Warner Home Video Rotted DVDs and Cinram Plant Manufacturing Issues

The information quoted here in italics is condensed from many posts on these two forums:

https://www.hometheaterforum.com/community/threads/warner-dvds-not-working-thread-watch-to-make-sure-they-still-play.351260/

https://forum.dvdtalk.com/dvd-talk/443083-dvd-rot.html

“According to the Home Theater Forum, the problem afflicts Warners DVDs produced at the Pennsylvania replication center in approximately 2006-2009. Unfortunately, there's no way to determine which DVDs these were before purchase.

Later releases of some of these 2006-2008 box sets (and later releases of their individual titles) that look exactly the same as the earlier pressings are consistently read-error free; they show these “good” numbers: IFPI LV76 or IFPI LV77 or IFPI L779 or IFPI L780. Also showing NO read errors are the 2012 re-releases of some of these box sets in slightly different packaging; these later re-issues often appear in slimmer multi-disc cases (for example, the 2012 re-issue of the “Complete Thin Man Collection” or the 2012 re-issue of 2007’s “Katharine Hepburn 100th Anniversary Collection”). Some later error-free DVD pressings (identical but with “good” numbers) can also be found in various TCM compilation re-releases (c. 2010-2015) in the years that follow 2008; typically, these releases contain 4 DVDs titled “Greatest Classic Films” or “Greatest Classic Legends”.

[Note: More good news ... 2006-2008 DVDs (and box sets) that are stamped “Made in Canada” (or “Made in Mexico”) do NOT show the read-error problems. My discussion above focuses entirely on pressed DVDs, not the “MOD” (made-on-demand) releases that appear after 2009.]”

Some further information:

  • Warner manufactured their DVD discs at Cinram's plant in Olyphant, Pennsylvania until 2010. But in 2010, Warner changed to Thomson/Technicolor's Mexico plant.
  • The Olyphant, Pennsylvania Cinram plant had IFPI facility codes 2U** and (possibly) also 2F**
  • The Thomson/Technicolor plant in Guadalajara, Mexico had IFPI facility codes KK**
  • There have also been a few defective discs with IFPI facility code 60**, which is the former Cinram facility in Toronto, Ontario in Canada, which now appears to be closed.
  • Humidity of your area or room may be a factor in accelerating the issue.
  • *It's worth adding that this primarily effects dual-layered discs. Which is why TV on DVD is one of the biggest offenders. Single-layered discs from Warner should be fine. If you look at the back of the case, it will typically say DUAL-LAYERED in the bottom left corner.
    I also haven't noticed this on any of their releases in the old snapper cases, but these were probably pre-2005.
  • **In one example a poster said: All the failed DVD's have Mould SID Codes of 2U or 2V from the Cinram replication facility in Olyphant, PA.

  • ***Roughly from 2006 through 2009, but I will state that I haven't actually encountered a rotted 2009 release yet so the bad period may only be through 2008. The culprit in question was the Cinram replication plant in Pennsylvania. I'm not sure if any of the Cinram-produced Canadian discs are impacted. The best thing for you to do is to inspect some of your WB discs from that period. Watch some of them, or perhaps just see if you can navigate past the layer changes since that is where a lot of problems seem to manifest themselves. Even just a visual inspection of the data side may reveal problems.
  • That appears to be the master code, not the mould code.

Diagram Description automatically generated


So there are two codes. The first is the master code. The master code relates to an earlier step in manufacturing (creation of the glass master), and is presumably not correlated with whether a disc fails or not. The master code is in the matrix runout area (with the barcode and sometimes a string of text) and is the easier of the two to identify. Master codes typically begin with L (i.e., "IFPI L***).

  • The mould code is from the machine that actually presses the discs and is thus most correlated with whether a disc fails or not. The mould code is a slight indentation in the actual clear (see-through) plastic at the very very center of the disc. Sometimes you need a magnifying glass to read this. Mould codes typically do NOT begin with L. 
  • Based on what other discs in various databases have master codes of either L778 or L770 (I found no L7780 anywhere), I expect the mould code of your disc to be KK**, indicating Technicolor Mexico. While I think Technicolor Mexico has a much stronger track record than this abysmal Cinram Pennsylvania plant, some bad discs were created by every replicator in existence, and it's useful to track all of them. 
  • The former Cinram had three plants in north america I'm aware of that manufactured a lot of dvds/blurays.
    IFPI mould code 2U** = Olyphant Pennsylvania
    IFPI mould code 60** = Toronto Canada
    IFPI mould code 2F** = Huntsville Alabama
  • IIRC, the Hunstville plant might still be open which is now owned by Thomson/Technicolor. The other two plants (PA, Toronto) were closed down over years ago.
    The Huntsville plant with IFPI mould code 2F** is where Fox and Lionsgate manufactured their dvd and bluray discs for many years.
    The problematic Cinram dvd/bluray Warner discs appear to be from the Olyphant PA plant, with IFPI mould code 2U**
    Ironically the Olyphant PA plant used to be owned by AOL/TimeWarner back in the day, which is where Warner manufactured a lot of their dvds and blurays until mid-2010. Warner did not renew their Cinram contract, and moved on to Thomson/Technicolor's mexico plant (with IFPI mould code KK**).
  • Whichever plant correlates to 2F** is problematic for Blu-rays. Based on Discogs searching, I've seen that plant called CMCA or Deluxe, not Cinram - but that info could be wrong, or Cinram could have owned it before or after those companies.
    I don't think the problem is AS widespread as this 2U** Warner DVD problem, but there have been quite a few reports of 2F29 Blu-ray discs bronzing. It's always 2F29 too; I've never seen a different 2F** Blu-ray disc mould code ever, so I guess they have just one Blu-ray pressing machine (or they're not following IFPI best-practices...). Lionsgate, Fox, and Anchor Bay have used this plant extensively, and I've seen reports of about 20 different releases across the years 2006-2012 that have bronzed. Some are widespread (My Bloody Valentine and Near Dark from Lionsgate, Manhattan from Fox), while others are just one person reporting problems. Though there's never a widespread testing effort, so it's all anecdotal.
  • Fox used Cinram's Toronto plant for many years, until it was finally closed down in 2014. Such Fox dvd discs will have "canada" written on the inner circle of the disc, and have ifpi code 60** (where ** are alphanumeric wildcards).
  • Please Note: I have also read of people having their Ultimate Editions of the James Bond box sets crap out on them. (they released 4 volumes in 2006) and MGM pressed them in the 2U plant