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Laser Rot

Well, Laser Rot is a problem important enough to deserve a dedicated page.

Metal Layer Oxydation (also called laser rot) is the plague of LDs. Impossible to forecast, useless to fight, it can happen anytime during the lifetime of a disc. Hopefully not all LD titles manufactured are suffering from this disease and some Factories are more famous than others on this issue (SONY DADC being #1).

Current Status 10031 reports on 5502 titles representing 0.95% of total collections
Top 100 LDs
(realtime)
  1. Eraser [14202]  (13104)
  2. Air Force One: Special Edition [71886]  (8742)
  3. Starship Troopers [71716]  (5406)
  4. Jumanji [11746]  (4343)
  5. Cable Guy, The [82426]  (4000)
  6. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [23500]  (3840)
  7. Men in Black [82656]  (3600)
  8. Copycat [14168]  (3520)
  9. Net, The [11616]  (3458)
  10. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory [13665]  (2542)
  11. Contact: Special Edition [15041]  (2450)
  12. Lost Highway [ID3946PG]  (2442)
  13. Shawshank Redemption, The [74596]  (2387)
  14. Beauty and the Beast: Work in Progress [1591 CS]  (2310)
  15. Professional, The [74746]  (2250)
  16. Heavy Metal [74656]  (1885)
  17. Fargo [800638693-1]  (1856)
  18. Demolition Man [12985]  (1595)
  19. Game, The [ID4260PG]  (1560)
  20. Striptease [84976]  (1500)
  21. Fugitive, The [21000]  (1431)
  22. Dante's Peak [43311]  (1300)
  23. Fan, The [82476]  (1298)
  24. Fifth Element, The [82406]  (1200)
  25. Volcano [0603985]  (1118)
  26. Batman Returns [15000]  (860)
  27. Boot, Das (The Boat) [99916]  (820)
  28. Willow [79356]  (714)
  29. Johnny Mnemonic [73476]  (680)
  30. Star Wars Trilogy: Definitive Collection [0693-84]  (651)
  31. Gattaca [82646]  (578)
  32. Bad Boys [10716]  (561)
  33. Fair Game [14072]  (560)
  34. First Knight [71176]  (555)
  35. Batman & Robin [16500]  (527)
  36. I Know What You Did Last Summer: Special Edition [23926]  (527)
  37. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective [23000]  (525)
  38. Aliens: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1504-85]  (504)
  39. The Beatles: Let It Be [4508-80]  (504)
  40. Multiplicity [82446]  (496)
  41. Fire Down Below [14914]  (435)
  42. Barb Wire [800639927-1]  (434)
  43. Mute Witness [41176]  (429)
  44. Devil's Own, The [82466]  (390)
  45. Tin Cup [14318]  (377)
  46. Hunchback of Notre Dame, The [7955 AS]  (364)
  47. Double Team [83236]  (336)
  48. Donnie Brasco [82516]  (325)
  49. Dolores Claiborne [59906]  (324)
  50. Hoodlum [ML106282]  (312)
  51. Crimes of Passion: Special Edition [LVD9523]  (312)
  52. Maximum Risk [27416]  (312)
  53. Grumpier Old Men [14191]  (300)
  54. Craft, The [82416]  (300)
  55. Lethal Weapon 2 [11876]  (299)
  56. To Die For [73436]  (299)
  57. Dracula: Dead and Loving It [80096]  (299)
  58. Anaconda [81756]  (294)
  59. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century [13-002]  (290)
  60. ABBA [74-006]  (280)
  61. 300 [113764]  (270)
  62. I Come in Peace [LVD9603]  (264)
  63. Blade Runner: Director's Cut [12682]  (264)
  64. Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms [080 166-9]  (261)
  65. Blade Runner: Special Edition [CC1120L]  (260)
  66. Video Standard, A [LD-101]  (260)
  67. Switchblade Sisters: Special Edition [RT1001L]  (250)
  68. Jerry Maguire [82536]  (242)
  69. Gunsmith Cats Chapter: vol.1 [CAVGS/001]  (240)
  70. Grosse Pointe Blank [10040 AS]  (240)
  71. Hamlet [94996]  (231)
  72. Abyss, The: Special Edition [1988-85]  (231)
  73. Alien: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1090-85]  (224)
  74. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [PILF-2830]  (220)
  75. Desperado: Special Edition [11656]  (220)
  76. Last Action Hero [27936]  (210)
  77. Hook [70606]  (209)
  78. Muppet Treasure Island [7076 AS]  (207)
  79. Eurythmics: Live [080 220-1]  (198)
  80. Raw Deal [LVD9545]  (198)
  81. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LV 8858]  (192)
  82. Kate Bush: The Whole Story [080 504-1]  (192)
  83. MTV's Beavis & Butt-Head: the Essential Collection [MLV49691]  (190)
  84. Indian in the Cupboard, The [11646]  (189)
  85. Blade Runner: 5-Disc Complete Collectors Edition [118573]  (182)
  86. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LVH 2011]  (182)
  87. Matilda [86866]  (180)
  88. Unforgiven [12531]  (180)
  89. WarGames [4714-80]  (180)
  90. Extreme Measures [94926]  (180)
  91. Class of 1999 [PCLV-10002]  (171)
  92. Blob, The [ID6270TS]  (160)
  93. Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The [76986]  (154)
  94. Robocop [ID5168]  (154)
  95. Lethal Weapon 3 [12475]  (150)
  96. Boyz N the Hood: Special Edition [CC1289L]  (150)
  97. Dirty Dancing [ID5172]  (147)
  98. Sense and Sensibility [11596]  (144)
  99. Disclosure [13575]  (144)
  100. Lawrence of Arabia [79626]  (140)
"Score" is defined as (Rot Level x Nb of Reports)
Top 10 Makers
(realtime)
  1. DADC USA  (2100)
  2. Pioneer USA  (1630)
  3. PDO UK  (1289)
  4. Pioneer Japan  (963)
  5. 3M or IMATION  (504)
  6. Mitsubishi  (350)
  7. Kuraray  (295)
  8. DiscoVision (MCA)  (249)
  9. Technidisc  (241)
  10. DADC Austria  (162)
Ranking is defined as Nb of Reports/Factory

Note that humidity/water do not provoke laser rot. I sadly had a water disaster in my basement and some of my LDs spent 8 hours half immersed in freezing water. Except for the damaged covers and inserts, the disc are still playing nicely.

The main consequence of rot are those "multicolor video speckles/lines" appearing randomly on your screen and becoming more visible at the start or at the beginning of a side.

A stronger consequence can also affect the Digital Audio Tracks that will play with "clicks" and sometimes become completely mute for a few 10th of second because the data is so distored that it has no more meaning for your A/V Amp. This happened to me on Princess Bride CRITERION.

The final effect of a deadly rot will be a completely unwatchable LD. The player simply won't find it's start/timing/chapter sequence and give up playing after several tentatives.

Note that 8" LD Single do not use glue to keep the two sides together and should not be affected by laser rot. None reported so far.

Also, rot is disc/side dependant and could affect Side A while Side B remains untouched. People with access to several copies of the same set might sometimes be able to "reconstruct" a rot-free full set by checking each disc individually and selecting only the good ones.