Caring For Your DVDs

Word Count:
322

Summary:
Have you ever tried to play an alder DVD and you just couldn't get it to work? Or maybe you just recorded your son's black belt ceremony and you want to make sure that you will still be able to view it well into the future. You may or may not be able to fix the damaged DVD, but there are definitely several things you can do to ensure the longlivity of your working DVDs.

Unfortunately no one really knows how long a DVD should last. CD's were originally thought to be readabl...


Keywords:
DVD media, DVD, 1 Click DVD Copy


Article Body:
Have you ever tried to play an alder DVD and you just couldn't get it to work? Or maybe you just recorded your son's black belt ceremony and you want to make sure that you will still be able to view it well into the future. You may or may not be able to fix the damaged DVD, but there are definitely several things you can do to ensure the longlivity of your working DVDs.

Unfortunately no one really knows how long a DVD should last. CD's were originally thought to be readable for at least a hundred years, however many have become unreadable just after 10 years. Since DVDs have a much smaller spot size, it is believed that they will have an even shorter shelf life than Cds. It is a known fact that as DVDs are written to they become warm with causes the mylar to degrade, which ultimately effects playback quality.

What can you do to extend the life of your DVD?

1). When the disk is not in use it should be in its case. The case protects them from many accidents, scratching, breaking, etc.

2). Speaking of scratching, it's important that you avoid it, so handle with care. Scratched disks can become unreadable/playable disks.

3). Keep your disks out of direct sunlight.  Sunlight can degrade the disks surface, making it unreadable.

4). Consider using DVD-R instead of DVD-RW, as DVD-r is known to last longer due to its thicker media.

5). Make back up copies of your important data and media. A back up copy can be made to another DVD or hard drive; either way you will rest assured knowing it exists.

So with a little common sense and a lot of backing up you can keep your treasured memories or data for a long time to come. Keep in mind that a clean DVD player will also help to extend the life of your DVD also, so clean occasionally.