This thread depresses me.

Yeah, and the $8 trade in sale from Blockbuster is over now. Not sure if I would've traded my discs all in but I would've thought about now after reading this thread.

I found out my Shakespeare in Love disk stopped playing last week. Looks fine, treated well, but my player says "no disk"

Helpful if folks with bad discs would post not just the title, but where possible the issuing studio and even the duplicator (which can often be found stamped on the ring with the disc's ID codes and alignment squares) and the approximate date of purchase.

Was the disc above one of the early WAMO issues? If it's an older Warner or MGM title, the chances are it is - is it in a "snapper" card case?

My Three Kings disc bit the dust. Player just says no disc. No scratches or anything. Is there a definitive word on whether Warner will issue replacements?

Shakespeare in love was a newer release, don't remember which off-hand, but it was in a regular dvd case. I got it about a year ago.

Contact i loved that movie-

I hope high capacity disks (50+ gigs) are available at reasonable prices in the near future. I'd love to archive expensive box sets onto a single disk.

Then a bad disc can take a whole series with it :-)

Why can't dvds be just as durable as CD's?

Because they are much more complex in construction. DVD's consist of multiple layers of bonded plastics and metallic layers in a complex "sandwich". This means there are many more chances for errors in the manufacturing process and also means they are physically more vulnerable to damage.

To be fair manufacture problems are pretty rare, it's just that so many DVD's are made that a small percentage can be a lot of discs.

People have also been mis-educated (mostly by pop-science shows) that DVD's are "indestructable" when they aren't. They get wrenched off the cases, scratched and treated like frisbees.
Libraries report a very high failure rate due to mistreatement of discs. VHS tapes were physically rugged and the tape was at least "guarded" from prying fingers even though they were prone to wear and mangling VCR's.

Another problem here is the poor quality of cases which many DVD's are supplied in.

Correctly treated and stored DVD's should last a very long time.

Some of the very early issues of CD's in the UK - mostly from one factory- suffered huge problems as materials used in the plastics caused the metal layer to oxidise.