Laser rot is like a box of chocolates
You never know what you're gonna get
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Laser Rot

Well, Laser Rot is a problem important enough to deserve a dedicated page.

Metal Layer Oxydation (also called laser rot) is the plague of LDs. Impossible to forecast, useless to fight, it can happen anytime during the lifetime of a disc. Hopefully not all LD titles manufactured are suffering from this disease and some Factories are more famous than others on this issue (SONY DADC being #1).

Current Status 11566 reports on 6180 titles representing 0.94% of total collections
Top 100 LDs
(realtime)
  1. Eraser [14202]  (16008)
  2. Air Force One: Special Edition [71886]  (9636)
  3. Starship Troopers [71716]  (6156)
  4. Jumanji [11746]  (4680)
  5. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [23500]  (4664)
  6. Cable Guy, The [82426]  (4635)
  7. Men in Black [82656]  (4128)
  8. Contact: Special Edition [15041]  (3956)
  9. Copycat [14168]  (3780)
  10. Net, The [11616]  (3666)
  11. Beauty and the Beast: Work in Progress [1591 CS]  (3071)
  12. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory [13665]  (2805)
  13. Lost Highway [ID3946PG]  (2800)
  14. Professional, The [74746]  (2280)
  15. Fargo [800638693-1]  (2240)
  16. Shawshank Redemption, The [74596]  (2190)
  17. Demolition Man [12985]  (1920)
  18. Striptease [84976]  (1836)
  19. Fugitive, The [21000]  (1800)
  20. Dante's Peak [43311]  (1770)
  21. Heavy Metal [74656]  (1652)
  22. Game, The [ID4260PG]  (1508)
  23. Fifth Element, The [82406]  (1456)
  24. Volcano [0603985]  (1288)
  25. Batman Returns [15000]  (1274)
  26. Fan, The [82476]  (1197)
  27. Johnny Mnemonic [73476]  (960)
  28. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective [23000]  (880)
  29. Star Wars Trilogy: Definitive Collection [0693-84]  (792)
  30. Bad Boys [10716]  (741)
  31. Multiplicity [82446]  (741)
  32. Willow [79356]  (714)
  33. Boot, Das (The Boat) [99916]  (684)
  34. Aliens: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1504-85]  (672)
  35. Gattaca [82646]  (666)
  36. First Knight [71176]  (663)
  37. Fair Game [14072]  (612)
  38. Batman & Robin [16500]  (608)
  39. Hunchback of Notre Dame, The [7955 AS]  (578)
  40. Devil's Own, The [82466]  (576)
  41. I Know What You Did Last Summer: Special Edition [23926]  (544)
  42. The Beatles: Let It Be [4508-80]  (504)
  43. Blade Runner: Special Edition [CC1120L]  (442)
  44. Barb Wire [800639927-1]  (434)
  45. Lethal Weapon 2 [11876]  (432)
  46. Anaconda [81756]  (425)
  47. Fire Down Below [14914]  (420)
  48. Gunsmith Cats Chapter: vol.1 [CAVGS/001]  (396)
  49. Crimes of Passion: Special Edition [LVD9523]  (392)
  50. Maximum Risk [27416]  (390)
  51. Mute Witness [41176]  (372)
  52. ABBA [74-006]  (372)
  53. Tin Cup [14318]  (360)
  54. Hoodlum [ML106282]  (351)
  55. Craft, The [82416]  (351)
  56. To Die For [73436]  (350)
  57. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century [13-002]  (341)
  58. Blade Runner: Director's Cut [12682]  (325)
  59. Eurythmics: Live [080 220-1]  (324)
  60. Dolores Claiborne [59906]  (312)
  61. Donnie Brasco [82516]  (312)
  62. Kate Bush: The Whole Story [080 504-1]  (308)
  63. Alien: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1090-85]  (304)
  64. Grumpier Old Men [14191]  (300)
  65. I Come in Peace [LVD9603]  (297)
  66. Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms [080 166-9]  (288)
  67. Last Action Hero [27936]  (286)
  68. Dracula: Dead and Loving It [80096]  (286)
  69. Double Team [83236]  (286)
  70. Jerry Maguire [82536]  (276)
  71. Gwendoline (Perils of Gwendoline) [G78F5010]  (275)
  72. Grosse Pointe Blank [10040 AS]  (273)
  73. 300 [113764]  (270)
  74. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [PILF-2830]  (252)
  75. Hook [70606]  (252)
  76. Casablanca [79208]  (248)
  77. Psycho [11-003]  (234)
  78. Batman Begins [80924]  (232)
  79. Desperado: Special Edition [11656]  (231)
  80. Video Standard, A [LD-101]  (225)
  81. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory [80926]  (224)
  82. Planet Earth: The Complete Series [E2939]  (224)
  83. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LVH 2011]  (224)
  84. WarGames [4714-80]  (220)
  85. Indian in the Cupboard, The [11646]  (220)
  86. Matrix, The: Complete Trilogy [115974-92-TPON]  (217)
  87. Blade Runner: 5-Disc Complete Collectors Edition [118573]  (216)
  88. Switchblade Sisters: Special Edition [RT1001L]  (216)
  89. Muppet Treasure Island [7076 AS]  (207)
  90. Dirty Dancing [ID5172]  (207)
  91. Raw Deal [LVD9545]  (198)
  92. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LV 8858]  (192)
  93. Hamlet [94996]  (190)
  94. Abyss, The: Special Edition [1988-85]  (190)
  95. MTV's Beavis & Butt-Head: the Essential Collection [MLV49691]  (190)
  96. Star Wars: A New Hope [1130-70]  (189)
  97. Now You Can See the Music [080 546-1]  (189)
  98. Matilda [86866]  (180)
  99. Extreme Measures [94926]  (180)
  100. Lethal Weapon 3 [12475]  (176)
"Score" is defined as (Rot Level x Nb of Reports)
Top 10 Makers
(realtime)
  1. DADC USA  (2251)
  2. Pioneer USA  (1866)
  3. PDO UK  (1557)
  4. Pioneer Japan  (1122)
  5. 3M or IMATION  (618)
  6. Mitsubishi  (401)
  7. Kuraray  (366)
  8. DiscoVision (MCA)  (286)
  9. Technidisc  (262)
  10. DADC Austria  (178)
Ranking is defined as Nb of Reports/Factory

Note that humidity/water do not provoke laser rot. I sadly had a water disaster in my basement and some of my LDs spent 8 hours half immersed in freezing water. Except for the damaged covers and inserts, the disc are still playing nicely.

The main consequence of rot are those "multicolor video speckles/lines" appearing randomly on your screen and becoming more visible at the start or at the beginning of a side.

A stronger consequence can also affect the Digital Audio Tracks that will play with "clicks" and sometimes become completely mute for a few 10th of second because the data is so distored that it has no more meaning for your A/V Amp. This happened to me on Princess Bride CRITERION.

The final effect of a deadly rot will be a completely unwatchable LD. The player simply won't find it's start/timing/chapter sequence and give up playing after several tentatives.

Note that 8" LD Single do not use glue to keep the two sides together and should not be affected by laser rot. None reported so far.

Also, rot is disc/side dependant and could affect Side A while Side B remains untouched. People with access to several copies of the same set might sometimes be able to "reconstruct" a rot-free full set by checking each disc individually and selecting only the good ones.

    
 
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