“They curdle like milk”: WB DVDs from 2006–2008 are rotting away in their cases

Some affected discs aren't manufactured anymore and can't be replaced.

See full article...

 

[EnPeaSea]

Maximum Pedantry: the exciting new thriller from Aaron Sorkin!

Starring Bill Maher!

 

[KnightSpawn]

Recently started making DVD rips to my NAS, and I found at least one WB disc with strange spots on the non-widescreen side of the disc. I may switch from making MKV rips of the discs and getting whole ISO backups instead, so I can keep all those menus and special features intact. My BD collection should be less susceptible to disc rot than 20-ish year old DVD's, but they're my next backup job. MakeMKV only seems to like about 40-50% of the BD's I've tried feeding it. At least the DVD's have a success rate a little over 80% so far. For the rest, I may have to consider sailing the high seas to get a working backup.

 

[matthewmspace]

This is why everyone should just rip their movies and put them on a hard drive system, like a NAS. That way you've still got a copy. And if your disc doesn't work, well, there's alternative ways to get a local copy onto a computer.

 

[ERIFNOMI]

For most DVD movies I decrypt and create an ISO of the DVD. DVDs often have great interactive menus, unlike the pile of steaming shit that is Blu-Ray menus. I think the ALIEN quadrilogy box set probably has some of my favorite menus.

For Blu-Rays I use a combination of MakeMKV and Shutter Encoder. MakeMKV will back up any Blu-Ray. I then use Shutter Encoder to rewrap the MKV file into an MP4 with AC3 audio. The resulting file can then be played on a Raspberry Pi media server.

Took me a while to figure out how to play a movie using the Pi's MP4 hardware decoder, but in the end I got there. I'm surprised it works at all.

The Pi can hardware decode mkvs as well, assuming the codec in the container is the same as the one in the MP4 container. A container is just a container. Doesn't say much about what's inside.

 

[muddledzen]

My major "COVID project" was ripping the families DVD's and CD's... around 1500 CD's, a couple hundred movies, and a ton of DVD seasons of TV shows.

I've now started on our combined vinyl collection (40 years worth of vinyl collecting), and that is a sloooow process.... next up after that is building an OCR setup to do our Book collection.

This is all a huge time commitment, but it's also been rewarding to know that it's backed up by me and not dependent on the whims of Amazon or Apple or whomever.

And honestly, I'm enough of a nerd to have enjoyed learning all of the software (and hardware) to make it happen and back everything up, but YMMV.

 

[negolith]

DRM makes it difficult, and in some cases impossible, for people to make legitimate backups of their own media. Not being able to legally do this, particularly as examples like this article abound, is just one more example of how US Copyright Law is broken.

There are two types of backups: one allows you to play the media directly from the filesystem; the other is a raw iso.

Is there DRM that stops the raw copy? If so, what techniques are they using to do that?

If not a non ideal solution is to still rip the raw image and either load it into a virtual drive or burn it to new media.

 

[Robin-3]

Ars Technica reached out to WBD about [...] why it's not offering refunds (especially in cases where replacements aren't possible).

Not to be an ass, but I think it's a little unreasonable to expect a refund for an entertainment product that stops working after around 15 years (even if its life expectancy was projected to be 30 or more).

I'm glad they're offering exchanges, and it sucks that that isn't always possible. It also isn't great that this is happening in the first place, and they could certainly have communicated better about it.

But "my (xyz) stopped working after 15 years so you should refund me" is only a legit expectation in a vanishingly rare set of circumstances, and IMO this isn't one.

 

[Danathar]

DRM makes it difficult, and in some cases impossible, for people to make legitimate backups of their own media. Not being able to legally do this, particularly as examples like this article abound, is just one more example of how US Copyright Law is broken.

So you’re saying it’s not legal to use makeMKV to back up media that you own?

 

[dooferorg]

I've got storage totes of DVDs from 2000 onward that although they're ripped and on my fileserver, are still in the basement and haven't been checked for years. Hmm. Might need to

 

[muddledzen]

So you’re saying it’s not legal to use makeMKV to back up media that you own?

It's legal to backup DVD's you own but it is illegal to distribute the tools to do so, or use other people's tools.

That's how they get you.

To do it 100% legal you'd have to from scratch write your own software and figure out how to decrypt the DRM. No using other people's decryption, or even their libraries or notes on how to do it. That's the only truly legal way to do it as the US law is currently written.

Cory Doctorow has written reams on this for what it's worth.

 

[momurda]

Probably done on purpose to force people to buy(rent) again on new format.
I do still have a Conan the Barbarian cd from the 80s, still works great.

 

[Northbynorth]

25 years ago I saw this coming. My then partner worked at our national library. They hated cd/dvd, had all on huge disk arrays. I started to rip all my collections to disk, 4000 disks all together. Took two years of nonstop ripping to get through.

 

[LopezEG]

I wonder what is actually happening here. I get why writable/rewritable discs would have the die degrading but a commercial DVD like this should be pretty durable. I wonder if it's the plastic material that is getting cloudy and causing problems or if the reflective layer is actually degrading somehow.

its oxidation of the metal substrate that is encased in the plastic outer disc. The readable surface in there needs to stay sealed between the layers but eventually the bonding between them can fail and let in air which is why the rot usually starts from the inside of the disc and spreads outward. I worked on the blu-ray standard and this was a big concern when designing that format as the disc itself was even more prone to quickly degrading due to the even smaller physical indentations that designate a 1/0 on the disc media (compared to a dvd).

 

[graylshaped]

This bit me last week. Tried to watch Ocean’s Eleven—no dice.

 

[TylerH]

For most DVD movies I decrypt and create an ISO of the DVD. DVDs often have great interactive menus, unlike the pile of steaming shit that is Blu-Ray menus. I think the ALIEN quadrilogy box set probably has some of my favorite menus.

For Blu-Rays I use a combination of MakeMKV and Shutter Encoder. MakeMKV will back up any Blu-Ray. I then use Shutter Encoder to rewrap the MKV file into an MP4 with AC3 audio. The resulting file can then be played on a Raspberry Pi media server.

Took me a while to figure out how to play a movie using the Pi's MP4 hardware decoder, but in the end I got there. I'm surprised it works at all.

The Harry Potter DVD menus and extras were some of the best I've ever seen, as well. Perhaps Ironically, those movies are quite likely to be the WB DVD sets that most people have which are affected by this, as that was around the peak of the Pottermania movie era.

Also 300, The Dark Knight, V for Vendetta, The Departed, the Oceans trilogy, and many other hits would've been in heavy DVD print around this time.

 

[Celery Man]

Archivist here. Most consumer grade optical disks have a life expectancy of about 20 years, less if they were burned at home or stored in suboptimal conditions. Even those fancy golden "archival grade" disks are only rated for up to 100 years under optimal, climate controlled conditions. Then you have the entire technology stack slowly going extinct, from hardware (doesn't seem to be an issue yet for most optical disks) to DRM to software licences. This is not an isolated incident but a warning of things to come. We might end up in a strange world where a lot of analogue stuff from the early 20th century survives digital information created a century later.

If you want to preserve your movies and/or other data, refresh storage media often, keep backups and use standardised open formats where available. Keeping original (pre-migration) files on hand is a good idea if you have the capacity. Or, rent a few hundred shelf metres of secure storage space and print everything you own on archival microfilm, that shit will outlive anything and the entire tech stack needed to read them consists of a magnifying glass. Good luck with retrieval though. Your descendants will curse your name for millennia to come as they sift through all the spam you didn't bother to delete.

Anyone who starts engraving things in stone and burying them will own the future. When all our digital information is gone, those engravings will write this era’s history in a few thousand years.

 

[Nora Lenderbee]

Does it make sense to store DVDs in a very cool environment? In other words, do we need a wine cellar for our optical disks as we slowly work to rip them to files?

 

[atonaldenim]

Some early blu-ray and most HD-DVD discs from the beginning of the HD era (say 2006-2010) also have bit rot problems with failing discs.

I once put a bit of work into importing a blu-ray of “The Fall” (out of print) from Europe via a parcel forwarding service, only to discover when it arrived that it was unplayable due to bit rot apparently. The disc damage was invisible to the eye. (and yes I played it in a Region 2 / all region player.)

I agree with the crowd that backing up your discs to drives is highly prudent for anything you care about! Also enables things like watching your own collection via Plex, lending to friends without disc players etc.

 

[Celery Man]

Does it make sense to store DVDs in a very cool environment? In other words, do we need a wine cellar for our optical disks as we slowly work to rip them to files?

Yes, a cool, dark and dry environment is best.

 

[kingjj]

This happened to my Warner Archives Terminal Man, thankfully Shout Factory gave it a real release.

Not for nothing, this has also happened to pretty much half of the Dreamcast discs I own. They used to call the distributed ripped images "backups", and they had no idea how accurate they were being.

 

[Chuckstar]

Maximum Pedantry: the exciting new thriller from Aaron Sorkin!

Nothing more exciting than a walk-and-talk about video media.

 

[Xavin]

Agreed, but it's not a silver bullet. There are still titles that can't be decrypted by MakeMKV, and we're starting to see content with no physical releases.

Yes, but we aren't seeing content without pirated releases. While the copyright holders should definitely get their shit together, nothing is actually in danger of being lost.

 

[Disgruntled User]

Incidents like these are why I've made it a habit of ripping my discs - particularly out-of-print discs - for safekeeping. My filesystem scrubs itself monthly via a cron job to ensure my hard disks are okay, but how often does somebody pull all their optical discs off the shelf and check their integrity?

With hard disk capacity likely to keep increasing in the future and optical media likely to become more scarce, a lot of these discs are only going to get harder to find over time.

Also a good advice for physical CD-based video games. Just in case.

 

[Arstotzka]

Seems like the appropriate time to remind people of my favorite story, of little de and his big friend CSS. Also why important media lives on a RAIDZ2 array made up of spinning rust -- no concern with bitrot, and health is constantly assessed by computers.

Spoiler: deCSS.c

unsigned int CSStab0[11]={5,0,1,2,3,4,0,1,2,3,4};

unsigned char CSStab1[256]=
{
    0x33,0x73,0x3b,0x26,0x63,0x23,0x6b,0x76,0x3e,0x7e,0x36,0x2b,0x6e,0x2e,0x66,0x7b,
    0xd3,0x93,0xdb,0x06,0x43,0x03,0x4b,0x96,0xde,0x9e,0xd6,0x0b,0x4e,0x0e,0x46,0x9b,
    0x57,0x17,0x5f,0x82,0xc7,0x87,0xcf,0x12,0x5a,0x1a,0x52,0x8f,0xca,0x8a,0xc2,0x1f,
    0xd9,0x99,0xd1,0x00,0x49,0x09,0x41,0x90,0xd8,0x98,0xd0,0x01,0x48,0x08,0x40,0x91,
    0x3d,0x7d,0x35,0x24,0x6d,0x2d,0x65,0x74,0x3c,0x7c,0x34,0x25,0x6c,0x2c,0x64,0x75,
    0xdd,0x9d,0xd5,0x04,0x4d,0x0d,0x45,0x94,0xdc,0x9c,0xd4,0x05,0x4c,0x0c,0x44,0x95,
    0x59,0x19,0x51,0x80,0xc9,0x89,0xc1,0x10,0x58,0x18,0x50,0x81,0xc8,0x88,0xc0,0x11,
    0xd7,0x97,0xdf,0x02,0x47,0x07,0x4f,0x92,0xda,0x9a,0xd2,0x0f,0x4a,0x0a,0x42,0x9f,
    0x53,0x13,0x5b,0x86,0xc3,0x83,0xcb,0x16,0x5e,0x1e,0x56,0x8b,0xce,0x8e,0xc6,0x1b,
    0xb3,0xf3,0xbb,0xa6,0xe3,0xa3,0xeb,0xf6,0xbe,0xfe,0xb6,0xab,0xee,0xae,0xe6,0xfb,
    0x37,0x77,0x3f,0x22,0x67,0x27,0x6f,0x72,0x3a,0x7a,0x32,0x2f,0x6a,0x2a,0x62,0x7f,
    0xb9,0xf9,0xb1,0xa0,0xe9,0xa9,0xe1,0xf0,0xb8,0xf8,0xb0,0xa1,0xe8,0xa8,0xe0,0xf1,
    0x5d,0x1d,0x55,0x84,0xcd,0x8d,0xc5,0x14,0x5c,0x1c,0x54,0x85,0xcc,0x8c,0xc4,0x15,
    0xbd,0xfd,0xb5,0xa4,0xed,0xad,0xe5,0xf4,0xbc,0xfc,0xb4,0xa5,0xec,0xac,0xe4,0xf5,
    0x39,0x79,0x31,0x20,0x69,0x29,0x61,0x70,0x38,0x78,0x30,0x21,0x68,0x28,0x60,0x71,
    0xb7,0xf7,0xbf,0xa2,0xe7,0xa7,0xef,0xf2,0xba,0xfa,0xb2,0xaf,0xea,0xaa,0xe2,0xff
};

unsigned char CSStab2[256]=
{
    0x00,0x01,0x02,0x03,0x04,0x05,0x06,0x07,0x09,0x08,0x0b,0x0a,0x0d,0x0c,0x0f,0x0e,
    0x12,0x13,0x10,0x11,0x16,0x17,0x14,0x15,0x1b,0x1a,0x19,0x18,0x1f,0x1e,0x1d,0x1c,
    0x24,0x25,0x26,0x27,0x20,0x21,0x22,0x23,0x2d,0x2c,0x2f,0x2e,0x29,0x28,0x2b,0x2a,
    0x36,0x37,0x34,0x35,0x32,0x33,0x30,0x31,0x3f,0x3e,0x3d,0x3c,0x3b,0x3a,0x39,0x38,
    0x49,0x48,0x4b,0x4a,0x4d,0x4c,0x4f,0x4e,0x40,0x41,0x42,0x43,0x44,0x45,0x46,0x47,
    0x5b,0x5a,0x59,0x58,0x5f,0x5e,0x5d,0x5c,0x52,0x53,0x50,0x51,0x56,0x57,0x54,0x55,
    0x6d,0x6c,0x6f,0x6e,0x69,0x68,0x6b,0x6a,0x64,0x65,0x66,0x67,0x60,0x61,0x62,0x63,
    0x7f,0x7e,0x7d,0x7c,0x7b,0x7a,0x79,0x78,0x76,0x77,0x74,0x75,0x72,0x73,0x70,0x71,
    0x92,0x93,0x90,0x91,0x96,0x97,0x94,0x95,0x9b,0x9a,0x99,0x98,0x9f,0x9e,0x9d,0x9c,
    0x80,0x81,0x82,0x83,0x84,0x85,0x86,0x87,0x89,0x88,0x8b,0x8a,0x8d,0x8c,0x8f,0x8e,
    0xb6,0xb7,0xb4,0xb5,0xb2,0xb3,0xb0,0xb1,0xbf,0xbe,0xbd,0xbc,0xbb,0xba,0xb9,0xb8,
    0xa4,0xa5,0xa6,0xa7,0xa0,0xa1,0xa2,0xa3,0xad,0xac,0xaf,0xae,0xa9,0xa8,0xab,0xaa,
    0xdb,0xda,0xd9,0xd8,0xdf,0xde,0xdd,0xdc,0xd2,0xd3,0xd0,0xd1,0xd6,0xd7,0xd4,0xd5,
    0xc9,0xc8,0xcb,0xca,0xcd,0xcc,0xcf,0xce,0xc0,0xc1,0xc2,0xc3,0xc4,0xc5,0xc6,0xc7,
    0xff,0xfe,0xfd,0xfc,0xfb,0xfa,0xf9,0xf8,0xf6,0xf7,0xf4,0xf5,0xf2,0xf3,0xf0,0xf1,
    0xed,0xec,0xef,0xee,0xe9,0xe8,0xeb,0xea,0xe4,0xe5,0xe6,0xe7,0xe0,0xe1,0xe2,0xe3
};

unsigned char CSStab3[512]=
{
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,
    0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff,0x00,0x24,0x49,0x6d,0x92,0xb6,0xdb,0xff
};

unsigned char CSStab4[256]=
{
    0x00,0x80,0x40,0xc0,0x20,0xa0,0x60,0xe0,0x10,0x90,0x50,0xd0,0x30,0xb0,0x70,0xf0,
    0x08,0x88,0x48,0xc8,0x28,0xa8,0x68,0xe8,0x18,0x98,0x58,0xd8,0x38,0xb8,0x78,0xf8,
    0x04,0x84,0x44,0xc4,0x24,0xa4,0x64,0xe4,0x14,0x94,0x54,0xd4,0x34,0xb4,0x74,0xf4,
    0x0c,0x8c,0x4c,0xcc,0x2c,0xac,0x6c,0xec,0x1c,0x9c,0x5c,0xdc,0x3c,0xbc,0x7c,0xfc,
    0x02,0x82,0x42,0xc2,0x22,0xa2,0x62,0xe2,0x12,0x92,0x52,0xd2,0x32,0xb2,0x72,0xf2,
    0x0a,0x8a,0x4a,0xca,0x2a,0xaa,0x6a,0xea,0x1a,0x9a,0x5a,0xda,0x3a,0xba,0x7a,0xfa,
    0x06,0x86,0x46,0xc6,0x26,0xa6,0x66,0xe6,0x16,0x96,0x56,0xd6,0x36,0xb6,0x76,0xf6,
    0x0e,0x8e,0x4e,0xce,0x2e,0xae,0x6e,0xee,0x1e,0x9e,0x5e,0xde,0x3e,0xbe,0x7e,0xfe,
    0x01,0x81,0x41,0xc1,0x21,0xa1,0x61,0xe1,0x11,0x91,0x51,0xd1,0x31,0xb1,0x71,0xf1,
    0x09,0x89,0x49,0xc9,0x29,0xa9,0x69,0xe9,0x19,0x99,0x59,0xd9,0x39,0xb9,0x79,0xf9,
    0x05,0x85,0x45,0xc5,0x25,0xa5,0x65,0xe5,0x15,0x95,0x55,0xd5,0x35,0xb5,0x75,0xf5,
    0x0d,0x8d,0x4d,0xcd,0x2d,0xad,0x6d,0xed,0x1d,0x9d,0x5d,0xdd,0x3d,0xbd,0x7d,0xfd,
    0x03,0x83,0x43,0xc3,0x23,0xa3,0x63,0xe3,0x13,0x93,0x53,0xd3,0x33,0xb3,0x73,0xf3,
    0x0b,0x8b,0x4b,0xcb,0x2b,0xab,0x6b,0xeb,0x1b,0x9b,0x5b,0xdb,0x3b,0xbb,0x7b,0xfb,
    0x07,0x87,0x47,0xc7,0x27,0xa7,0x67,0xe7,0x17,0x97,0x57,0xd7,0x37,0xb7,0x77,0xf7,
    0x0f,0x8f,0x4f,0xcf,0x2f,0xaf,0x6f,0xef,0x1f,0x9f,0x5f,0xdf,0x3f,0xbf,0x7f,0xff
};

unsigned char CSStab5[256]=
{
    0xff,0x7f,0xbf,0x3f,0xdf,0x5f,0x9f,0x1f,0xef,0x6f,0xaf,0x2f,0xcf,0x4f,0x8f,0x0f,
    0xf7,0x77,0xb7,0x37,0xd7,0x57,0x97,0x17,0xe7,0x67,0xa7,0x27,0xc7,0x47,0x87,0x07,
    0xfb,0x7b,0xbb,0x3b,0xdb,0x5b,0x9b,0x1b,0xeb,0x6b,0xab,0x2b,0xcb,0x4b,0x8b,0x0b,
    0xf3,0x73,0xb3,0x33,0xd3,0x53,0x93,0x13,0xe3,0x63,0xa3,0x23,0xc3,0x43,0x83,0x03,
    0xfd,0x7d,0xbd,0x3d,0xdd,0x5d,0x9d,0x1d,0xed,0x6d,0xad,0x2d,0xcd,0x4d,0x8d,0x0d,
    0xf5,0x75,0xb5,0x35,0xd5,0x55,0x95,0x15,0xe5,0x65,0xa5,0x25,0xc5,0x45,0x85,0x05,
    0xf9,0x79,0xb9,0x39,0xd9,0x59,0x99,0x19,0xe9,0x69,0xa9,0x29,0xc9,0x49,0x89,0x09,
    0xf1,0x71,0xb1,0x31,0xd1,0x51,0x91,0x11,0xe1,0x61,0xa1,0x21,0xc1,0x41,0x81,0x01,
    0xfe,0x7e,0xbe,0x3e,0xde,0x5e,0x9e,0x1e,0xee,0x6e,0xae,0x2e,0xce,0x4e,0x8e,0x0e,
    0xf6,0x76,0xb6,0x36,0xd6,0x56,0x96,0x16,0xe6,0x66,0xa6,0x26,0xc6,0x46,0x86,0x06,
    0xfa,0x7a,0xba,0x3a,0xda,0x5a,0x9a,0x1a,0xea,0x6a,0xaa,0x2a,0xca,0x4a,0x8a,0x0a,
    0xf2,0x72,0xb2,0x32,0xd2,0x52,0x92,0x12,0xe2,0x62,0xa2,0x22,0xc2,0x42,0x82,0x02,
    0xfc,0x7c,0xbc,0x3c,0xdc,0x5c,0x9c,0x1c,0xec,0x6c,0xac,0x2c,0xcc,0x4c,0x8c,0x0c,
    0xf4,0x74,0xb4,0x34,0xd4,0x54,0x94,0x14,0xe4,0x64,0xa4,0x24,0xc4,0x44,0x84,0x04,
    0xf8,0x78,0xb8,0x38,0xd8,0x58,0x98,0x18,0xe8,0x68,0xa8,0x28,0xc8,0x48,0x88,0x08,
    0xf0,0x70,0xb0,0x30,0xd0,0x50,0x90,0x10,0xe0,0x60,0xa0,0x20,0xc0,0x40,0x80,0x00
};

void CSSdescramble(unsigned char *sec,unsigned char *key)
{
    unsigned int t1,t2,t3,t4,t5,t6;
    unsigned char *end=sec+0x800;

    t1=key[0]^sec[0x54]|0x100;
    t2=key[1]^sec[0x55];
    t3=(*((unsigned int *)(key+2)))^(*((unsigned int *)(sec+0x56)));
    t4=t3&7;
    t3=t3*2+8-t4;
    sec+=0x80;
    t5=0;
    while(sec!=end)
    {
        t4=CSStab2[t2]^CSStab3[t1];
        t2=t1>>1;
        t1=((t1&1)<<8)^t4;
        t4=CSStab5[t4];
        t6=(((((((t3>>3)^t3)>>1)^t3)>>8)^t3)>>5)&0xff;
        t3=(t3<<8)|t6;
        t6=CSStab4[t6];
        t5+=t6+t4;
        *sec++=CSStab1[*sec]^(t5&0xff);
        t5>>=8;
    }
}

void CSStitlekey1(unsigned char *key,unsigned char *im)
{
    unsigned int t1,t2,t3,t4,t5,t6;
    unsigned char k[5];
    int i;

    t1=im[0]|0x100;
    t2=im[1];
    t3=*((unsigned int *)(im+2));
    t4=t3&7;
    t3=t3*2+8-t4;
    t5=0;
    for(i=0;i<5;i++)
    {
        t4=CSStab2[t2]^CSStab3[t1];
        t2=t1>>1;
        t1=((t1&1)<<8)^t4;
        t4=CSStab4[t4];
        t6=(((((((t3>>3)^t3)>>1)^t3)>>8)^t3)>>5)&0xff;
        t3=(t3<<8)|t6;
        t6=CSStab4[t6];
        t5+=t6+t4;
        k[i]=t5&0xff;
        t5>>=8;
    }
    for(i=9;i>=0;i--)
        key[CSStab0[i+1]]=k[CSStab0[i+1]]^CSStab1[key[CSStab0[i+1]]]^key[CSStab0[i]];
}

void CSStitlekey2(unsigned char *key,unsigned char *im)
{
    unsigned int t1,t2,t3,t4,t5,t6;
    unsigned char k[5];
    int i;

    t1=im[0]|0x100;
    t2=im[1];
    t3=*((unsigned int *)(im+2));
    t4=t3&7;
    t3=t3*2+8-t4;
    t5=0;
    for(i=0;i<5;i++)
    {
        t4=CSStab2[t2]^CSStab3[t1];
        t2=t1>>1;
        t1=((t1&1)<<8)^t4;
        t4=CSStab4[t4];
        t6=(((((((t3>>3)^t3)>>1)^t3)>>8)^t3)>>5)&0xff;
        t3=(t3<<8)|t6;
        t6=CSStab5[t6];
        t5+=t6+t4;
        k[i]=t5&0xff;
        t5>>=8;
    }
    for(i=9;i>=0;i--)
        key[CSStab0[i+1]]=k[CSStab0[i+1]]^CSStab1[key[CSStab0[i+1]]]^key[CSStab0[i]];
}

void CSSdecrypttitlekey(unsigned char *tkey,unsigned char *dkey)
{
    int i;
    unsigned char im1[6];
    unsigned char im2[6]={0x51,0x67,0x67,0xc5,0xe0,0x00};
    
    for(i=0;i<6;i++)
        im1[i]=dkey[i];

    CSStitlekey1(im1,im2);
    CSStitlekey2(tkey,im1);
}

 

[Boskone]

getting off the topic, but I hear you

after working all day in the IT mines -- when I get home I want to live like an 16th century dirt farmer (that has YouTube and a Netflix subscription)

My coworkers and I have discussed--only half joking--a sorry of post-work tech commune. Like the Amish , sorta, but the other way around: work on tech all day, come home and milk the cows and check the garden

The other option is to become Appalachian hermits.

 

[Coriolanus]

It's kind of interesting how ephemeral our media is as time goes on.

I have a book from the 1760s on my book shelf. Aside from wear and tear on the cover and some delicate paper, it's still perfectly readable. DVDs from the bygone ages of the 2000s have a life of, it appears, 20 or so years. And as we move to streaming and social media, it can all disappear any second.

 

[Uncivil Servant]

Anyone who starts engraving things in stone and burying them will own the future. When all our digital information is gone, those engravings will write this era’s history in a few thousand years.

You say that, but believe it or not it is possible to misplace holy clay tablets even if you entomb them in a pine box and seal it with gold. In fact, it is generally recommended against sealing your important data with shiny stuff that invading armies might steal.

 

[belazeebub]

I found this post with the affected codes.

The affected Warners discs were:

• Originally released between 2006 and 2008
• Mould code: IFPI 2U** (this is right above the spindle hole on the data side)
• Master code: IFPI L906 / IFPI L907 / IFPI L908

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/warner-dvd-defect-troubles.1197033/#post-34048741

 

[Nora Lenderbee]

Anyone who starts engraving things in stone and burying them will own the future. When all our digital information is gone, those engravings will write this era’s history in a few thousand years.

One assumes you have read A Canticle for Leibowitz? It's post-apocalyptic social science fiction at its best.

 

[Doc12]

Honestly overall quality of optical media (both DVD and BR) sucks right out of the box these days. I recently got the latest/greatest STNG blu ray complete box set as a gift and one of the discs was unplayable. Returned to AMZN for replacement and same disc was defective, Wound up sourcing the affected episodes by alternative means .

Ditto for the David Suchet Poirot BR box set, except in that case it was two bad discs. Also, several years ago I was given the Jeremy Brett era Sherlock Holmes complete DVD box set for xmas and several discs were obviously warped and had some sort of viscous oily residue on them so I had to exchange that set as well.

I expect the gross margins on these products are pretty high so it's embarrassing that there's so little attention to, or even the vaguest interest in, delivering a quality experience.

 

[whobeme]

Does it make sense to store DVDs in a very cool environment? In other words, do we need a wine cellar for our optical disks as we slowly work to rip them to files?

If corrosion of the metal surface is the problem perhaps storing them in a pure nitrogen atmosphere at room temperature would be sufficient?

 

[ol1bit]

I have a tee-shirt with the DVD code. I guess it's a collectors edition as the company was sued.. "leading to a lawsuit by the DVD Copy Control Association (CCA) over copyright infringement. "

In 2000, Copyleft, a retailer, printed the source code for a DVD decryption program (DeCSS) on T-shirts

 

[mgforbes]

"You say that, but believe it or not it is possible to misplace holy clay tablets even if you entomb them in a pine box and seal it with gold. In fact, it is generally recommended against sealing your important data with shiny stuff that invading armies might steal."


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48hr8HhDv0&t=60s

 

[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

and if they are still good, rip personally archive the contents to a hard drive ASAP before they go bad

FTFY

 

[Chuckstar]

Yes, a cool, dark and dry environment is best.

Yeah. Interior lighting and diffused daylight may not matter that much on their own, since these are usually in cases, anyway. But sunlight hitting the DVD cases directly could cause thermal cycling — even in an otherwise temperature-controlled home — which could exacerbate whatever mechanism is causing the layers to separate. And since we’re talking about oxidation, it’s possible “dry” should stand alone as the most important thing you could do.

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

I recently got the latest/greatest STNG blu ray complete box set as a gift and one of the discs was unplayable. Returned to AMZN for replacement and same disc was defective, Wound up sourcing the affected episodes by alternative means .

... which disc? I have that collection and put my backups on pause while building a new PC.

 

[Lord Kimbote]

Nothing you can't find sailing the high seas or scouring YT which eventually you'll have to do when DisneyFlixMax Prime decides what you can or can't watch and how much you'll pay for the privilege.

What the heck, in the face of my impending death I gave my whole collection away, even my treasured copy of Made Men which took me years to find (2000s Amazon didn't stock it) and finally found by accident in a "Sale" bin at a grocery store for $1 while shopping for snacks to sneak in to the movie house across the street and watch the Matrix Reloaded premiere.

And what do you know, as of today it's still available for all to watch in YT.

 

[RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha]

Courtesy of Open-Cloner and Blue-Cloner, I have 1164 .ISOs on my NAS. They occupy about 10.7 TB. With storage prices now, the bulk storage cost isn't unbearable. Only real annoyance is the time taken to rip them. But you can start a disk in a minute or two and do other things till it's done.

If someone has 1500+ DVDs (standard and Bluray), that alone is anywhere at $30K or more invested (based on average price of $20ea... some considerable less like sales, and some considerably more like collectors ed. or Director's Cut sets). A $5000 Synology loaded with 12TB drives in a RAID (say a 5 disk syno)... is worth it. You can then buy another later, and clone to a larger array and have backup.

 

[lordcheeto]

To be fair, WB's claim of a 2006-2008 manufacture date is not incompatible with reports of 2006-2009 release dates.

 

[Doc12]

If corrosion of the metal surface is the problem perhaps storing them in a pure nitrogen atmosphere at room temperature would be sufficient?

Was wondering the same thing so looked up some references. National Archives recommendations here. To quote the Archives, though, "Many types of optical discs, such as LaserDiscs, compact discs (CDs), digital video discs (DVDs), and Blu-Ray discs, are unstable and present long-term preservation challenges." so as noted many places in this thread CD, DVD and BR may not be great long term storage solutions.