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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 10968 reports on 5919 titles representing 0.94% of total collections
Top 100 LDs
(realtime)
  1. Eraser [14202]  (15215)
  2. Air Force One: Special Edition [71886]  (9216)
  3. Starship Troopers [71716]  (5830)
  4. Jumanji [11746]  (4922)
  5. Cable Guy, The [82426]  (4300)
  6. Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls [23500]  (4242)
  7. Men in Black [82656]  (4128)
  8. Contact: Special Edition [15041]  (3655)
  9. Copycat [14168]  (3608)
  10. Net, The [11616]  (3219)
  11. Beauty and the Beast: Work in Progress [1591 CS]  (2880)
  12. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory [13665]  (2656)
  13. Lost Highway [ID3946PG]  (2618)
  14. Shawshank Redemption, The [74596]  (2325)
  15. Professional, The [74746]  (2117)
  16. Fargo [800638693-1]  (2074)
  17. Demolition Man [12985]  (1829)
  18. Heavy Metal [74656]  (1827)
  19. Fugitive, The [21000]  (1682)
  20. Dante's Peak [43311]  (1596)
  21. Game, The [ID4260PG]  (1508)
  22. Striptease [84976]  (1500)
  23. Volcano [0603985]  (1363)
  24. Batman Returns [15000]  (1250)
  25. Fifth Element, The [82406]  (1200)
  26. Fan, The [82476]  (1197)
  27. Johnny Mnemonic [73476]  (851)
  28. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective [23000]  (817)
  29. Boot, Das (The Boat) [99916]  (760)
  30. Willow [79356]  (714)
  31. Star Wars Trilogy: Definitive Collection [0693-84]  (682)
  32. Batman & Robin [16500]  (680)
  33. Gattaca [82646]  (666)
  34. Bad Boys [10716]  (648)
  35. Aliens: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1504-85]  (600)
  36. First Knight [71176]  (576)
  37. Multiplicity [82446]  (561)
  38. Fair Game [14072]  (560)
  39. The Beatles: Let It Be [4508-80]  (504)
  40. I Know What You Did Last Summer: Special Edition [23926]  (480)
  41. Blade Runner: Special Edition [CC1120L]  (442)
  42. Barb Wire [800639927-1]  (434)
  43. Devil's Own, The [82466]  (434)
  44. Anaconda [81756]  (425)
  45. Hunchback of Notre Dame, The [7955 AS]  (406)
  46. Tin Cup [14318]  (403)
  47. Gunsmith Cats Chapter: vol.1 [CAVGS/001]  (396)
  48. Crimes of Passion: Special Edition [LVD9523]  (392)
  49. Maximum Risk [27416]  (390)
  50. Fire Down Below [14914]  (378)
  51. Mute Witness [41176]  (372)
  52. Hoodlum [ML106282]  (351)
  53. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century [13-002]  (341)
  54. Lethal Weapon 2 [11876]  (336)
  55. Dracula: Dead and Loving It [80096]  (336)
  56. Blade Runner: Director's Cut [12682]  (325)
  57. ABBA [74-006]  (319)
  58. Dolores Claiborne [59906]  (312)
  59. Grumpier Old Men [14191]  (300)
  60. Craft, The [82416]  (300)
  61. To Die For [73436]  (299)
  62. I Come in Peace [LVD9603]  (297)
  63. Double Team [83236]  (286)
  64. Donnie Brasco [82516]  (276)
  65. 300 [113764]  (270)
  66. Alien: Special Widescreen Collector's Edition [1090-85]  (270)
  67. Video Standard, A [LD-101]  (270)
  68. Kate Bush: The Whole Story [080 504-1]  (270)
  69. Eurythmics: Live [080 220-1]  (264)
  70. Last Action Hero [27936]  (253)
  71. Hook [70606]  (252)
  72. Star Wars: The Phantom Menace [PILF-2830]  (252)
  73. Jerry Maguire [82536]  (242)
  74. Grosse Pointe Blank [10040 AS]  (240)
  75. Muppet Treasure Island [7076 AS]  (240)
  76. Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms [080 166-9]  (224)
  77. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LVH 2011]  (224)
  78. Desperado: Special Edition [11656]  (220)
  79. WarGames [4714-80]  (220)
  80. Matilda [86866]  (220)
  81. Indian in the Cupboard, The [11646]  (220)
  82. Switchblade Sisters: Special Edition [RT1001L]  (216)
  83. Raw Deal [LVD9545]  (198)
  84. Star Trek I: The Motion Picture [LV 8858]  (192)
  85. Hamlet [94996]  (190)
  86. Abyss, The: Special Edition [1988-85]  (190)
  87. MTV's Beavis & Butt-Head: the Essential Collection [MLV49691]  (190)
  88. Star Wars: A New Hope [1130-70]  (189)
  89. Casablanca [79208]  (189)
  90. Psycho [11-003]  (184)
  91. Blade Runner: 5-Disc Complete Collectors Edition [118573]  (182)
  92. Extreme Measures [94926]  (180)
  93. Gwendoline (Perils of Gwendoline) [G78F5010]  (180)
  94. Dirty Dancing [ID5172]  (176)
  95. Boyz N the Hood: Special Edition [CC1289L]  (176)
  96. Lethal Weapon 3 [12475]  (176)
  97. Class of 1999 [PCLV-10002]  (171)
  98. Sense and Sensibility [11596]  (170)
  99. 10cc: & Godley & Creme: Changing Faces [080 392-1]  (168)
  100. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory [80926]  (168)
"Score" is defined as (Rot Level x Nb of Reports)
Top 10 Makers
(realtime)
  1. DADC USA  (2181)
  2. Pioneer USA  (1779)
  3. PDO UK  (1456)
  4. Pioneer Japan  (1070)
  5. 3M or IMATION  (573)
  6. Mitsubishi  (380)
  7. Kuraray  (340)
  8. DiscoVision (MCA)  (273)
  9. Technidisc  (253)
  10. DADC Austria  (173)
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.