Good news then, I can sell my collection and retire rich. 

Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

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In about 30 years from now on no one will be able to watch the content of a DVD anymore.

Because of the missing hardware or DVD rot?

Quoting KinoNiki:

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Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

Quote:

In about 30 years from now on no one will be able to watch the content of a DVD anymore.

Oh I doubt it. It's been more than 30 years and I can still watch my old VHS tapes.

And how many of your old data storage cassettes from the pre-HDD era (about 30 years ago) is your computer still able to read?
It's not necessarily only a problem of hardware, but of interfaces too.

DVDs only started in 1995 so it's not "more than 30 years" but quite exactly 17 years.

Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

Quote:
DVDs only started in 1995 so it's not "more than 30 years" but quite exactly 17 years.

He didn't say it has been 30 years for DVD, he said, " It's been more than 30 years and I can still watch my old VHS tapes. I can even buy a cheap combo VHS/DVD player, like my father just did btw."  My father purchased his first VCR in the mid '70s, so his statement is quite true.

The point I think he was making is that, because he can still watch VHS tapes, and purchase a VCR, 30 years later, your statement about optical media is fawed.

Quoting TheMadMartian:

Quote:
The point I think he was making is that, because he can still watch VHS tapes, and purchase a VCR, 30 years later, your statement about optical media is fawed.

Honestly, it remains to be seen. It's probably not because someone doesn't want to play an old DVD, the question will be if the disc itself is still playable. VHS had the disavantage of straining the tape when played too often. With DVDs we'll have to see what the glue is really worth.

I already had DVDs where small air bubbles were forming between the two holding discs and thereby destroying the data layer.

Quoting Lewis_Prothero:

Quote:
And how many of your old data storage cassettes from the pre-HDD era (about 30 years ago) is your computer still able to read?

Don't know, never owned any, nor do I know anyone who did. So comparing it with a mainstream format like VHS is just silly.

Quoting DJ Doena:

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Quoting KinoNiki:

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Don't know, never owned any, nor do I know anyone who did. So comparing it with a mainstream format like VHS is just silly.

OK, more mainstream: How many 1995 3.5" floppy discs are still readable, even if you still have a drive? Or worse, the old 5.25" from the early 90s? That's just 20 years and by 1995 home PCs were very much mainstream.

A few pepole with much more knowlege and age on there side addressed a few questions i had regarding the lifespan of DvD in another thread. Factoring in there personal experince with CD's as well. They where confident that DvD's if pressed correctly will last more than 50 years or something like that.

A reason why i see the price of DvD's being higher when the format reachs the end of it's commercial life is because so many people don't know how to take care of there discs.

I think the limited release of the orginal theatrical versions of Star Wars will in time become very sought after and as such pricey.

Some say my living room looks like an electronic warehouse.
My old 486 PC still works.
My LP records are played on a Star Sota
Records were and are cleaned with vacuum record cleaner, 1 part alcohol 2 parts distilled water and coated with Last. It is connect to a McIntosh system. I was just browsing in a hi-fi store one day and got to talking to the owner. Saw the Sota that was going for about $2,000, he said they were not going to carry them any more and offered to me for $1,000.

The vacuum record cleaner was offered by the Music Heritage, about $90.00 as I remember, many years ago.
The instruction said try it on a old record.  I had copy of Sibelius:  Symphony No. 2, London Symphony, Colin Davis conducting that sounded bad and I was going to take it back. Put it on the vacuum record cleaner and it cleaned up beautiful, still got it. The bush record cleaners just move the dust around.

I just played my CD set, Beethoven 5 piano concertos, one of my first CDs.

I have put over 9,000 songs on my PC 2T  MY Book, mostly jazz pop music '70s and before, some R&B, folk and soul. i like to be able to understand the words to a song.
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Recently played The African Queen on LD to compare it to the BD UPC 097360759242. A little grainy by comparison, but that is just the quality of the original LD. LDs, just will not last as long because the way they were made.

Never bought any video tapes, rented one, the quality was just bad.
But, I would rented about 5 LDs at a time and tape them on one of my two JVCS uper VHS to watch for the rest on the week.