I know through experience that the DVD's I rent seem to withstand a great deal of abuse compared to the DVD's I record myself. I've had DVD's recorded that have sat around in a CD jewel case on its side not play well after collecting micro particles of dust. I think storing them so that the reorded side faces down may help, but storing them in the jewel case inside a plastic bag might be the best bet.

Can anyone explain why the commercial DVD's are better with respect to dust, and what they reccomend as the best way to store the recorded ones.

...and how bad will it get when we go to HDDVD's and or BlueRay.

Thanks

Use better media like Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden and you'll likly see a signigficant improvement in the long term storage of recorded media.  But it will likely never be as reliable as the original release on DVD... That said, for the future, I am not sold on HD-DVD or Blu-ray... Personally, I feel the future of data/video/music storage may be flash media... but we will have to see how the technology plays out.

(in reply to iONic)

Funny thing is I do use Verbatim... Technically, however, what is different in the process that makes the "prerecorded' DVD better?

But you'll need to keep your flash memory away from electromagnetic fields...
Maybe the ancient Egyptians had it right all along, after all look how long their data has lasted.   Through hell and highwater, through electromagnetic fields and sand storms, the hieroglyphics are still here. I can see it now... Stephen Spielberg directing the stonecutters every move, template after template....

(in reply to SithTracy)