Too many scratched DVDs! (1 Viewer)

[Bill A]

I have 1000+ CDs, and have returned 4 of them for defects since 1986. For the most part I don't even think about having to return a CD when buying it - they're that rock solid. DVDs are another story - I always wonder if I'll have to return a box set. I can think of 6 box sets that came with badly scratched or smudged discs, with several others containing at least one lightly scratched disc. I have at least 10-15 single DVDs that came with light scratches/smudges. Am I the only one who's having this trouble? Quality control for DVDs seems to be kind of low. I've felt compelled to return two box sets : Die Hard & Friends: Season Four. In both cases I've returned the discs, gotten another set, and found them to be just as bad (if not worse). The "Friends" set had a badly scratched disc 2, and a badly smudged disc 3. I swapped sets to find the same exact thing - scratched 2/smudged 3. Are box sets packed by hand or something?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

All DVDs except thinpacks are packed by hand

 

[Vic_T]

DVD's are a different monster than CDs (different groove spacing, more information to transfer, different reflectivity of the medium, not to mention dual layers). All in all, most players seem to be forgiving of light scratches (hell, even Netflix discs seem to play fine). I've only had to return one disc for scratches that caused noticeable playback issues (Diana Krall in Paris) out of about 100. Which, I guess, is actually a higher percentage than you, but i still consider it pretty good for a product that only been around for a half dozen years. Remember, when CDs first came out a great deal of them (I've heard 80%) had defects (this is when they were audiophile only, long before they could be purchased at Wal-Mart).

 

[Neil White]

For some reason, both Spy Kids movies I bought at different times were really badly marked. Spy Kids 2 looked like it had been handled by careless kids for months. No exageration, it was covered in greasy fingerprints right out of the shrink wrap. Actually, my 4-yr old doesn't get discs that messed-up.

I've seen others too but those were the worst two examples I can think of. The other type of problem of course is the broken spindles. I've had a few discs come in the mail with gouges in them bigger than the Yangtzee.

N

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

I've had a few dvds that will have static on the screen at intermittent points. I will usually take the disc out of the player at the time and look for scratches, but usually don't find any. Since my player is getting older (almost 4 years and EXTENSIVE use), should I blame these problems on the DVD, the player, or a combination? What type of remedies are out there to ensure my software plays at its best?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Most of my library was obtained from online vendors, and I've only received three or four "rattlers" (all replaced with zip problems). Otherwise, everything's blemish-free. No scratches, smudges, smears, or fears. DVD offers incredible quality for the dollar.

 

[Andrew D F]

Perhaps I've just been lucky, but I've only had to return 3 discs as defective out of the 1600+ DVDs that I own.

That doesn't mean that I haven't received many discs with small scratches or minor smudging, but they always play just fine and thus are not defective.

 

[MarkHarrison]

I've had good luck until recently. First my Moulin Rouge disc pauses and pixilated a lot in the second half of the movie. I'm in the process of returning that one to Columbia House.

Then I finally joined the Buffy craze and picked up season 1 last week. All was fine until the second episode on disc 2. Totally unwatchable as froze, pixilated and skipped all over the place. I replace it over the weekend and the second one seemed fine, but then it started having problems on sections that were fine on the other bad disc. By the way, the discs failed in the same spot on multiple players, so it's definitely the disc.

But here's the thing that totally blew me away last night. I was watching the second episode on disc 3 of Buffy last night. The episode is Nightmares and the basic plot is that everyone's nightmares come true
. Anyway, it started skipping really bad, so I looked at the disc and discovered it had a fingerprint on the edge of the disc (like someone gripped it by the edges a little too hard). But the freaky part is that the fingerprint is permanent! I tried everything to get it off (remember the entire set has to go back anyway since disc 2 is still toast so i wasn't exactly trying to be careful), but nothing worked. The fingerprint is actually in the disc, not on the surface.

The irony of discovering a permanent fingerprint while watching the episode Nightmares is pretty bizare. I'd heard that Buffy was a good show, but I never realized how interactive it really was!

 

[Bill A]

I guess I'm just being a crybaby. Any suggestions DVD cleaners? The Memorex Optifix Pro looks interesting.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I'm not sure what you are asking. If you get a new disc and it plays ok, (even though it shows a blemish of some kind) would you still want to return it? Would that even be possible?

I have had a few where the hub broke and the dvd went on its own spin before I unwrapped it, and there were so many scratches on it that it wouldn't even play, so that goes back without any question, but what if an entire manufacturing run of a show ended up with a scratch on it that didn't effect playing?

Glenn

 

[MarcinL]

I been lucky too, although I only have 164 Movies, i bought ALI used from BB for 6 bucks and its scratched a little but no problem with picture or sound and when i ordered BTTF part 1 was rattling (online order) and its scratched to hell, but also no problem when i watched it