SKIP DOCTOR any good?
10-07-04, 02:48 PM
#26
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 1,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally posted by RDYoung
My experiences with them stem from working in a rental place. Generally, people would use them on thier rentals, then, when they didn't work, return them, and now we have a disc that doesn't work. I bought one just to see if it really caused all the damage that was present on the discs customers returned. I know I followed the directions to the LETTER, and my final result did not play in my player either. I just don't think they work well. The fact that they typically do not resurface to the edge causes many, many players to not even read the discs.
For 3 bucks, we have a pawn shop with a commercial re-surfacer. Much better investment.
r
My experiences with them stem from working in a rental place. Generally, people would use them on thier rentals, then, when they didn't work, return them, and now we have a disc that doesn't work. I bought one just to see if it really caused all the damage that was present on the discs customers returned. I know I followed the directions to the LETTER, and my final result did not play in my player either. I just don't think they work well. The fact that they typically do not resurface to the edge causes many, many players to not even read the discs.
For 3 bucks, we have a pawn shop with a commercial re-surfacer. Much better investment.
r
The commercial buffers in most pawn shops do exactly the same thing as the DVD doctor, just to a much greater extent - they will remove more damage than a single pass on the DVD doctor, but mutiple runs will have the same effect.
I have NEVER ONCE had a DVD not play at all after a pass through the DVD doctor - and I have done this with more than a dozen discs. However, I tried to sell a DVD to a friend of mine - it had been badly damaged and run through my DVD DR more than a dozen times, but played perfectly on my player. His cheap APEX player would not boot up. (I have a 3 year old Toshiba player which was not cheap, but does not play scratched discs very well).
10-08-04, 03:52 AM
#27
DVD Talk Special Edition
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Durham, NC
Posts: 1,187
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Another big kudos to DVD Doctor - I have an extremely abused Abyss SE I got for free at a pawn shop - I talked the woman into throwing it in when I purchased $30 worth of other discs. I didn't think it would ever play, but wanted to experiment with my scratch-removal techniques.
I had used extremely fine grit sandpaper and toothpaste (one time each) to reduce the very heavy damage. At each step, it would play more of the disc but it still was freezing at about the hour mark.
Since I picked up a mint copy at a pawn shop a few weeks ago, I decided to trade this one in at Blockbuster. Since the surface looked pretty hazy from the toothpaste, and the DVD doctor is a lot finer abrasive than toothpaste, I decided to run it through the doctor a few times to make it look cleaner so they wouldn't reject it.
Well, after four passes the disc looks much shinier and plays perfectly, even on my 3 yr old Toshiba. It played on my DVD-rom drive even before tonight, but that sucker will play almost anything.
I had used extremely fine grit sandpaper and toothpaste (one time each) to reduce the very heavy damage. At each step, it would play more of the disc but it still was freezing at about the hour mark.
Since I picked up a mint copy at a pawn shop a few weeks ago, I decided to trade this one in at Blockbuster. Since the surface looked pretty hazy from the toothpaste, and the DVD doctor is a lot finer abrasive than toothpaste, I decided to run it through the doctor a few times to make it look cleaner so they wouldn't reject it.
Well, after four passes the disc looks much shinier and plays perfectly, even on my 3 yr old Toshiba. It played on my DVD-rom drive even before tonight, but that sucker will play almost anything.
Last edited by NCYankee; 10-08-04 at 04:17 AM.
10-08-04, 08:04 AM
#28
Banned
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 154
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It works sometimes, but it still mutilates your disc.
Most dvd collectors aren't going to have 100 scratched up discs. Go for the professional resurfacing. You'll save a bundle (especially by convincing sellers to give away their banged up dvds/games)
Most dvd collectors aren't going to have 100 scratched up discs. Go for the professional resurfacing. You'll save a bundle (especially by convincing sellers to give away their banged up dvds/games)
