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Topic: Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
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Timothy Ramzyk
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 220
From: Milwaukee,WI,USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted August 23, 2014 10:16 AM
Not the same animal. Lasediscs used different adhesives and a different manufacturing process than DVD or CD. It's also thought laserdiscs ungainly weight was an issue. "Rot" was more common to earlier titles, and some manufactured for Criterion in the UK.
They later began to over-correct for the problem of de-lamentation by slathering them with so much glue, that you could get disks with a sticky rim.
The reject-rate of laserdisc in the factory was always alarmingly high, far past CD, DVD, and BD. It's one of the factors as to why they were so costly, and kind of a sad waste of materials.
DVDs are more like CDs in their construction, and I've got CDs that are now 30 years old, and I've never had one go south.
Again, who knows how long stuff will last. CDs and DVDs may eventually corrupt, but chances are the majority of properly manufactured discs will outlive us. All acetate-film will also probably breakdown at some point, no matter how it's stored it or what it's cleaned with. It's just the nature of things with a cellulose base. We know films are already prone to shrink, become brittle and fade. So no storage medium is eternal.
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Osi Osgood
Film God

Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted August 23, 2014 10:38 AM
Sorry to hear that Paul ....
I should have mentioned, one flaw that I have noted with my laserdiscs, is that they can occasionally "warp" and while they will still play, they will tend to skip near the end of one side or the other.
I've kept that collection just for the simple reason that, on my old school "Sharp-vision" projection TV, they actually look better in most cases, than the DVD of the same titles.
-------------------- "All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Timothy Ramzyk
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 220
From: Milwaukee,WI,USA
Registered: Nov 2006
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posted August 23, 2014 12:18 PM
It's odd, I treat my DVDs and Blu-rays like they're priceless, and my CDs on the other hand take a beating. Usually not to the degree that playback is an issue. At least most Cds and DVDs can be resurfaced for a few bucks at my local used media store.
I suppose it all depends what kinda care we extend both on the medium and what plays it.
I expect players to croak, I had projectors die too (worn sound-heads and gates, dead amps, bulb sockets that corroded from heat, and of course belt issues). Projectors you generally get fixed if you can afford to and the parts are still drifting around. Disk-players we tend to re-purchase. Its a matter of availability.
I suppose one of the best features of projectors is that they are more hardware driven, so more simply repaired. Disk players on the other hand are cheap if you want them to be, or expensive if you're a top-of-the-line sort.
The one thing I can say about disk technology, is that it's at least been backwards compatible. It's convenient that I can pop a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray in the same player. That was never terribly practical with film. My Eumig did a nice job of playing 8mm or Super 8mm, but sadly had a self-contained sound-head that couldn't be cleaned, and the bulb socket corroded twice. The sound-head thing really annoyed me, because if it eventually produced really dim sound, and I had to snip films if they needed to be removed from a faulty self-threading.
I'm not trying to start a film VS disk debate, because people should collect and use what they like and are comfortable with. Again, it's all gonna bite the dust some day, whether it's laser rot, planned obsolescence, vinegar syndrome, or a burned out motor with no replacement.
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