Rental Disk Problem (1 Viewer)

[DeborahK]

For the second time I have received a damaged disk from Rentmydvd.com. I have not used them much yet and am feeling discouraged by this repeat experience. It takes a few days for the disks to show up when you rent on-line and then 15 minutes into the film (once it was 45 minutes in) the thing basically goes belly up. What a hassle and how annoying!
I have not seen this problem discussed here and was wondering if people using this or one of the other on-line renting systems has had similar problems?
Thanks,
Deborah
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[Michael Reuben]

I escaped this problem for the longest time, but recently it's happened to me on a couple of discs. In one instance, it was clearly a manufacturing defect (I could see the problem at the outer edge of the disc). In another, the disc had suffered a deep scratch that no amount of buffing could remove.
I'm resigned to the fact that this will become a more common occurrence, for several reasons:
1. The more DVDs manufactured, the greater the likelihood of defective ones slipping through. With Point Break, for example, there were many discs that simply locked up at the layer change. Fox Home Video could never replicate the problem in-house, but enough people reported it on HTF to confirm that there was some sort of pressing error for one batch of discs.
2. Many of the people now discovering online renting are new to DVD and are, shall we say, less scrupulous in their handling of discs in general and rented discs in particular.
3. As volume picks up at the rental outfits, there will be less reliable reporting of defects and less QC in-house. So damaged or defective discs will simply get sent on to the next customer.
It still beats Blockbuster.
M.
[Edited last by Michael Reuben on September 10, 2001 at 06:05 PM]

 

[AdrianJ]

Also, RentMYDVD has been pretty good dealing with defective discs either sending me a new copy of the movie or releasing the next one in my wish list. However, I don't know if they discard the defective disks or not. I hate to say it, but this is almost inevitable with this kind of median. I always wondered why they didn't produce CDs and DVDs in sheaths like floppy discs or mini disks to minimize actual damage to the disk itself.
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Adrian Jones

 

[DeborahK]

I am reassured to know, at least, that I am not the only person who has had this problem! The odd thing is that I have never had this problem with a rental from a B&M rental store -- at least not yet. I did have one disk that had a glitch in it, but it was brief and I was able to get past it quuickly and view the entire film. With both on-line rentals once I hit the problem, there was no way past it -- the movie just would not play.
I am sure the rentmydvd.com will give me credit for the rental as they did last time. I have already written to them about the problem and suggested that they discard this particular copy of the disk when they get it back. The frustrating thing about this is that both movies with problems were main stream "bigger" films -- the kind of films I want to see but do not necessarily want to buy. Why not just go to a B&M store and rent them there? Well, I do not really have a good video store convenient to me, so I find it easier to rent on-line. I think I am going to have to rethink this stratagy, however.
Thanks for the input,
Deborah
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[Glenn Overholt]

I'm with Michael's #2. I ran a rental a few weeks ago that got stuck, but a quick cleaning fixed it. I don't think that the DVD rental sites B&M/On-line realize that these DVD's probably will not have the shelf life that VHS tape had, and as time goes on, there are going to be a lot more unhappy customers, with no real way of proving that you did it, or the previous customer.
Glenn

 

[Qui-Gon John]

I had one damaged from RentmyDVD also, Die Hard. Then they screwed up the replacement, sent Die Hard 2 which I alrady had. They did finally get it right and gave me a half month's credit though.
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Qui-Gon John

 

[Sherry H.]

Deborah,
I've had recurring problems with rental discs rented from Rentmydvd.com. I had three consecutive shipments with at least one problem disc. Most recently, a copy of Traffic locked up two-thirds of the way through the movie--very frustrating when you consider that it took 3 months to get this disc--and I still haven't been able to get another copy. They did ship a replacement disc (the next disc from my wish list, not another copy of Traffic) which still hasn't arrived. Judging from the scratches, residue, etc. visible on these discs, I'd hazard a guess that previous renters handled the discs as they would a VHS tape. As for the online rental services passing on bad discs, I know it's inevitable, but it would happen a lot less if folks would just make the effort to handle the discs with a bit of care...it's really not that difficult.
I can relate to your dilemma--I get a far greater selection renting online and the monthly rental plan eliminates pressure to watch the disc immediately or face late fees.
Sherry

 

[DeborahK]

Hi, again,
I am taking a stab at posting on a few things not related to 9/11/01 as well as trying to do some more or less normal things again, so here goes.
Glenn and Michael mention cleaning rental DVDs and I was wondering how you guys did this and with what. I used a dry lintless wipe (made for CD cleaning) on the rentmydvd.com disk that would not play, to no effect.
Yesterday I was in Best Buy and while I was standing in line to pay I saw a device on the counter called, I think, The DisK Doctor, that purported to clean CDs and DVDs. Is anyone here familiar with this device? It only cost about $30 and if it really works I might pick one up. But I have to confess that I am a bit nervous about doing anything very invasive some a disk I do not own -- I would want to make very sure that I did not make the situation worse!
Thanks for the feedback,
Deborah
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[Michael Reuben]

The DisK Doctor, that purported to clean CDs and DVDs. Is anyone here familiar with this device?

This sounds like the device that's marketed under several different names; the one I bought is called SkipDoctor. I acquired it only recently and have so far had mixed results. One disc was visibly improved; another was so badly scratched that nothing could restore (RentMyDVD tried to do a heavy-duty polishing, which improved playback on some chapters but couldn't eliminate the entire scratch).
Before acquiring SkipDoctor, I cleaned discs pretty much as you've described.
M.

 

[DeborahK]

Thanks, Michael!
Deborah
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