So ..was going to check out the Elite Entertainment dvd of Lady In White Directors Cut \
#upc 7 9059452402 9 ,, and after 3 dvd rom players wouldn't detect it .. I then proceeded thru a total of 4 stand alone dvd players including my high end HI def player down to my older sony player and none of them detected a disc ID  .. So upon examining the surface- it is gold in color and not a single mark or scratch or blemish, ....yet no identity to the pickup laser .. 
Could this be my first-- $35.00 /Virgin Records/ April of 1998 /purchase ---- in the dumpster? 
or could  or should  Elite Entertainment reimburse me?  why?  I feel that DVD's and CD's should have a shelf life of at least a hundred years not 10 or so ... My 1980 VHS tapes still play with no flagging or tracking errors due to my diligent storage habits,, and I feel that my constant temperature controlled storage area with the disc(s) stored upright should be good for many decades ..
So what other discs do I have that I haven't viewed/watched in many years have the same problems .........   

2nds Problem:  Elite Entertainment Inc P.O. 632 Rockaway New Jersey 07866  has (apparently) gone out of business .... 

I have a few that have gone wonky.

Ghost in the Shell : Innocents was the first I had issues with.

No defects in the play surface, BUT the substrate looks to have a stain, almost like a water puddle.

I have seen this defect in disks more frequently and those disks are always a craps shoot to work.

I try to copy to HD and burn fresh, sometimes works ok sometimes I get corrupted images :/

-Robert

..But do you agree that the DVD's and blue rays of today should last a hundred years  or just  maybe a  decade or less  only.....???????????

I distinctly remember when DVD's were being 1st introduced back in 1995 /96 that the sales pitch amongst others was the fact that the " surface wear"  was minimal and would theoretically  last forever

( or 100 years).......

Well, if out of a couple of hundred discs, a few are rotten, I call that bad luck. I don't blame the maker for my bad luck.

Yes, DVDs should theoretically last a long time. Any disc that exhibits rot was defective in the first place.

Quoting RobAGD:

Quote:
Yea my thinking is that if it gets the water stain/separation it should be replaced as that is a defect in the product.

I have had a few disks replaces by being persistent :/

-R

here is a scan of the back of the disc  as you can see.. no water stain or separation or blotching . Just a solid Gold sheen........ the burnt coppery/ red is a malfunction with the scanner ..  the whole disc is gold in color ..

Quoting Jericko1:

Quote:
How do you avoid this?  My first DVD still look clean and I got it when DVDs were only two years old.

As far as I know, laser rot can't be prevented. The cause of laser rot is that during the pressing of the disc (in the factory), a tiny bit of air got between the protective layer and the part that holds the data. Over time, that air creates tiny bubbles and causes problems when the red lasers tries to read data on that spot.

I think theoretically you could slow down the process by keeping your discs in optimal conditions: no direct sunlight, no intense heat or cold, not too much moisture in the air and so on, but in the end laser rot will happen if air got in during the pressing stage.