play. I have an older Toshiba, as well as a Pioneer dvd player, and a BD30 and BD35 Blu-ray player and none of them can read or play the discs. I forget the title of the first one I had to replace, but the latest was The Ninth Gate, a Johnny Depp thriller. Both titles mentioned were only ever played once. In the case of the latter, which happened last night, the disc itself looks pristine, yet none of my players can read it. I thought I'd spin it last night to reaquaint myself with the story and determine whether it is worthwhile replacing with the Blu-ray that is now available. I'm bothered by the fact that I only watched The Ninth Gate once since I bought it back in 2001, and was wondering if perhaps it was a turd. Oh, well, I can get the Blu-ray for $14.95 at Amazon so what the heck, I may as well go for it.

I've had cases where discs had to be replaced because of laser rot or some other problem, but only two cases where my players just wouldn't read a disc. Just curious if anyone else have this problem with a dvd.

[1oldguy]

Hi George

It hasn't happened to me yet.But that's not to say it won't in the future.

[Hdale85]

That's pretty crazy as aren't DVD's supposed to last like 30 years or something on the low side?

[George Bellefontaine]

That's pretty crazy as aren't DVD's supposed to last like 30 years or something on the low side?

Supposedly, but many of the early releases ( in the 90s ) had problems. The glue that held thetwo layers together sometimes reacted to the heat generated by some dvd players and there was many ( a lot of Warner titles ) that went bad. But it really mystifies me when I buy a disc in 2001, play it once, then try to play it again 8 years later and no dice. :roll:

[bigburner]

Hi George,

I've had that happen to me once, before I bought my OPPO. I was able to copy the defective disc using my PC and the copied disc played OK in my DVD player. I don't know if the original would play in my OPPO because I don't have that disc any longer.

Interestingly I've had the reverse happen twice, i.e. DVDs that won't play in my PC or my old DVD player (an LG) but will play perfectly in my OPPO.

I reckon if I put a papadum into my OPPO it would play a Bollywood movie!

Nigel.

[George Bellefontaine]

Hi, Nigel. I really doubt if the two discs I am talking about would play even in the Oppo. Both my Panny Blu-ray players play everything I throw at them. I only had a problem with two particular DVDs and when these wouldn't even play in my older dedicated dvd players, I pretty much knew I had a problem.

[bigburner]

If you send one of them to me George I'll let you know. Put it (or even both) into a slim line jewel case, pop it into an envelope, and stick a $2.36 stamp on it (http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/pers...sdocuments.jsf). No pressure, just an interesting experiment.

I have one particular DVD (Gary Moore & The Midnight Blues – Live at Montreux 1990) that will only play on my OPPO. I've tried it on about 10 PCs and laptops at work and taken it around to half a dozen friends to play on their DVD players. Nothing.

Nigel.

[George Bellefontaine]

Thanks Nigel, I've already replaced the first one a few months ago and I trashed the bad copy of Ninth Gate. I'm probably going to get Ninth Gate on Blu-ray.

[David Meek]

George, are your firmware versions up to date on the Blu-Ray players? When the players were first released, a number of BD and DVD discs were found not to work properly in the players. The firmware updates kept correcting for more and more of these issues. So that could be an option to check.

[George Bellefontaine]

George, are your firmware versions up to date on the Blu-Ray players? When the players were first released, a number of BD and DVD discs were found not to work properly in the players. The firmware updates kept correcting for more and more of these issues. So that could be an option to check.

Yeah, Tex, I always stay up to date with firmware. I know it isn't the Blu-ray players because the titles I was talking about won't even play on any of my dedicated dvd players, and these things, a Tosh and a Pioneer, and a Sony S7700 play just about everything.

[John Holmes]

George,

I had the same issue with the first release of Apollo 13. It was around 98 (give or take a yr), when I bought it. It just stopped playing, about 2006. With not so much as a smudge on the disc.

At first it drove me nuts, as I began to have flashbacks of Laserdisc rot. Then I decided to just suck it up and bought an up-to-date version.

Like yours, it wouldn't play in any other player I had. Including my DVL-700 which played every DVD (and Laserdisc) I threw at it.

[George Bellefontaine]

George,

I had the same issue with the first release of Apollo 13. It was around 98 (give or take a yr), when I bought it. It just stopped playing, about 2006. With not so much as a smudge on the disc.

At first it drove me nuts, as I began to have flashbacks of Laserdisc rot. Then I decided to just suck it up and bought an up-to-date version.

Like yours, it wouldn't play in any other player I had. Including my DVL-700 which played every DVD (and Laserdisc) I threw at it.

It's a mystery, isn't it, John. In the case of the two discs I referred to, they were only ever played once, and that was after I purchased them. So all they were doing was lying on the shelf for a few years, still looking pristine.I just don't get it. :roll: