DVD rot?
 

Some of my DVDs have tiny white spots all over their playing surface. I would put it down to DVD rot except that the problem doesn't seem to affect playback. I've had those DVDs for many years and they all still play fine. (For those of you who want to know, the DVDs in question are the original pressing of Tim Burton's "Batman", Disney's Gold Collection edition of "Robin Hood" and Ruscico's "The Little Mermaid". I'm probably forgetting a few titles.)

As I recall, the spots were already there at the moment of purchase. The reason I didn't return them at the time was that none of them presented any defects, and I simply assumed that the spots were dust specks that had been embedded in the surface of the DVDs at the moment of pressing. Seeing as they didn't trigger any glitches, I saw no reason to be alarmed. However, after reading a couple of worrisome articles about DVD rot, I'm beginning to be a little concerned. If my DVDs were rotten, would they still be playable after all these years? So far, I haven't encountered any problem of any kind with any of them.

Would anyone care to enlighten me on this subject? I just checked and my copy of "Dragonheart" also exhibits the same light spots. It looks as though it has been sandblasted. It plays fine though. No defect whatsoever. Anyone has an explanation for this?

I've never seen white spots on any of my DVDs, even my ancient ones, like my old copy of Blade Runner. Do you have a picture you could post of what it looks like?