Do blu-ray discs tend to go dead one day?

[mausinho]

Hey there.

So, I own three blu-ray discs that have stopped working all of a sudden. I own like five different table blu-ray players in my house and harddrive blu-ray players on a Mac and on a PC. All players won't play the discs. There are no scratches, no dots, no lines, no dust, absolutely nothing over the surface of the discs, they are perfectly clean.

The discs are:
Glee The 3D Movie (This one stops in the middle of the show and goes to the credits)
Across The Universe (Prudence song starts to freeze)
Xuxa Só Para Baixinhos 9: Natal (This is a Brazilian title that won't load the menu correctly and, if I get to play it, audio won't sync with screen and subtitles)

So, my question is: is it normal for blu-ray discs to simply stop working out of nowhere, without scratches or similar dents? All discs were well conserved in normal temperature, along with a bunch of other blu-ray discs that still work normally.

I'm so frustrated I can't play my discs on any blu-ray player even though there is no damage on the surfaces. Why does this happen?

Thank you.

[Baldrick]

Commercial blu-ray discs? Or burned BDR/W?

Can you browse/explore the blu-ray with windows explorer on your computer?

[hech54]

Is it these three discs or your player?
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/377094-LG-blu-ray-player-is-stopping-playing-blu-ray-discs

[mausinho]

They are all original purchased discs, none is burned, they won't work in a computer either.

[mausinho]

It's not the player, I've said I have 7 players and they work in none.

[mausinho]

That's a completly different thread.

[mausinho]

I mean, they do load in the computer and I can see the files, but they won't play with any player software.

[Kerry56]

Is it possible to copy the movies to the hard drive using MakeMKV? If they won't play properly, I'd think this is not likely, but it is an option to retain a copy that will play from the hard drive, and which you could burn to a new disc.

You might have pinholes in the reflective layer. I've seen this on rare occasions. Hold the disc up to a bright light and see if you can see some tiny holes where the light is shining through.

[mausinho]

Guys, let me clear this up. I own three blu-ray discs that won't work in ANY player in the world, without scratches and surface damages, but I also own ONE SINGLE blu-ray player that is having problems playing blu-ray discs. It has problems with every disc I insert. But ALL my blu-ray discs are working just fine in my other blu-ray players, it's just these three that won't play. The deffect on my single blu-ray player has nothing to do with the three discs.

[mausinho]

But then if I use that software I would have my blu-ray discs in MKV format? I don't see any pinhole, can those pinholes be so small that they are almost invisible?

[ron spencer]

I own three blu-ray discs that won't work in ANY player in the world

In the world???

Never heard of this...take the discs to a store that demos Bluray players and try them there. If they don't play on anything there...then you have badly manufactured discs.

[mausinho]

I own three blu-ray discs that won't work in ANY player in the world

In the world???

Never heard of this...take the discs to a store that demos Bluray players and try them there. If they don't play on anything there...then you have badly manufactured discs.

Yeah, that was a hyperbole, I shouldn't have said it so exaggeratedly, but I don't seem to find a blu-ray player of any label that will play them properly.

[mausinho]

So basically the solution to my problem is repurchase new items? Great.

[JVRaines]

Are you using the same video monitor for all your tests?

[mausinho]

No. I've been testing in different televisions and computer screens.

[Kerry56]

But then if I use that software I would have my blu-ray discs in MKV format? I don't see any pinhole, can those pinholes be so small that they are almost invisible?

If you use MakeMKV in Backup mode, you will copy the entire disc to the hard drive. It will be in Blu-ray format, not an MKV. But this assumes that the program can successfully rip the movies, which is doubtful, since they don't play correctly. It is simply something to try.

Pinholes should be visible when held up to a bright light, so that may not be your problem with these particular discs. Like I said before, this is not something I've seen often, but in those cases, it was obvious what the problem was.

[ron spencer]

I own three blu-ray discs that won't work in ANY player in the world

In the world???

Never heard of this...take the discs to a store that demos Bluray players and try them there. If they don't play on anything there...then you have badly manufactured discs.

Yeah, that was a hyperbole, I shouldn't have said it so exaggeratedly, but I don't seem to find a blu-ray player of any label that will play them properly.

How many PHYSICAL STANDALONE players have you tried? How many PC-Based BluRay readers have you tried? If you are already in double digits, then your discs are shot.

[mausinho]

But then if I use that software I would have my blu-ray discs in MKV format? I don't see any pinhole, can those pinholes be so small that they are almost invisible?

If you use MakeMKV in Backup mode, you will copy the entire disc to the hard drive. It will be in Blu-ray format, not an MKV. But this assumes that the program can successfully rip the movies, which is doubtful, since they don't play correctly. It is simply something to try.

Pinholes should be visible when held up to a bright light, so that may not be your problem with these particular discs. Like I said before, this is not something I've seen often, but in those cases, it was obvious what the problem was.

I'mma try to rip the discs this afternoon. Thank you for the tip. I also doubt they will be successfully ripped, but, whatever, it is worth a shot. I'm going to see if I can find something really bright like a flashlight to check the discs properly for pins. Thank you for the tip.

[mausinho]

I own three blu-ray discs that won't work in ANY player in the world

In the world???

Never heard of this...take the discs to a store that demos Bluray players and try them there. If they don't play on anything there...then you have badly manufactured discs.

Yeah, that was a hyperbole, I shouldn't have said it so exaggeratedly, but I don't seem to find a blu-ray player of any label that will play them properly.

How many PHYSICAL STANDALONE players have you tried? How many PC-Based BluRay readers have you tried? If you are already in double digits, then your discs are shot.

Three physical blu-ray players of different labels, one harddrive on a Mac Computer and a Playstation 3.

[orsetto]

So basically the solution to my problem is repurchase new items? Great.

Unfortunately, this may end up being your only solution. You may simply be the victim of bad luck: while "disc rot" is less common with the BluRay format than DVD, it does happen occasionally. You are located in Brazil, a very warm, humid country: if these three discs happen to have slight mfr'g defects that allow that humid air to seep inside the disc, it could damage the reflective layer despite the recording layer being solid state. Or, your problem discs could be well-disguised bootlegs, burned on inferior BD-R LTH dye-based blanks. LTH discs are known for unreliability and compatibility issues. Your PC should be able to display the disc type using a free utility like "DVD Identifier" or "ImgBurn" (available from VH Tools download section).

Commercial pressed optical discs, both BluRay and DVD, contain no dyes or other organic material, so in theory they should be impervious to decay for at least 20 years. In reality, they "go bad" randomly all the time, for no apparent reason whatsoever. Countless people have reported buying a disc set of a TV series or movie collection, having it play perfectly the first time, putting it away on a shelf, then when they attempt to play it again a year later 3 out of 5 discs will skip, freeze, stutter, refuse to load, etc. There is no earthly reason this should happen, but it does, to almost everyone who owns more than a handful of discs. The difference with BluRay is any defects usually show up immediately when a BD is new, instead of later as typical with dvd, but delayed BD failure has been reported.

The MakeMKV suggestion made by several other posters has a decent chance of working, since you are able to browse the disc files in Windows Explorer. Ripping software sometimes succeeds where playback software/hardware fails. You might also consider downloading the free trial version of AnyDVD HD + CloneBD from SlySoft: this utility will often repair damaged files while ripping, allowing you to make a playable backup disc from a damaged original.

[mausinho]

So basically the solution to my problem is repurchase new items? Great.

Unfortunately, this may end up being your only solution. You may simply be the victim of bad luck: while "disc rot" is less common with the BluRay format than DVD, it does happen occasionally. You are located in Brazil, a very warm, humid country: if these three discs happen to have slight mfr'g defects that allow that humid air to seep inside the disc, it could damage the reflective layer despite the recording layer being solid state. Or, your problem discs could be well-disguised bootlegs, burned on inferior BD-R LTH dye-based blanks. LTH discs are known for unreliability and compatibility issues. Your PC should be able to display the disc type using a free utility like "DVD Identifier" or "ImgBurn" (available from VH Tools download section).

Commercial pressed optical discs, both BluRay and DVD, contain no dyes or other organic material, so in theory they should be impervious to decay for at least 20 years. In reality, they "go bad" randomly all the time, for no apparent reason whatsoever. Countless people have reported buying a disc set of a TV series or movie collection, having it play perfectly the first time, putting it away on a shelf, then when they attempt to play it again a year later 3 out of 5 discs will skip, freeze, stutter, refuse to load, etc. There is no earthly reason this should happen, but it does, to almost everyone who owns more than a handful of discs. The difference with BluRay is any defects usually show up immediately when a BD is new, instead of later as typical with dvd, but delayed BD failure has been reported.

The MakeMKV suggestion made by several other posters has a decent chance of working, since you are able to browse the disc files in Windows Explorer. Ripping software sometimes succeeds where playback software/hardware fails. You might also consider downloading the free trial version of AnyDVD HD + CloneBD from SlySoft: this utility will often repair damaged files while ripping, allowing you to make a playable backup disc from a damaged original.

Thank you for your great explanation. It may seem that the discs are damaged by some reason I cannot explain. I will have to repurchase them, unfortunately. MakeMKV stops backing up when it gets to the points that are damaged. No luck at that either. Anyways, thank you for your help, I'll save some money so I can buy new discs. (Blu-ray discs are expensive in Brazil). And, by the way, we used to be a humid country. With all this climate changes, we're getting humidity average lower than 10% some days...