Ive got a couple DVDs that have small scratches, and they won’t play. There are several polishers available, at different prices, but I can’t get a good feel if they work well, or at all.
Has anyone used one? Which brand? Do they run the risk of completely removing the surface, and ruining the disc? Are they snake oil?
I never bothered. Plain toilet paper will work, or even use a dab of toothpaste as a polish agent. Always rub inside-outside motions, and not circular. I’ve saved many discs that way.
I have tried using CD polisher/cleaner before (long time ago, can’t recall the brand) but I am not sure if it actually works. Some disks which are not working worked after cleaning. Some did not.
Somewhat related…
Do you guys remember the CD/DVD cleaning kit which comes with a CD? You actually need to play the disk and follow the instructions there. The one where you have to wait for a few minutes while some soothing music plays in the background. It is supposedly ‘cleaning’ your CD player.
We’ve had one for years, whatever the common brand is. Used it mostly in the Netflix DVD days when discs frequently showed up badly smudged or scratched. A run through the clean cycle, or for scratched ones, the polish and then clean cycle, worked miracles. (And made the next few renter’s lives easier…)
Not sure one is worth getting for just a few discs, especially if you handle yours carefully. The toothpaste method - and remember to rub radially, not circumferentially! - and a wash with dish soap will work for many light scratches and scuffs. Be sure the disk is dead dry before using it.
What they do is polish the protective outer layer, which on a commercial disc should be thick enough to withstand at least 3-4 full polish cycles. You don’t necessarily have to remove the scratch, just smooth it enough that the laser can read through all or part of it, enough to pick up error correction info.
I have a little Procare/Ecare disc fixer that did repair a couple of problem DVDs, but I also have 2 or 3 others I’ve put through it a half-dozen times and it hasn’t done them any good.
I read a tip years ago, maybe it was even here on straight dope, which has always worked for me. Polish the scratch on the CD with a tiny amount of Brasso brass polish. It sounds crazy but it’s never failed me.
Excellent username/post content combo here. 