Do DVD and CD scratch removers really work? (1 Viewer)

[Graham Michael]

Last week my Xbox dvd drive started to kick the bucket on me. I was under the impression it may have been the game I was playing at the time - a preowned copy of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (as opposed to say, Buffy the Waffle Cone Maker).

In any case, after the fellah at EB showed me a Game Dr. I asked to see what the discs look like. He pulled out what must be their demo disc and laughed as I recoiled (I'm not kidding, there was a foot and a half of honest to god recoiling action) in horror from this abomination. He popped the disc in (Azurik - yeeuch) and waiting. And waited. And waited.

Yeah. Dirty Disc Error. I snatched my Buffy from his clutches and Ran Like Hell(tm).

My local Microplay had an ad in the window for professional disc resurfacing for $4.99 Canadian (taxes in! whoot) The Microplaydude (not to be confused with the midgets who pose nude in mags) vanished into the back room for about two minutes. When he came back, he obviously had brought some new strange fresh copy of Buffy with him as it was Helldamnass pristine. Like bullet that killed Kennedy pristine.

So in short, the home disc cleaners, are, in my opinion and slight experience a waste of time while also making your disc heartstoppingly ugly.

Spend the bucks and get it done right.

 

[John_Berger]

None of this crap where you apply everythign flat then buff it with a cloth.

Sorry, but I've had nothing but good luck with such "crap".

I've used several of the "hand-rub" compounds on scratched discs for years and have been able to find differences between them.

The one that I never really liked was by Scotch/3M which uses a gritty, medium brown compound.

Allsop has (or at least had) one that uses a non-gritty, white compound that works very well. For minor scratches I had difficulty even finding the scratches afterwards. It certainly could not get rid of the deepest gashes, but there was a distinct difference that it at least tried to make a repair as the scratch was not as noticable.

And at least with the hand-polish solution, you have the ability to choose the polishing method. I always use cotton squares that can be purchased next to cotton balls at any pharmacy or supermarket. I have yet to cause more scratches than I repair.

Doing it by hand also allows you to rub in the compound in the direction of the scratch so that you can get the most penetration into the gash. If the scratch goes more around the disc than a straight line from center to edge, most of the machines will not be able to correct that as well as doing it by hand.

I've also had the rotating flat cleaners that performed no better but instead left loads o' lint on the disc and of course got dirty over time from all of the solution being absorbed into the cleaning fabric. At least by hand you can toss away the cotton square when you're finished with it and therefore have a truly clean cleaning method each time without having to buy more expensinve, proprietary cleaning pads for whichever machine you've bought.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The only difference between CD, DVD, and Game Dr. is the packaging.

No quite. DVDs pack much more data into a give amount of surface area, plus can be dual-layered, and therefore are inherently more prone to damage than CDs are. They aren't physically more "fragile" than CDs, but a scratch (or even a fingerprint) that wouldn't cause a CD to skip can cause problems with a DVD. In that sense the data they contain is "more fragile".

Regards,

Joe

 

[Yumbo]

grin,

he was talking about the various repair kits for CD, DVD and game discs.

they are pretty much the same.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

DVD is no more fragile than a CD. Don't all optical discs use a similar polycarbonate substrate?

He was talking about the discs, too. Try reading the posts before offering corrections. "grin"

Regards,

Joe

 

[Yumbo]

relax,

was replying based on your quote which is self-evident.
no need to get iffy.

it should be pretty obvious that DVD is not the same as CD - redundant.

 

[Francois Caron]

Man, I thought I was being original when I thought of this! I fixed my Gran Turismo 3 that mysteriously scratched itself while inside my ps2 this way.

What kind of polishing compound did you use? I'm still trying to locate "the right stuff".

A warning to others. NEVER use the felt discs without using some kind of compound! You'll leave a permanent gouge on the disc surface in less than a second!

 

[David Lambert]

I'm still trying to find the best polishing compound out there (toothpaste has too much grit, vaseline is a bit too slippery but does prevent the formation of deep gouges), but I haven't quite found the stuff that would leave behind a decent mirror finish.

I have a co-worker who swears by Turtle Wax, if that helps!

 

[Francois Caron]

I have a co-worker who swears by Turtle Wax, if that helps!

It does. This is not the first time Turtle Wax was suggested. It's certainly worth a try on one of my test discs. Thanks!

 

[John_Berger]

And it will protect your DVDs from acid rain, UV rays, and bird droppings. Actually, it makes sense since that's how the other compunds work - apply, let dry, wipe off.

I'll have to try that as well.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

So what's the concensus here...that "professional" services at funcoland etc. do the job best? Are there any consumer-products that come close? Not a list of those that don't work effectively...just a short list of those that *do*?

-dave