this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2026
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Home Video (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, 4k)

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Odd sticky residue on DVDs (feddit.org)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by Asetru@feddit.org to c/homevideo@feddit.uk
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On some of my older DVDs, there is some kind of odd trace around the edge of the disc... you can see it in the image where the light is reflected. I can wipe it off, but it's really sticky and takes some time to clean up. More sticky residue is all over the disc, so the trace only seems to be some accumulation of stuff that's all over the bottom side. Best thing that worked so far was soap and water and a bit of patience. Any idea what this is and how to prevent this for my other discs? Or is it a known issue for some weird kind of disc? Discs obviously don't work until they are cleaned.

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[–] Australis13@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A few questions to help narrow it down:

  • How are the discs stored? Are they random, or is there a physical grouping that is affected?
  • Are they all from the same distributor or studio?
  • Are they all about the same age?

My worst case thought is that this is the plastic coating protecting the recording layer starting to deteriorate.

[–] Asetru@feddit.org 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How are the discs stored?

In their boxes, some in the basement, others in the living room

Are they random, or is there a physical grouping that is affected? Are they all from the same distributor or studio?

So far, I have seen this on Star Trek DVDs. Odd thing here: it's both, on a set of tng DVDs that I had bought new about 15 years ago and a set of Voyager DVDs that I had recently acquired used. So I just guess it's not related to my house, because of those third party used ones.

Are they all about the same age?

Not sure, but I guess so.

[–] Australis13@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

If memory serves, TOS, TNG and DS9 were initially released on DVD in hard plastic collector's cases (one per season) and spaced over a few years (don't remembering seeing VOY get this treatment). A few years later TNG, DS9 and VOY got a re-release in slimline DVD cases, with each season consisting of 4 packaged in a cardboard slipcase/box. Here in Australia, at least, each of the three series had limited-edition carry cases if you bought all 7 seasons together. There have been several other re-pressings since.

If your DVDs are all matching (e.g. from the same release run), then I'd be suspicious that it's the discs themselves or the cases (but you've said elsewhere it's not the cases, so...). Obviously it's an utter pain to back up that many discs -- 46 to 48 for each series, depending on which release you've got. If they're notably different pressings, though, then I'd think it less likely to be the discs themselves.

[–] jqubed@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don’t really know what the answer is but I would try to copy those discs ASAP after cleaning in case it’s the disc itself deteriorating

[–] Asetru@feddit.org 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

On it... but man, it's 14 seasons of star trek.

[–] BluescreenOfDeath@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You could always just pirate the 14 seasons you physically have rather than trying to digitize them yourself.

[–] bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago

Thats not even pirating then. You bought them. Youre just dowoading a backup.

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is there any residue in the boxes where they're stored? (I'm just thinking in case the plastic boxes are degrading a bit)

[–] Asetru@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

Nope... that would have been nice, replacing the boxes would be easy.

[–] 0ndead@infosec.pub 3 points 1 week ago

If I had to guess, I’d say there is something in your player leaving this residue

[–] ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Were either of those DVD sets pressed by Warner Brothers? Apparently the star trek TOS DVD's were done by them around 2007, so it could be possible DS9 and TNG could have been as well.

I ask since almost all Warner Brothers DVD's made between 2006 and 2009 were defective, and extremely prone to disc rot.

Edit: though oddly no star trek titles are on this list of affected titles.

You can compare your discs to known affected discs using this guide.