Raghuvir wrote:
What exactly is the difference between gold & silver discs?
In the old days, DL DVDs playing side was Goldish tint, sometimes quite dark Gold. Later on, at one point, a lots of, one after the another, DVDs kept on having playing problems. Initially this was limited to DVDs replicated by Media Dimensions and later with many others. In particular, problem was in the 2nd layer.As it turned out, all these discs were silverish on the playing side, in total contrast to Goldish tint that was norm for DL DVDs, in those days. So, it was just a co-relation that Gold DVDs keep plaaying and Silver discs rot in the 2nd layer. (SL DVDs, even if in Silver, did not have this problem)
Later on, most DL DVDs started appearing in Silverish media (Hollywood), and did not have this problem of 2nd layer rot. In case of Bollywood DVDs, it's appalling that even 10 Yrs later, the same old stock is still in circulation and we often get DL DVDs that are rotted in the 2nd layer. A sealed copy may play for a limited time but rots any time (i min to 1 year) thereafter, just as Silver corrodes in air.
In those days, one speculation was that someone picked up "Limited use" discs in bulk (recall that failed phase where they tried to market DVDs on per play basis) and used as their cheap raw material ??