Does anyone have any information about the existance of a plastic that could be supplied as a sticker, which could be applied to DVD Disks and the cases they are presented in which, when subjected to heat would change colour and stay that way?

The idea came to me as it's become apparent that while more and more people are buying DVD Players and renting DVD Movies here in Australia, a certain number of hired DVD Movies are being damaged by exposure to heat from the sun and the hire industry here, it seems to me, will need a surefire method of identifying those disks to avoid re-renting them to other customers and mucking them about.

With a VHS Tape it is easy to see the damage wrought by heat but the same is not easily apparant when looking at a DVD Disk.

If such a plastic exists then it should be easy to sticker up the disks and cases.

It would have to be assertained at what temperature and for what period the Disk would need to be subjected to heat before damage is done but I'll bet that's a minor issue.

Anyone have any leads or links, and for the record, I have already suggested the idea to one company here that makes the cases and another that produces plastics which change colour when heat is applied but revert back when cooled, neither could help but felt the idea warranted attention.

Honestly, I'm not sure that's practical. DVD's and CD's are read, and heated by a laser. Granted it's a small beam, but I've hurt myself on a CD that's been in my drive. (Especially when playing Diablo 2 for 12 hours straight). Damage on a DVD is because of long-term exposure to lower levels of heat. I'm not sure that you could make a plastic which reacts in such a manner.

Thanks for your thoughts, I'm not sure there is either but then if there's a need often, something turns up to meet it.

I have never run into a problem concerning such damage as a result of infrared (heat) or ultraviolet damage. But I am certain that the technology does exist to cause plastics to change colors when exposed to a variety of such conditions. In fact, I imagine that it is possible to cause a disk to turn completely black if it were to become exposed to extreme heat or light.

I am reminded of those old 'Mood Rings." I believe that they worked off of heat changes, which would cause a variety of color changes. Then there is these cheap plastic strip temperature thermometers that illuminate the temperature according to the person's body temp. Many other examples are out there these days. If you are looking to make money in this game, I would expect that you would need to focus your energies toward marketing such a product and investment backing. I'm sure the original patent ran out many years ago, but you might be able to patent the idea under a variation, as is commonly done with so many rehashed inventions.

Hey, if there is a need for it, there is money.

There are stick on tapes that one can apply, that is available from any industrial supply house. Check for a chemical supply place or the internet. The temperatures can be in different ranges from 35 F to 500F. These are used on sensitive equipment as an alarm indicators . High temp strips are used on process pipes. I have used them around 1980s. By now, technology must have improved...

Thanks for the replies so far, I'll keep checking back to see what happens in this thread.
I'm not looking to make money just interested to see if the technology is up with my idea and... it would be nice to be confident in the knowledge that when renting a DVD Movie the product will function first time everytime.