Once Good DVD won't Play

[gjlazarc]

What are likely reasons why a once good DVD made with Neo DVD 4.1 on Verbatim +R medium now will not play on the same player? It still plays well on my computer, but my Hitachi set top player won't play well. I have had no problems with any other disks.

It has moving menu's and sound on the menu's. Some menus are eratic in playback, bouncing from one window to next without allowing to select, or they ,may select and then they playback in jerky one second bursts followed by a pause. When playing sound and pictures look normal. THere are no visible blemishes on the disk, it has been storred in a hard jewel case and not been played for several months. It is a two disk set and both disks have problem menus and some areas that play well. Both play on the computer.

I used full Medioface Disk Labels on the top side of disks. Could chemicals in the adhesives cause a problem? I wrote them and asked about archival quality of disks using these labels but did not get a reasonable answer....I don't think they have any test data!

I made a copy of the disk using Record Now and the copy seems to play ok but all this has shaken my confidence. You put a lot of hours into these projects, think you have been successful, then months later you have nothing! Any suggestion in avoiding this problem would be appreciated.

[rcb]

not all will agree, but full face labels on dvd's can cause an unbalanced playing spin condition giving results as you describe.

A core label is less riskier, but still needs to be put on with a good centering applicator.

[falberni]

Get a can of WD40 spray from an auto parts store and spray on the lable. Let it sit for about 15 minutes to half an hour. Remove the lable. Spray some more WD40 on a paper towel and wipe both sides of the disk with it until all the adhesive is completely dissolved and removed. Wash it is the sink with luke warm water and dish detergent. Dry it well with a soft towel. use a soft cloth and rub the shiny side, as if you are cleaning your eye glasses, until it gets real shiny.

I just did this process to about 150 DVDs over the Holidays. There was absolutely no damage to the disks and they tested perfectly in Nero CD speed ramping up from 3.5x to 8X on a straight line using a Lite-On combo drive.

I strongly believe the label issue is not a balancing issue. It's rather a thermal expansion issue. Plastic wants to expand more than paper. The result is a disk that is slightly dished when gets warm in a DVD player. Newly labled disks usually are okay for a few weeks until the adhesive sets and gets completely dry. Before the adhesive sets, the adhesive gives a little, when the plastic wants to expand. But as the adhesive gets harder, the paper solidly opposes the expansion of the plastic and thus the dishing problem.