Do home recorded DVDs have shorter lifespan than commercial?

[funkydude74]

Hi all. I've recently heard a rumour that DVDs recorded at home have a shorter lifespan than commercially released DVDs, I was wondering what's the truth in this??? Are blank DVDs you buy from the shop are made of weaker materials than whats used for commercial DVDs which degrade quicker???

Cheers
Troy

[Hardcoreruss]

Manufactures state that their recordable media has 20 or 50 year lifespans. However all of the is speculation as dvd has only been around for about 7 years. Ask this question again in 2020 and I will see if any of my backups are still working

[turk690]

DVD movies you rent or buy are stamped or pressed DVDs where, so to say, the 1s and 0s are "engraved" right onto the polycarbonate before being sprayed with aluminium. Recordable DVDs have an organic dye that have areas selectively blackened with the recording laser. This dye can ALWAYS be affected in all sorts of unpredictable ways before or after recording, which is why one precaution is never to expose them to sunlight or any other strong light (which are not going to faze pressed DVDs as much). With all this in mind, I suppose if DVD-Rs will have shorter lifespans than pressed DVDs it is inherent in the product.