Life expectance of DVD's as a Storage Media

[KailuaKid]

I store my camcorder AVI movies and Jpeg Photos of our vacations and Family Pics on DVD. How long will they last before they start to deteriorate ? When they do start to deteriorate is there any way to restore them back to orginal form ? What is the best media to use as a long term archive for AVI, Mpeg movies and Jpeg Photos ?

[redwudz]

Simple answer, nobody knows. It may be 50 years. Writable DVDs haven't been around that long. There have been a lot of studies, but, IMO, it's mostly speculation.

I would recommend Taiyo Yuden or maybe Verbatim for DVD storage. I still like the 8X TYs the best. Those seem to be two of the best manufacturers. At least they are the ones I trust for long term storage. Keep them out of sunlight or extreme temperatures or humidity. I store mine in the original cake boxes, others prefer good quality jewel cases. Avoid paper labels. Sharpies work well for me to create simple labels, or just label the jewel boxes. If you use the DL DVD-9 disks, I would only recommend Verbatim DL + discs.

You can get more information on DVDs here: http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/media/

If you put the date on each of your DVDs, and use the same brand and quality of DVD media, when the oldest one shows signs of deterioration, start backing them up to new media. Most likely by then there will be maybe better storage systems than the DVDs we use at present.

[zoobie]

when I joined VH in 2005, it was 100 years
shortly afterwards, somebody noticed their discs weren't playing anymore after 2 months...

[showtaper]

So far, I've had mixed results with ALL brand name optical media. I'd pay more for guaranteed
quality, but that does not seem to be an option.

Therefore, anything I acquire in a digital format gets saved on DVD, external hard drive and tape
backup. If it's really rare, it goes on 3/4" U-Matic as I have a bunch of machines and a ton of tape
stock. The reel to reel video and 3/4" video I've shot at concerts as early as 1966 is still viewable
today, I'm not sure I'll be able to say the same about my DVDs in 40+ years.....

[guns1inger]

From what I read here, if you have Kid's they will last about 6 minutes. It appears most of the drop-ins with children have no control over them and let them play with whatever they like, including their precious discs. They then complain that they don't play any more.

I have two kids, 10 and 12, and haven't had to replace a disc that they have destroyed, because I didn't let them play with them, and I taught them to respect them.

As for general longevity - I have Princos that go back 7 or 8 years and they all play fine. I keep them in the dark, standing up right, and have no playback issues.

[orsetto]

Its difficult to estimate the durability of optical media "across the board". Individuals like LordSmurf that have a methodical archiving process and more elaborate testing of their recorded media will have a better handle on it than a casual user who leaves the discs on a coffee table near a window, thats about all anyone can guarantee. Accelerated aging tests can only prove so much, and a lot of "conventional wisdom" has been dead wrong in the past. Only the passage of real time can tell you anything- the best example being all the idiotic handwringing over the longevity of videotape. People were so sure Beta/VHS had a lifespan of "maybe ten years", but I have hundreds of em dating back to 1981 that still play as if they were recorded yesterday, and showtaper mentions owning "pro" tapes going back 43 years that are still OK. The playback hardware is more likely to deteriorate than the tapes.

The big problem with digital is the huge concentration of data in a small space that can't sustain the slightest damage without ruining everything on that media piece. If an analog videotape breaks, you can work around the broken section and still salvage most of the tape. If a DVD-R, CD-ROM, USB memory stick or even a hard drive corrupts a section of itself, you could easily lose everything on it. DVD-R is particularly annoying because theres really no "consumer" method of verifying you got a perfect burn from your recorder. Many combinations of burner and media seem to produce a "perfect" disc but in reality they're way off, and burns that are "off" are the ones that appear to "deteriorate" quickly. Analog video is more transparent: you record it, check playback on the VCR, check playback in a second VCR of a different brand to be sure the tape is tracking normally, and you're good for 20-40 years assuming your playback hardware stays accurate that long. The joke is black and white film will probably beat videotape or digital video: archive prints of "King Kong" or three-strip Technicolor "Gone With The Wind" will outlive all of us.

[guns1inger]

Like any source, film only lasts if treated correctly and copied from time to time. Many films have been lost to use because they were not stored correctly, and when the studios finally began to realise what wealth they had in their archives, they discovered the films had deteriorated beyond repair. The chemical nature of films makes it very fragile over time.

[lordsmurf]

Its difficult to estimate the durability of optical media "across the board". Individuals like LordSmurf that have a methodical archiving process and more elaborate testing of their recorded media will have a better handle on it than a casual user who leaves the discs on a coffee table near a window, thats about all anyone can guarantee. Accelerated aging tests can only prove so much, and a lot of "conventional wisdom" has been dead wrong in the past. Only the passage of real time can tell you anything- the best example being all the idiotic handwringing over the longevity of videotape. People were so sure Beta/VHS had a lifespan of "maybe ten years", but I have hundreds of em dating back to 1981 that still play as if they were recorded yesterday, and showtaper mentions owning "pro" tapes going back 43 years that are still OK. The playback hardware is more likely to deteriorate than the tapes.

The big problem with digital is the huge concentration of data in a small space that can't sustain the slightest damage without ruining everything on that media piece. If an analog videotape breaks, you can work around the broken section and still salvage most of the tape. If a DVD-R, CD-ROM, USB memory stick or even a hard drive corrupts a section of itself, you could easily lose everything on it. DVD-R is particularly annoying because theres really no "consumer" method of verifying you got a perfect burn from your recorder. Many combinations of burner and media seem to produce a "perfect" disc but in reality they're way off, and burns that are "off" are the ones that appear to "deteriorate" quickly. Analog video is more transparent: you record it, check playback on the VCR, check playback in a second VCR of a different brand to be sure the tape is tracking normally, and you're good for 20-40 years assuming your playback hardware stays accurate that long. The joke is black and white film will probably beat videotape or digital video: archive prints of "King Kong" or three-strip Technicolor "Gone With The Wind" will outlive all of us.

A pretty good analysis. 8)

-- If you test discs to verify original quality, and then store then properly in expected conditions, they will easily last decades without decay.
-- If you mistreat the media, store it improperly, or never verify original integrity, then the odds are more likely that your DVD experience will be miserable.

It really was no different with VHS tapes. If you put your tapes in an attic or basement, or let little Jimmy smear food on the tape itself, then it did not last very long, no. The media itself is quite durable, idiotic consumers aside.

[cal_tony]

I don't have much to add other than I do have disks around 10 years old. Some of the older ones have failed or at least some parts of them have failed. 10 years ago lots of disks were of inferior quality especially the off brands. I've had some older disks separate and some change color. Once they begin to change color, it's time to save what you can on them. I've had few old RW disks get hazy and become unplayable. For some reason re-formatting wipes away the haze and they're good again. Finally, let me say that without really knowing, I thing the longevity also depends on the programs authoring and writing the disks. Back than nothing seemed to work all that well. At least not for me. So I assume I'm lucky any of these old ones are still good but except for those few failures, most are still playing just fine.
Over the years I've collected quite a few DVD players and I've found that how long a disk lasts also depends on what player you put it in. I have an old 480i Mintek player that will flawlessly play a disk nothing else will even begin to play.

Tony

[redwudz]

This is more a media question than restoration. Moving to Media Forum.