Tech
Alarm bells ring as many iconic movie DVDs stop working
Many users are reporting that some Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured between 2006 and 2008 are deteriorating and “rotting” due to manufacturing defects.
The physical format is taking another hard hit in the movie business. Many DVD collectors are in for an unpleasant surprise when they discover that some of their movies no longer work. The problem affects certain Warner Bros. titles manufactured between 2006 and 2008, which suffer from an irreversible deterioration known as “disc rot”. This defect prevents the discs from playing and has caused concern among moviegoers. In response to the growing number of complaints, Warner Bros. has acknowledged the existence of the problem and has begun offering free replacements, although in some cases they do not guarantee that the same movie will be resent.
Your DVDs could be in danger: This is the reason discs are rotting
This problem has been noticed by many collectors who have tried to play Warner Bros. DVDs produced between 2006 and 2008 and have encountered reading errors or, more directly, unusable discs. According to several experts and testimonies in forums, the cause of this situation is the so-called “disc degradation/putrefaction” or disc rot, an irreversible deterioration process that affects optical discs due to the degradation of their internal layers. In this case, it seems to be related to a manufacturing defect in the printing of the discs during this period.
Among the numerous documented cases of disc decay, some of the most relevant examples include editions of ‘Blade Runner’, the complete series of ‘The Sopranos’, Christopher Reeve’s ‘Superman’ or ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ all affected by this decay problem. These discs belong to releases originally released between 2006 and 2008 and have the IFPI 2U** form code (located just above the hole in the disc on the data side) and the IFPI L906, IFPI L907 or IFPI L908 master codes.
Faced with a growing number of complaints, Warner Bros. has acknowledged the problem and confirmed that some of its DVDs from those years may have such errors. The company has announced a free replacement program for the defective discs, but with one important caveat: in some cases, the original title is no longer available, so those affected will receive another movie of “equivalent value”. While the move has been generally well received, it has also caused some frustration among collectors, as there is no guarantee that they will be able to recover the particular defective movie they had in their collection.
Disc decay is not unique to Warner Bros. DVDs, but is a problem that can affect any optical format, including CD, Blu-ray, and even older LaserDiscs. Exposure to moisture, sudden temperature changes, or manufacturing defects, as in this case, can accelerate this deterioration. While the estimated lifespan of a DVD is typically between 30 and 100 years, these discs began to fail in less than two decades, reigniting the eternal debate about preserving content in physical versus digital formats.
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