sldvd

I've got some DVDs arriving later this week, and I heard the temperature is supposed to be in the 20s. So my DVDs will be sitting out on the porch in sub-freezing temperatures all day, until I get home at night. How does several hours of extreme cold affect DVDs?

marcellusk

they should be ok. Remember you have the keep case the dvd comes in and then the box the dvd will be package in to keep it a little warm. Plus i'm sure it's cold in the warehouse dvds are housed in overnight as well as in the delivery truck

Jay G.

I don't see any reason why leaving a DVD in the cold for a while should do anything negative to it. The only thing I can think of is that it may temporarily make the DVD more brittle while it's cold, so it may be more susceptible to cracking, but once it's back to room temperature it should be like it was never cold at all.

onebyone

My mail is almost always some degree of frozen when I pick it up in the winter. Usually, DVDs are thawed out and ok within minutes after I bring them in. I did have to wait about 15 minutes for one last weekend, but it was exceedingly cold then. They have always played afterwards, so you should be ok.

SINGLE104

They'll be fine. But remember, let the DVDs get room temperature for a couple of hours or less before you play them, because it may cause damage if extremely cold discs are inserted into a warm player .

canaryfarmer

And whatever you do, don't stick your tongue to them!

Dr. Henry Jones, Jr.

never had any problems in the frozen tundra up here

Brent_MN

when I lived in the frozen tundra near Lunatikk, I would wait until they quit fogging up to the touch of the hand....or just sit on em for a few minutes, eh.

Mike Adams

Badlands

NOW you tell me!

Bacon

freezer burn!!!

TomOpus

Warm it up in the microwave before playing.





j/k

Bacon

damn I don't see a DVD setting for defrost on mine

Sabrett

How does heat affect them? Here in NY/NJ we had a heat wave this summer. Not only was it 110 degrees outside, but I left them in my car! They're ones I still haven't watched yet, so I don't know if it affected them or not.

iconoclasm

i think heat and cold would be fine. If you leave a vhs tape in direct sulight like in your car or whatever, it will most definitely melt if the temp is hot enough. But dvds should be totally fine

edit: still would not be a good idea to ever put them in the oven or microwave because the material would melt if you get it hot enough, like if you put it in boiling water(212 degrees) or something, it would probably melt pretty quick. If any of you have a left over dvd of A.I. or some other garbage dvd, or better yet one of those american online demo discs or some other demo, go ahead and try it and report back and tell us how hot the disc could get before melting or how long in boiling water etc.

danwiz

I store all of my DVDs in the deep freeze so as to keep them out of the high summer humidity here in Japan. Been doing this with 350 DVDs for 5 years - no problems. I always warm them up by licking with my tongue before playing and then wipe them dry with 80 grit sandpaper.

Josh-da-man

The thing that would probably be most damaging to DVDs would be sudden changes in temperature. Don't take them from extreme cold to extreme hot suddenly, or vice versa.

dizzlle01

I hearded boiling them will give better playback.

cultshock

Yeah, I think sudden changes of temperature would be the most detrimental.

nateman

dvd are ok in freezing tempatures just leave them for a couple of minutes before you play them, apparently your supposed to keep your dvds a bit cool in the first place (don't store your dvds outside through) its more dangerious to have them in extreme heat (through it probally won't due anything to it) usually when you first put your dvd player on its a bit cool (dvd/reciever).
dvds are pretty durable and can take a beating. vhs is a bit harder to care for, vhs tapes are actually better in the freezing cold and are NOT good in the heat at all.
dvds are in cold warehouses and in best buys and future shops are cooler in the stores.

Mr. Salty

The melting point of polycarbonate is nearly 500 degrees, so putting a DVD in boiling water isn't a big deal.

Temperature in a microwave isn't a big deal, either. It's the wicked cool arcing you get because of the metal reflective layer that you have to watch out for. I've deliberately destroyed a few data discs in the microwave before throwing them away.

Here's what a DVD looks like after less than five seconds in a microwave:

basaro

Frozen tundra in DC?

basaro

^Mr. Salty

Yeah dvds in the microwave are cool! I remember an episode on tech tv a few years back (when it was cool, now g3 or whatever it's called is unwatchable) when they were showing ways to destroy media, and the microwave was my favorite.

LilDears

Here in the actual frozen tundra (currently 6 degrees), DVDs in players and nav systems are frozen in our cars most of the winter. They start up as soon as the car starts and work fine. It somewhat amazes me that the technology can function at those temps.

Nebiroth

They should be fine.

Try to avoid situations where the discs are cold/warm/cold/warm though - this means they will keep expanding and contracting which can make the discs more liable to cracking.

The important thing is to warm up freezing cold discs gently - just leave them in a warm room and let them gradually reach room temperatures, then try to keep them at an even temperature after that. Don't keep them in, say, a loft that gets freezing cold in winter and very hot in the summer.

DVD's are much tougher things than VHS tapes, but there's no point in abusing them.

It's important not to try to play very cold discs, because condensation will form on them at first, and that would be very bad for the player!

In fact you will find that most home electronics come with a warning about letting the stuff warm up to room temperature before use, for this very reason. That's because it's stored and delivered in unheated warehouses/trucks and usually arrives very cold - in winter anyway.