DVD's starting to perish

[pcrich]

I bought the Roger Moore box set (region 2) containing all 7 of his Bond films. They've been fine for 2 years, but have recently started to ooze a sticky substance from within the disc onto the surface which made them unplayable. None of my other box sets have done this. I have been able to remove the sticky glue from the discs with a cloth dipped in soapy water and now the discs play again. It's 3 films that have been affected so far, the other 4 in the set look ok, touch wood. I have read on the net that several discs made by MGM a few years ago were prone to do this. Can I ask, will the movies stored on those 3 discs start to diminish over time, now this substance has oozed out of the disc. Was this glue used to keep the data safe on the disc? Or will my having to remove this substance make no difference in the long term? Hope it's the latter! I've emailed MGM but it's a USA contact. Does anyone know of a UK MGM contact? Thanks, Rich.

[Kerry56]

Commercial dvds are made with two layers of polycarbonate on the outside, and a pressed metal layer in the middle that contains the data. They are glued together at the factory. The stuff oozing out is undoubtedly the adhesive used to bond the pieces together.

Since the dvds may no longer be well sealed, due to this leakage, you might start to see some oxidation form on the metal layer, which could lead to poor playback. If you are in a particularly humid area, you might also see fungus inside the disc, which can cause the disc to fail. And if the glue really deteriorates, the disc may de-laminate, which of course is a catastrophic failure of the media.

[jman98]

MGM's rights are a convoluted mess. As best I can tell, these guys are your UK contact for MGM product.

http://www.parkcircus.com/

No kidding. That's their name. Park Circus.

I did a search and sadly this issue is well known for the Bond films and several other major old MGM releases. I never found a proper "Contact these people for help" message anywhere. I would not trust the discs to last. If you get no help, probably it would be in your best interest to buy some Verbatim DVD+R DL discs (do NOT buy any other brand!) and learn how to rip and burn new discs from your rips. If properly stored, the new DVD+R DL discs should last a long time - if you use Verbatim. If 4 of your DVDs look OK, then I would not expect them to go bad later. I think the odds are good that if they had problems you'd already see it.

We very strongly recommend ImgBurn (it's free) for burning. We have guides on how to rip and burn.

Some UK and European ("European" meaning "not in the UK but elsewhere in Europe") CDs back in the 1990s made for some small classical and jazz labels have a roughly similar problem and all that can be done on those discs is to simply copy them as quickly as possible as eventually they'll become unplayable.

[Bjs]

A little of track there.

A dvd has two polycarbonate layers, one is the carrier layer (thinker, stronger for handling), the second thinner layer is bonded to the thin metal layer ... this metal layer holds the data and is on one side of the disc ... not in between.

On top of the thin metal layer is a dvds title art work ... but in your case they used sticky labels and it is this residue you are having issues with ... clean it off in the same manner and you should have no issues with this dvds for years.

[Kerry56]

The metal layer exists between the two polycarbonate layers. Yes, the metal layer is bonded to one of the polycarbonate layers, but just above the metal layer is the adhesive that holds the whole thing together.