Tarnower

I have upwards of 300 DVDs in my ever-expanding collection. My main gripe is that I have to return so many to the stores to exchange them. Problems are either freezing-up in the middle of the movie (which means I have to watch the whole thing all over again to that point in the next one I obtain), the plastic teeth that hold in the disc being broken and allowing the disc to rattle around inside the case and become scratched all over, the insert booklets looking like they were so roughly handled that they're literally dog-eared or crumpled, or the disc having finger prints all over it. I have been buying music CDs for over 20 years now, and I can't remember the last time I had to take one back to the store, if ever! Why do so many DVDs look like they were manufactured with so many problems??? And why aren't music CDs experiencing these issues? And what really ticks me off is when I take a defective DVD back to the store (Best Buy, for instance), and the idiot teenage girl with a major attitude behind the counter rolls her eyes and says to get another copy; then proceeds to roughly and clumsily start opening-up the new copy and in some cases does more damage to the outer case (especially if it's a Warner case) and artwork than the copy I am bringing back to the store. Any feedback???

greatjedi

I'm not an expert on the subject, but I'd assume that the differences lie in the formats themselves. The information on a DVD (the pits and grooves) are more closely spaced than they are on a CD, allowing for more information to be stored. Because a DVD holds so much more information, you have a greater chance of experiencing a problem. CDs hold only music, but In most cases a DVD holds data for several soundtracks, the movie, extras, subtitles, etc. With all that data, its incredible that there aren't even more problem disks out there.

I know that's a pretty simplistic answer, but that's the best I can do. I'm sure someone here can give a better explanation. Heck, my answer may even be wrong for all I know.

Jackskeleton

I have to agree. with the amount of info on that one DVD, audio and video, it's amazing that there is not more problems with minor scratches.

danol

You got some bad luck just like mine, only mine is I can't walk. Skipping can be got rid of by using Ivory liquid soap in some hot water. When drying make sure you move the felt which to me is best across the DVD 'not' around in a circle.



I don't have 300 I own 1278 DVD Region 1 and 185 (with more on the way) from region 2 & 4. I am doing something right, I can't walk them back at all I have to make things work, I don't have no pretty looking thing to hold my hand, or to help me get through some sales girl you think has a problem.



Learn to clean the speck of goo that the laser can't go thru and takes you back a couple chapters. You get the goo in a manufacturing mistake by a automated pressing machine that layers the plastic disc real name is glue but they do other things to get rid of about 96%, if they didn't everyone *one* of the disks would be spot welded with glue and wouldn't work at all.


Goo is sticky substance that lingers and can't be seen except with $20 million dollar electron microscope. Deal with in a number of ways like very hot water and some type of grease cutting liquid detergent. Then you don't have no more problems or that girl that irritates you anymore. If your ticked off owning just 300 discs, IMO your gonna become a real werewolf when you hit 1200!



If the teenage girl is doing it wrong her manager will get on her case real soon, but if the manager finds it's your problem, he ain't going to do jack about his ok employee. He will be against a wolfman that you will become in terms of anger, and your going to be told not to come there anymore for anything.



Deal with it, and anyone else that hasa fix after my post considerate it, the laser can't read through goo stuck in its path of reading. I can't be sending discs back through the mail at one point in time they'll just close my account.


Have a nice weekend I deal with it and I am welcome by all the DVD retailers. They know I have learned what is wrong, and how to handle it, my credit card and business is welcome all over the world!

gutwrencher

very, very lazy production/manufacturing quality control. some pressing plants are just out of touch with what quality is and is supposed to be. they think there is no problem, I think they are wrong.

do a search for some ranting. search "older" posts and threads and type in dvdrot...all 1 word. you'll find many threads on the subject of "rot', which is not the correct term to use...but you'll get the idea.

danwiz

Amazing! I have some 225 DVDs in my collection (titles, not discs) and out of all of those I have only had to return 1 disc as defective. If you're getting that many "defective" discs maybe you should check out your PLAYER! One of my friends had this kind of problem with his player - can't remember the brand of player, but he finally dumped the player and got a better brand name one and he has not had a problem with a "defective" disc since that time.
Surprised that nobody has commented on this fact, or maybe it's a "little known" fact. Somewhere on the web, can't remember where, there is a site which lists all known DVD DISC problems vs. the brand and model of player which gives the problem. For example "Title" skips (or freezes, or will not play, or etc.) in "brand name" "model number".

danwiz

Sorry, just recalled where the "problem" disc information is, it's in the ever popular Jim Taylor's "DVD FAQ", which you can read right here on good old DVD Talk. The information you're looking for is down about 1/3 - 1/4 of the way in "[1.41] Why doesn't disc X work in player Y?"

Tarnower

Thanks to all of you for replying to this thread. You've been very helpful. Had no idea about the hot water and ivory liquid soap. I may have sent the wrong idea out, though. I haven't had that many discs with performance problems. What I meant was that a lot of discs have either scratches, fingerprints, hairline cracks, etc. that I notice right after opening them. I don't bother even playing them with things like that. I've had maybe six discs freeze-up out of 300. But, like I said, my frustration is the condition these DVDs are in right out of the box.

gutwrencher

it wont help when store employees toss boxes of dvds around like footballs. I've seen it happen at more than 1 store. this and roughness during shipping wont help either. I've also been shopping and watched as people drop a dvd to the floor...accident of course....then pick it up...shake it to death...and replace it. it happens often and more than you think. anyway...this will destroy your chances of getting a clean disc. for the most part though....I think it's mostly in the shipping department. IMHO.

Jackskeleton

Just because something is in a box, empolyee's will think it's safe to mishandle the box.

Cd's are in a smaller package and the room for them to shift is very small compared to the dvd case where once it is loose it can get scratched up by what is suppose to keep it down. best case.. Just check if your dvd is loose in case.

iove

I have to agree with Jackskeleton's observations regarding the conditions of DVD v. conditions of CDs. I too, never noticed or had any problems with scratched, finger printed, scuffed CDs. I buy a lot of box sets and I return a lot of box sets because of those problems above (lots of problems withy buffy, and especially x-files). My wife thought I was a bit neurotic and sloppy in handling the disks myself until I opened one up in front of her and voila 2 disks with deep gouges. I even had one with a partial footprint.

Since a lot of the sets are made in Mexico (or anywhere else for that matter) I would guess underpaid workers with the task of putting a stack of DVDs and paper inserts into a case don't care too much of the concerns of end users. Maybe when distributors are sick of receiving returns of scratched and scuffed disks when they begin to crack down on quality control. I've had only 2 disks that had real manufacturing defects as opposed to sloppy handling at the DVD plant.

What really irks me is when stores like Bestbuy has to actually verify the DVDs are defective before exchanging them for the same title. I guess it's there way discouraging returns vs. insisting on quality control from the DVD manufacturers.

BizRodian

Out of about 100 discs... I've had one problem, but it worked fine using other software on my computer. *shrug*

It does worry me though... I know factorys could make them better... but they don't, because it's cheaper to replace the bad discs. Sad, very sad.

But at least I'm not a teenage werewolf girl!

Squirrel God

DVDs use more advanced ECD (error correction and detection) codes than CDs, hence why they can cope with larger surface markings than CDs.

Almost all the problems with DVDs are with dual layer DVD manufacture. Single layer DVDs are a breeze in comparison.

Tarnower

So let me get this straight. When I clean DVD with hot water and soapy liquid, do I dunk the whole disc in hot water and then apply soapy liquid? And then do I just rub in all over (but from center to edge, right?!). Also, if using boiling water, do you just let disc fall into water, or do you hold it in there with some sort of tongs (that only hold center hole of disc).

Someone please explain exact way of cleaning with soapy water. Step by step, please? Thanks.

Sartana

There are plenty of over-the-counter disc cleaning solutions, so I'm not sure why anyone would want to risk damaging their discs by boiling them(!?) or experimenting with soap. Why don't you just take a few battered rental discs and try a couple different brands of disc cleaners or those "Disc Doctor" scratch-removal machines before you start in on your own collection with boiling water and soap experiments?

KevinSmithIsGod

Am I one of the only people who can say they have almost NEVER had a problem with any DVDs?
I had ONE problem once..I had a problem with part of Dogma freezing. After that once It never happened again...
Part of me wants to upgrade and get a "better" DVD player..but at the same time Im happy with my 3 year old Toshiba sd-1600...
All I read on these boards and problems with DVDs...