I imagine most matter breaks down over time but what is the expected lifespan of professionally pressed discs? I've heard conflicting reports of 25 years to a lifetime to not being known.
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I imagine most matter breaks down over time but what is the expected lifespan of professionally pressed discs? I've heard conflicting reports of 25 years to a lifetime to not being known.
Not know, the manufacturing defects found in some laser discs were solved before CDs even became widely used popular.Quote:
Originally Posted by wasp
Not all of them, some early audio CD’s were poorly pressed, and suffered what is called “disc bronzing.” Do a Google search on OPTI.ME.S, a notorious Italian pressing plant that pressed a bunch of CD’s circa 1989-1991 (including lots of stuff for Island Records) that are basically only good as beverage coasters now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psy
But, yeah, they’ve improved a lot since then. At least as regards professionally pressed discs, CD-R’s are often suspect (especially the cheaper brands).
Depends very much on how long ago they were manufactured, which company did it, and the quality of the equipment and materials.
Early Virgin Records releases are notoriously bad!
Furhtermore 'laser rot' that effects Laserdiscs is totally different than 'disc rot' it's an oxidisation that occures between the plastic layers.
This problem was NEVER solved, I have just over 200 Laserdiscs and some of the more recent ones are the worst culprits.
The later Star Wars Trilogy Laserdiscs are particularly bad for this.
Going back to 'disc rot' I have yet to see an example of any MegaCD titles suffering from this, although I do have some cheaply produced Saturn and Dreamcast discs that do.
Most of my laserdisks have held up pretty well, except an old ingmar bergman one thats pretty eaten up
Some CDs get little pinholes in them that make them unreadable. I'm not entirely sure about this phenomenon, but I'm told it may have something to do with the ink used in booklets.
My copy of Monster Lair for Turbo CD is still going strong.
I have a 15 year old Silpheed disc which is scratched, but still works nicely
is it possible that the discs are just dirty/scratched? I've had scratched CD games (bought used of course, all the ones I bought new are still absolutely mint) that would skip or freeze but after cleaning them with rubbing alcohol and a lint-free cloth they work great. My dad has several CDs from back in the early 80's when CD players first started coming out and as far as I know they all work fine. The only games that I seem to find problems with is resurfaced games, but thats most likely because they were scratched to oblivion before they were resurfaced and some of the data was damaged from deep scratching.
I don't have many old CDs, but one of the oldest is a 15 year old PC game called MegaRace. I abused the disc when I was younger and it is so badly scratched I'm surprised it works without problems, even on the poor CD drive my old 486 PC has. It does lock up sometimes, but it's very rare and I think it even happened before the disc had received most of its damage.
My oldest CD is the awesome original 1976 release of Rush's 2112 album, and it is still going strong to this day.
that music CD sure as hell aint from 1976.. Sorry..
i found a disc that's rotting on me.. Disc 3 of Alien - Widescreen Collectors Edition LaserDisc.. Both sides. Massive static.
The only time I've ever heard people honestly, seriously concerned about 'disc rot' is when they're justifying their stacks of CD-R and DVD-R 'backups'. Seeing as Atari VCS cartridges are still kicking around - and we know how stringent the quality checks on those little babies were - I think we've still got a few lifetimes' worth of gameplay out of our Mega-CD and Saturn discs. :)
(Of course, the irony is that ISOs burnt onto a stack of fifty-pack [media]-RWs from your local supermarket will probably be outlasted by the original, factory-pressed discs. But you wouldn't have bought it anyway, right?)
well laserdiscs are another beast entirely. Those things are HUGE. It wouldn't surprise me to find out the sheer weight and size causes stress over the span of the disc and therefore make it fracture with time.Quote:
Originally Posted by evildragon
actually they are some tough shits..Quote:
Originally Posted by 17daysolderthannes
it's the glue that fails and ends up allowing mold to grow from the inside.
I dropped one the other day pretty hard, a laserdisk game hyperion, and I was suprised when I checked and there was no damage. Im more worried that I might drop one on my toe one day.
maybe try soaking it in a tub of rubbing alcohol, that should kill that pesky mold :pQuote:
Originally Posted by evildragon