Life expectancy of DVD

Paul Fairhurst · #1 (**permalink**) 08-26-2007, 06:28 PM

I am new to this game with my first paid wedding imminent after a good few practice runs. I have been reading various articles on the durability of DVDs. There doesn't appear to be any definitive answer - it's somewhere between 5yrs and 100yrs? I suddenly went into panic mode - supposing someone pays me X amount for the wedding DVD thinking it's for life and in 4 or 5yrs the information on it is lost. Where do I stand? Or I am missing something. I am creating in Final Cut and burning my finished projects on the Apple Mac disk utility. The quality is good and I have had no compatibility problems using Tiayo Yuden discs but should I be doing something different to ensure life expectancy of the DVD.
Does everyone write their own discs or do you use specialist authoring companies, which doesn't seem economical?

Paul

Chapman Photography · #2 (**permalink**) 08-26-2007, 08:11 PM

You won't get a straight answer because there isn't one, It all comes down to storeage and handling. I will replace a defective disc for a year but if its comes back with major damage from handling then I will charge them. You could send them out to be replicated, the cost is around $35-50 for the master and $7-15 per copy with dvd case, art and shrink wraped. I would not worry about the cost to much, in the US the average wedding cost $10,000 - 15,000. So $1500 video dose not seem like alot, just give a good pitch and act like you "need" them, make them think they "need" you. I have noticed that if you give "package deals" they will try to eliminate things to get the price down instead come up with your hourly rate, find out how much they want to spend and go from there.

MOSH · #3 (**permalink**) 08-27-2007, 11:30 AM

I store a disk image as back-up, just incase. Only had one client have issues, they wanted a refund, but it turned out to be their player messing up, as the dvds worked fine on every other player/computer they were tested on (which they even admitted, yet still persisted for a refund).

I've not had any deteriate over time yet, and it's been 7 years since I started producing DVDs. Just don't use those pesky sticky labels!