Your LD reviews are awesome rein-o. Keep 'em coming.

Showing off Laserdisc movies on my 50 inch plasma home cinema screen reveals many artifacts, but the most concerning ones are the red and green speckles. Whether this is actually beginning Laserrot or not is hard to say, but if it is, it means that almost 2/3 of my collection which consists of 114 titles (at the time of writing) are rotting away. I'm not anxious but I like to have in mind that it can happen.
If this turns out to be true, Laserrot may be more common then people think.
But yeah, there are titles which are more prone to rot than others.

"Under Siege 2" is a highly known rotter, and my copy is no exception. But it is amazing to hear stories about people who have a 100 % clean copy of it, with the same mint markings and made by the same factory as the rotten ones.

Sad to say but red and green/blue/purple speckles are always laser rot. Inclusions, snits and other manufacturing defects don't cause drops outs with those colors - the one manufacturing defect that does cause red/green colors are the long single line dropouts on CAV discs that will come on slowly, stretch out and disappear.

I've had discs rot recently that we're fine for years, which is extremely odd. A Queen Greatest Flix w/digital sound that I bought in 1995 now, suddenly, looks like its covered in multicolored confetti onscreen and the digital sound can't even be read. I bought Pioneer Artist's Kool & The Gang: Tonight when it was first released (it was the very first LD with digital sound to be released in the US) and it was a virtually copy - last year I played it and it was fine, but sometime between then and last summer it rotted and is now unwatchable. One of my copies of the Japanese version of More Abba Gold has also rotted within the last two years - its not a terrible case, but the disc was perfect before. Then there are my fourteen 5-inch CDV discs that, except for three discs, are all now rotted too. The CD section is fine, but the video section is speckled and the digital sound is full of stuttering and static.

I don't understand it at all - now I keep a slip of paper in each jacket that I update with the video and audio quality, date and the player it was viewed on each time I watch it. At least this way I can keep track of any rot that's starting or discs that were good suddenly going bad. Some people have no problems with rot at all, others have terrible luck. I've been quite lucky, really. I mean, I own over 2000 discs and 'new' rot has just been a few discs here and there. I just hope that each disc isn't a ticking time bomb waiting to rot.

I'm having a hell of a time finding good copies of the 8" discs issued between 84 & 86. So many are speckled like crazy. It's very frustrating.

The general quality of the US releases wasn't very good then for some reason, especially the CLV issues. I'd say it was because they were new to the LD world, but since there is no difference between a 12 and 8 inch disc other than size, that's not a good reason. Were the Japanese releases any better than the US releases? The only Japanese 8-inch disc I own is Twist Of Fate, and it rotted on side one within the first few months that I owned it.

I won't call the problems I'm having with 8" discs "Rot" exactly, just pretty bad speckling. I suspect these discs have always been this crappy. The first "David Bowie" and "Motel" discs were pressed in Japan, and all of the Bowie discs I've had are good and none of the "Motel" discs I've had are any good. Digital Sound 'repressings' of the US stuff are all pretty good.

My "Olivia: Twist of Fate" from Japan is still good (at last check) - and much better than any copy of the US 12" CAV disc I've ever seen. My copies of "Rick Springfield" and "Elton John" are pretty good too.

They had a lot more titles in Japan too - and then they started doing them as single-thickness "LD Singles".

Hmm, most of the titles I have with some speckles are 20+ years old. Could a slowly rotten Laserdisc moving from a place to another speed up the process?

Speaking about Laser Rot, I am thinking about buying the NTSC USA version of Jumanji on Laserdisc, however after researching it on LDDB, it says that its also a case of Laser Rot. However I'm pretty sure the copy of Jumanji I am planning to buy is brand new factory sealed. So is there a chance that the particular LD might not be infected? or that if it does suffer from Laser Rot that perhaps it might not be that bad? (I'm not buying it from a Laserdisc Database shop or seller, its from a different website from a local seller.)

Here's the link - http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/07089/117 ... %281995%29

The other Laserdisc I am planning to get is Casper, but according to LDDB, that isn't a known rotter..

the link shows "avoid this release" and it's pressed by dadc usa--sony.

The only way to know is open it and play it. For discs pressed by DADC and Technidisc, I prefer to buy opened copies that are of known quality - there is absolutely no other way to check and there is no way to know or estimate the degree it might suffer from rot, or if will suffer from it at all.

Unfortunately the seller doesn't have a player to test it on, so I guess I'd be taking a gamble. Maybe I'll just avoid it and go with another Laserdisc instead.

i too always like to get discs that can be tested or played first.
if not as long as the seller can take returns or give refunds thats fine also.

That's true but the funny thing is that the bulk of the expense comes from postage which is $16. The LD itself is only $5, so a refund wouldn't really be all that beneficial overall.

Oh well...

The mint markings on Jumanji are LDTX-002930, which is pretty much a total crapper for getting a good copy. Titles with numbers above about 2700 are typically junk.

Just wondering in the case of damp air or humidty possibly causing rot or speeding it up (as was mentioned) would keeping your laserdiscs in a large zip lock bag squeezing out as much air as you can help in that matter? Especially for those discs that are now rotting that were fine before.

i wonder when sony dadc went bad....seems like late 1991 or early 1992.
and is it worth the risk for demolition man and hook? (2 of my fave movies)

Hi newtolaserelie,

My copy of Demolition Man was fine the last time I looked at it. Even though 11 users reported it as a rotter, based on the mint markings with the number 2029, it is not one of the truly "high risk" DADC titles. Usually only those with mint mark numbers of about 2700 or higher are really risky. With regard to Hook, I can't be too sure, as I don't have the U.S. release. Mine is the Hong Kong release, which was made at Kuraray. However, even though the U.S. release was reported by 7 users as a rotter, the mint markings on it are 947 & 948, which are very low indeed. I don't think I would worry about it at all as far as rot. In general, the DADC discs from the early '90s are fine. Only around 1995 did they become truly "high risk" products. I hope that helps.

Best Regards,
David

thank you, laserking. unlike reino, jpass1992 and other members, you actually provided an honest answer, without teasing or being a mean critic.

Man, what a bummer. I recently picked up a lot of cool movies, and one of the ones I was looking forward to watching the most has the worst case of rot I have ever seen. Rawhead Rex (1986) [ID5233VE] I popped it in last night and I couldn't believe how rotten it was. I have had a few rotters before, but nothing as bad as this. Right from the get-go the screen was totally distorted with red and blue specks everywhere, to the point where I could barely make out what was going on on the screen. Also a first for me was rot effecting the soundtrack. It was bad. This totally bums me out. I'm not mad at the seller, because he sold it to me with a broken player (Which I did fix, luckily), as well as 30 other movies, so I didn't expect every title to be flawless, I'm just bummed because it's harder to find on LD and DVD and I was looking forward to watching this one.

what's the mint marks?