Last week I discovered that 4 of 5 discs in the Esther Williams Vol 1 box set were rotted, which I learned because the replacement set had 3 of 5 rotted. "You should write the company" was the advice I got.
But I own hundreds of their discs, and I'd already identified 20 that were rotted. I don't want to write them, get a "resolution" about the 20 I can report, and later discover more.
I'd picked up snippets on the web: 2007 Warner releases were the problem; the cause is disintegrating glue that holds the 2 layers together, so when the 2nd layer is accessed, no data comes back. That was consistent with my experience that the disc fails in the second half of the film, or when 2 films share a one-sided disc, the 2nd film fails.
Looking at the 20 I'd already found, the other trend was box sets: all the titles were purchased or were available for purchase in box sets.
Unfortunately, my organization system has eliminated the boxes. So I had to reconstruct the boxes to gather candidates for testing. I don't want to test all 1800 titles.
So off to Amazon I go, to see what my purchase history will tell. Ugh, not much for the 2007 timeframe, at least not for the search I entered. So I start poking at particular titles, find their boxes, look at related products, remember more commonality, and eventually compile a list of 180 films I want to test. I throw in some Fox and Universal sets too, since I did have a Fox title that failed in the same way.
So I sort the list to match my disc organization, and start testing. For the first chunk of the list, I start the movie, and use the chapter-advance button to jump ahead. Most of these films have 20+ chapters, so the remote is getting a workout. Eventually I get tired of it, and still not having found a failure in the first half of the film, decide to go to the middle and then forward.
I find 20 more titles with rot. So out of 200, 40 are bad.
As I was compiling the list of titles, I did not capture the box sets and dvd release dates, so I go back through and find and record those.
All the rotted discs are Warner releases, from Q4.2006 to Q1.2008. Some boxes in that timeframe are clear, as are some titles within boxes. One box was originally released in 2004, but I bought it in '07, and that's when one of the titles was released as a single.
In case you think the Esther Williams set must have been the worst... nope, Doris Day's Vol 2 wins that prize, with 6 out of 6 discs freezing/skipping at least part of the second half.
I did test some older boxes, and they were clear. So it's not just age that's the problem here. It's some manufacturing flaw that endured for 1.5 years.
The bigger problem: most of these titles are still only available for purchase in this box, which means the replacement might be just as bad as the rotted ones I have now. To make matters worse, some boxes are priced at rarity levels.
The only good news: all but one title is available free (illegally) online at my favorite Russian social media site. But that doesn't include commentary tracks or special features. Fortunately (and oddly, to me), non-track special features usually still play on these rotted discs.
Found a customer service web-form for Warner. Let the composing begin.
Later. I need sleep.
