seximexy

And don't anybody mention using microwave to thaw before playing... Seriously, I've got a few tucked away in the cellar (very cold indeed in the winter). Anyone know if they're okay stored there? i.e. will the discs still play okay after being stored in such cold temperature?

jayson1017

I really don't know about this. I had some dvds recently arrive through the mail with a frosty mist glazing both sides of the dvds. Those dvds worked perfectly; I actually thought the cold protected the dvds. But based on that, I couldn't tell you anything more.................

pro-bassoonist

cold temperature is fine. What you should look for and attempt to avoid is humidity.
The above is often the factor that causes the market (or industrial if you wish) glue to damage the disc and hence you get the dreaded laser-rot. Anything else, besides of course going to extremes, should not affect your collection.

EPKJ

I don't know about that. I would not store any media in sub-zero temperatures. Would you store your DVD's in a freezer? I really doubt it.

eau

People mentioned in this forum that they hard boil their DVDs. So I reckon they will survive a deep freeze as well.

EPKJ

People sometimes lie online. So I would take such claims with a grain of salt and exercise common sense.

costanza

so i should boil my dvd's in salt water to protect them from freezing temperatures? thanks for the advice.

TheHistorian

Traveling through cold weather or sitting in a cold mailbox for a while is one thing - just leave them at inside "room temperature" for a while. I'm not so sure about prolonged storage though. In theory it should be fine, I guess. I would think the thawing process would be more of a problem than the cold storage.

gutwrencher

the bottom line is you need to use some common sense here. why take a chance? is the risk worth it? if they mean a lot to you...I'd pass on keeping them in anything but room temp. but then I'm a bit passionate about my films.

talemyn

I am a little curious (and very surprised that no one has asked yet) . . . why are you storing DVD's in your cellar?

sicklerice

It's great if your house has a 50s bombshelter in the basement.

2 foot reinforced concrete walls and a 3 inch steel door make for great security for ones collection.

speedy1961

I know that I shouldn't get upset regarding this statement, but being somewhat of a long time member of this forum I find that I'm bothered by the inferment that I / others have lied in regards to boiling.

DVDTalk is a place we all come for a variety of reasons; primary of which is to help one another out by our collective knowledge / experience(s).

It's one thing to find a statement and be incredulous about its veracity and then investigate the claim based on it's own merits.

How else would we ever have discovered that Coca Cola removes rust, peanut butter can remove gum and that toothpaste can be used to fill in the scratches on DVDs?

If anyone is curious about what boiling a DVD can / cannot do, do a search, read the threads and decide for yourself as to whether or not you would want to try the boiling technique.

My own experiences regarding DVD boiling are documented in the threads. I posted them there to aid others when information was requested. I did NOT post them on this forum in the hopes that other DVDTalkers will ruin their DVD collections.

I posted as I always do in truthfulness.

Rant over......

As to the posted topic, I'm storing DVDs in my attic which is quite cold and they seem to do okay. I bring them in when I want to watch them, let them come up to room temperature and everything has been fine. I store them vertically in a storage bin so that moisture does not become a problem.

gutwrencher

I had 2 scratched discs at one point....god bless toothpaste. seems weird...but works like a charm.

speedy1961

Thank God! Finally an ally!

duz

When you bring them out of the cellar don't try to heat them up, let them gradually get to room temp before using them.

talemyn

I'd imagine that this would work for CD's too . . . hmmmmm . . .

eau

Any recommendation as to which brand/type/favor is the best for mending scratches?

gutwrencher

organic/baking soda toothpaste works the best...for light scratches only. if it's a deep scratch...nothing may help. I read somewhere that someone used furniture polish! it worked...until the player heated up the disc, which caused the player to expire. something about a "spark" and a small fire.

boiling, toothpaste, wood polish....dvds are being put through hell.

bigE

A real good car polish like MacGuires (sp?) works wonders on deep scratches. It doesn't remove them completely but fills the surface area over the scratch so that it's readable/playable...

What was this thread about? Oh yeah, cold storage. Like someone else stated earlier, you should be fine as long as you let your dvds come to room temperature before playing 'em. Conversely, I wouldn't store dvds in an attic during the summer because the excessive heat will definitely warp 'em.

"Lighten up Francis!"

Qui Gon Jim

Think of it this way:

Do you store CDs in your car? Round here, the car gets pretty cold at night and the CDs still play fine. Now I know someone will say that the car heats up every day which is true. I would think that a wildly fluctuating temperature is more harmful than prolonged exposure at a steady temperature. PLUS do you honestly think that warehouses of major chains are always heated? What about post offices and the such?

I doubt the cold would do damage, but moisture, as said, may be a problem.

Quatermass

I don't think the cold will harm the dvd, but it will make it extremely brittle it will likely shatter when you try to take it off the spindle if you don't allow it to warm up, as others have mentioned. I had that happen with a CD in my car one cold morning.

Nick_Scott

I was thinking the same thing.

There has been many times I'll jump in my car on a sub-zero cold day, and pop a CD in.

Sometimes my CD flashes an error because its too fogged up to play. But once it thaws, it works fine.

Likewise for DVD. I get DVDs from Netflix, and many times it will sit in my mailbox, very cold, until I get home from work.

I sure there are design specs for DVD that state exactly what temperatures it can handle. (Perhaps somewhere in the massive DVD FAQ?).

Nick

Josh H

Boiling is valid.

I've mainly heard of it with the X-box demo discs that come in a magazine (which are DVDs). A lot of them won't play, but boiling them for a couple minutes usually fixes the problem.

DavidH

I wonder about this a bit.

My room which contains my TV and DVDs is an addition. Therefore, I need to use a separate heater in the winter. This room gets very cold during the winter (forces me to tweak converge my RPTV farily often). Of course, it doesn't get below zero. But, I don't think it causes a problem since I have been storing DVDs since 1999 in this room.
I am moving later this year so it will no longer be an issue.

The Nature Boy

Your basement should be below the frost line, I doubt it would be sub zero.