What the ******* is wrong with my DS9 DVD:s?

[Lynx]

Perhaps recent firmware updates have caused a compatability problem with older DVDs.

Or, if your machine can't update its firmware, try a more modern machine that can?

in fact, I have tested the damaged discs at a DVD player more modern than the one I recently have. Not to mention that it is region-free too. Unfortunately, the result is the same. The discs stops at exactly the same place. The same when I play them on my computer and I bought the computer this year.

Lance wrote:

This is actually (unfortunately) quite a common thing. It's called "Disc Rot".

Obligatory Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot


Everything on Earth is subject to basic entropy, and unfortunately optical media (digital media, for that matter) is no exception to that. Blu-Ray discs are apparently authored in a way which extends their life considerably longer than DVD and CD based media. But yeah, nothing is infaliable, and discs are gonna decay over time, no matter what we do.....

And the extent to which they do is somewhat random. It can't be predicted why, or when, it will happen. My TOS DVDs actually suffered from it on the Season 3 set. They all used to work, then one day one of the discs just... didn't anymore.

The first Star Trek DVD:s I bought were the season 1-3 Voyager DVD:s which I bought in "February 2006. They are still working perfect (just in case, I will do a main "Voyager rewatch in the coming months to see if they are still OK). I also have some rock videos older than the Voyager DVD:s which still works.

As for the DS9 season 1 DVD.s, I watched them once before they started to malfunction about a week ago. They should last longer than that.

As for discs in common, I bought my first CD records in 1990 and they are still playable, just as if they are new.

 

[Lance]

Lance wrote:

This is actually (unfortunately) quite a common thing. It's called "Disc Rot".

Obligatory Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot


Everything on Earth is subject to basic entropy, and unfortunately optical media (digital media, for that matter) is no exception to that. Blu-Ray discs are apparently authored in a way which extends their life considerably longer than DVD and CD based media. But yeah, nothing is infaliable, and discs are gonna decay over time, no matter what we do.....

And the extent to which they do is somewhat random. It can't be predicted why, or when, it will happen. My TOS DVDs actually suffered from it on the Season 3 set. They all used to work, then one day one of the discs just... didn't anymore.

The first Star Trek DVD:s I bought were the season 1-3 Voyager DVD:s which I bought in February 2006. They are still working perfect (just in case, I will do a main Voyager rewatch in the coming months to see if they are still OK). I also have some rock videos older than the Voyager DVD:s which still works.

As for the DS9 season 1 DVD.s, I watched them once before they started to malfunction about a week ago. They should last longer than that.

As for discs in common, I bought my first CD records in 1990 and they are still playable, just as if they are new.

Yeah, me too. That's what I'm saying about it being random. As far as I understand it, 'Disc Rot' is a result of perhaps a subtle hairline fracture in the plastic surface layer of a CD/DVD/Blu Ray, which can cause oxygen to get into the middle layer where the data is burned. Discs can react differently to this, sometimes they might come in with an actual physical evidence of the degeneration of the disc, in other cases it's virtually undetectable by the human eye but the laser itself will have trouble reading the data (because the data, in the physical sense, has become 'corrupted').

You can have nearly new discs that degrade significantly quicker, while others that you've had for decades are still fine. It really is that random. But there will be a time when they suffer the rot.

(I've heard all sorts of theories about how to store discs so that they don't degrade as quickly etc, but in my own experience it makes little difference, I'm always careful with my discs but I've still had the odd one here and there die on me. )

 

[Lynx]

^^
That might be true.

But I still find it odd that during all those years I've had a DVD player, the only DVD:s I have had this problem with are the recently bought DS9 DVD:s.

 

[Lynx]

By the way, where can I find the e-mail address to Paramount. I've searched everywhere on theirc sites and can't find it.

 

[drmick]

You could try rick.berman@paramount.com?

 

[dub]

Oh I definitely had problems with the DVD sets I purchased. I say "sets" because I ended up purchasing 2 sets. I purchased a second set to replace the malfunctioning discs in the first set. I then planned to sell what was left of the second set by season. But I have yet to do that.

Anyway, for what it's worth here was my post and the responses back then:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=205228

 

[Lynx]

You could try rick.berman@paramount.com?

 

[Lynx]

Oh I definitely had problems with the DVD sets I purchased. I say "sets" because I ended up purchasing 2 sets. I purchased a second set to replace the malfunctioning discs in the first set. I then planned to sell what was left of the second set by season. But I have yet to do that.

Anyway, for what it's worth here was my post and the responses back then:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=205228

When I read this, together with posts in this thread, I get the impression that almost all the DS9 season boxes ar nothing but bad produced crap, especially those meant for the European market.

What kind of sceme ist that? How can they treat customers like that?

As for me, first they humiliate and destroy my Star Trek Voyager character in the worst possible way. Then, when I try to buy their products, they sell me crap. Do I feel a certain anger at Paramount right now?

 

[Lynx]

I'm not the one who use to "bump" certain threads and I don't want to start arguing over this again but I have to inform you about the latest events during the ruined DS9 DVD discs.

The same day I discovered the latest problem with the ruined season 1 DVD I wrote about in the first post, I mailed Paramount about them. I used some opportunities to send messages via their websites and politely described the problems. I also wrote that if my messages were send to wrong department, they could be nice to send them to the right persons or reply to me with the correct address to send my complaints.

So far, no reply.
Not a single comment from Paramount.
I'm very dissapointed.

So much for trying to solve things the legal way.

 

[Gaith]

To be honest, I try to respect copyright.

Eh, if you've bought a legit copy, you've got a right to that quality-level copy of the material, IMO.

We all must make comprises in the face of the impending darkness. No one gets out of life alive.

 

[Lynx]

^^
All my DS9 DVD:s are legal, bought on-line from a shop I've ordered a lot of stuff from for many years without any problems.

My last attempt to solve this problem legally will be to contact that online shop and see what they can do. Maybe Paramount show more respect to an online shop than to a low-life fan like me.

 

[doubleohfive]

The entire series is available to view over Netflix Streaming, so if you must watch the affected episodes, they are at least available that way.

As to the DVDs, how do you handle them? Do you leave them just laying around out of the case? Or do you put them away when you're done? Nothing lasts forever, but you should be able to still use the discs if you take proper care of them.

Alternatively, the DVD sets are still available for purchase both new and used, so if the situation is considered so egregious you can easily replace the set.

 

[dub]

It sounds like Lynx had the issue when he initially put the DVD in the DVD player. The same thing happened to me.

Sure you can purchase replacement sets or replacement discs, but obviously you shouldn't have to if the discs themselves are malfunctioning. That's what I ended up doing, but you shouldn't have to do that. Especially if this proves to be a common problem. The sets themselves while they looked cool were flimsy and poorly made. There were no visible scratches on the malfunctioning discs (in my case). And I tried in several DVD players.

Streaming is a good alternative, but there is no guarantee DS9 will be available on streaming forever. And some people like to rip DVDs to put on a personal server, Plex, or to make fan edits.

 

[Lynx]

The entire series is available to view over Netflix Streaming, so if you must watch the affected episodes, they are at least available that way.

As to the DVDs, how do you handle them? Do you leave them just laying around out of the case? Or do you put them away when you're done? Nothing lasts forever, but you should be able to still use the discs if you take proper care of them.

Alternatively, the DVD sets are still available for purchase both new and used, so if the situation is considered so egregious you can easily replace the set.

Just for your information, I do take proper care of my discs. I would recommend you to read my previous posts in this thread to have more detailed information of the problem (no offense here, right now I just don't feel for writing the whole ghastly story over again).

And yes, I can buy season 1 again to avoid this particular problem. But how do I know if the discs are of the same lousy quality as the previous discs. I've already bought season 2 once again after discovering similar problems there and I can't spend the coming yeras buying DS9 seasons over and over again because the discs are of such low quality that they start malfunction immediately or after just one viewing.

 

[SPCTRE]

Time to upgrade to Blu-ray.

 

[Gaith]

If streaming options are unavailable or leave you unsatisfied, does your country offer a Netflix disc subscription service? If so, why not get a hard drive, back up the episodes you've legally and fairly purchased more than once, and be sure to back up said hard drive every few years? The hard drive cost should be about the same as a season DVD set, and you get to back up your personal files also.

Myself, I have one copy of all my important files on my day-to-day laptop, and one on an external hard drive I only use a few times a year for archival purposes. As Guy said, hard drives break now and then, but I'm pretty comfortable with the low risk that if/when one fails, I'll have time to make a third hard drive before the first/second one fails also.

 

[Kilana2]

I´m from Germany and I own the UK Import, all seven seasons. And Voyager, season 2-7. So far: one Voyager Episode unwatchable, four DS9 episodes unwatchable. I can´t play one episode at all. The others stop 8 minutes before the end of the episode..... I´m pissed. I think I can´t do anything. The DVDs are approximately 4 years old. And when they were new I could finish each episode without problems..

 

[Lance]

Do you keep your disc cases stacked vertically, or horizontally on your shelf? Because I have read that horizontal stacking can create pressure on the discs.

 

[borgboy]

I'm doing a massive Trek marathon and I'm in the middle of DS9 season 2. So far all the discs have played perfectly. I am spoiled by the high quality of the new TNG blu rays, but I think the DS9 DVDs still look fair on my HD tv. I'm still hoping that DS9 and Voyager will get blu ray treatment someday.

 

[Kilana2]

I watch my DVD via notebook, I don´t have a DVD player. As to the bad quality of Star Trek DVDs: I read some of the rewiews on Amazone.de and many of them cast a poor light on the UK Import. People recommended Blue-Ray, too. I´m just angry that I have bought poor material in the first place. Our german TV station recently started to show DS9 season 1 again. I just have to put up with the advertisement!.