Durability of DVD's?

[brmann]

I'm fairly new to dvd's and have a question about their durability. Will they hold up longer and take more abuse than for example CD's? My experience with CD's has been that after x number of plays they start to skip and are basically unusable. Is this a problem with dvd's? I ask this question because last night I played a new dvd (JC - Superstar from Amazon.com) and the first time through the music hung up 3 times, but when I backed up and tried it again it played through without ploblem. Afterwords I replayed the song that I'd had the difficulty with and it still played ok. Do new dvd's sometimes get gunk in their groves that has to be removed?

First off, your dvd player plays a big roll in how smoothly your dvd will run. Is your player domestic or import? Also, what brand and model is it? Now as for the dvd, i am assuming that since it was from Amazon, it is brand new, but is it a region 1 (usa) or was it imported? All of this can affect your viewing. An entry-level dvd player or an older unit may have slight pauses during dual layer discs or with some never encoding standards. Hope i was of some help to you.

[brmann]

Thanks for the input Nate_W. My dvd player is an Rowa. It came free with my wide screen Mitsubishi from Sears and I know nothing else about it except that it is an el cheapo that they said was a $120 value, but was actually on special for something like $80. I have considered buying a progressive dvd but don't know enough about them to make an intelligent decision.

[Steve Mehs]

I would sell that Rowa on Ebay or something and put it towards a progressive scan unit. You'll notice a huge difference with 480p over 480i. And then go buy a superbit DVD and youll be in HT heaven :)

[MarkA]

"Do new dvd's sometimes get gunk in their groves that has to be removed?"

LOL, I doubt it, given those "grooves" are tiny pits and only a few micrometers in size. DVDs are about as durable as CDs, they are more prone to damage from circular scratches, but slightly less prone to damage from linear scratches. Both CDs and DVDs should last a lifetime if you care for them correctly. Do not touch the disc except for the middle and the edge (NO, the label is not okay as the disc can be scratched from the top). Keep the disc in the case when not in use. It should last forever, as should a CD. If you are careful, your CD player may be eating your CDs and you should replace it ASAP.

[Chris Blount]

I agree with Steve. Go buy yourself a progressive scan player (assuming your "widescreen" TV is a 16X9).

[DarrellP]

As far as durability goes, DVD's are supposedly succeptable to "rot", where the layers eventually come "unglued". People have reported some early generation DVD's coming apart already. High humidity regions seem to be more prone to this problem.

[MarkA]

Nonsense Darrell, this is a manufacturing defect some have noticed, especially with older DVDs. Newer DVDs and any well-built DVD shall not suffer this problem.

[EricG]

How many, if ANY DVD players are NOT imported?

Originally posted by nate_w
First off, your dvd player plays a big roll in how smoothly your dvd will run. Is your player domestic or import?

[Adam Richey]

Just don't let kids near your DVD collection. My little niece and nephew came into my room and, luckily, only one shelf had to be salvaged. LOL.

[Steve Mehs]

As long as your careful DVDs should last forever

[MarkA]

"Just don't let kids near your DVD collection. My little niece and nephew came into my room and, luckily, only one shelf had to be salvaged. LOL"

No, TEACH the kids how to treat them correctly!