Don't Leave the Disc In!

[Ash]

You know how all of the manuals for DVD and CD players tell you that it's not a good idea to leave the disc in the player for long periods of time?

I was wondering why that is?

I have a Sony DVD recorder with a collection of about 20 re-writeable DVD+RW discs.
Since I record something at least once a day on TV, I usually leave the same disc in it.
I'll record something, watch it and then erase it.
The next day, this process is repeated.
I almost never take the disc out in between recordings.
Since most re-writeable discs can be re-written up to 10,000 times, how can it hurt any DVD player to leave the disc in?

Anyone know?

[LilCerberus]

Someone recently told me that the plastic in CDs releases a gas that can cause them to deteriorate.
Of course this was at a radio station where they probably would need to be concerned about it.
This person was telling me that the CDs needed to be stacked vertically in order to allow the gasses to escape, & he was concerned about the ones that were stacked horizontally.

Or, they could be refering to the sort of situation I ran into recently, when I tipped over my DVD player to rearrange the wires, & the disc I left inside slipped out of the tray & got stuck in the machine.

[Ash]

DVD's releasing gasses...
That would definitely make for a great B-movie!

Breaking News!!
Thousands Dead From Deadly DVD Gas!

[The Burgomaster]

I have heard 2 reasons:

1.  If you move the machine, the disc can slip out of the tray and get jammed inside (same reason lilcerberus gave).

2.  When the disc is inside and the machine is off, the disc can rest on top of the laser lens and nudge it out of alignment.

I have never experienced either of these problems, but I always remove my DVDs from the player if I am not watching them.

[daveblackeye15]

I've wondered about this as well. I figured there was a better chance of doing something to the disc than the machine.