Does it really matter how you store your dvd's as to the quality of playback?

I assume most people store them standing on a bookshelf or something similar. For the last few years mine have been sort of stashed wherever there was room in the house.

This shouldn't affect any quality should it?

My main reason for asking is that I dug out a dvd that I hadn't watched in years tonight and right off the bat it started skipping. Last time I watched it was fine.

I've always heard that it's best to keep them standing upright, as opposed to lying flat.

I have all my standard DVDs in an escient Jukebox. But my Blu-Rays are standing upright on a shelf.

Why would that be, Ed?

Honestly? I have no idea. It's just something I've always heard. If I had to take a guess, I'd say maybe the weight of other discs pressed on top of each other could have an adverse effect.

I've always kept my DVDs standing spine to spine on a shelf and haven't noticed any problems with playback.

Stacked on top of each other,the data will seep into the bottom layer, so you should regularly flip them.

Standing upright, the data can eventually slip to the bottom half of the disc, so you need to rotate the discs on their spindle every few months.

What?! You're kidding. I've never heard anything about this!

I store mine in one of these, attached to a 24x7 power generator, to ensure that the data on the disks is in a constant state of equilibrium between all sides of the disk.



Maybe the OP's disk was so happy about getting played for the first time in years, it couldn't help but skip.

But seriously folks....the best reason I have for keeping them stored like books is that it's easier to get the one you want out if it's not on the bottom of a stack.

FYI, this would have been perfect for our "official" Storage/Organization thread.

I store my films on DVD racks vertically and to date have never had a problem with data sinking to the bottom? with all due respect Trevor- I store all of my TV shows in 4 Sony 400 disc players the 4th one which is only 3 quarters full to date, the other 3 are completely full-

You're closer to the equator than me, so the data retention rates are higher. It also depends on the shielding in your storage racks of course. I use titanium.

I'm shocked at the amount of misinformation on this forum.

For the uninitiated, DVDs etc. contain DIGITAL information, in the form of 1s and 0s printed on wafer thin sheets inside the disc.

This sequenced data CAN NOT 'slide to the bottom of the disc!'

However, as discs age, if they aren't played every so often (think 'refreshing' your computer screen) then the 1s and 0s age. 0s grow up to be 1s, 1s become 2s and then the whole disc is messed up and you have to get a new one.

Play every DVD you own all the way through at least once every three months, and this won't happen.

I guess owners of large collections, including myself, are destined to be very unhappy as the years roll on

Ditto! It would be virtually impossible for me to play over 4000 DVD's that often! Hell I'm lucky enough to to be able to work reduced hours/week at my job as it is to give the time to watch the new stuff I buy and some of the old favorite stuff!...In between helping take care of a 4 year old and a 5 month old!!! Thank God my wife understands my habit and does most of that work!

Funny thing...I've never had any problems like these with my VHS tapes.

In fact, I just pulled a bunch out for the Holiday Challenge that I haven't touched in over 20 years and they played just fine. (Of course, I do store them properly.)

DVDs that are always standing up in a book shelf get tired and may not perform correctly. They need to be given a rest every few months. They also need to be spoken to every now and then so they know that they're loved.

The one thing you should watch is not to store your DVDs near heat such as a vent.

This can't be true. I just bought the old snapper case version of The Road Warrior (just for the opening titles). It must have been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for the last 6 years and it played fine.

This thread certainly has me re-thinking all of my current storage methods.

Like he said, when the 1 becomes a 2, that's what others call DVD rot. Your player can't ever see the 2 and so it won't play right. It'll see the 1s but those used to be 0s, so it's reversed. Then it can't find any 0s, which completes the triangle.

Of course, it all depends on the relative size of the starship.

Of course snapper case DVDs and anything with Mel Gibson will act differently, since they are both so eager to please, at this point, they will do anything to be loved.

Stand Mine up in my DVD library

Just for the hell of it I took out a couple of discs after this thread came out and put them in...played fine, and they were at least 10 years old! So...whatever-