CDs, DVDs And VHS Cassettes
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CDs, DVDs And VHS Cassettes
Jeff Colen (President, A Sharper Home, Inc.) gives expert video advice on: Why doesn't my VHS tape play anymore?; Will my CDs and DVDs last forever? and more...
Why does my DVD pixilate, freeze or skip?
Your DVD may pixelate if your DVD player is failing, or if there was a bad connection made between the DVD player and the TV set. The question we always ask our clients when that occurs is “Does it occur with a particular DVD or does it occur with all your DVDs? Is it something that's occurred since it was set up or is it something that just cropped up?” By going through that checklist we're able to troubleshoot and generally figure out what's causing the problem. Your DVD will stop or skip when you have a bad DVD that has scratches in it, or if the DVD player itself is dirty or has some malfunction going on with it. The best way to determine that is to see if it occurs with just one DVD or if it occurs with other DVDs, so try playing a couple and if it's a consistent problem then you may need to go and repair or replace your DVD player.
Why doesn't my VHS tape play anymore?
Your old VHS tape may not play anymore because over time it degrades, especially if your VHS tape has been stored improperly. In other words, sitting in the sun, in the back of a car, some place where it gets exposure to heat or magnets; speaker systems; your kid playing with a magnet, whatever. That can destroy the integrity of a VHS tape. Over time it will decompose and at some point it will stop functioning. You won't be able to play it in your VCR anymore.
Will my CDs and DVDs last forever?
Any physical medium, whether it's a DVD or a CD or a VHS, will degrade over time. VHS tapes last less time than a DVD or CD but the other part that will make things challenging in the future, if you are storing things on DVD or CD, is that the standards change for how these things are played back. The fact that the disk works on equipment from 2007, doesn't mean that that same disk will play on the equipment in 2020 or 2025. So it is a challenge. We see it happening with some of our oldest stuff that is out there. It will be interesting to see what sort of solutions come up over the next five, six years.