Buying sealed laserdiscs - hit and miss

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

I'm discovering that buying sealed laserdiscs is hazardous.
Of the 13 sealed discs I've got off eBay this year, 3 of them are rotted
and the one that turned up today was cracked in half on one side!

http/www.haku.co.uk/pics/CrackedLaserdiscSide1.jpg
http/www.haku.co.uk/pics/CrackedLaserdiscSide2.jpg

Well pissed off about that, wondering if it was damaged before it was
posted or during transit, haven't put it in my player and probably won't
ever 🙁


--
Rid

 

[Andrea]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

> I'm discovering that buying sealed laserdiscs is hazardous.
> Of the 13 sealed discs I've got off eBay this year, 3 of them are rotted
> and the one that turned up today was cracked in half on one side!

Personally, I prefer sealed laserdiscs only if the price is low.
If the price is high, or the disc is "important" to me, and that
particular title is closed, I ask the seller to open and check
if it's OK, not broken and not rottem.
I'm ready to do the same for my discs, but I ask the buyer
to pay in advance, because IMHO a sealed laserdiscs, also
if can be broken or rotter, has higher value than a used one.

Andrea

 

[Andrea]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

> I'm discovering that buying sealed laserdiscs is hazardous.
> Of the 13 sealed discs I've got off eBay this year, 3 of them are rotted
> and the one that turned up today was cracked in half on one side!

Personally, I prefer sealed laserdiscs only if the price is low.
If the price is high, or the disc is "important" to me, and that
particular title is closed, I ask the seller to open and check
if it's OK, not broken and not rottem.
I'm ready to do the same for my discs, but I ask the buyer
to pay in advance, because IMHO a sealed laserdiscs, also
if can be broken or rotter, has higher value than a used one.

Andrea

 

[Andrea]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

> I'm discovering that buying sealed laserdiscs is hazardous.
> Of the 13 sealed discs I've got off eBay this year, 3 of them are rotted
> and the one that turned up today was cracked in half on one side!

Personally, I prefer sealed laserdiscs only if the price is low.
If the price is high, or the disc is "important" to me, and that
particular title is closed, I ask the seller to open and check
if it's OK, not broken and not rottem.
I'm ready to do the same for my discs, but I ask the buyer
to pay in advance, because IMHO a sealed laserdiscs, also
if can be broken or rotter, has higher value than a used one.

Andrea

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

fox@ridhughz.demon.co.uk says...

> I'm discovering that buying sealed laserdiscs is hazardous.
> Of the 13 sealed discs I've got off eBay this year, 3 of them are rotted
> and the one that turned up today was cracked in half on one side!

Yeah, I've never understood the appeal of "still sealed" LDs. I realize
the idea is supposed to be that if they are still sealed, they must be
in mint condition, but that's not necessarily the case.

-- jayembee

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

jayembee wrote:

> Yeah, I've never understood the appeal of "still sealed" LDs. I realize
> the idea is supposed to be that if they are still sealed, they must be
> in mint condition, but that's not necessarily the case.

I think, though I may be wrong, that some of what
we call "rot" is from moisture getting in between
the layers of a poorly made disc so I would think
that a sealed disc would have been less subject to
such an effect than one open to the environment...

.... but I agree with the orignial poster, I bought
a sealed disc just this past week and it had a wee
bit of sparkle at the start of side 1 BUT I got the
last boxed set in the Twin Peaks series sealed with
the Tower Records price tage still on it and all 4
discs were perfect.


Darrel

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

darrel.christensen@comcast.net says...

> jayembee wrote:
>
>> Yeah, I've never understood the appeal of "still sealed" LDs.
>> I realize the idea is supposed to be that if they are still
>> sealed, they must be in mint condition, but that's not necessarily
>> the case.
>
> I think, though I may be wrong, that some of what
> we call "rot" is from moisture getting in between
> the layers of a poorly made disc so I would think
> that a sealed disc would have been less subject to
> such an effect than one open to the environment...

Not moisture, but air. But that's beside the point.

(1) A lot of rot cases were immediate conditions, not just over time. I
had a very low incidence of rot in my collection, but I'd say that of
the cases I had, about 50% of the time, they were from new, sealed
discs.

(2) Given how long LDs have been out of production, any discs that are
still sealed are still pretty old, and have as much chance of being
rotten as unsealed discs, because...

(3) LD shrink-wrapping isn't always airtight. Far more often than not, I
would be able to get the shrink-wrap off because they was a hole in the
wrap somewhere that I could use to start the tear.

> ... but I agree with the orignial poster, I bought
> a sealed disc just this past week and it had a wee
> bit of sparkle at the start of side 1 BUT I got the
> last boxed set in the Twin Peaks series sealed with
> the Tower Records price tage still on it and all 4
> discs were perfect.

No doubt. I've gotten a lot of still-sealed discs, either through eBay,
or through blow-out sales at places like Sight & Sound and Laser
Exchange, and they've generally been perfect. But I've also gotten any
number of opened, used discs from the same sources, and they haven't
been any worse.

The only real advantage I see in getting still-sealed LDs is that the
jackets are typically in better condition.

-- jayembee

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

jayembee <jayembeenospam@snurcher.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1b2fedcfe5559bf79896ab@news.easynews.com>...
>
> The only real advantage I see in getting still-sealed LDs is that the
> jackets are typically in better condition.
>
> -- jayembee

I would differ on that. Sealed LDs should have unscuffed discs, while
a used LD can be scuffed. However, a sealed LD often has been in a
store shelf for years, and there the jacket takes more damage than if
the LD was in a good home. At least that's what i've seen in Japan.

Nicolas

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

nsa@dk.catv.ne.jp (Nicolas Santini) wrote:

> jayembee <jayembeenospam@snurcher.com> wrote:

>> The only real advantage I see in getting still-sealed LDs
>> is that the jackets are typically in better condition.
>
> I would differ on that. Sealed LDs should have unscuffed
> discs, while a used LD can be scuffed.

True enough. But then, I have discs in my collection (bought
used) that look like they were used as shuffleboard pucks,
but nevertheless play perfectly.

> However, a sealed LD often has been in a store shelf for
> years, and there the jacket takes more damage than if the
> LD was in a good home. At least that's what i've seen in Japan.

Probably depends on what kind of damage you're talking about.
Generally speaking, the only jacket damage I tended to see
with sealed discs is bent corners, or some splitting on the
spine. With unsealed, used discs, there are all sorts of
things that can happen to the jacket, from outright tears
to coffee stains.

-- jayembee

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.video.laserdisc (More info?)

>I think, though I may be wrong, that some of what
>we call "rot" is from moisture getting in between
>the layers of a poorly made disc

Rot is caused by a chemical attack of the aluminum reflective layers, usually
from a manufacturing defect.

However, manufacturing defects don't just have to be due to bad sealing.
Rotting can also be caused by impurities in the adhesive material, foreign
matter sandwiched between the disc halves, air bubbles that may get trapped in
between the halves, and etc. - Reinhart