But if you put a lot of dusty discs in your DVD tray, that will definitely build up and prevent the laser from reading the disc properly. That's why I spray the disc tray with canned air every once in a while.

I'm not sure about any permanent damage from reading scratched discs though.

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I suggest throwing out your damaged and dirty DVDs and buying new ones.

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I have had some success with cleaning discs using optical lens cleaner and a soft, dry tissue. Remember to wipe radially only. YMMV.

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The head on a DVD or CD is “active” - it is constantly moving in three dimensions to compensate for wobble when the disc is spinning (you may not be able to see any wobble but it's there). Any debris (dirt) that gets into the motors will do no good.

Avoid placing paper labels on a DVD or CD. There are many problems: over time the label may peel off damaging the disc, and the label may add enough imbalance to the disc to stress the spindle and arm compensation mechanisms.

I agree with EL_: if a disc is damaged or cracked then it may well damage a drive, especially a computer drive that tries to spin up to very high speeds. Not as dangerous as the possibility of a cracked laserdisc shattering when spun up in the old days but the same kind of thing.

As for scratch repair, I'm not sure what the dominant effect is here. The data layout of a disc is already highly resistant to scratches. It may be that the real goal here is to prevent a scratch in the disc from scattering the laser beam: I doubt you can really repair a disc so well with casual repair techniques to render the bits underneath readable: you may instead be trying to limit the damage to a smaller area by eliminating unwanted light scatter by the scratch.

(on this last point I'm thinking of the incident at the McDonald Observatory where someone fired a gun at a primary mirror, chipping it, and the fix was to paint the scratched area black to prevent reflections)

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turn it off, not in sleep-mode, when you're not using it. it gets hot inside and heat warps plastic and will ultimately lead to problems reading discs in a few years. in fact, stuff like that is rated to run x-hours at x-degrees, the warmer the shorter the life. if it's got a vented area, make sure it's unobstructed and not stacked on top of an amp(my linn would only last a day if the amp below it overheated and shut off first).

for scratches, you've got a decent amount of clear plastic to work with before you get to the reflective part with the data(if that's damaged, forget about it). the easiest and best way is brasso, applied radially with felt then polished off. automotive polishing compound is a little inferior, but works. if you've got a private airport near you or something that sells small plane supplies, seriously look into the stuff called micro-mesh they use to polish the scratches out of windows-it's about $20 for a bunch of it.

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Does anyone know about the percentage of DVDs affected by this defect?

Thanks a lot!

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Does anyone know about the percentage of DVDs affected by this defect?

Thanks a lot!
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Well, I would have to go back to my original post. I still seem also to be experiencing a higher number of discs that seem to have problems playing. doesn't matter whether they have scratches or not. Only last night I had problems playing a disc which appeared to be in perfect condition, only for it to seize up during the best scene on the disc (why is it always during the scene that I really want to watch?!). I had to go to the next scene and search backwards to get to the point where it froze.

I'm now really beginning to believe that my DVD player is either becomming worn down from heavy use and can no longer cope with discs that aren't in pristine condition, or that playing faulty discs really is srewing up my player in the long term.

My advice is to try and avoid playing discs that you know to be faulty, and if you use your player an awful lot then I guess the only fail safe, albeit expensive solution is to replace your player every couple of years.

Although I would have to add that never in my life, not once, have I had any problems with non-adult DVDs. Shame really.

Edited by - goldenballs on 5/6/2005 6:08:37 PM

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Although I would have to add that never in my life, not once, have I had any problems with non-adult DVDs. Shame really.

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Same here! Thanks for your clear answer!

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I've never had the problem with non-adult DVDs, and I can't believe that it is my player, it must be the disc. And from the last ca. 30 DVDs I bought ca. 50% had that problem. I'm really curious, how long it takes until my player is defect because of this.

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Don't recall ever having a problem with a mainstream movie - no wait I lie - only a couple of days ago I had "long Way Round" freeze (it was a rental mind so who knows what state it was in)

On the other hand I get more and nmore Adult ones that have problems - I have probably had somewhere between 8-12 titles, maybe even more have such problems. They either just freeze, or they judder then freeze, pixelate then freeze or similar.

What I really don't get is that it is often discs that played flawlessly the last time I played them. Also I look after my discs really well - stored in plastic sleeves that hold 2 discs with cloth seperating the two discs.

Does anyone have any idea why this happens to discs ?

Edited by - stefank60 on 5/13/2005 6:30:00 PM

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I bought some movies from a company and they were scratched but I couldn't help it but to play those movies in my dvd-rom and next thing you know after 2 days my dvd-rom wasn't working. It can't read at all now, no music cds, no application cd, dvd movies, nothing! nada! :(

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I can see how a scratched DVD may not play properly, but I don't see how attempting to play it could harm the player.

Can somebody explain how it could?

Edit: Went back over the thread, and I see jamesboston's comment. Makes sense - the player is 'working hard' to figure out how to read the DVD. I can see how doing this to it repeatedly would eventually wear out the player. It is going to wear out eventually anyway. :) I still don't see how trying a scratched DVD to see if it is playable could have damaged your player right away.

Edited by - willywilly on 5/27/2005 12:49:38 PM

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