There have been lots of op-eds written about streaming services and how we, as consumers, are giving up ownership of media. However, as valid as that argument is, it turns out that physical media doesn’t last forever. As people who still own old DVDs are currently finding out.
Old Warner Bros. DVDs Are Now Unplayable
It looks like many Warner Bros. DVDs manufactured between 2006 and 2008 are now unplayable due to disc rot. The issue was first raised by Chris Bumbray of JoBlo after he found that his DVD copy of Passage to Marseille in a Humphrey Bogart boxset stopped working an hour into the film.
He then ran into a different film from the same boxset, and then the same issue again with a completely different DVD. After researching the issue online, Bumbray discovered that this wasn’t his DVD player or a problem specific to his DVD collection. Instead, many Warner Bros. DVDs produced between 2006 and 2008 have been rendered unplayable due to disc rot.
While DVDs should, if taken care of properly, be playable for up to 100 years (according to Sony), this particular batch is becoming unplayable within 20 years of manufacture. Which is a bit of an issue. Especially when some of the affected discs are no longer available due to being out of print or the rights having changed hands.
How to Get Replacements for Defective Discs
Luckily, Warner Bros. hasn’t ignored the issue in the hopes that people will just make do with unplayable discs. Instead, the company is offering to replace discs affected by this problem. And when a direct replacement cannot be sourced, it’s offering an alternative title of a similar value instead.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is aware of potential issues affecting select DVD titles manufactured between 2006 – 2008, and the company has been actively working with consumers to replace defective discs.
Where possible, the defective discs have been replaced with the same title. However, as some of the affected titles are no longer in print or the rights have expired, consumers have been offered an exchange for a title of like-value.
Consumers with affected product can contact the customer support team at [email protected].
So, if you still own DVDs, it’s time to take a quick look at them to see if you own any manufactured by Warner Bros. between 2006 and 2008. You should be able to see this by looking on the back of the case; potentially affected discs will have the WB logo plus 2006, 2007, or 2008 as the year it was produced.
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If you do have any of these titles, try playing them to see if they have succumbed to the dreaded disc rot. And if they have, contact Warner Bros. customer support at the email address listed in the statement above explaining the issue. And if you’re lucky enough to find that your discs still play, this would be a good time to back them up digitally, just in case.
