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Many years ago, when DVD was first coming out, there was a rival disc, called DIVX. DVIX was not as advanced as DVD and was doomed to die a quick death, even though it was cheaper. One of the big gripes with DVIX, was that the discs that had Hollywood films and otherwise, had a pre-programed ticking time clock. That is, they were only to play ten times and after that, they would not longer play. That was no mystery, and the DVIX corporation was very open about this. The mystery lies in the Universal DVD's. I have had a number of these early Universal releases, mostly the Hitchcock films. For some odd reason, after a certain number of times, no matter how visually perfect and unscratched the DVDs are, they won't play anymore, no matter what DVD or Blu-ray player, I attempted to play them on. Therefore,does anybody have any info as to whether Universal DVD had an unstated policy of making a switch off process on they're DVDs, much like the DVIX discs?
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It's more likely disc rot, it can happen with optical discs. Anything released on DVD had to comply to the DVD-Video specification (set out by the DVD Forum) in order to have the DVD Video logo, and to be compatible with DVD players -
Possibly runs done in a duplication plant that didn't seal the discs properly and let atmospheric pollution in that affected the aluminium layer that holds the information.Comment
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Oh my God , Brian , according to what you stated , even my own brainwaves are subject to this .
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In this case even water vapour is classed as "Pollution" that thin layer needs complete isolation to prevent oxidisation. ๐๐๐Comment
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So highly unlikely the magic rings would work after a nuclear war. They do seem pretty careless with them anyway. Wee Weena again.
https://youtu.be/6NRMYUpgyJ8Comment
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Then WHY has it only been Universal DVD's, and ALL from the early days of DVD, during the same period when DIVX discs had the ten run limit? There is no disc rot to the discs, by the way.Comment
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It noticed it tends to be Region 1 DVDs . I have a Val Lewton series and Ghost Ship and Leopard Man stopped playing. Replaced it then Cat People and Curse of Cat People played up. I was told by somebody it was outsourced production I think in Mexico were quality was not as high
Waiting for that set to come out on Blu ray but they will be crazy prices at the start. Not as crazy as Super 8 features. ๐๐๐๐. I think that is why I am as so ๐mean when buying Blu ray trying to claw back the old lost money.Comment
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With software discs like DVD or Blu if the data blocks containing the disc structure/index are destroyed or otherwise corrupted the disc cannot 'boot up' and simply will not play. Laserdiscs can sometimes push through the rotted section so long as the laser can maintain tracking. Disc rot is not always visible to the naked eye and discs that have changed colour or 'bronzed' will sometimes play just fine.
I think that if Universal had been selling DIVX discs with a finite number of plays as DVDs then we would have heard about it in a class action suit or something by now.Comment
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You are not alone Osi:
From Has anyone have DVDs become unplayable?Over the past year my DVDs of Psycho, Vertigo, & Hammer's The Witches have all gone dead.
Some DVDs have a history of going dead, I have no idea why this happens, but it must be due to faulty manufacturing.
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Only ever had one, and that was a US region one "import" from the criterion collection "A Night To Remember" I don't think I was alone with problems with this one. It did play fine when it arrived, but later on it stopped, it didn't matter what multi zone player it went into, it would not work.
In saying that all the other imports including ones from Mexico have been fine. All the Universal titles have played OK.....well so far
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First, DIVX discs were intended to compete with VHS rental. They would play for 48 hours after the first viewing, at which point the owner could throw out the disc, pay more money for another 48 Hours, or pay even more money to authorize the disc for unlimited time. The DIVX player kept track of this by phoning home (via your phone line) to a DIVX server.
While all DIVX players could play regular DVDโs, DIVX discs could only play on DIVX players. When DIVX shutdown all DIVX owners were given a years notice that the servers would be shutdown and all DIVX discs would become unplayable. Those who bought extra time could request a partial refund for the extra time.
If your now unplayable DVDโs ever played on a standard DVD player, then they are not DIVX discs.
More than you ever wanted to know about DIVX including a list of all DIVX titles can be found at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIVX
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