I have a number of (older) DVDs that I remember watching successfully on our Blu-Ray player (Samsung BD-P2500) in the past, but now when I try to play them, they seem to read as defective. Two of them (the Doctor Who stories “The Keeper of Traken” and “Logopolis” from the 2007 BBC Video release, if it matters) play okay until the last episode, when playback freezes up completely. Another one (the special edition of How The Grinch Stole Christmas) just gives a “disc is unreadable” message, even though I know we’ve watched it before.
Other DVDs seem to play okay. FWIW, when I tried playing the two Doctor Who discs on my computer, the media player gave me a “damaged disc” message as well, suggesting that it is a disc issue rather than a player issue, although I don’t see any physical signs of damage.
Are these aluminum-pressed originals, or dye-type DVDRs? I used to keep copies of CDs in my car, and after a few years the dye would degrade, starting with the outside edges. CDs and DVDs are read from the center inward, so this would correlate to the last episodes failing to work.
Interesting! Did the dye degrade due to sun exposure, or just from age?
The DVDs in question are originals, I assume (purchased as a box set from our late lamented Suncoast Video, which gives an idea for how old they are). I assume dye-type DVDRs are ones you might burn on your home computer?