Scratched CD's and DVD's

[danielctull]

I have never ever ever scratched a disc. Ever.

Ever.

But when I lend my very precious Red Dwarf to a friend and I get it back to find it doesn't play properly, I'm pretty peeved. Then I look at it to find loads of scratches.

What do I do? Do I make him pay, knowing full well that he scratched it or do I just buy another one? My other concern is that I earn £25 a week at the mo and that DVD would cost me 3/5's of my weeks wages...

[Maxi]

I know if i'd of lent a friend of mine something that cost 3/5 of a weeks wages and it came back in an un-useable (is that a word?) state .. i would be pretty damn annoyed .. i would atleast confront him, if he was any friend he would at least offer to pay something towards a replacement.



While we're on the subject of scratched dvds .. why is it when i go to hire a dvd from the local store, it looks like it's been around the world in a parcel force van? even when it's a new release .. I think it's pathetic the way some people look after things that do not belong to them.

</rant>

[wizard_uk]

Avoid getting DVDs from certain branches of Woolworths and WHSmith, they use those horrible cardboard sleeves that scratch the CDs and DVDs, just because they don't want to fork out for these plastic devices that can be put on the cases to prevent theft.

[Big Adam]

Totally agree about personally taking care of my kit only for others f**k it up.

A small ray of hope for daniel is that I've spotted a sign in my local camera shop saying they can repair scratches in digital discs. Prices range from £2.99 for a CD to £4.99 for a CD-Rom. I think DVDs are £3.99.

They say results are guaranteed and they'll give you your money back if it doesn't work.

If the DVD's screwed anyway, might be worth a try?

See if anywhere near you does something similar.

BA

p.s. I haven't got a clue what they do to the discs. Might be just a gimmick?

[danielctull]

I think it that case BA, they scratch it even more. The resulting effect would be that its scratched to the same level all over and so problems with the laser... That's what I'm led to believe.

Either that or they fill the scratches with some stuff to create a flat suface again :D

[Tami]

This really works

Fixing a scratch isnt too hard, if its not too deep get some aggressive toothpaste like pearldrops, put a tiny amount on a WET fingertip, put a drop of water on the scratch and rub the WET scratch with the toothpaste on your fingertip using a side to side motion ACROSS the tracks, continue till its gone.



A cotton buffer wheel and polishing compound will take out deeper scratches, but this does require a lotta practice, white compound (white rouge or stainless compound) is the compound to use, I have made VERY deep scratches optical again using these methods many times

[slartiBardfarst]

some car polishes work too. if you get something called T-cut (same principle as the toothpaste) and use it in the same way Tami said it will remove most scratches.

what it does is slowly rub away the top layer of plastic so it's not filling the crack in but removing the surrounding plastic. obviously don't do it too much or you will distort the disc making it even more un-readable.

[iggy]

ive got this wheel thingy that u put a cd on and it turns and rubs the scratches off.

works really well altho the cds dont look pretty after wards

[playbhoy]

any time i have rented a dvd out of blockbuster it has ALWAYS been scratched. im fed up with complaining to them and being told it is my dvd player which incidentally works fine with dvds i have bought. they have lost one customer.

[johnwibble]

Myself and 2 work mates rent on line at a place called in-movies.co.uk . We pay about £20 between us a month and you can rent as many as you like with a max of 3 out at a time so it works well. BUT - yes you guessed - about 5% of the discs arrive in an unusable state. I haven't got a clue what people do with them as I've never scratched a disc either. Mind you, back in the days when CDs were being developed I remember someone on Tomorrows World saying that they will be indestructable and you will be able to do anything with them and they will still work ! Maybe it's ex presenters of Tomorrows World trying it out.

[rowland]

I can remember the tommorows world item about cd's. they spread jam on them, stood on them etc, they said that they where impossible to damage and would last for ever. I gave up renting films long ago, after deciding that I did not like watching them through a snow storm but that was on vhs tape:p

[danielctull]

Originally posted by rowland
I did not like watching them through a snow storm

He was watching The Snowman ;) :D

[IggyMF]

Go buy some Crystal-disc, wax product that fills the scratches on cd/dvd....mucho cheap, and it works quite well

[Da_Rebel]

I make sure i never lend my DVDs anymore. Lent out 3 and 2 of them were scratched like mad afterwards and one of them had coffee spilt on it apparently. My friend paid got replacements, which turned out to be cheap copies from the Sunday Market or somewhere like that