Warner HD DVDs DO NOT BUY THEM!

I bought a bunch of HD DVDs off of eBay--all of which were from Warner Brothers. They suffer from a condition known as laser rot which means that they no longer play. This condition plagues WB HD-DVDs only as far as I know. All of the other HD DVDs I have in my collection work fine with no issues. This video has examples of the condition and some of the titles which were bad even though they were shrink-wrapped new when I got them

[@PurushaDesa]

Refusing to play Ocean’s Twelve is a feature not a bug.

[@pdgable]

So true!

[@PurushaDesa]

@@pdgable I hate that movie but my sister did get to spy on Brad, George and Matt filming in Amsterdam Centraal, so that’s something.

[@isaacsrandomvideos667]

I’d rather not watch it, yes.

[@abimarty]

@@PurushaDesa why do you hate it? and the other Ocean's movies?

[@PurushaDesa]

@@abimarty 12,13 and 8 - all very lightweight, meandering low stakes nonsense. 11 I find very tight though. (Never seen the Rat Pack original.)

[@frankie3351]

video was posted in 2020 but everything this man owns is from 2007 lol

[@zero9112]

Best way of life

[@kenetickups6146]

It's like looking back to a better time

[@dlarge6502]

As do most people. It's not fashion. When you buy a media format or a device I'd say it's reasonable to expect them to last at least 20 years, even though most are not designed to. Maybe 15. 10 is pushing it depending on what it is, a TV maybe, a washing machine though? Some people upgrade when you show them the same TV in a different colour with a "new feature" that gets used once. Other people use the same TV, dvd player, dvd recorder, cd recorder, record player till they die. And then we fix them. That reminds me, I need to swap out the old batteries in my 3rd generation ipod

[@IBrianrish]

Facts

[@kayeplaguedoc9054]

He has an Xbox one tho

[@Null_Experis]

it's not "rot", it's poor construction of the discs that causes the layers to separate and the metallic layer to oxidize, preventing it from reflecting the laser. A well-built disc will last decades. I have PC CD Rom games from 1995 that still work perfectly because they were assembled with quality glue.

[@robertlakay88]

Was thinking the same thing. This sounds like planned/desiged obsolescence to me. Shame on Warner trying to make people to buy the same movies every decade.

[@Null_Experis]

@@robertlakay88 Probably less planned, and more just greedy corner-cutting. Why spend a whole 2 cents on good glue when you can use the shit glue that works just as well for the warranty period and save 0.5 cents per disc!

[@reginaldforthright805]

If the disc doesn’t last at least 100 years, it’s completely worthless

[@schizofrenzia1884]

Thanks pirates for preserving these films better than corporations ever could

[@yourmom-qf4oe]

Yarr harr

[@AztecMC1]

lies. pirates still trying to fit BluRay into 700mb rips for CD... frick outta here

[@schizofrenzia1884]

@@AztecMC1 if you in 2021 still buy movies let alone pirated bootlegs...you've learned nothing from the internet

[@jaden8923]

@@AztecMC1 what?

[@AztecMC1]

@@jaden8923 torrents r trash quality.

[@awesomedavid2012]

I'll remember that next time I'm in 2006 and buy a DVD

[@user-ov6yp3kq1j]

@Jaques Studly thats why you buy blurays and dad's before 2016. Thats what I do

[@41moose]

@@user-ov6yp3kq1j sadly it’s starting to affect the early lionsgate blurays

[@barowt]

I'm still in 2006 and before then 🤣🤣 only VHS and DVDs...

[@dudeguy12]

I still buy DVDs often.

[@barowt]

@@dudeguy12 I only buy DVDs if they're $1 or under.. love this pawnshop near me that'll let me have them for 50 cents each.. I Bought the entire set including the tin box, of The Pacific, for 50 cents... Was a glorious day. Good show too..

[@Essu_]

Laser rot ALREADY? Christ, HD DVDs were a joke.

[@dracometeors3010]

Laughs in Blu Ray.

[@lilorangefella]

A lot of Warner Bros. HD-DVDs experienced disc rot shortly after production.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

Goddamnit entropy

[@melissalayson7275]

@@lilorangefella This is just my theory but I think that was one the main reasons Warner Brothers studios decided to go with Blu Ray instead because their HD DVDS manufacturers were terrible.

[@nathantaylor8643]

@@melissalayson7275 I heard it was because of Sony giving them a big check before CES. Hell Warner Bros was going to be part of Toshiba's HDDVD presentation at that year's CES.

[@NeverMindMan]

I was wondering why my sealed copy of Batman Begins didn’t play. Guess this is my answer, thanks for doing this!

[@TheVideoLover3]

@Panty Sniffer I have the Batman Begins HD DVD, but thankfully it works!

[@NeverMindMan]

I think I have a hybrid (DVD on other side) copy of Superman Returns as well. That also has playback issues…

[@adamdwills]

I think you meant disc rot. That is where chemical composition of the layers deteriorates.

[@Devo_gx]

It is disc rot but the term originated with laserdiscs and people started calling it laser rot.

[@adamdwills]

@@Devo_gx I did not know that. I was really young when laserdisc was a thing. I've only watched 1 laserdisc at school and I believe it was a Bill Nye the Science Guy laserdisc.

[@PeugeotRocket]

@@Devo_gx I've never once heard someone call it laser rot, only disc rot.

[@FernandoGastelo]

Got into HD-DVDs 2007 or so when the format war had just ended so my local Frys put all the HD-DVD movies on clearance. I had around 150 when i got rid of them in 2016. I was moving and many of the discs had rot already. Even though its gone now. It was fun collecting them and watching them. Miss Frys Electronics too

[@danieldaniels7571]

I did exactly the same thing, also at Fry's. Bought my player, an LG BH200 SuperBlu player, right before the end of the format war heavily discounted when Circuit City was going out of business. I haven't tried to play any of them in quite a while. Guess I need to check my WB discs.

[@FernandoGastelo]

@@danieldaniels7571 haha same! bought the same player LG BH200 on clearance

[@Blaiyan]

This has happened to several of my dvd's for no good reason. It made me very angry. Put me off buying movies. Entire seasons of shows just garbage now.

[@BeckoningSage]

If you have a pc You can download Handbrake and turn your dvds into an mp4 file so you'll never have to worry about the disc going bad.

[@DJBaffler]

@Panty Sniffer TSV is that you?

[@zaxmaxlax]

@Panty Sniffer That's what pirating is for.

[@dukelorange748]

this happens to me with dvds let alone hd i get movies for 2 bucks at a store and boom cannot play disc no scratches brand new shrink wrapped cannot play disc

[@stolmich]

@Panty Sniffer , DVD shrink is best

[@christopherwalkinalloverya5824]

The condition which affects your Warner HD DVD's is actually known as "disc rot". This condition can happen to even sealed discs and is caused by using cheap materials during the manufacturing process. These cheaply made discs degrade rapidly compared to discs created with quality materials. The condition "Laser rot" applies exclusively to LaserDiscs which after time, erode and develop video artifacts because of repeated playback causing a breakdown of the adhesives used to hold layers of the LaserDisc together. I learned this during the last few decades dealing with different optical drive formats.

[@etansivad]

"Swordfish, I've never heard of it, but I've heard it's good." WAT

[@retrogamer64007]

Lmao yeah.

[@ikannunaplays]

That's what I said! That's an EPIC movie!

[@pvshka]

Probably meant to say "I've never seen it."

[@thaiboypsp3000]

Maybe he watched it with the tv muted?

[@ikannunaplays]

So, it's been one month since you confessed your sin, have you repented and made good?

[@TheLiveMontageGuy05]

Including DVDs from WB. I had a bunch of Brand new WB horror Movies, BRAND NEW! and within a year with just watching them about 15 time total (not all in one day, within the year) they all rotted. So...I think it’s just a Warner Bros Thing...idk

[@TheLiveMontageGuy05]

Also, I have a Sony Blu-ray player TOP of the line Player, so it’s not That

[@TheLiveMontageGuy05]

Just to clarify They are normal DVDs. Not these Xbox exclusive Ones,,,

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

Just got my animaniacs compete series DVDs, won't play, no scratches, don't have any other players so, fastest rot in the west

[@TheLiveMontageGuy05]

@@spongebobplushiestuff8612 Hmm. What state you live in? I’m from Michigan, and literally upon only watching a couple horror movies like twice in a year. They rotted, (and they sat on a DVD shelf so...nothing got on them. Nothing happened to um at all)

[@TheLiveMontageGuy05]

Well, 15 was a stretch I probably watched them each like 7 - 12 times in one year. And I’d probably watch them every other month.

[@ericjanssen394]

Right now, vets of the '08 Format War are laughing hysterically at your clip title... : D

[@alexvigil29]

Play some of the very first blurays that came out and same problem , you think you are safe from disc rot because of format lol 😂 would love to see your face when they don’t play 😂😂😂

[@unstoppableExodia]

Watching movies on physical media lol

[@ericjanssen394]

@@unstoppableExodia Hoping to watch movies on streaming, and finding nothing but cheap indie horror, Asylum Sharknado sequels, woke Original Programming series, and Teen Wolf Too, lol....🤣

[@unstoppableExodia]

@@ericjanssen394 haha paid streaming services also make me laugh. Plunder sweet booty on the high seas of the www and the worlds your oyster when you wanna make it wear a pearl necklace. Movies and tv shows I’ve been able to find on bootleg bay but sadly sports is locked up tighter than a nuns’ cunny online (without a vpn)

[@ericjanssen394]

@@unstoppableExodia BitTorrent died out with the 00’sAnime bubble, and the only people who still remember it are fringey hackers who think Big Brother is making them pay money for Disney+.

[@mother3crazy]

It’s called disc rot. It also happens with old video game cartridges and we call that bit rot. Nothing you own is safe, all our tech media will disappear within 100 years

[@nemesis91101]

Idk man my original Pokemon red and silver on Gameboy color still work. Albeit some batteries died

[@mother3crazy]

@@nemesis91101 Since life is analog, bitrot happens very inconsistently to different games. Some games will last 100 years, some only 10.

[@alastairward2774]

Why I bought a 35mm camera, to have an alternative source of pictures for the future, just in case.

[@donkmeister]

@@alastairward2774 It's good to consider how you can ensure longevity for your media, but whilst 35mm seems good in principle in that you'll always have a negative and prints, the colours will change over time and the quality will degrade. The basic film/negative/print hasn't changed in 50 years; you're still using the C41 and RA4 chemistries that were used in the early 70s, so if you want to see what your photos will look like years from now, just look at old photos. In my opinion, it is better to have digital files but ensure redundancy, ensure you don't rely on consumer media to be archive-quality, and don't rely on proprietary file formats. Of course, if there's some big EMP event that simultaneously takes out Google and all the electronic devices on my property and at my office then I'll be wishing I'd have used a 35mm 😁

[@JM-pm1yb]

Well, we’re rotting as well!

[@tatsumaru12345]

1st gen blurays had this exact same problem. And it's not just limited to warner. Just the titles that come to my intoxicated mind.. 300, enter the dragon, quantum of solace twice, casino royale, rambo 4, mad max 2. I've had to replace them all personally People called me crazy, but no. Even being near too much heat will cause those 1st gen blurays to fail.

[@birdysama2980]

moisture too... thats why collectors keep them in a condition regulated room.

[@MrfilmgamerGamer]

Yeah, it's pretty well known in the HD-DVD community that Warner bros HD-DVDs all suffer from some form of Lazer rot. All of mine stopped working years ago and I have sense replacement those with either Blu-ray or 4K releases...

[@user-zk2kv2qt1q]

Man it's cool that you use older formats. I still use DVDs since I always find them cheap in thrift stores and flea markets!

[@the_hamrat]

Ah, yes. Like Laser Disk all over again

[@strictlysega]

Least ld kept playing

[@sgtpeppers3021]

Who would of that that Laserdisc would outlast HD DVD 😂

[@scooterjones4644]

@@sgtpeppers3021 My laserdiscs have survived, but the player has not...it was my 2nd or 3rd machine, and it's inoperable. Can't be repaired. Used replacement machine would be exorbitant. I'm done.

[@sgtpeppers3021]

@@scooterjones4644- I can’t say the same because I bought my first player 12 years ago. I never had issues with it but I’m assuming it is a refurbished machine. It is a Yamaha CLD-980. But every optical machine I ever owned always broke down at some point.

[@scooterjones4644]

@@sgtpeppers3021 I bought my first LD player in 1984, a friend of mine had one in 79 or 80. I also went thru a couple of CED players! I got a lot of pleasure from them (and my Betamax!). But now I have a huge closet full of dead formats.

[@TPRErik]

Lucky that I was able to replacement my HD-DVD Twilight Zone the Movie with a Blu Ray. The Blu Ray is hard to find now.

[@MrJohnlennon007]

Does it have the deleted scene where Landis killed Vic Morrow?

[@bretfarris2369]

I dnt use one I use my game system or fire stick for it

[@LILGHETTI]

Rip HD DVD, 4k blu-rays are now super resistant and high quality. I don't think anything will happen to them!

[@pdgable]

Fingers crossed!

[@dominicarroyo6269]

I own the dark knight trilogy on DVD and just holding the disc feels so cheap and thin Unlike when holding a 4k disc.

[@VforVendetta13]

This is not laser rot. As a person who worked on Laser Rot on Laser Discs for 3M, this is not laser rot. Laser Rot looked like a VHS with bad tracking and had glitches all the way through the image. It looked like snow on your TV. What you are having is another symptom of discs just decaying. To be honest the same thing happens with every disc from CDs to Blurays. Clearly the HD DVD lasted its 8 year cycle which honestly is all discs are suppose to last for. My guess the HD DVD does not hold up well over time. Thats its... And when discs go bad they do exactly this.

[@thierrydelage1681]

Yeah this problem is very well known with warner bros discs. When HD-DVDs were a thing back in 2006-2008 i had every single movie released on that format in my collection (around 811 discs total). But today almost all of the Warner HD-DVDs discs i own are dead and i had to replace them with their blu-ray counterparts. The only survivors are the titles pressed in Australia and in France which miraculously escaped this rot syndrom. Plus a few US titles that i can still read as of now (Caddyshack, Dukes of Hazzard, Terminator 3, Swordfish, Blazing Saddles, Full Metal Jacket, 2001 a space odyssey, Taking Lives, The getaway and the departed). But for how long as some of them have already started to change color on their reading side (shift from silver to light gold) which is the first sign of a forecoming rot. The clock is ticking for those titles i'm afraid :=((( Though, all the other discs i own from different studios (Universal, Paramount, Weinstein...) are still in perfect shape even after 15 years for some of them and play without any problem.

[@pdgable]

Thanks for sharing this great info!

[@myilham81]

replaced all the hd dvds? you mean buy all again on blurays or just exchanged?

[@thierrydelage1681]

@@myilham81 Half of the discs i owned and that became unreadable were exchanged at no cost by Warner. When they admitted the problem was real with their discs, they set up a huge exchange plan between 2010 and 2012 and during that time frame, you could send them any defective disc and they would exchange it for the blu-ray version of the same title. Unfortunately the other half of my Warner discs began to rot after 2012 and i had to re-buy them in blu-ray format at my own expenses as far as the exchange plan had ended.

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

None of my Warner hd dvd’s work either. But the Universal ones still work fine. It’s really weird that they do this.

[@theFLCLguy]

Nothing weird, I bet they saved a sweet penny a disc by making them out of garbage.

[@IAmNeomic]

It's not weird. All discs rot under various conditions. CDs will rot under heat, CD-R and especially CD-RWs rot just over time (some even becoming almost transparent), some early DVDs are rotting... It has to do with the materials they used at the time. Many companies used cheaper materials and chemicals so they could sell the media cheaply and turn a bigger profit.

[@stolmich]

I have many DVDs and blurays, even from Warner too, no disc rot detected. I live in an apartment, 2nd floor, with no thermal insulations outside. All my discs, even burnt ones, are playing fine. But I move on to buy movies on iTunes and Google Play, to watch them on my amazon Fire TV stick. I started collecting DVDs in 2007, a few ones has scratches, but no disc rot.

[@alfwaibel4773]

He talks about HD DVDs, that was a special format for a player, specially made for the Xbox 360. Kind of rare in this times. I can confirm that, most of my Warner Bros HD DVDs show signs of disc rot (yellowing).

[@Ty_ThatGuy]

I can attest to this as well. I have a large collection of HD DVD and Blu Ray movies and out of the ones that went bad were only the Warner Bros HD DVD discs. Batman Begins, 300, The Matrix Trilogy, Phantom of the Opera. I ended up getting rid of them and going with the blu ray versions and never had a problem since. I haven't purchased an HD DVD in a while since then but whenever I have, I stopped getting the ones from Warner Bros.

[@zero00044]

This is why I convert all my DVDs and blue rays to VHS. They last forever.

[@BarrickMacready]

Based

[@TheLinposterIsSus]

Simply just store them on glass. Glass actually lasts forever

[@travis1240]

Funny... though honestly ripping them digitally and storing on a NAS isn't the worst idea.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

I hope you're kidding. Magnetic tape has poor longevity.

[@PeugeotRocket]

@@ryanjacobson2508 Obviously joking.

[@klel68]

I had the same problem with the HD DVD. I still have the player and all the movies, all of them played great. Turns out the problem is not the discs, they don’t have firmware updates for the machines anymore. They stopped the firmware updates when HD DVD lost the war to blu ray. Some of the movies came with a note inside the case as did Blu ray movies as well saying “ you will need a firmware update to play this disc.” Since then I’ve been using my HD DVD player as a regular DVD player up until I bought a blu ray machine.

[@silvervalleystudios2486]

I have a Toshiba 2109. Big firmware problems.

[@marcboulware6242]

The Firmware on my Toshiba A35 was 100% Up-to-Date prior to the HD-DVD Camp conceding defeat back then. And I still have 13 Un-playable HD-DVD Discs that cannot be Ripped on a PC with a SATA HD-DVD-ROM. I even have a SECOND PC with a SATA HD-DVD-ROM and the same set of those 13 (Lucky 13(?!?)) Movies cannot be Ripped on a Separate PC. Discs are the Problem. If they go bad, they are bad for eternity.

[@nathanielenochs1843]

That’s what happens when companies try to rush everything out the door with no quality assurance check

[@JosephRomano]

A few years back. I thought it was kind of cool to own an HD DVD. But when you actually play any kind of movie. You’re right it glitches and freezes. I can’t even enjoy watching “the thing” or “top gun”. So I ended up watching it on DVD.

[@PoisonedElite]

im at least thankful that paramount and universal discs still work, even if most of the movies i wanna watch on the format are released by Warner bros :/

[@DennisTamayo]

Later this year, the 2020 revival of Animaniacs will probably be on Blu-ray.

[@octoman511]

but not the original show?

[@dmo848]

Brings back my childhood

[@spongebobplushiestuff8612]

@@octoman511 it's on dvd

[@dallasmann7904]

Man I miss my HD DVD 360 player and the movies I had...😥

[@rayl7335]

If you think mold was only a VHS problem, have a second thought. Any DVD or BluRay suffers from the same condition. Humidity is the worst enemy for any recorded image. Their problem lies in the sealing of digital information or stamping of the form. Even 4K will face the same problem. Your discs were storage in a damp hot places, for a long time... before you had them pdgable. To protect your video library, keep them at least 8 hours a day in A/C during the hot season, and they 'll last 4ever.

[@flashthompson1085]

Awesome video bruv. Thanks for the advice. I like old tech (got a lazerdisc hooked up to main TV and VCR in the game room) and was looking at picking up a Xbox 360 HD DVD drive I seen at the Goodwill. Good thing I saw this first. Life saver bruh.

[@pdgable]

You are welcome!

[@jfsps15]

It's amazing how this disc's are getting that but CD's from the 90's are good, i have Constantine in HD DVD and i think 5 years from when i bought it went bad, and most recently, well, 2014, that i bought Pacific Rim and in the same year there where parts of the movie that got stuck or skipped the scenes, and not just Pacific Rim, practically i had 4 that suffered that and all where WB bluray's. (Those BR's still play's and it didn't go worst, so, maybe there's something there, a little scratch maybe, but at least all my 90's cd/games, dvd's and bluray's, just some WB HD DVD went bad and some problems with those WB blurays)

[@dantevergil645]

I double checked the date of upload of this video,I thought this must be something from 15 years back ,salute to you still using a DVD player

[@jeremydrew1227]

This is about HD DVDs not the regular DVD

[@shiroumxm2052]

I think these dvd are similar to first gen of blue ray

[@brandonreina5461]

Warner Bros. Entertainment made the move to Blu-ray Disc and released every title in the Blu-ray Disc catalog Sophia Grace & Rosie's Royal Adventure The LEGO Movie Pokémon Detective Pikachu Harry Potter film series The Big Bang Theory (TV series) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Scooby-Doo (2002) The Clique A Cinderella Story: Christmas Wish There are some more titles that are not listed (Batman, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Christmas Story, etc)

[@tw350z7]

I remember when I got hooked on the HD DVD format about 3 years ago. ebay shopped my butt off til I owned all the Toshiba produced players, the LG HD DVD /Bluray combo player, The Xbox 360 player, several computer drive players for laptop and desktop and about 90 or more HD DVD movies. I have multiple copies of some movies. Like most ,I have the non playing discs and those that still work.

[@pdgable]

Yeah, they are pretty great when they work!

[@marcusdamberger]

I remember reading those LG DH-DVD/Bluray combo players can't play the later blurays produced because they updated the copy protection scheme. Those players never got an update for the newer scheme. I can't remember if it was to due with BD+ or AACS. i.e LG considered HD-DVD dead and stopped any firmware updates, and the players hardware couldn't accept the newer updates relating to copy protection anyway. I remember thinking about getting one of those cheap as a way to have just one player for both formats and collect some HD-DVD's as a fun dead format to check out, but then realized the combo player won't be able to play anything newer than 2010. I never confirmed it by getting one. I would be interested if a current release works on not.

[@TheLastRealJEDI]

Oh boy. Now I have to check all my HD-DVDs ( about 200, player Toshiba HD-XE1). Luckily I bought the BD version of most of these, hence they are only collectibles. Thanks for the video!

[@SoulforSale]

That disk rot is happening to Ps1 and Ps2 disks as well. Very sad. No matter how well you take care of them its inevitable.

[@applescruff1969]

That only happens if the company that made them cheaped out. I own CD's from the 80's that haven't rotted. There's a good chance this was corporate sabotage, since WB seemingly favored Blu-ray's.

[@MLGPRO-dx8fg]

Rot only happens if the middle layer is made of adhesive or glue and it fails, allowing air to get into the disc. A good disc doesn't use glue. And yes, they really did use glue to cheap out! Grab a cheap dvd-r and try to split it down the middle, it's insane lol

[@Watcher3223]

@@MLGPRO-dx8fg _"A good disc doesn't use glue. And yes, they really did use glue to cheap out! Grab a cheap dvd-r and try to split it down the middle, it's insane lol"_ But all DVDs and HD-DVDs are made that way. They are composed of two disc halves that are glued together using an optically transparent adhesive formulated for the purpose. Even single layer DVDs are made that way, with the top half being a clear disc. It's most likely that Cinram, the company that made HD-DVDs for Warner, had quality problems that they didn't overcome before Toshiba pulled the plug on HD-DVD. Technicolor was the other company that made HD-DVDs, including for Universal, and they had nowhere near the problems that Cinram had despite making their discs in pretty much the same way. Obviously, Technicolor had a better handle on their processes. Today, Cinram is out of business, have been for years. If you buy a Warner Home Video title on Blu-Ray Disc, chances are it was made by Technicolor, though it could also have been made by Sony DADC.

[@deathstrike]

It also doesn't help that the Microsoft HD-DVD player relies on a conventional USB 2.0 for its data transfer. It's just lucky Microsoft didn't allow this to also read games. If it did, it would only take a few days to read the game. Great for media, not so for games. The internal DVD uses a SATA (Serial ATA) interface. Now for the bad news, this problem harkens back to the days of Laserdisc. Especially with later era Sony pressed discs. One movie, The Eraser was so bad you could almost watch it disintegrate before your eyes. It seems the WB discs (assuming they work) need a cool, dry, low humidity place to be stored and the creator of this video got the old "eBay special". Meaning the former owner probably knew about the problem and hoped a few if any would work if sold. IMHO, check prices for old DVD/BD/HD DVD online and if it's too cheap for new, there IS often a reason. As for HD-DVD, I have a few of the rot prone discs, and they still work but I do keep them separate and in a environment less prone to shifts. After this video, I know they won't last. Going to be like CED video records, question of when, not IF. Other than that the XBOX 360 HD-DVD still works with DVD's as well so at least that.

[@jamergamer0076]

It's called disc rot, not laser rot.

[@jdh21403]

I’m sorry I ever doubted you. I bought both DVD and Blu Ray copies of Lady In The Water and neither worked. DVD stopped working an hour in, Blu Ray wouldn’t even load. Not a scratch on the Blu Ray

[@christopherquinlan7839]

Disc rot tends to happen when either the discs aren't taken care of, or when they're kept in a moist,hot climate for long periods of time. Could be from improper storage or heat.

[@danieldaniels7571]

That explains why mine are all still fine. I live in a very dry hot climate.

[@DaveSimonH]

About 5-10 years ago I got the 360 add-on HD-DVD drive and bought 12 discs cheap (9 Universal, 1 Paramount & 2 Warner Bros). I think the only disc I had problems with was 'Letters From Iwo Jima' (a WB disc) which froze about 1/2 way through. I then tried to rip it on Windows (plugging in the 360 add-on auto finds drivers) but it would fail the process. I think the other discs worked fine, although I imagine the other WB disc 'Flags of Our Fathers' may not work now. Pretty sure when I had the 'Iwo Jima' issue, I just bought a 2 pack of the films on DVD and then later got the films on blu-ray, as part of a 20 film Eastwood set for £30. Of the 12 titles, I have 9 on blu-ray now and the remaining 3 I'm happy enough with the HD-DVDs. For example, I'll probably only double dip on 'Dante's Peak' if the film gets a remaster (say if Universal licensed it out to Arrow or Second Sight). The other two are 'Doom' 2005 & 'World Trade Center'.

[@secondghost]

This is normal. Hard Drives, floppy disks, DVD, BluRay, VHS, etc. It all has a finite lifespan.

[@bissbass-kfp3829]

Nothing lasts forever

[@J-Pow]

I would expect data rot to be the inevitable outcome of all HD DVDs, not just ones made by Warner Bros.

[@pdgable]

I my experience rot on the other studio’s disks is way less common. American Gangster from universal is the only non WB movie I have with rot and it is pretty minor. Just a little problem at the beginning and then it plays fine

[@bubba842]

I have over 40 HD DVDs. I only have 2 Warner Bros releases and 1 of them, 300, does not work. All my other HD DVDs, Universal, Paramount, DreamWorks and Weinstein Company discs, work fine. This has nothing to do with the technology, but everything to do with quality control at the Cinram plant in Olyphant Pennsylvania that produced most of the HD DVDs under license for Warner Bros. Cinram also produced Warner Bros Blu Rays at another plant in Huntsville Alabama, these Blu Rays also suffered the same issue. Although not as common as the Pennsylvania pressed HD DVDs.

[@SaraphXIII]

@@bubba842 I used to live in Olyphant so this doesn't surprise me. Place is a shithole.

[@KylesVideos]

Eventually, pretty much all optical media will have that problem :(

[@brpadington]

It's because Warner has garbage quality control. Their blu rays rot too.

[@Cowclops]

I bought an HD-DVD player and about 10-12 movies when they were new. I actually can't remember if there was a single studio I had more problems with, but something like 1/3rd of the movies i bought had skipping/freezing issues on my Toshiba HD-A2. That was on a "purchased new when hd-dvd was new" player and new retail discs. Then bluray came along and thats given me no problems. Not sure why HD-DVD had so much trouble in comparison, maybe I was just unlucky and got a bad player, or maybe they were all WB discs?

[@jeff15]

What a bummer. Soo sad when tech dies and stops working.

[@arsenalcrazy8]

Lol I thought I was the only person left who still collected these.

[@100Bucks]

No need to collect DVD's, everything is literally in the cloud. Cinema Apk on a firestick. If you don't have a app just google or duckduckgo what you wanna watch. All media is in the cloud.

[@setanodemont4240]

@@100Bucks You know this method kinda commies for me. You don't own anything. You buy it but you don't have it. You only can play it in the source you buy from it. You can hate it or love this method but, It's commies all the way.

[@100Bucks]

@Turd Ferguson it's easier just to store it on a drive. All mp4 format, collecting is sort of hoarding. If you burning iso files from the internet. It means you're selling bootleg movies. No reason to do any of this unless you're selling pirated movies to someone else. You know I'm telling the truth. You not burning for yourself, you burning for profit.

[@johnfriction4919]

I got into collecting HD DVD during the pandemic since they're so cheap and avoided Warner from the beginning. Unfortunately I've also had issues with several non-Warner flipper discs (HD DVD on one side, DVD on the other). Some work, but others crap out at the layer change. Really lame.

[@thierrydelage1681]

There is no layer change on a combo disc :=))... The flipside containing the DVD version of the movie is literally taking the space of the second layer on the HD-DVD side. All movies released on that format could hold only 15Gb of data on the HD-DVD side (instead of 30Gb on a dual layer non-combo disc). But nonetheless it's true that those combo disc were prone to bringing problems (freezing picture, video glitches,etc...)

[@themadmoderator8465]

yeah its the glue between layers and used to plague some laserdisc factories back in day. probablly means they were all printed same factory and probably store in humid conditions etc.

[@maskedambitions4268]

@pdgable what kind of tv is this? What are the specs? I've been wanting a good tv for my ps4. And the picture looks great

[@jamzales]

Never bought HD DVD's. I don't think they sold that well. I remember Fry's started selling them 2 for 1. They weren't out very long before blu-ray showed up. Blu-ray changed everything.

[@melissalayson7275]

Me too. I thought HD DVDS were pointless, just bought Blu-rays or regular DVDS. This video just confirms that I made right choice in just buying Blu-rays and regular DVDS.

[@alfwaibel4773]

Today I have checked all my HD DVDs - around 60% of them are Warner Bros Discs. Strangely, beside one of them - a Harry Potter Film, all seem to work so far. But nearly all of the WB Discs are having the bronze color change. The not working Harry Potter Disc has also some strange spots in the middle, which seem to be a lose in the structure between the layers (look like enclosed "bubbles" - seem to be, that the layers came apart at this spot). Thanks for the advice. Let´s see, how long the WB Films are still watchable, before the are going to be destroyed forever. I am collecting hundreds of retro games on disc, but normally no problem, also with much older discs from the Win98 era. Thanks for this information!

[@chadergeist]

I would like to see photos of the playing surface and ones with the disc held up to the light with the playing side towards the camera. I have dvd's and bluray's and i have never had issues with disc rot on them before...especially ones by Warner Bros. Home Video too.

[@dmo848]

Yeah I've never heard of this. I'd figure if they don't leave the case then how do they go bad?

[@thescreamingfish]

Could be they were stored in a garage or attic where heat and humidity subtly warped the data. I mean sure that box was pretty much all warner bros, buuuuuut, thay were all in that box, together, in the same place.

[@chapterblaq]

I empathize with you man. thanks for tryna achieve a positive outcome (i.e. making a video to warn us) out of a shitty situation

[@pdgable]

You are welcome!

[@dontastodgh1067]

The black cat caused the HD DVD to freeze. That's 7 years of bad luck!

[@pdgable]

LOL!

[@adonian]

In the "working" Constantine it looks like you are at the layer transition when it fails... My copy of The Phantom of the Opera does the same thing... Damn HD-DVD, I got the same Toshiba player. I even had an HD-DVD RECORDER for my PC and a couple dozen discs that I used to rip and copy Blu-Rays from my friend's collection.

[@CastlesForEyes]

Same here, as soon as it gets close to the layer change, it gives up the ghost. Every now and then I put in one of my WB movies, and every time it ends up in WB rotten disc heap. I know a lot of times passed, but I'm going to contact them once I've tested all my discs, see what they're reply will be. No doubt some generic message designed just for all the customers who bought these duds. All my non-WB discs work perfectly.

[@dishsoap1]

Do you have any Warners that work?

[@CastlesForEyes]

@@dishsoap1 ~ I have a few that still work, for now. I remember Blazing Saddles playing through no problem. Others play through with only minor glitching. Some you can skip through the chapters fine, but they won't play through. So far I've dumped about 40 or so in the recycle bin.

[@AlcoveShadow]

And that is why Nintendo’s choice of game cards for Switch is the best solution for physical. No fucking rotting!

[@birdysama2980]

the save is stored in the console itself or in a cloud nowadays, thanks god. No more cartridge with dead ram! (N64and other cartridge of that era used to have ram batteries which contained your save files...it was the worst.)

[@thattailsguy8142]

I recently got Transformers and Shrek the Third on the format and they surprisingly had rot. Transformers had 2 discs. Disc 1 didn’t work and Disc 2 had major skipping issues. Shrek the Third had similar issues to Constantine where it worked fine for the first half hour but it then started skipping. So there is proof that even the Paramount/DreamWorks HD DVDs can have rot.

[@pdgable]

Interesting but the rate of rot is way lower on non Warner discs. I have two copies of transformers and both play perfectly. Check out LDDB.com as they keep track of the rates of rot on HD-DVD

[@thattailsguy8142]

@@pdgable Thanks for the info

[@bubba842]

My Transformers disc one plays fine, though the special feature disc won't play.

[@marcboulware6242]

@@pdgable My copy of Transformers is not in the Box, meaning it survived getting Ripped. Transformers was one of the last HD-DVD's I got, (I believe for Christmas present). Thanks for the URL - I've added it to BMark's.

[@omnimonramone8459]

At least these weren't super rare out of print movies. I'd way more pissed if this happened to some rare movies. My Powerpuff Girls season 3 DVD stopped working suddenly for no discernable reason,and an old horror flick Dark Craving has disc rot,as well as some King of the Hill DVDs and a documentary about William Shatner.

[@barowt]

I hate this, now I'm going to go through all of my normal DVDs just in case... Same problem with VHS tapes with mold. Have had to throw out many hundreds of movies. 😭😭😭

[@theswapmeetflea]

It's not just HD dvds , it's about time I find someone who's had this same experience that ive had, it's has happened to me on dvd and blu ray , the dvd and or Blu-ray would be spotless , no scratches , super clean but for some odd reason they just wouldn't play or play like you showed and in the middle of the movie just take a dump. I think it's just faulty , hell, even video games have glitches.

[@bryede]

I have standard DVDs in my collection that no longer play. I think all these multi-layer discs will eventually fail. There aren't a lot of formats that are going to be good for long term collecting. I've got vinyl records from the 1950s that still sound great, at least.

[@fairera]

Same here, so far 8 of my Blu Rays stopped working, in 2015 I've been able to replace 3 of them as the 5 others stopped working later, unfortunately now they stopped replacing them, this is so outrageous!

[@HYP3M0D368]

Even ps2 games have data rot

[@jackofallgamesTV]

So all Warner next gen movies (red or blue variety) from 2006-2008 might have laser rot? Thanks for telling me. Last time I played an HD DVD about 1 year ago a Universal movie worked. In the last 2 months I "Ghoulardied" 3 HD DVD we wanted in blue. (Ghoulardi's catchphrase is "Turn Blue".)

[@AhDollar]

Legend says she's still trying to close the door to this day

[@VideoStore64]

To be pedantic about terminology, laser rot refers to disc rot on a laserdisc; you'd just say disc rot when referring to other optical formats. While disc rot is the ultimate death sentence for all optical formats, WB titles are just crapping out much earlier because they used a factory with a crappy disc-pressing process. I've been a bit afraid to pop in my WB titles to see how they fair out--I know that my combo disc of 300 worked when I played it two years ago--but my two known rotted HD-DVDs are the Planet Earth set and disc 1 of Star Trek: TOS Season 1 (which plays until the layer change). Disc 2 of the Planet Earth set, surprisingly, was able to play until the halfway point. I've heard that the X-Box 360 add-on drive handles rot better than most standalone players. I've been thinking about getting it in the future to see for myself.

[@bubba842]

I have 20 HD DVDs. Only 2 of them are Warner Bros releases. My copy of 300 was brand new, but unfortunately didn't work. The only other Warner Bros release I have is Syrians, which does still work. I am very cautious about buying Warner Bros releases. The only other release that doesn't really work is Universal's "The Bourne Supremacy", which is probably because when I got the disc it had looked like someone had eaten their dinner off it.

[@VideoStore64]

@@bubba842 Since I wrote my comment, I've played more of my Warner titles, and I seem to have gotten quite lucky with rot; The Matrix was the one disc that had rot (skips and freezes at the halfway mark), but when I do a chapter skip, it's able to skip that bad area and finish the movie regularly. There was also one point of freezing in Return to House on Haunted Hill, but otherwise was flawless. I've also gotten a new player since then: the HD-A35, which is able to send the high-res audio as bitstream to my receiver. It also seems to handle disc rot better than the HD-A2; I was able to load disc 4 of Planet Earth for the first time!

[@pdgable]

The Xbox player works slightly better but it still can’t play discs with rot. It will just start and then crap out.

[@SillyOmega]

You seem to be right it's a type of manufacturing defect. Cds had the same problem with a certain supplier from the UK. There were lots of manufacturing defects with disc's for a while. I wonder if that is why most disc's are made in Mexico, Taiwan, or Japan.

[@SidNightWalker]

Well obviously, I mean it's not just like some random disc rot issue FFS.

[@GastonBulbous]

I have never encountered this problem on any DVDs except for Chinese bootleg titles I bought when I lived in Asia between 2003 and 2013. Are you sure the discs you bought on eBay were legit US product?

[@keepingitreal71]

I am glad that I never went to that format... Must be why places like buybacks always had loads of HD DVDS..

[@Beltmaker09]

Best way to store movies is in a temp controlled room if you comfortable they will be fine. Not to hot not to cold and to leave them standing up like books. Only time I’ve had issues with regular dvds is buying second hand and have issues because of scratches.

[@Crazy-77]

I here some people like hard copies over digital but when I here stuff like this, I’m glad I choose to go digital. Most of my movies went from HD movies to 4K at no extra cost to me, so I’m happy about that.

[@Astinsan]

It’s how they are stored. Extreme cold to hot will cause the media to separate from the polycarbonate because of a differential of material expansion and contraction. I used to notice it happen a lot when I lived in Washington state. You couldn’t leave these things in the garage.

[@ryanjacobson2508]

I can't imagine storing anything remotely fragile in a non-climate controlled garage.

[@Astinsan]

@@ryanjacobson2508 cds in the car?

[@ChriSaito]

I have absolutely no interest in HD DVD's but somehow this ended up being the most interesting thing I've watched all night. I enjoyed learning something I never would have otherwise. Sorry to hear about the disks. I'm a year late but I'm curious how the collection has progressed?

[@pdgable]

Going well! I collect Non WB discs and they work well

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

I have had WB HD-DVD's go bad in the pasr and now have the same with older Blu Ray from before 2010. It is not disc rot but something to do with how the disc is made and probably using poor quality materials. The players come up with not recognise disc even though the disc looks perfect. Disc rot usually has visible deterioration on the data layer. I have 25 year old DVD's that still play perfect but did have one bad DVD (Terminator region 2). Glue seeped out between the layers and the disc was covered in it due to delimination. I cleaned it and it still works over 10 years later.

[@kenshirootomo6993]

I have almost 60 HD-DVD movies and all of them worked fine some years ago... It´s a factory error? or this is going to happen to my discs??

[@dawnofdave]

I think the cause of disc rot is poor storage conditions. Some will rot naturally over time, but what makes it worse/faster is storing these in extreme heat, humidity, or cold. The people you bought these from probably stored them in a garage or non-climate controlled environment.

[@marcboulware6242]

@Daniel Long That is correct. My HD-DVD's were all brand new, stored in adequate temperatures and still the majority (50%+) succumbed to HD-DVD Rot.

[@AG-bp3ll]

I have about a dozen Warner DVDs that no longer play. I haven't checked my HD DVDs in years but I'm sure they are all rotted now. Warner has been the only ones I have had these issues with. Even my Universal dual layered-dual sided discs still work. Mine are the same. They either won't play at all or crap out at the layer change.

[@pdgable]

The Universal dual sided discs work fine!

[@DrxSlump]

My blu-ray movies from around 2006 are all dead by now and I really took good care of them, always in their cases, away from humidity or heat, etc... I guess the physical size of the bits is too small for plastic decay

[@AllMyHobbies]

this is very true. i was a original hd dvd guy and had lots of titles and many of them don’t play anymore. mostly all that one studio the others are fine still

[@jacobdowler1]

thank god none of my DVD's have this problem. i only stick to original DVD's. never had a problem. i even have some DVD's almost as old as me!!! :) and i have well over 1,000 titles.

[@davidclough3951]

Quite a few WB DVDs made 2007 thru 2009 at this place in Pennsylvania suffer this also. Taking shortcuts in manufacturing causing the discs to rot from the inside.

[@PixarMan2001]

I just recently tested my HD-DVDs of Batman Begins, Constantine, Terminator 3, and Order of the Phoenix. All are Warner discs and all played through without errors. I guess I'm very lucky.

[@pdgable]

What player do you have?

[@pdgable]

My copy of T3 and Order of the phoenix actually work fine! Constantine and Batman not so much

[@PixarMan2001]

​@@pdgableI have a Toshiba HD-A30. It is a nice player, because it gives an on-screen error message when my discs don't work, so I don't actually have to watch the movies to test them.

[@methlokaijufan9729]

I really hope none of this stuff will happen to the bluray disks

[@dracometeors3010]

I don't think so. It is a known fact HD DVD's were just poor quality products. While Blu Ray's are specifically made to correct every issue.

[@ronny332]

The best thing about the Warner releases is the case of the discs . Just to use them with disc of other manufactures. Warner HD-DVDs sucks so hard. Some of my discs still work partially but none of them has a clean silver color anymore. All are completely golden start to turn golden.

[@ErikZarth]

Oh man, that sucks. I have that Xbox 360 HDDVD player and about 12 movies. Going to have to check them all now. Haven't used it in about 7 years.

[@dannystorm856]

Sometimes they play fine but mid film it is over.

[@Ace_of_Horns]

HD DVD collections are such a niche topic, as is movie collecting in general. Yet you got over 100k views on this video. Pretty impressive bro.

[@RobertJToledo]

I have my very first DVD "HEAT". And it works perfectly. All my HDDVDS work flawlessly. I guess I'm lucky.

[@justinlynch3]

Regular DVD = Good Blu-Ray = Great HD DVD = Complete Trash How did that happen? Man 2006 was a bad time for Microsoft. HD DVD where junk that just stopped working. XBOX 360's had like a 54% failure rate. Like god damn, in 2006 if it had the Microsoft logo on it, it's like stay far away from that crap.

[@pound14poundking]

If I ever go back in time I’ll remember not to buy HDDVD

[@Xion999]

And they wonder why piracy is rampant

[@PeugeotRocket]

That isn't why.

[@Xion999]

@@PeugeotRocket I bought a game from GFWL years ago when it was still around. Microsoft then closed GFWL in 2014 but claimed any bought games would still be available to download. They weren’t. I can’t access my game or even the serial key so I can use my backup. I haven’t personally pirated this game to re access it, but I’m sure other have because Microsoft screwed their customers out of their games they actually bought. So yes, this sort of thing does add to the piracy problem.

[@PeugeotRocket]

@@Xion999 It's negligible compared to the amount of people who just want free content though. Most pirates who upload are not thinking about preservation and those who download are largely pirating content available for purchase.

[@MinecraftLover2007]

4:08 it’s really scary how the Warner Home Video logo is in CinemaScope instead of normal widescreen.

[@MrHack4never]

I wonder if this is some sort of planned obsolescence 🤔

[@garlandstrife]

Betcha

[@josephcontreras8930]

Like everything else electronic

[@Aero7SVR]

Anyone know which company manufactured these WB HD-DVDs ? Or where they're made ? From personal experience, Sony DADC discs tend to be high quality and long-lasting, at least the ones made in Japan and Austria. Sony DADC makes discs for PlayStation, and videogame discs need to endure far more abuse (higher heat, RPMs, usage hours, etc..) than discs made for movies. HD-DVD didn't get much support from the videogame industry, so they never stood a chance.

[@boodro2122]

I didn't know anyone collected DVD's. It sure was a short lived media wasn't it? They just faded into history. It's kinda sad. I'm glad some people are keeping them alive. Do you collect BluRay also? Or just DVD's?

[@carnavs]

I'd be returning those to the seller. If he didn't specify that these had Lazer rot, you'll get your money back.

[@mrtea7562]

You can even have mould grow on a blu-ray and it doesn't rot.

[@SidNightWalker]

If you want to do something like store your discs in a damp basement, that's kinda on you, yeah. This disc rot being inevitable nonsense is just a new urban legend.

[@jfsps15]

@@SidNightWalker yeah, like what it's about the disc's of the 90's?, if we took this theory they should not work, I have a lot and they are ok (music, vcds, games, data), but I don't have it in a place that has a lot of humidity or whatever, and even had them in an special place, and it depends of the quality of the disc's in the case of the blank ones.

[@gabmoreno280]

isnt there a way to restore the disks from Laserrot and also I still have old dvds from early 2000s and they still work maybe it might be a case of how much someone is using it (like the more u use it the less it will get laserrot) or the less u use it the higher chance u got with it

[@johnwiiu7005]

That's, odd. Discs usually don't rot THAT fast. And I have yet to stumble upon a HD-DVD that's rotten. All of my discs work. Curious, but is it possible that there was a difference between manufacturing in EU and US discs? Since I'm in Germany maybe we got different discs?

[@CastlesForEyes]

The majority of Warner Bros discs fail at the layer change, usually 45-55 minutes in. They glitch and usually stop. Paramount, Universal etc, no problem, just WB.