Warner Bros FAIL: The Race Against the ROTTING DVD Epidemic

[@Tootis21]

So physical isnt safe, digital isnt safe, im going to start hand drawing my favorite movies

[@azurekite3870]

well digital is if you know where to get shows you want and store them onto a hard drive

[@Jake-xe1wu]

​@azurekite3870 a hard drive is about as safe as a DVD just with a longer theoretical lifespan. Gotta keep them unplugged too or a single lightning strike can delete it all for good.

[@lifeisstr4nge]

​@@Jake-xe1wu no shit, Sherlock. Who tf keeps their backups plugged in all the time? Dumfuk

[@michelle-lz8tg]

@@Jake-xe1wu if you don't spin them up once in a while the bearings can become problematic and the magnetic surface is just as susceptible as the old floppy disks of decades past....if it's an SSD then it is no better then a memory stick and will lose data as the electron charge in leaks through the gates over time.

[@typedrew]

Paper will fall apart 😪

[@TwistedTB]

What a nightmare. That 2002-2009 window that WB was using the crappy manufacturing facility are probably the peak DVD collecting years for a lot of people.

[@GroverJ83]

Even among non collectors,the 2000's was when the peak of sales and people buying for a physical library was. Chances are if you have a Nan that has about 30-40 dvd's most of the buying of them was in those years.

[@markpugh6808]

This happened to Warner Brothers HD Dvds too they were notorious for Disc rot due to crap manufacturing so what you are telling me now is that Warner Brothers bog standard Dvds are now shit too makes me wonder if their Blu Rays will also fuck up like this within several years of ownership

[@TrippingHawk]

@@markpugh6808 blu rays are gonna be fine, you're more likely to run into an issue of a disc using Flash based menus that can't play on modern players before you experience disc rot on Blu. Unless you've been storing them in like direct sunlight or they've been resurfaced, blus are insanely well made.

[@RottieGuy1980]

I have 92 HD DVD, a lot WB, scared to go back and see if they still work, its been over a decade,@@markpugh6808

[@trancendedsoul]

I won't be buying Warner Bros movies again. I have soooooo many DVDs from Warner Bros.... I am furious!!!! I would sue Ina a hearbeat. I just got some of the DVDs on this list including all things Superman.

[@voxorox]

I really get sick of the "but it's on streaming, grandpa" response to physical media. My reply is usually: "And it won't be on there tomorrow, kid, but I'll still have my discs." Big companies have never been interested in archiving anything unless there's profit in it. The BBC famously wiped 20-30 years worth of programming back in the 70s, costing us a lot of classic Dr Who episodes, nearly deleting Monty Python, but succeeding in deleting Spike Milligan's Q Series, which was a comedy show to rival Python. And of course there are unknown numbers of old movies that are just gone now because nobody cared.

[@comicsgatekeeper9746]

They got rid of most of the peter cook stuff too. Culteral vandalism

[@Tim85-y2q]

The problem with that argument is that your disc's won't last forever either and (as pointed out here) you may not even be able to count on then to last a particularly long time.

[@Horstveratu]

i feel like having an External Drive with 1 to 1 rips is the way to go because at this point all those companies are not getting any of my money since they are all scum

[@scottstalcup6980]

First series of The Avengers, Z Cars... There's still holes in At Last the 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set. They're still mucking about with Top of the Pops. Yes, Jimmy Saville is a thankfully dead bastard and if there is a Hell, he's in it, but to fling an entire programme down the memory hole because that bellend is on it? So wrong.

[@gothamite27]

Back up your discs and put them all on a Plex server. It's not hard to do, especially with DVDs.

[@SpiritOfBagheera]

I have thousands of DVDs. And tons of Warner Bros. This is a f***ing nightmare.

[@jameslacey5474]

I'm in the same boat as you are, I've been collecting DVDs, Blu-Rays, and now 4ks for a long time now. I don't have the funds, equipment, or space to back up all the discs I own. I've been trying to replace the DVDs in my collection whenever the film comes out on Blu-Ray or in the rare case as when DragonSlayer finally came out on 4k. However, and I'm sure as collectors you already know this, but not everything that is on DVD comes out on Blu-Ray or 4k. Just yesterday, I was thinking that they still don't have a Blu-Ray or 4k copy of 'Of Mice and Men', the original John Steinbeck classic starring Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. from 1939. The year that they widely consider to be the greatest in film history, in addition to it being nominated for Best Picture, and Lon Chaney Jr.'s most iconic role second only to The Wolfman. Why is this movie not out on a more premium format? At least put it out on Warner Archives, although after what you said I don't know whether or not to trust them again, and I just bought and switched out my DVD copy of 'The Great Ziegfield' for a Warner Archive Blu-Ray since it just came out. I want to do the same with my copy of "A Day at the Races", but at the risk of repeating myself not everything is out that is on DVD. There are five more Marx Bros. films that still need to be released that are only available on DVD. There are films like 'Bugsy', Alfie (2004), 'Star 80', 'American Spender', 'Thank You For Not Smoking'. Withering Heights' (also from 1939 and nominated for Best Picture), 'All of Me', and all of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's films except for 'Swingtime', which was released on the Criterion collection a while back.

[@StreetPreacherr]

I don't even want to think about all the time/money I wasted Burning a library of 'BACKUP' DVDs in the early 2000s... Ever since I realized a few years ago that most of my home burned DVDs had almost all become corrupt and unreadable... And I had even made a point of using 'high quality' Taiyo Yeuden blank media. :( However I didn't realize this was ALSO a problem with retail 'professionally' produced disks!

[@swiftxrt]

all of my old dvd's are now in mkv format on an external hard drive

[@CelestialWoodway]

​@@StreetPreacherrAll my old stuff works perfectly. I have no idea what you people are talking about. 😂

[@Nerdiness1985]

@@swiftxrtFinally, somebody that actually tried to use a tech solution. As opposed to being a standard consumer and not looking for a solution to a simple problem.

[@Dannywebb1967]

Separate issue: Anti-piracy software in players starting in 2010 has caused many problems for DVDs. Instead of assuming the dvd "rotted", try playing the DVD in a pre-2010 player or download a firmware update to your player. This was a huge issue with Sharp players

[@timothyward8695]

Both this channel and the _Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader_ channel have utilized multiple players in the process of looking into this matter.

[@benwinter2420]

Interesting . . malware included in later players , sounds familiar mmm

[@benwinter2420]

@@timothyward8695 Did later player intentional damage the discs ?

[@claytonberg721]

@@benwinter2420 Unlike CD's DVD have codecs (or at least multiple codecs), some discs won't work on some players. I was an early adopter of DVD. I used to collect laserdiscs but they were expensive and were impossible to find. I paid like $1200 for my first DVD player. That sounds like a high price but I was paying $70-$100 per laserdisc, but DVD's were everywhere and only cost about $30. When the matrix came out it would hardly play because of all the features on it. After only like 3 years I had to buy a new DVD player, by that time a good one was only like $300. All in Canadian dollars.

[@jaracgos]

I've got two Plexor Blu-Ray drives from 2009 and a newer LG drive with CFW. I own thousands of DVDs and only have maybe 30 or so that I couldn't rip.

[@JMTDF]

Your advice on ripping is the best message to share. I was a video editor for 15 years, loved collecting physical media but had a change of heart when I moved with my wife and started a family. We didn’t have the space to store physical media but, like a stubborn dope, it took me until then to realize I should have this media ripped on my own… Backed up just like how I backup my work. A RAID is ideal but not necessary, use a battery back up and setup Plex, you’re good to go. Lastly, share, share, share. That’s our protection for all of this media! ✌🏼 from 🇨🇦

[@thebaron512]

RAID is not a backup but still helpful

[@JMTDF]

@@thebaron512 hard drives and a RAID 1 setup are great for backing things up. Ideally off site but this is never going to be perfect. Back up however you can and share!

[@VirideSoryuLangley]

Good boy, always obey your wife ahahahah

[@StsFiveOneLima]

What do you consider to be the best way to back up a DVD?

[@JMTDF]

Rip it onto your computer, back it up in multiple ways (DVD, HD) and share it online. @@StsFiveOneLima

[@Tim85-y2q]

There's a clock on the players too. The bottom line is that no media format had an infinite lifespan.

[@Br1cht]

Nothing lasts forever but there must be some standard of quality, no?

[@Chronically0nline]

@@Br1chtCorrect. Any media format that’s digital should last the run of your life if you take care of it.

[@Tim85-y2q]

@@Br1cht My comment wasn't really intended to defend the quality just to make the point that this idea many people have that owning a piece of physical media means they own something "forever" is a misconception.

[@YourUncleBenis]

That's true, but those can at least be repaired and maintained for a certain amount of time. You can't really fix a disk that came to you broken.

[@Tim85-y2q]

@@YourUncleBenis Most of them probably didn't come broken though. This type of rot tends to happen over time. Even the sealed set Michael talks about here probably would have worked if he had tried to watch them when he first bought them. (or rather when they were new.) This is all product that's 15 years old now at the earliest. From a corporate perspective it's ancient and done with., The idea this will ever even be on WB's radar at this point is wishful thinking.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Thanks for the shoutout! Sorry it’s on such a downer topic. I did a followup video when I tried contacting WB again and they did finally send me MOD copies of what they have in print- but it seems to be totally hit or miss that you actually get a response and then if you do, it’s probably going to be the usual crud I went through the first couple of times of not getting much help. The pandemic kinda threw everything out of whack, which makes sense, but it still did take me several years to get most of the rotted titles I have replaced. The others I just had to rebuy and hope or simply live with dead discs or watch my Laserdisc copies. There needs to be some sort of official recognition and a replacement program offered to at least send people Warner Archive MOD DVDRs in the mail for the rotter titles they have. The problem will be the ones that they don’t have available in print as MOD and others that they no longer have legal rights to. That’s why I’ve never been able to replace the bad disc in my Tarzan volume two set which has not been re-released, is long out of print and very expensive, but also the only video release of those films on any format. So unfortunately, there are examples like that. It’s all tied to the particular manufacturing plant and when this happened Criterion on some of their Blu-rays, they owned up to it and had a whole replacement program. That’s what Warner should’ve done years ago. I’m not sure if it’s the same plant that did all of Warners rotted HD DVDs but it’s very likely. The irony is after being a Laserdisc collector for years and always having people asking me or thinking laser rot was a terrible thing-DVD Rot is the worst disc rot I’ve ever experienced. I can avoid laser rot or find rot free pressings with no problem on particular titles. It’s also very difficult to diagnose DVD rot with these Warner discs because it manifests in different ways-sometimes there’s bronzing, sometimes it’s just a point randomly in the movie itself where you hit a freeze and the disc locks up, sometimes the menus go bad, sometimes the extras go bad, sometimes it’s the movie that went bad, and on double feature that sometimes it’s one film or the other or both. Even doing rips and checks with software doesn’t always get you a perfect back up as I found out the hard way. the only way to know 100% for sure is to go through the whole disc or back up you made and literally fast forward through 100% and then check all the menus and sub menus and extras. When I found my first rotted disc and then the rest of the box was shot, I went back to the random forum mentions I had seen in the past and then did the panic check of over 200 DVDs, which was not fun… thankfully it’s tied to a specific period of time and mostly on boxsets. Unfortunately, for Superman, most of the home video releases and refresh of Superman titles was in the affected period. The biggest offender is probably the big ultimate collectors edition tin set of the feature films, which if you go to it now most of the discs will have some sort of issue if not be completely dead already. And that was already if they hadn’t been scuffed up by the poor plastic disc tray packaging to begin with…🤦🏻‍♂️ I really wish Warner Archive had been put in charge of all the home video releases years ago. The studio label currently makes nothing but boneheaded decisions and handles titles poorly across the board. Meanwhile, the archive division does their job perfectly and does the work the studio division never does on every single title. I’m not sure if the archive division is fully aware of the DVD rot issue, because honestly if George Feltenstein was involved there would have been some sort of official response immediately. He’s the head of the archive division and is a legend in home video going all the way back to the early VHS, Beta and Laserdisc days at MGM. I think the Warner studio division is just trying to ignore this particular issue, and I’m sure the only reason I had a box of MOD copies randomly show up at my door one day unannounced was because I made a video and included the link in the umpteenth letter I sent them with my compiled list of affected titles, and evidence of all the correspondence I had had with people trying to diagnose this issue. I get them not being able to provide replacement copies of titles no longer in print due to legal and other reasons, but there is no reason that they can’t provide people with MOD replacement DVDs for affected titles, which we can pretty much narrow down to a specific era. Or provide people with replacement copies of the version in print that doesn’t have problems. The flash that you showed in the plastic case is a good example because I have that same repress re-issue and all the discs are fine. It’s just the original pressing with the fancier digipack case that you have to worry about. Lastly I’ll say that yes the Rambo films are kind of cursed on home video because most every release of them has some issue. I picked up the German trilogy Blu-ray set because those discs were better encoded and better overall than the crappy US ones, but unfortunately the original audio presentation is quite poor. The UHD’s have color timing issues and also have issues with the original audio so I didn’t bother with those. The Laserdiscs along with the German Blu-ray set are really the only solid options. However, thankfully I can say there is a new 4K version being worked on by the same people behind the surprisingly good new 4K UHD release of Young Guns. Just like they did on that release they’ll be sourcing the PCM audio of the Laserdisc releases to provide the currently best available original audio presentation. So at least there’s some potential hope on that front as they’re also going to be addressing the color timing issues of the first UHDs.

[@Tim85-y2q]

The problem is I'm sure their corporate position would probably be that the media has a lifespan and that's probably enough to cover them. With physical media rapidly losing market share, I'm not even sure we can count on consumer outcry to help. Unfortunately, very few people are going to care about product issues from 15 years ago in a now outdated format.

[@Chronically0nline]

@@Tim85-y2qDVD still dominates the physical media market. I feel like you’re pretty ready to give in to WB, and to take I say, to quote dodgeball, “you’ve got to get angry, you’ve gotta get mean!”

[@Tim85-y2q]

@@Chronically0nline I'm just being realistic. I get being angry about this (I have numerous titles on this list), but WB simply isn't going to care about a 15 year old issue, especially at a time when physical media is a smaller part of their business than it has been for the last 40+ years. Be angry if you want but that's not going to make them care.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

This one is different because it’s a manufacturing plant issue. The example to point to is Criterion having a bad run of Blu-rays for the exact same reason and how they implemented a replacement program asap. With Warner the issue will be things no longer in print or things they don’t have rights to. But for everything available as an MOD dvd those are the same disc images and all they would have to do is print some additional copies for the affected titles and instigate a replacement program.

[@Tim85-y2q]

I get that but the problem is at this point the issue is with 14+ year old product. They almost certainly aren't going to see the juice as being worth the squeeze as far as any type of replacement program. As someone who has a lot of DVD on this list in my collection I wouldn't hold my breath that anything is going to be done about it and certainly not anything that costs WB even a cent of additional money.

[@joyrider6456]

Sounds like a good case for a class action lawsuit against WB for knowingly and willingly selling people a bunch of crap.

[@Tim85-y2q]

Not at this point. Implied warranty on consumer goods under US law is 4 years. Absent an explicit guarantee you can't really sue over the fact that something from 15+ years ago is now worn out.

[@joyrider6456]

@@Tim85-y2q But it was already "worn out" around 3-4 years and they knéw that from the getgo. And it's not one single individual, it's MILLIONS of customers, all with the exact same issues. That puts things in a whole different perspective.

[@jdf237]

@@joyrider6456 I agree, people would think a dvd would last several hundred years. I just don’t know how deep is the idea that they knew they were gonna sell crap to make a pile of extra money, and then would just change the factory and move on and no one would sue, how deep does that concept really play out.? It’s impossible to know. They keep the money anyway. They know how to do this switcharoo crap. And if they knew even a little bit about it makes every unit sold a crime and that is a crime.

[@jdf237]

@@joyrider6456 fraud usually has several elements or layers of concealment and deception, this fits the mold.

[@amelliamendel2227]

Where did it say on the package before you bought it that it was going to last forever? That's like a class action lawsuit because all the 1994 Ford rangers don't run anymore 😂

[@lancebaylis3169]

One thing I learned recently is that CDs, DVDs and BD/UHD all have their recorded media at a different surface to the others. Depending on the format, damage to either side could make it unplayable, or may not matter at all. The saddest part of disc rot is how unavoidable it might be. If the discs are poorly manufactured, and oxygen gets beneath the plastic layers, it's bye bye disc. You can even replicate the effect by cutting a disc with scissors, at the first puncture the data layer will start becoming visibly corrupted. A pin prick can do it. The bottom line is: be very careful with your discs, even removing and replacing them into packaging. It's also another reason why packaging matters. The tendency of companies to place discs in binder format or with overlapping disc trays is definitely part of the problem.

[@johnathin0061892]

Nothing says "I don't care about my product" more than that kind of cheap and lazy DVD/BD packaging.

[@roberthaynes8830]

Yes, some packaging these days leave a lot to be desired.

[@freetimeflip6438]

Whenever I get a release that puts the discs in a cardboard sleeve I always take them out and put them in a proper dvd or blu ray case and put the art away in storage. I also never spin my discs in the tray. I can't believe some collectors with youtube channels even spin the disc in the tray.

[@megmcguigan3857]

I have cds that are 35 years old that play fine. Most of my cds are in DJ type binders.

[@The_Ballo]

Stop buying, start seeding.

[@StevenJShow]

14:16 The problem with streaming is they can take it all away from you at a moments notice. They already did this to Sony/Playstation users. Things just taken out of their account that they had PURCHASED. They had owned them, they were in their inventory... Poof! Gone! Same with digital only games. Delisted. Poof. Gone. Whether someone loves streaming or not, it needs to be said, we ALL need to support physical media. Not just that, but we all need to support and push companies to give us the best quality of physical media. Heck, this goes into anything. Why is it that refrigerators from the 1950s are still in use to this very day? Water heaters from the 1970s, still working. Vintage cars, still rolling... Yet we have clothing, and devices and machinery that is basically built to break. Apple with their forced obsolescence policies. None of this is okay, or good. It used to be that the mark of quality was you would buy something and it was made to last. As you say, Michael, if you take care of it, it will take care of you.

[@roberthaynes8830]

Yes. I was speaking with someone in the vacuum cleaner business. He was saying that for every $100 you spend on a vacuum cleaner was equivalent of one years lifespan. He also said that one company builds obsolescence into their vacuum cleaners, which is very sad. So many companies, if you have a faulty product, just offer a replacement, instead of fixing their product. They just want us to keep buying things regularly, instead of getting a decent lifespan from the product. I have a chest freezer that was my stepdad's from the late 70s, and it still works strongly to this day. Some things, no matter how you take good care of, still fail. In 2006 Star Wars DVDs came out with the original trilogy versions as a bonus disc. All the discs worked when I first played them. I keep my discs in mint condition. Several years back I went to check out the discs to find that none would play. Six discs all had the same result. I tried them on many different players. I tried them in various laptops and external DVD players and the discs no longer read, at all. There are no scratches, and the discs look as new. No signs on DVD rot or the like. Other DVDs in the same area I had them play fine. I am at a loss as to what has happened. It's a ridiculous thing to happen, especially when I take such good care.

[@chickginger]

We say all the time I wish we had more than just one dresser built before the 90s. Every other piece of furniture we have is falling apart but not Grandma's 50 year old ten ton dressar!

[@Crosshatch1212]

And we are slowly moving in to the replace after ten yr .

[@utubepunk]

​@@chickgingerThis thread reminds me or r slash Built to Last.

[@findRED]

@@roberthaynes8830 Speaking on vacuum cleaners, Kirby was a brand my parents bought when I was a kid, and that vacuum was a Tank! I don't know if they still have it in storage somewhere, but that will always be the vacuum cleaner I think of first. Heavy duty, high quality, and spare parts were easy to order. Just the way a good product should be.

[@LondHo]

George Feltenstein is really doing a tremendous job at Warner Archive. He has forgotten more about film and preservation than most of us will ever know.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Absolutely! If he was the one in charge of the studio division there wouldn’t be any of the issues with WHV that plague their releases and he most certainly would have been on top of this disc rot issue years ago!

[@skipperbentdk]

Oy very shekelstein approved?

[@ratgrl81]

​@@skipperbentdk Not all members of minority groups are Commies, even that one. Only about 25% (going by party line voting) but still.

[@RodimusPrimal]

Great video. This is one of the many reasons I am really advocating for preservation by any means of media. Whether its the discs, digital back-ups, hard drive copies, etc. More often these companies no longer care about their past libraries and even have corporate big wigs who actively hate the past of the company. Disney and Warner seem to be a prime example.

[@NightimeDemon]

Same! And with no single medium out there being perfect, it is all the more reason to copy and share them in multiple places, online or offline. Having something in only one or two places makes them much more likely to become lost forever. The more places, the better.

[@Sidicas]

Sounds like a class action lawsuit to me.

[@bastardferret869]

Well, some law firm will be thrilled. And there's some justice to that if they are successful. Great loot for them. But the check for 0.17 will be little comfort to the fans.

[@MrMark-hm9lk]

The whole jump from VHS to DVD reason was VHS deteriorate and DVD last a lifetime. My VHS tapes still play.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

Mine too, but the quality is pretty crappy.

[@gaylordfocker7990]

Ah yes 144p on a format that literally degrades everytime they're played? Gotta love that rewinding and fast forwarding function as well? Also gotta love how big the cassettes were too, right?

[@davidclough3951]

Yep still have my video tapes and a working VCR. A have a couple dual layered VHS tapes that came in packs to record on. Even recording on the slowest speed for 6 hours of content, those tapes look perfect still when played. Better than some store bought movies have ever looked even.

[@VHSBits]

@@NinjaRunningWildThe quality is fine for a small screen - which is all people had when VHS was at it's peak. Nobody imagined playing VHS on a 50"+ TV

[@Tim85-y2q]

Considering VHS has so so image quality and that the standard was pan & scan I wouldn't say it was superior.

[@Miakel]

I admit when DVD was on the rise I jumped on it. As you said they opened up a huge library of movies and TV shows that were just not available before. I finally got some 1950s horror movies that I could not find before like Them and When Worlds Colide. Still have them today

[@nick6var]

That's the big question: you have the discs, but do you really have the movies?

[@donwyoming1936]

I was the guy with Laser Disc, wide-screen movies, big screen TV, Dolby Surround Sound with all the speakers & subwoofers. While my friends watched mono VHS on a 19-inch TV. But even now, some Laser Discs and 90s CDs have died. Goo coming out. Aluminum cracking. Haven't had any DVDs or BluRays fail yet. 🤠

[@Tampafan33]

Ive had 1000s of dvds and blu rays since they were made and never had an issue. Weird

[@SharreIWright]

​@@Tampafan33same here I've over 3000 discs and yet no disc rot even in those cardboard snap cases

[@michelle-lz8tg]

@@SharreIWright eventually the polycarbonate will yellow and the laser will not penetrate...maybe not in your lifetime though...but it will happen.

[@mikelitteris69]

I have to agree, I saw no proof of the dvd fails. Just a man ranting how dvd can't be ripped. Now I will be honest, after about 15 min I started to fast forward bc this seem to be nonsense since he never showed any proof. So I will keep this in mind but like some of you have said, no problems with dvd or blu rays so far.

[@Nicola-h7s]

I had quite a few fail, especially those bought in the early 2000s buffy the vampire slayer and the Angel sets.

[@J-T-A]

Good morning, Mister Phelps... your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find a Warner Brothers DVD that will last longer than an ice cube in the sun. If you, or any of your IMF team are killed or captured, your DVD warranty will be null and void. This DVD will self destruct in... well... we're actually kind of surprised you are still able to watch this DVD to be honest...

[@retroblasting]

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

[@Chronically0nline]

Does this mission involve Ms.Atwell?

[@JohnDoe-tm9wz]

​@@Chronically0nline Bruh...

[@LucLightWolf121]

Well played.😂

[@JONNYSORENSEN_AU]

Now we know why the dossier would always self destruct. Had a dvd inside 😅

[@Leahi84]

My Blade Runner The Final Cut four disc box set that I got in 2007 is ruined. I took great care of it, and it's always been in a low humidity, temp controlled environment. I'm heartbroken because they don't even sell the equivalent of this on blu-ray anymore, just the film by itself. I feel sick to my stomach. Screw WB.

[@jeffosoft]

Has there ever been any official statement of how long they expect the DVDs to last? I don’t mean this negatively I genuinely don’t know.

[@comicsgatekeeper9746]

This gives me a sick feeling in my stomach. I'm terrified to check on my collection

[@roberttorres9360]

I will slowly go through mine next week.. The ones I have at least have been repressed. I don't have anything too rare. Though I will take the Rambo challenge.. buy a boxset and see if it plays..

[@blowba]

Same

[@geoffshaw346]

You know what else terrifies?The CERTAIN knowledge that someday dvd's will be an aged out unplayable tech ,replaced by streaming only,or digital copies,if they feel like putting 'em out.All that plastic landfill,or shootable discs for target practice.

[@theatomicpunkkid]

When I checked mine there was not enough left of it to fill a CD holder and my lonely mind almost blue. I hope you have a better time of it than I did. Some of them like Ed Edd and Eddy are not being made anymore either.

[@jadedheartsz]

that explains why those One Tree Hill DVD sets I bought wouldn't play certain episodes, fortunately in my case I was able to get early pressings of the first two seasons that worked.

[@Chronically0nline]

All hail Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader, but screw Warner Brothers for doing this to those who have invested in this studio. Great video my friend, sorry I dropped this bomb on you.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad disc news. All I can do is advise people to contact warner at the standard customer service email and do it enough times to where maybe you get to the right person. It took me several years and also making a video and compiling the list before randomly trying again got me a box of what they had as MOD.

[@WyzGyzEntertainment]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Thanks for your hard work. Please advise what is meant by MOD - Manufacturer On Demand. Does that mean they send you replacement copies of movies that rotted on you? Did they require you mail back the dead copies?

[@Studebricker]

Sounds like you're not planning on buying Warner discs.....

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@WyzGyzEntertainmentit took several years and many attempts but I must’ve finally gotten to someone at Warner who looked at my video. If you get to right person they can provide manufactured on demand copies of what they have in print. But it’s nearly impossible to get to someone who will answer you, not give you a hard time and help out especially with the continuing Warner corporate craziness going on. There should be an official response where Warner provides everyone with MOD copies of what they have in print from these affected titles.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

@@StudebrickerI still buy Warner releases because of the massive library but for anything from 2006-2009 on DVD you have to be careful because there’s a rot possibility-but it is mostly confined to the titles I compiled in the list. But more could pop up as time goes along.

[@jetman80pops]

I know exactly where that DVD factory in Pennsylvania is. Knew a few people who used to work there. It's near Scranton. Yes and I know for a fact they were told to cut corners while pressing some of the movies and TV shows.

[@iamnobody2]

scranton, home of such great companies like the michael scott paper company

[@thomasfadden3394]

I knew someone that worked there and he moved down to Tennessee to help them open another facility. Now I’ll have to start checking ones I got through him. I also got some great jazz cds through him. There’s an Ellington collection that is really great!

[@mattneil1449]

​@@thomasfadden3394 skibidi bup bop bebop skibup

[@danpetitpas]

Heym isn't Joe Biden from Scranton? I rest my case.

[@thomasfadden3394]

@@danpetitpas the plant was in Olyphant Biden was only there when they made records 😉

[@exidy-yt]

This is why I didn't buy DVDs, I BURNED DVDs. The second the encryption was cracked I was renting and burning (and compressing if needed) high quality DVD-ROM copies of any movie (especially imports) or anime that were actually worth keeping. Thus to this day I have several binders full of good stuff that I will still be able to use for decades, and upload to the net once the last DVDs rot and the media is lost. I now archive to BD-ROM. Long may physical media endure! Great video!

[@danpetitpas]

Well, writable DVDs BlueRays only have a lifespan of 10 to 20 years, so you might want to keep an eye on the discs you've burned.

[@exidy-yt]

@@danpetitpasYeah, thank you. I def. check them every couple of years. Not found a disc to die yet, fingers crossed.

[@esecallum]

copy to hard drive/ssd

[@exidy-yt]

@@esecallumI've lost hard drives to crashes, I've lost SSDs to data corruption. I've yet to lose a burned DVD-BDR

[@naganomancer]

​@@exidy-yttraditional platter type hard drives, with fewer discs internally, is the best preservation method. copy to a drive, then clone the drive to keep a backup. ssd's lose data over time without receiving power. cd's and dvd's will both rot woth time but also some drives wont be able to read burned discs. moreover burned discs will rot faster than pressed.

[@christophero1969]

Sooo... Cheaply made discs ROT, Expensively made discs do not. Got it.

[@retroblasting]

I never said anything about the cost of manufacturing at that plant. For all I know they charged the same rates as the factories making good discs. Next time instead of trying to be clever (you're not good at it) quit running your mouth and listen to what's actually being said.

[@tchittenden1]

@@retroblasting I think you might be a mo ron lol

[@NaiveSteve]

Oh my God, thank you, Michael. My father passed away years ago and he was a movie buff. I inherited his massive DVD collection and I spent a lot of money to display his collection in a way he never got to. I had no idea dvds rotted like this and now I am looking at this list of movies and seeing so many he has, that I have, that I need to preserve. This just isn't a sector of the internet I'm on so if you hadn't made this video I may have never known. Again, thank you.

[@SharreIWright]

Don't fret, I've never encountered this disc rot, I'm thinking it's just a myth, this guy is quoting Kevin Smith who's a cry baby

[@noahwilliams8996]

​@@SharreIWrightDisc rot is a very real thing. Information does not last forever.

[@zacziggarot]

Better get to backing them up. They won't last forever that way either but at least they'll be backed up so you can put them on new discs.

[@zacziggarot]

​@@SharreIWright disc rot has been a thing for a while now. As the guy in the video says it's most often due to poor manufacturing, but it can also be from something as simple as leaving a DVD in a hot car or exposing it to light, too much humidity etc. it's not really talked about just yet because most of these things are only 20 years old. That and a lot of the people who have these collections have mostly moved to digital media and haven't noticed. Likely you'll hear about it more years from now, about people who lost parts of their collection of their parent's movies due to disc rot.

[@azurekite3870]

​@@SharreIWrightyes it is a thing cuz disc rot also effect game cube games

[@ScrapyardDiecastRacing]

This is HORRIBLE news. As an avid movie collector with thousands of DVD! Last year I went to watch a DVD that I had only seen once and it was dead as a doornail. Just looked at who made that movie - New Line Cinema. And who owns New Line? WARNER BROS.! Now I’ll have to check them all!

[@TorontoJon]

What I really despise about Warner Bros. is on numerous occasions, I've bought Warner Bros. Blu-rays new online that had digital codes included as well as the discs and yet, ALL of the digital codes had expired while that has NEVER, if ever, been the case when I purchased movies by Disney, Paramount, Universal, MGM, etc. which allowed much more generous time windows to download digital copies. It's reached a point where I refuse to pay any extra dollars to Warner Bros. for Blu-rays just because a digital code may be included when I know by now that those digital codes are likely invalid or expired.

[@SkulShurtugalTCG]

Warner Bros. HD-DVD are known to suffer MAJOR disc rot. And the onlh 4K problems I've had, were from titles distributed by WB. So.... yeah, this lines up.

[@danialvereb]

Went thru my HD DVDs last night, out of 30, only 6 still play.

[@RioDio]

This has been a huge problem with HD-DVD discs too. Many of the ones I purchased back in the day are dead now. I dread to think how many DVD's have joined them.

[@ArtIsMySin19]

I had a single pack Blu-ray of Predator that I brought out and discovered had also bronzed/rotted. One quick Amazon search later revealed that people who bought that single pack had the same rot/bronzing. It's such a shame to see what should be collectors editions not holding up to time :(

[@MoparMcNeer]

Having several thousand DVDs, this is exceptionally scary. I appreciate you putting this video out. I'll be checking the list vs my collection soon. Wow. Just Wow.

[@MrCREWCRUSHIN95]

It's not a huge list. One factory for Warners during 3 years.

[@mainstreetsaint36]

@@MrCREWCRUSHIN95 And how many titles were pressed during those 3 years?

[@CTimmerman]

My only rotten DVD is from RCV, article K4330DVD. The data side says: Sono Press 50812869/K4330DVD S 01 1FP LB 46

[@jtoons99]

Very timely and telling video! It explains why every single disc of my beloved 3 seasons of Batman Beyond - from WB! - , bought for me years ago by my dear mother, are completely rotted. I barely touched them.

[@UnbreakableVow626]

@RetroBlasting I have to ask…where did you get the Kylie Minogue Cammy shirt?

[@retroblasting]

That's not a Kylie Cammy shirt. That's a Kylie as Lara Croft shirt.

[@Jkend199]

I got WB DVD Babylon 5 way back when... They lasted about 20 years, just replaced them with a new Blue Ray cuz they wouldn't play anymore... The disks are 20 years old at this point, but let's be real I keep them in their cases in a closet inside my place and they probably get played once a year, they are in pristine condition and they no longer play... I've tried 3 different DVD players at this point... At the time I bought the 5 seasons of this show they were about $100 a season, I spent $500 USD to own Babylon 5 on DVD and kept them in perfect condition, and after 20 years they stopped reading, for no apparent reason. You could argue I got my money's worth and perhaps so, but I expected them to play a lot longer than 20 years... I thought I was getting stuff that would play as long as I had a working DVD player to play them on... I have other DVD's that are older than that that still play just fine, and they were stored in the same closet...

[@Williestyle-RobotechxMacross-x]

Yep. We were led to believe that these digital disks were going to last "forever" by the manufacturers and entertainment companies. Now CD's and DVD's have problems with delamination and "rot"... Shows what kind of suckers us consumers are.

[@Ay-xq7mj]

Its ironic since a hdd is probably more reliable if unpowered. SSD however lose charge over time so left unpowered for long enough they lose data.

[@theflyingninja1]

Just found out that i suddenly have a nice new set of coasters.

[@laserkid]

Man this makes me glad I ripped all my discs to MP4s back in 2015. I don't know IF I have this problem with my discs, but the chances are insanely high. As has been said a lot recently, if buying isn't owning, piracy isn't stealing. I'm NOT a fan of piracy, but if media companies refuse to deal with the consumer fairly I can't blame anyone for turning to piracy to solve problems like this.

[@frommatorav1]

It's not piracy to copy your own media. Piracy is to distribute it.

[@kaasmeester5903]

I did the same thing after noticing some CDs wouldn’t play anymore and I started checking. And from articles going back to the 90s, it was always clear that cheaply produced discs were going to rot. And it’s rather convenient to have my entire collection available at the touch of a button. Where I live, making digital copies for backup purposes is perfectly legal though, as it should be. The physical medium counts as your license to own that copy.

[@Jake-xe1wu]

​@frommatorav1 and yet there are zero legal protections in place to allow downloading of media you have purchased but for which tlhas degraded.

[@BlaineHuffmancom]

How do you rip or back up DVDs? What software and storage do you use?

[@richardlegarda3288]

Something unintended from this video is a reminder of how cool and out there DVD packaging was. Blu ray is kinda getting back to those heights primarily due to the boutique labels. But back then this was the studios going all out with these designs. Thanks for this video Michael.

[@systemmonitor5295]

Snappers were cool but got destroyed easily, especially on the second hand market where stickers were slapped straight onto the cover. DVD cases are the perfect size, I hate that Blu-ray cases shrunk and have that logo up top removing even more real estate.

[@maximrukinov3101]

Fun fact: there's a whole bunch of licenced DVDs in my collection that got rotten, but for some weird reason I ve yet to find at least one dead pirated DVD))))) Seems like pirates in my region had better technologies than official distributors, lol

[@MusicalAtmosphere]

37:28 Yes! So well said about the big studios overall. They need to let the boutique labels take over releasing the catalog titles on home media. It's apparent they have no idea how to take care of their customers anymore or what we want and expect. Where's the respect for the classics? Any of us could do better because we are the ones that cherish classic cinema and television.

[@Tim85-y2q]

I doubt most boutique companies would want to take over the entire catalogs. They make their money by curating releases for a niche audience.

[@AG-bp3ll]

I lost a couple dozen Warner DVDs and another dozen or so HD-DVDs to disc rot. Every one was Warner.

[@turrican4d599]

Matrix :_(

[@crosswalklarry]

Contact Warner. They replaced my 2 disc set. I'm not going to lie, it was a pain. Multiple emails, but finally got a replacement.

[@jesss1398]

Wow I had no idea this was even a thing. I have a decent sized collection of DVD's that I have collected over the years thinking I would be able to go back and play them at anytime, at least during my lifetime. I had no clue a DVD could go bad just sitting in a sealed box. I just started collecting stuff on Blue-ray because of things like Sony removing peoples purchased shows and streaming platforms pulling episodes of older shows (like Community's D&D episode) making it hard to watch complete movies and TV shows. Now it seems that no matter how you collect them you might not be able to watch the movies and shows you loved growing up. This is a real bummer, but thank you for bringing this to light. Guess now I have to go back and start checking all my DVDs to see which ones have died.

[@JJ-uy2sg]

Yeah DVDs don't last. Back them up digitally.

[@awesomeferret]

The reason you didn't know it is because it's very rare (I only have one or two that don't play perfectly, and none that don't play at all and I have hundreds of DVDs, not to mention Blurays). Heck, even Fox animation DVDs that physically look all separated and rotted still usually play perfectly. Yellowed discs often play perfectly too (you should replace yellow discs asap though as it's an obvious sign of things to come). You actually can have a very large collection and expect 80+ percent of your DVDs to outlive you. The scary part comes in the completely unpredictability and inconsistency of longevity. Yes, most of your DVDs will outlive you but here and there your favorite and most valuable releases may just self destruct no matter how well you treat them. Basically, don't fear the format, but take actions to mitigate risks and don't be too shocked or depressed if your brand new discs are unplayable since that's rare but very possible.

[@TheChadTI]

17:16 I bet many people invest in the boxsets just to have them and do not put them in often. This is really crazy and should qualify as consumer fraud.

[@Tim85-y2q]

There's a clock on things like that. The law doesn't expect that consumer goods will last forever.

[@sunnohh]

This is why piracy is always ok

[@ohokcool]

Uh not always, do we want creators to be paid or just let them croak? I feel like this: I pay, and if you won’t give me what I paid for then… In other more common words, if buying is not owning, then 🏴‍☠️ is not theft

[@williammiller3277]

One company cheaping out makes piracy ALWAYS ok? What a weird rationalization.

[@yurriaanvanduyn]

No. It's not always okay, it is ALWAYS OKAY...

[@toryquinton2677]

​@@ohokcool The issue is a lot more complicated than just who should own the rights to media even media they created. How often do we hear filmmakers or content creators?Talk about the participatory nature of their creation or bringing their audience into the creative process. If this were true , then the audience should at least have some ownership of whatever content. The question really is less about owning the rights to your own creation and is more about To what exist do you own your creation and for how long. This is going to be an especially relevant argument.As we begin to see more and more content created with the aid of AI. If I write a screenplay using chat GPT in 90% Of the work is done with the AIand 10% is me refining and adding my own spin.Then can I really claim to own that screen play? Philosophically, an ethically I would say absolutely, not.The question then becomes a matter of law.

[@goblin3810]

That's right. People are so entitled they think they have the right to people's work for free. It's always poor people who can't scrape together 65 bucks to their name who advocates for this. Because they do not have the ability to take care of themselves. In their life everything is handed to them so they actually think they are entitled to whatever pops into their adolescent brains.

[@OrlandoLionFanClub]

Thank you for this upload, I recently checked all the WB stuff I had (We are Marshall, one of the Tom and Jerry movies, where the wild things are, Charlie and the chocolate factory, Ant Bully and 2 superman animated movies. Last night I found out that when checking things again, Ant Bully that I've owned for more than 10 years has bit the bullet and is no longer functional. I'd not know about this issue if I didn't have this video in my recommendations

[@kaltech04]

I didn’t know about dvd rot, but I knew Warner bros double-sided discs were crap, and I noticed that when I bought the Superman The Animated series when they came out and they would glitch right out of the package.

[@Tim85-y2q]

The problem with double sided disc's isn't really a defect per se but just a fault of the format. Even with careful handling (or just sitting in the case during shipping ect.) they're much more likely to receive damage to the playing surface.

[@eddienothing9610]

I had the same prob with Superman TAS. Had two copies of the DVD set and the exact same episode in both sets would glitch and stop playing. So it wasn't due to potential damage, at least in this case

[@Tim85-y2q]

@@eddienothing9610 That sounds like an issue with the layer change which is a common fail point for dual-layer DVDs Usually it's only a slight hiccup but sometimes can be more.

[@theatomicpunkkid]

Mine weren't dead right out of the box but I knew that because they were double-sided they didn't have long period entire Superman animated series now landfill somehow the old Superman movie serial didn't take long either even though they were single-sided.

[@jadedheartsz]

@@Tim85-y2q unfortunately the same is true for 4K discs, because of how much data is crammed on there they're super easy to accidentally damage which is one reason why I don't see any reasons to blow tons of money on a 4K player.

[@calvinchan8511]

When you mentioned Rambo discs, I ran to check my set. It's the Maple Pictures Blu Ray release and they all played fine. Gave me a scare.

[@NinjaRunningWild]

Yeah, mine are Lionsgate. Also fine.

[@Dilios_of_Sparta]

Thanks Michael for bringing this to our attention, and for directing us to Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader. Sure enough, my SilverHawks Vol. 1, Disc 4 has rot. I just tried it, and it has pooped the bed. This is a total bummer, but now we know.

[@igrewuponsupernintendo]

Great video, Mr. RetroBlasting. I checked out the Damn Fool Idealistic Crusader. Thank you for educating us.

[@mrnmrn1]

26:40 You were always allowed to make backup copies to yourself.

[@TheNerdHolden]

As someone who has A LOT of DC DVDs from the 2000s and early 2010s, this is terrifying and extremely disappointing

[@SoulBroRyu]

So when are we as consumers filing a lawsuit against WB? It's insane if they get away with this wholesale.

[@Tim85-y2q]

I'm no lawyer but I doubt there would be much of a case at this point. Absent an explicit guarantee, the implied warranty on consumer goods under US is generally only four years. The newest DVDs on this list would be over three times that old. In the eyes of the law they would likely just be goods that have reached the end of their natural lifespan.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Some of these rotted in less than 4 years. I had a ton of HD-DVDs rot fairly quickly. After the format died I tried to collect every title on that format. I now have about 60 discs that don’t play at all or freeze up.

[@nick6var]

I remember the Universal HD-DVDs that were advertised as "future-proof" with the other side being a DVD format. I doubt the claim would stand up in court, but it was clear at that point that the format was losing to Blu-ray.

[@crosswalklarry]

A bit of a pain(it took me multiple email attempts) but Warner replaced my bad 2 disc dvd set.

[@braddl9442]

Base on how they have taken the mask off about digital. I dont think disc rot is an accident anymore, IMO they might be making them badly knowing they will rot in a few years on purpose.

[@Tim85-y2q]

FWIW digital wasn't really a thing when the discs in question were made.

[@chadlondon8428]

another thing i personally hate about warner bros media specifically their cartoon sets is they either do a p!ss poor job on authoring or they never release a complete collection on disc or if they do its missing episode or its just on dvd and no on blu ray or sd blu ray. it p!sses me off!

[@iWalkChris]

Thank you Retro. I didn't know about this problem. We have some data CDs here at our company and they have actually changed color around the outer perimeter. It's almost like the same change when silver oxidizes. I can see how this could go very badly for organizations that are using optical media for backup of any kind of mission critical data.

[@bramzwingli]

How much of the old obscure tv and film is going to be lost because of things like this?

[@theatomicpunkkid]

A whole darn bunch and sadly I guarantee you some already is

[@kosmas173]

I doubt it, there are other ways to make sure they get distributed. If you know what I mean.

[@naganomancer]

none. you can thank your local pirate.

[@Tim85-y2q]

There's a difference between "lost" and "not currently commercially available".

[@niccage6375]

One thing you didnt bring up is warner HD-DVDs. They are infamous in the HD-DVD community is they rot. Most of them are on bluray but some of them are stuck on that format.

[@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader]

I’ve honestly wondered if the same manufacturing plant was responsible for Warner’s entire run of super rotted HDDVDs. That was the Warner rotted media I was always aware of before stumbling onto the much bigger issue of their rotted DVDs. (Not counting the few notorious Warner LD rotters pressed at WEA or DADC USA) I’m also pretty sure this same plant was also responsible for the run of bad Criterion Blu-rays a number of years ago that they had to instigate a replacement program for. At least with the Warner HDDVDs pretty much all of them were available with the same masters on all three formats and then Warner went fully Blu-ray quickly. The problem there was that we were stuck with crappier HDDVD era lower bitrate encodes and audio for years on the BD ports. Some films are still stuck in screwy early HD masters designed around HDDVD parameters.

[@jadedheartsz]

@@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader Stop Skeletons From Fighting did a video on HD-DVD and yes that same plant made a bunch of Warner's HD-DVD releases, fortunately there was another plant in Mexico that also made those discs and apparently there are some numbers you can check to see which factory it came from and if they came from the one in Mexico you're good to go.

[@garym6315]

Ironically, I had an experience last week that was the exact opposite of this. I've been buying a lot of plastic DVD sleeves from T3L and storing a lot of my discs in those to cut down on space. Last week I discovered that almost every DVD and PS2 game in those sleeves had gone frosty and sticky on the surface. I have a bottle of glass cleaner and tried using that, wiping them down with a microfiber cloth and it worked perfectly. Out of curiosity I think tried the glass cleaner on a Tina Turner CD that had gone crystallised back in 1994 and I'd never been able to listen to it since. To my amazement it cleaned the surface, and although there is a slight fogging on the CD, I am able to listen to it for the first time in 30 years. I then tried it out on a PS2 disc that had always been kept in it's original case but had that matte frosty surface to it...and it cleaned it perfectly. I don't know what this problem is as the CD went bad barely a year after I bought it and was the only CD I've ever seen do that so always assumed it was "disc rot," but the glass cleaner cleaned it away, so it's obviously a surface level problem. The T3L plastic sleeves are a real problem for DVD and PS2 ganes but blurays and PS3/4 games seem fine. It must be some sort of reaction to the plastic. But the fact that it has happened to the occasional random game that has been kept in it's original case just baffles me. Anyway I was over the moon when my method worked for cleaning them and it made me feel that my collection would last forever.

[@lordsofkobol7385]

IPA/distilled water 50/50 mix is safe but glass cleaner contains corrosive chemicals.

[@dcalsbeek5831]

Also check out MM Designs for sleeves.

[@danpetitpas]

So the lamination is breaking down. Interesting.

[@pumaspaw]

This all feels so painfully time and space consuming. I did VHS for a while, then did dvds for a while, then did hard drives full of videos for a while. Now i do streaming and on demand. It doesn't always have exactly what i am looking for, but there is always something to watch.

[@danielfrancis3660]

I’ve just come across this video and it got me wondering is there a failure rate associated with producing a run of DVDs/BlueRays etc? What data is out there, what testing do manufacturers do on producing products. Also when you talk about rot do you mean corrosion?

[@WeHaveExplosive]

I went through something similar with my CD collection a couple of years ago; discs bronzing, skipping and turning unplayable. The joke was the these CDs were replacements for vinyl copies that I exchanged because CDs are a more convinient format. I then had to go back and re-buy the LPs to replace the CDs that were dead. I had to learn to look at the matrix/runout info for dodgy pressing plants, then later found something used in the booklets could possibly be a factor in disc browning. What a mess.

[@andrew6382]

I have a friend who is unlucky with his Blu-rays he says that they rot within a year. I have a feeling he is buying things that are for a niche baby boomer market. Meaning the manufacturers put them out cheaply and sell them at a collector's value. The releases are very bare bones not extras.

[@brettglenn9328]

This is why I love this channel. Now, I'm going to go check all my discs. Thanks for the list, I'm going to check it out. I have a friend whose father was a HUGE Superman fan, he collected all of the DVDs and unfortunately passed away before he had a chance to re-watch them after he retired. Now, his son has them.....and needs to know this. I know my Exorcist II : The Heretic won't play out of the box set. I thought it sure is funny how the only disc in the set that does not work is the most despised of the franchise. Made me think they used cheaper materials for a film they knew was not desired nearly as much as the others.

[@wendyheatherwood]

Could be that they were unsold copies of an earlier release that were repackaged in the box set in order to save money.

[@brettglenn9328]

@@wendyheatherwood I just got my replacements for the discs that do not work in the box set. I was thinking the same thing, so I compared them.....they are very different from each other. For example my copies of Exorcist II...the rotted one from the box set compared to the earlier 2001 DVD release, look the same at first glance, but when you inspect it closer, you can see one company used a different color red than the other on the face of the disc. Then there are Also little identifiers on the inside ring of the disc that show different numbers. The difference between Exorcist Dominion and Exorcist The Beginning are vast. The rotted ones from the box set each show images from the film posters on the face of the discs, while the earlier prints have no images and are totally reflective like a blank disc with just the titles written in black letters, as well as the different info on the discs inner rung.

[@patrickholt8782]

I bet who ever was the plant manager in charge of the dvd plant must have been pumped that 4 cents could be saved per disc. Now we pay the price.

[@mcfehn25]

OMG, I freaked out when you started talking about The Dukes Of Hazard being problematic. I literally just bought the series two weeks ago at Cooter’s Place in Nashville. We stopped in to meet Tom Wopat and picked up the box set on the way out. Here’s hoping I got a recent press!

[@deathisaprimitiveconcept]

As a CD collector, I relate to this video so much. Haven't struck any issues with disc rot, but I have thousands of CDs so who knows what may be lurking. What I HAVE found, is quite a bit of foxing on some packaging. Similar to you, i was super fastidious with keeping my collection immaculate: kept in cool/dry conditions, kept away from dust and sunlight, ripped to lossless files to have backups and to minimise physical handling... so I did everything 'right' but still have encountered damage due to environmental and/or manufacturing issues... now that I've come to terms with it after years of thinking I was keeping my condition mint, I've now been able to let go a bit.

[@danpetitpas]

Comic book collectors deal with this. It's a combination of oxygen as well as acid in the cardboard and any UV light entering the room.

[@luis_e_saavedra]

This is insane, I will have to check my DVD collection asap.

[@kieronball8962]

Thanks for the heads up, Michael. Of course, in the UK, it's a slightly different story, as apart from the " popular " tv shows and movies, most of the Warner Bros. titles you mentioned, haven't even been released in the UK. This has forced UK buyers into purchasing American imports, who now have the problem of a rotting dvd collection.

[@guyverkiller1234]

Is this really a Uk issue? Cause I recently watched my ultimate edition superman boxset and that was fine

[@phonomena]

@@guyverkiller1234I’ve recently been buying stacks of DVDs from charity shops and haven’t found any problematic discs yet. I have bought a few Warner snap case ones so I assume they were manufactured somewhere different to the US discs.

[@andrew6382]

I used to volunteer in a charity shop after being made redundant. My job was to check home media, one day we threw out 600 DVDs in one go. They were not scratched but had disc rot the titles were from Warner, Universal and Disney. I have a friend in America who says all his Blu Rays rot quickly, however, I have feeling his buying cheap manufactured stuff. He is into niche things like silent comedies, serials and horrible poverty row B movies.

[@PelinalDidNothingWrong]

I genuienly wish WB would release all of Ben 10 classic,Alien Force,Ultimate Alien and Omniverse on Blu-Ray. But it seems super unlikely now...

[@garfgarf331]

In the pursuit of making dvds not drink coasters, Warner has done that job for you and made your dvds into coffee coasters and expensive paper weights.

[@CastlesForEyes]

Ive had to throw out the majority of my WB HD-DVD discs, but I had no idea that it went beyond that format.

[@azurekite3870]

oh that sucks man

[@Christian39521]

Rambo? That's Lionsgate. It was Artisan, then Lionsgate. I lost the Rocky Anthology though. Which is the first 5 movies.

[@vincentlee8009]

Thanks for this video. I had a good collection but my dad has a massive collection... I don't have the heart to tell him. We all have similar tastes in films. Thanks again Michael.

[@awesomeferret]

Don't be selfish and let your fear ruin things. You need to tell him if you want to be a good person. Otherwise, it's partially your fault if it's a shock to him since he wouldn't have been warned just because you were cowardly.

[@TorontoJon]

Yikes! I was checking a lot of my many Warner Bros. DVD movies and series sets, but was so relieved to discover that many of my Warner Bros. movies or series purchased in Canada were either manufactured after 2010 or were made in Mexico and not in America at that particular defective plant. Muchas gracias, México!

[@TheMediaHoarder]

That Mexico plant had problems for a while also. Now it’s the only remaining disc plant for America.

[@gamingtechandbeyond]

It is ironic that making copies (aka piracy) is the actual saving grace of media.

[@Cakebattered]

Never heard of mass disc rot for DVDs that havent been abused. It was HD DVD where Warner Bros discs suffered from disc rot. I own numerous Warner Bros DVDs from over 20 years ago and none suffer from disc rot.

[@WyzGyzEntertainment]

Great video as always. I can’t believe I’ve never heard of Laserdisc rot. This is disconcerting, but good to know. I am going to have to take a significant check of time to go through my library and check for this. And one of the reasons I support physical media is I cannot trust streaming content because the providers can remove the content, even purchased content anytime they wish. Without notice.

[@WyzGyzEntertainment]

Also ISOs are fine so long as they’re not used to manufacture discs for resale. Since this is for our own personal use libraries we’re fine.

[@somarriba333]

Damn! I had no idea this was a thing. I also didn't know you could rip DVD's like you can CD's. I need to look into that. I'll have to see what my oldest WB dvd is and play it.

[@JMan77]

I was over 4000 dvds, bluray etc. I sold off about 800 or so. But it’s climbing again!

[@The_Ballo]

Why? Optical is garbage

[@azurekite3870]

4000 dvds way too many for one room

[@pissdog3956]

Where do you store all that stuff bro

[@lostgatica5855]

Not gonna lie, it wasn't just movies, but music CDs as well. I remember my family members and myself going through our old stuff years ago, and noticed some CDs didn't play anymore, they were well preserved and not scratched. I always did think to myself that they would continue to make us pay for our childhood memorabilia, whether it was because our original stuff finally broke or because brands see money in nostalgic merchandise.

[@Attmay]

Warner Home Video: Tells its competitors “stop producing laserdiscs.” Also Warner Home Video: Uses the cheapest pressing plant possible for DVD

[@SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

It may be an issue with the players as well. I have the Shout Factory collection of Jem and the Holograms and for some reason the special features disc wasn't working on the player I had. I didn't know if it was the disc but chalked it up to that. When I got a new player and tried again the disc worked fine. No errors or skipping but for some reason it refused to play on the previous player.

[@fredleggett923]

The disc may still be problematic, with the new player just having better pit & land tracking. Try ripping it.

[@jadedheartsz]

I've had that experience as well, some discs wouldn't play at all on my Samsung DVD V2000 player but they would play just fine on my PC.

[@ellessandraramsay1841]

I used to work at a Blockbuster store and I'd see brand new discs for the latest releases arrive with visible pressing errors. They would work fine but I could see them being useless years down the line.

[@magickmarck]

You prescient SOB!

[@BunkerSquirrel]

If you have an extensive collection please start ripping your physical media and backing it up. It’s completely legal and ensures you always have access to the content you paid for.

[@joshuaharper4439]

As soon as I buy a DVD or Blu-ray, I rip it to the computer to try to keep this from happening

[@GraceMcClain]

Does this problem affect people worldwide, or is this an issue mostly with US disc printers? I ask because I've got a lot of Warner stuff that I couldn't pirate here in Germany without risking severe fines.

[@evolcollector210]

I too was a major dvd movie collector. I had three 5 shelf bookcases full. Until I started backing them up on MP4 format and now enjoy them on a external TB hard drive and watch on a USB port player in a DVD player or game console.

[@Deviax28]

Same. But, I borrowed dvds from feiends and family and ripped wverything they had. Now just watch everything digitally cause I saw this coming ywars ago when syreaming became a thing

[@locusmortis]

Back up your external drive also, I had a 16tb drive fail recently, luckily i got prior warning and was able to transfer off most of what was on the drive.

[@pkkingcrimsonrequiem1332]

A properly mastered DVD lasts a lot longer than a Hard Drive

[@TabbyTimeOut]

@@locusmortis Rule of three FTW!

[@aceman1126]

​@@pkkingcrimsonrequiem1332can't have too many back ups

[@absoLukeCollecting]

Hi Michael, this is fascinating. I had no idea dvds could go bad. I had never heard of this before

[@Darthjardius]

Not a lot of people realized that before Blu-ray, and HD DVD there was D VHS. And if you happen to have a Mitsubishi HS-HD2000U D-VHS Recorder. You can record a digital off the air broadcast version of Star Wars the original trilogy that briefly aired over 20 years ago. I’m not sure if it was 720p or 1080i, but if you are one of the fortunate few who recorded this broadcast, you would’ve had a digital HD version of Star Wars 20 years before anyone else

[@donwyoming1936]

I dunno. My original release Laser Discs are still my favorite to watch.

[@Ay-xq7mj]

My favorite version is fan film scans.

[@chrisward000]

I assume Region 2 WB were pressed in a different plant in Europe, I have never had an issue with WB that I noticed. I have had a few DVDs rot though - I remember there was a bad batch of MGM releases including The Terminator that rotted after literally a couple of years. That said every single one of my WB HD-DVDs rotted and became unplayable - HD-DVD was region free, so maybe pressed in the US plant. I managed to salvage most and re-burn to BD-R, but the originals were unplayable just a year later.

[@EGRAVEN-ge4nj]

Oh great I have got The Terminator on MGM DVD as well. Luckily I only bought it a couple of years ago but it was used. I did manage to watch the movie though so that is a plus.

[@elduderino4579]

This is a really interesting video. I have around 5000 dvds I bought many years ago. I’ve had a couple of tv series with this frosting issue but all my movies still play totally fine. Do you think it’s an issue with region 1 dvds? I’m in Australia so we’re region 4. Just wonder if the manufacturing might have been done differently?

[@danpetitpas]

I know Sony has a Blu-Ray manufacturing factory in Sydney so it's possible your DVDs were also manufactured in Disney. The folks in the US are dealing with discs that were made in Scranton, New Jersey.

[@elduderino4579]

@@danpetitpas ah good to know. Hopefully we don’t end up with the same issue 🤞

[@erik352]

Dang! I have some of those disc you mention! I've better check it out! So Blu Ray titles doesnt have rot issues? I've bought a bunch of old stargate dvds put out by MGM, a lot of the titles have episodes I cant even play even if the disc look ok.

[@danpetitpas]

They may have used too much compression on those discs to squeeze more episodes onto fewer discs. Have you tried different players?

[@erik352]

@danpetitpas yeah I did. Even tried in on my PC. Ended up just watching the other episodes on daily motion. Haha. Oh well.

[@activeyaw]

Must be an American manufacturing plant thing. I'm in the UK and all my Warner Bros single discs and box sets play as normal with no visual signs of disc rot either. In fact I've never had any disc that has rotted. I've had a couple of steelbook cases that have rusted though.

[@RyDawg084]

I always thought my dvds didn’t work because of a minor blemish or light scratch. Never thought that it could be a manufacturing error

[@filstoy]

I've had the 'Adventures of Superman' set for years, all six seasons . I bought them all as soon as they were released but only opened seasons one and two. After watching your video I thought I better check them all out. All were good except the season 5&6 set. Disks 2,4,and 5 were dead. Took a gamble and bought an unopened set off Ebay. Disks 1 and 3 were dead in that one but the rest worked. How luck was I ? Some of them that worked were discoloring on the bottom so I'm sure they are on borrowed time. Thank you very much for the heads up.

[@JorgeFuente-Alba]

RIP physical media. Nothing lasts forever, you can only keep it alive by moving it constantly.

[@kjpphotography4764]

Another great post Michael and thanks for all your hard work on doing this on this topic.

[@the_blue_dragon_bd]

Weird I have old late 90s early 2000s copys of Rambo movies on DVD and they still work no problem it could be later copys

[@thepurrfectionist365]

I have a special edition of First Blood released in 2002. Still works good like it was bought yesterday. I agree it's probably the later editions that rot quicker.

[@scubapete9500]

My bananas are turning, but I had no idea I should be worried more about my WB DVDs. Dam. Thank you for the insightful video. Kudos to Dam Fool too. 👍👍

[@oldvaperjim9434]

What brand and type do you recommend as far as blank dvd media? TIA.

[@oldvaperjim9434]

Also Copying Programs, DVDfab, DVD Decrypter etc...

[@danielrodrigues8728]

I bought on last December a box set from WB. The box set is Supernatural 1-13 seasons (region 2 because I'm from an country on Europe) and on the list it says that the season 2 has some disc root problem, does someone know if this box set has that problem???