
Several weeks ago I posted a thread about the experiences I had with Fox's DVD of "The Luck of the Irish." Since then, I have made the disturbing discovery of several other Fox and Warner Bros. DVDs that have seemingly rotted. I have been purchasing DVDs since December of 2000, and I have always taken care of the discs (never touching the data side, keeping them out of sunlight, etc.). It seems like the problematic discs were produced from 2006 to 2009 or so. I haven't found any DVDs from before or after those dates that exhibit these problems (even the original DVDs I bought in December of 2000 still look and play perfectly). With the exception of one Artisan DVD (The Flame of the Barbary Coast), all of the affected titles are either from Fox or Warner Bros (not all titles thankfully). DVDs from Columbia, Paramount, Criterion, Disney, Image, Universal, etc. look fine (the one caveat being the well-documented problems with Universal's DVD-18s). The discs in question seem to develop some very odd looking dark patterns/splotches on the data side. In some cases, it looks like the disc has been eaten up and all that is left is a nearly transparent disc. Is this a known phenomenon, or am I the object of some freakish environmental conditions that only affect certain DVDs? Have any of you experienced anything like this? All of these titles were played around the time of their original purchase, and most have been played at least once more since (and in some cases many more times). Here is a list of some of the problem discs in case some of you want to inspect your copies:
Warner Bros
All of the titles from the Clark Gable signature collection (San Francisco, Wife vs. Secretary, etc.)
All of the titles from the Paul Newman collection (The Young Philadelphians, The Left Handed Gun, etc.)
Three Little Words
Brother Orchid
Gentleman Jim
Treasure Island
Gold Raiders/Meet the Baron double feature
Fox
The Luck of the Irish/I'll Never Forget You double feature (two copies with the same exact playback defect)
Rose of Washington Square
The Gang's All Here
In Old Kentucky (from the Will Rogers Collection)
Doubting Thomas (from the Will Rogers Collection)
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
The Black Camel
The Lost World (the disc with the Irwin Allen feature is ok, but the disc with the 1925 film has rotted - DRAT!)
Warner Bros
All of the titles from the Clark Gable signature collection (San Francisco, Wife vs. Secretary, etc.)
All of the titles from the Paul Newman collection (The Young Philadelphians, The Left Handed Gun, etc.)
Three Little Words
Brother Orchid
Gentleman Jim
Treasure Island
Gold Raiders/Meet the Baron double feature
Fox
The Luck of the Irish/I'll Never Forget You double feature (two copies with the same exact playback defect)
Rose of Washington Square
The Gang's All Here
In Old Kentucky (from the Will Rogers Collection)
Doubting Thomas (from the Will Rogers Collection)
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
The Black Camel
The Lost World (the disc with the Irwin Allen feature is ok, but the disc with the 1925 film has rotted - DRAT!)
Never cry over spilt milk, because it may have been poisoned. - W.C. Fields