PCEngineFans.com - The PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 Community Forum

Non-NEC Console Related Discussion => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: toymachine78 on January 31, 2014, 01:01:19 PM

Title: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: toymachine78 on January 31, 2014, 01:01:19 PM
Pat the NES Punk recently posted a video from a conference ( collecting 101), where he stated that CD games will only last 25 years, and one day you will put them in and they won't work.

From what I've read online, recorded optical media should last anywhere from 50-100 years if kept in optimal conditions and handled gently.

What's your thoughts? I know I have disks that are on the 25 year mark and they look mint and play fine.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: sirhcman on January 31, 2014, 01:12:32 PM
 :^o he is no expert.. take care of your collection and it should be fine for years to come. ive always read anywhere from 100 - 200 years on pressed media but who knows really?

im curious to hear what pat the nes punk was trying to say? that cartridges are better? i got a stack of nes carts that have so much wear on the contacts they dont even play anymore. no media is going to last forever...
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: lukester on January 31, 2014, 01:15:26 PM
How long do carts last?

Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: esteban on January 31, 2014, 01:28:43 PM

How long do carts last?

Depends on how much use/abuse they faced and storage conditions.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: toymachine78 on January 31, 2014, 01:30:46 PM
I don't think he was saying that carts are better, although they did say chip media will last longer. I think he was working it in to his anti grading spill, and that game media is not meant to last forever, so they shouldn't be graded like comics and cards.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: ProfessorProfessorson on January 31, 2014, 03:49:40 PM
Just to note, I have run into rotted Dreamcast, PS2, and Gamecube disc over the years. Last GC game I ran into that suffered rot and did not work was Godzilla and Smash Brothers. Smash Brothers just stopped working out of the blue.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: toymachine78 on January 31, 2014, 04:04:38 PM
Wow. Those seem too current to be rotted. Scary!
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: SuperDeadite on February 01, 2014, 12:13:18 AM
I've got hundreds of games on floppy disks from the early 80's, and the only ones that have died had mold on them from being kept in poor conditions.  Treat your games right and they should last a long time.  Most cartridge games should outlive you.

As for pat, if it's not Nintendo USA related, I'd take what he says with a grain of salt or two.

As for CD life in general though, I'd say PCE games should last longer then any modern disc based game.  These days optical media is produced as cheap as possible, and with modern formats of cramming as much on there as you can, quality drops fast.  DC GD-Roms are basically insanely over-burned CDs, ignoring every "safety precaution", so those dieing is really not surprising.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: Tatsujin on February 01, 2014, 12:36:28 AM
LE WORD!!
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: TheClash603 on February 01, 2014, 06:27:22 AM
I just sold my whole collection.  Obviously it would be useless in the next three days anyway...

In all honesty, this stuff does make me really nervous.  I would hate to have a room of useless plastic some day.  Also, I think the collectors might get the last laugh, because they don't play games anyway.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: toymachine78 on February 01, 2014, 07:07:13 AM
Makes me nervous too!
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: PunkicCyborg on February 01, 2014, 08:38:32 AM
I'd bet the systems would all fail before the CDs
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: Punch on February 01, 2014, 10:20:49 AM
The videogame collecting crash will happen when most of the game media will stop working. Kinda sad really, but nothing lasts forever (even us -- I bet the games and systems will outlive us but still that's a valid concern). Don't put it into a VGA graded box, play it while it is still time!
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: wildfruit on February 01, 2014, 12:10:03 PM
My first cd system was a pc back in 1995
Still have the original software that it came with & they show no sign of degradation thus far

Sent from my Lumia 520 on Scabb Island using Tapatalk
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: EvilEvoIX on February 01, 2014, 01:59:45 PM
I know laserdiscs get laser rot, is this similar?
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: xelement5x on February 02, 2014, 01:33:40 AM
I know laserdiscs get laser rot, is this similar?

Laser rot is/was caused by issues with the manufacturing process that cause the metallic parts of the media to degrade.  It's possible that this could happen with modern stuff, but they've perfected the process pretty well of making CDs/DVDs at this point that I don't think rot in the traditional sense is an issue.
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: Necromancer on February 03, 2014, 05:01:20 AM
I have games and music CDs that are 25 years old and they all still work.  The only one that ever died on me was a copy of Rebel Assault that was left forgotten atop a table lamp; poor little guy got baked, warped to hell and stuck to the manual.  :(
Title: Re: What's your thoughts on disc life?
Post by: IrishNinja on February 03, 2014, 06:29:53 PM
at the risk of offending: i'm quietly grateful for the emulation scene preserving these ISO's, at least we've got options.