RUBY - VCI's disc problems.

[wago70]

After two years of perfect playback, my copy now breaks up into a blocky mess and stops playing. This is the last half hour of the film.
Anyone else have similar problems. Is it safe to re-purchase or is this a pressing problem?
This has happened on three different players, by the way, in the same spots.

[horrorlover]

I do not have this disc, but I had this happen with a dvd I have had for about a year the other day, all the sudden it won't play past any parts, and there are no scratches, fingerprints or anything on it, it looks like new. It does this on my 2 dvd players, and on my computer DVD player. This is the only time I've had this happen, I thought these dvd's were supposed to last for like 9,000 years or something haha :banana:

[dvdfan]

It's called Laser Rot and can happen to DVDs as well as Laserdiscs (where it initially got it's name) Check out http://japanld.free.fr/laserrot.php for more info.

[MorallySound]

Is this the Ruby from 1977 with Piper Laurie?

[Bad_Ronald_1983]

Is this the Ruby from 1977 with Piper Laurie?

Yes.

I used to own the disc. Never had any problems with it, but never kept it that long before I sold it.

On a side note, I have had a lot of DVD-R'S do the exact same thing recently. They would play fine for months then all of a sudden stop, or have picture break up.

[betterdan]

Damn that sucks. I better check mine soon.

[orville]

After two years of perfect playback, my copy now breaks up into a blocky mess and stops playing. This is the last half hour of the film.
Anyone else have similar problems. Is it safe to re-purchase or is this a pressing problem?
This has happened on three different players, by the way, in the same spots.


That sucks.

I hope my copy of "Don't Open the Door" doesn't suffer the same fate. Of course, somebody could do proper releases of all of S.F. Brownrigg's films. (hint,hint ) :cool:

[ArrowBeach]

God, i thought DVD last forever, my old vhs of WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH which is 26 years old still plays fine. how ironic would it be if a unplayed vhs last longer than a unplayed dvd?? Is this a major widespread problem?

[Bad_Ronald_1983]

God, i thought DVD last forever, my old vhs of WELCOME TO ARROW BEACH which is 26 years old still plays fine. how ironic would it be if a unplayed vhs last longer than a unplayed dvd?? Is this a major widespread problem?

That is a good question. I have had my share of bad discs:

Maniac, Opera, Scarface, Boys Next Door etc.

The main reason I bought into DVD is reliability.

Here is a quick question:

What would you guys do?? Stock up on VHS tapes that are like 3 dollars or less, and just stick with DVD'S. I mean the reliability issue and the new formats looming. Do you think it's easier to stick with VHS or stay with DVD??

[ArrowBeach]

this really does poses a good question. Sure vhs tapes will get worn everytime you play it, but I had many many pre-reocrd tapes, I played like once every year, and many are still in good working order, and now we have DVD that you played it once,and a year or two later, it is now bad.

is it now better just to RENT the films as there is no point owning it if it rots away?

[horrorlover]

I still have the very first VHS tape I bought like 20 years ago when I was a kid and it plays perfectly (Last of the Mohicans). And I have had a few dvd's and all are less then 3 years old and already they have gone bad. And these were not DVD-R's, but regular dvd's. But I do find it ironic, that DVD's which were supposed to last forever can go bad in 1 year, while my 1st vhs tape still plays like new lol. Makes me wonder about buying into D-VHS, it sounds good, HD quality and supposed to be even longer lasting than regular VHS.

[wago70]

Thanks for the comments, all - I'm just going to re-buy RUBY (the '77 flick with Piper Laurie). I cannot even access most of the extras. The only one that works is David Del Valle's intro, but then it stops playing (freezes on the introduction to the director). DARN!!!

[Erick H.]

I won a used RUBY from e-bay,so far it seems fine.The only "dvd-rot" I've had was OPERA,which played fine when I purchased it but soon deteriorated,Anchor Bay replaced those.

[Bad_Ronald_1983]

Makes me wonder about buying into D-VHS, it sounds good, HD quality and supposed to be even longer lasting than regular VHS.

Yes. D-VHS is awesome. 1080I and 5.1 audio. The tape is stronger than VHS, I think it has the strength of the tape materials that news places use. There is about 50-75 titles out on DVHS. Mainly by 20th Century Fox.

I don't think it is doing real well though, too bad. Looks and Sounds awesome. I would love to watch 'Alien' D-VHS!

[dwatts]

My copy of Ruby is still doing well (well, it wasn't a sterling transfer, but.....)

DVD's won't last forever folks.....

[zombi3]

I won a used RUBY from e-bay,so far it seems fine.The only "dvd-rot" I've had was OPERA,which played fine when I purchased it but soon deteriorated,Anchor Bay replaced those.

Well in the case of Opera, the entire first pressing was defective. My original copy played fine the first time, but died in under a week. I believe this was a problem which occurred during replication as opposed to the sporadic cases of discs going bad after a year or two from "dvd rot". At any rate, it sucks that DVDs have to be checked periodically to make sure they still work right.

[Katatonia]

My copy of Ruby is still doing well (well, it wasn't a sterling transfer, but.....)

DVD's won't last forever folks.....

Nothing lasts forever, but they should last longer than VHS, especially when they've always been touted as an archival format. I still have a few VHS tapes from the late 70's that still play pretty damn well.

[dwatts]

I agree Katatonia. However, technology will move on and we'll find better, more reliable, media. Arn't, for instance, Blu-Ray discs fully enclosed so no surface is exposed to the air?

[Katatonia]

Arn't, for instance, Blu-Ray discs fully enclosed so no surface is exposed to the air?

I don't know about that, but I did read once that the area between the disc surface on BR discs to the encoded information was only a fraction of what CD's and DVD's are, something like 1/10th a millimeter. It would almost have to be enclosed, or be protected with a diamond-hard surface material.