Disc rot occurs on 1% to 10% of DVDs.

If you have never seen "disc rot", here are pictures of it.

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=50&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22DVD+rot%22&btnG=Search+Images

Since HD DVDs are manufactured almost identically to DVD, they are susceptible to disc rot as well.  Actually, anything that DVDs are susceptible to, HD DVD would be as well.

Here's more information on "DISC ROT".

There have been claims that Blu-ray discs have all of a sudden had disc rot appear on "The Prestige" and "Stranger Than Fiction".  Disc rot is something one should notice right away.  The people that are claiming this (they all posted these pictures within hours of each other) said the disc played fine at first.  Now, Blu-ray's data layer is very close to the surface (that is why the hard coating was needed) so particles on the disc would certainly stop playback until the disc surface has been cleaned.

That being said, surely the disc would not have played in the BD (Blu-ray Disc) player at all.  Also, "disc rot" has never occurred on the inner ring of a disc because there is NO reflective layer.  The pictures of the "claimed" Blu-ray rot had spots (looks like someone had a toothbrush with some residue and pulled back the bristles to create a pattern) on the inner ring of the disc or photoshopped a pattern on the disc.  Apparently, they did not know where "disc rot" occurs on the disc or how it occurs.

Now, here is a picture these people are publishing claiming "disc rot" on Blu-ray discs.




This is what you call... Fear...Uncertainty...Doubt or FUD as it's more commonly known.  The only thing that combats that is knowledge.

The rot I've seen on old CD's looks more like a discoloration/distortion. I've never seen or heard of the rot showing up as specs.  I also don't believe that photo.

Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:


There have been claims that Blu-ray discs have all of a sudden had disc rot appear on "The Prestige" and "Stranger Than Fiction".  Disc rot is something one should notice right away.  The people that are claiming this (they all posted these pictures within hours of each other) said the disc played fine at first.  Now, Blu-ray's data layer is very close to the surface (that is why the hard coating was needed) so particles on the disc would certainly stop playback until the disc surface has been cleaned.

That being said, surely the disc would not have played in the BD (Blu-ray Disc) player at all.  Also, "disc rot" has never occurred on the inner ring of a disc because there is NO reflective layer.  The pictures of the "claimed" Blu-ray rot had spots (looks like someone had a toothbrush with some residue and pulled back the bristles to create a pattern) on the inner ring of the disc or photoshopped a pattern on the disc.  Apparently, they did not know where "disc rot" occurs on the disc or how it occurs.

Now, here is a picture these people are publishing claiming "disc rot" on Blu-ray discs.

After doing a search and reading various forums, not just bluray.com's, the consensus is among those discussing the problem, is that it's a bubbling of the hard coat in the bottom surface of the disc. It's not a big deal yet, but if more discs show this problem, then it could just be a bad batch of the coating. It's also been reported on "The Departed" as well. I'm sure the studios will replace the discs without a hassle.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=857067

Quoting cmaeditor:

Quote:
Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:


There have been claims that Blu-ray discs have all of a sudden had disc rot appear on "The Prestige" and "Stranger Than Fiction".  Disc rot is something one should notice right away.  The people that are claiming this (they all posted these pictures within hours of each other) said the disc played fine at first.  Now, Blu-ray's data layer is very close to the surface (that is why the hard coating was needed) so particles on the disc would certainly stop playback until the disc surface has been cleaned.

That being said, surely the disc would not have played in the BD (Blu-ray Disc) player at all.  Also, "disc rot" has never occurred on the inner ring of a disc because there is NO reflective layer.  The pictures of the "claimed" Blu-ray rot had spots (looks like someone had a toothbrush with some residue and pulled back the bristles to create a pattern) on the inner ring of the disc or photoshopped a pattern on the disc.  Apparently, they did not know where "disc rot" occurs on the disc or how it occurs.

Now, here is a picture these people are publishing claiming "disc rot" on Blu-ray discs.

After doing a search and reading various forums, not just bluray.com's, the consensus is among those discussing the problem, is that it's a bubbling of the hard coat in the bottom surface of the disc. It's not a big deal yet, but if more discs show this problem, then it could just be a bad batch of the coating. It's also been reported on "The Departed" as well. I'm sure the studios will replace the discs without a hassle.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=857067

That's interesting.  But, looking at this picture again, these look like pigmented spots.  The hard-coating on a Blu-ray disc is clear.  Therefore, how can the clear hard-coating bubble into pigmented spots?

Quoting Katatonia:

Quote:
simple "bubbling" or not, that disc looks nasty.

Yep...looking like someone put make-up on the end of a toothbrush and flicked the bristles.

Quoting cvermeylen:

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Any ever experienced disc rot first hand ?

Nope on DVD, and I also still own some CD's that were manufactured back in 1983-1984 that look and play perfectly.

Quoting cmaeditor:

Quote:
Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:
Quoting cmaeditor:

Quote:
Quoting Ascended_Saiyan:

Quote:


There have been claims that Blu-ray discs have all of a sudden had disc rot appear on "The Prestige" and "Stranger Than Fiction".  Disc rot is something one should notice right away.  The people that are claiming this (they all posted these pictures within hours of each other) said the disc played fine at first.  Now, Blu-ray's data layer is very close to the surface (that is why the hard coating was needed) so particles on the disc would certainly stop playback until the disc surface has been cleaned.

That being said, surely the disc would not have played in the BD (Blu-ray Disc) player at all.  Also, "disc rot" has never occurred on the inner ring of a disc because there is NO reflective layer.  The pictures of the "claimed" Blu-ray rot had spots (looks like someone had a toothbrush with some residue and pulled back the bristles to create a pattern) on the inner ring of the disc or photoshopped a pattern on the disc.  Apparently, they did not know where "disc rot" occurs on the disc or how it occurs.

Now, here is a picture these people are publishing claiming "disc rot" on Blu-ray discs.

After doing a search and reading various forums, not just bluray.com's, the consensus is among those discussing the problem, is that it's a bubbling of the hard coat in the bottom surface of the disc. It's not a big deal yet, but if more discs show this problem, then it could just be a bad batch of the coating. It's also been reported on "The Departed" as well. I'm sure the studios will replace the discs without a hassle.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=857067

That's interesting.  But, looking at this picture again, these look like pigmented spots.  The hard-coating on a Blu-ray disc is clear.  Therefore, how can the clear hard-coating bubble into pigmented spots?

I think it looks like colored spots because of the angle of the disc in the picture. If you read through the whole thread in the link I posted earlier, you can see other people's pictures of their discs that show the same problem. What has caused the coating to destabilize and produce these spots is hard to say. I am betting that this was a bad batch of the coating on these runs of BD discs.
My father was an organic chemist and for a long time worked in quality testing and developing coatings for the copper wire in coaxial cables. He would have to test each new batch of coating before it went onto the wire, to make sure it performed as well as the previous batch, even though the new batch was made exactly like the previous one. Even though they were made exactly the same, each batch performed differently in his tests. Some better that the last, and some worse.

That makes sense.