[grub]

Hey, I was just wondering if those DVD/CD repair kits you can get at Best Buy really work.  I noticed that one of my roomates scratched my X-men DVD and I've lost about 5 chapters from it.

Has anyone tried one?
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[Tyson]

yes, they work, but get the motorized version- doing it by hand sucks.

[bubba966]

I've used one of the hand kits. Works fine, but as Tyson noted it's a bitch doing it by hand. I'd bet a scratch big enough to loose 5 chapters will take 20-30 minutes to rub out if done by hand.

Did this happen to the old release of X-Men, or the new X-Men "1.5" release?

If it was the old one maybe you ought to just get your roommate to cough up the cheese for the new release. Hell, just make them buy you a new one anyway. They trashed it, they should pay for a new one.

My rommates know they can borrow any disc at any time. But they also know that if the screw it up they've bought it. And that's exactly why my import LD's don't ever get touched. At up to and over $200 a pop those aren't cheap to replace...

[avahifi]

I was recently in a local CD Warehouse store (used CDs and DVDs) and they have a buffer that took some pretty nasty scratches out of a used CD that I purchased.  Unlike the Skip Doctor found in stores, their system actually makes the CD look like new.  While I have the Skip Doctor and it does work, the surface of the disk is a series of "spokes" where the sanding disk buffed out the scratch.  The Skip Doctor does not polish the surface to make it look like new.

In talking with the sales person he told me that they will buff and polish any scratched CD/DVD you purchase from them for free, or for restore a disk you bring in for $3.  As long as the scratch is not a deep gouge they can remove it.  You may want to see if you have a CD Warehouse around you, or call some used CD/DVD stores and ask if they have a buffer.

Larry

[jackman]

Great suggestion.  I use a Skip Doctor and agree that it leaves the CD's cloudy and scratched looking.  You can buff it by hand (a real pain) if you use the buffing cloth that comes with it.  Either way, it does work.

J

[grub]

Cool, thanks guys.

Actually, the scratch isn't very deep, and it may not even cause problems on the newer DVD players, but I have an ancient sony dvp-s330.  It seems like it's sensitive to scratches....I usually have trouble watching rental dvd's (did you ever look at the surface of those?) too.
-->grub

[Eduardo AAVM]

Not a repair kit but a preventive measure would be a product sold in Europe, from a german company it is called CD-Film and it protects the surface,i it sticks to it, so no problems will arise from scratches, just change the film and that's all CD and DVD forever.

I have never used but I am very interested...

[TheChairGuy]

I killed a scratched CD with a Maxell hand-buffing 'scratch' paste (Sam Goody maybe?)once...swore off them a couple years ago.  Maybe the motorized version is beter as Tyson points out...

[Rob Babcock]

I've have one of those hand turned scratch repair do-dads and it works, but as mentioned, it does leave the disc looking cloudy.  I'm a little "superstitious", so any favorite disc so repaired would probably get replaced eventually.  I have some concerns about the long term viability of a repaired disc.  The sound doesn't seem to be affected, but I worry that the abrasive action on the whole disc surface could cause it to fail prematurely.  Of course, only time will tell.

[Eduardo AAVM]

One interesting product I knew of is a preventive one, it is called CD-Film, it as special film which covers the CD or DVD surface so you prevent any damage to it.

The company is www.audioagile.com

I have been trying to get some of those film packs but there has not been a chance to bring them.