When a new DVD is scratched, but plays perfectly, what do you do?
 

When a new DVD is scratched, but plays perfectly, what do you do you?

As long as it plays fine, I see no reason to return it. I know some are pretty anal about scratches around here.

I'd say return it, who says it would work on other players?

If it is a brand new disc (and I got it at a B&M), I usually take it back right away. I will check the discs after purchase in my car and take appropriate action.

If I get a disc online and it has a scratch, I will play it first. I also pop it in the DVD-ROM and see if I can rip the disc. If both tests check out, I keep the disc. It's just too much of a pain for me to exchange discs purchased online -- or maybe I'm just not that OCD about it (not that I don't understand why one would want to exchange it).

Sorry but my OCD kicks in and I return it! But, I've gotten better to where I can actually wait a day before storming back!

:wave:

Thanks, Tom....mighty white of ya to remember.:D

For me, it's a case by case basis. It's rare....very rare, that I find damage to the actual disc when it's purchased new. A few times, the scuffs/scratch were almost too small to see, plus they were mailorder dvds which are more of a pain to return. One other time, on a local store grab...I found a nasty scuff but it did not cause playback issues but looked damn ugly...so I returned it. If I'm paying for a new product, undamaged product....then they damn well better provide undamaged goods.

Overall...if it's a local deal...I'll return it. Mail...depends how bad and how obvious.

I burn it in a demonic beast ritual.

How dare a DVD have a flaw!

it really depends on how badly it is scratched and the effort I will have to take to return it.

Usually a dvd with a few small scratches that play on my main two dvd players will stay. If the scratches are pretty major than even if it plays I will probably exchange it.

I do factor in time and money paid. So if I bought a dvd for under $10 and I have to pay return shipping then I will keep it if it plays.

I exchange it, without exception. If it's an online purchase, I usually just return it for a refund and buy elsewhere instead of waiting for them to process it and ship another.

I return it. Even though it plays on my current player, there's no guarantee a future player will have error correction that is as robust. Better safe than sorry, and it may encourage studios to tighten quality control.

Shoot the hostage.

I'm inherently lazy, so if it plays alright, I'll keep it.

Usually if it has a scratch, it doesn't play right, so I do return those. If it's scuffed it usually plays fine.

As long as it plays fine, I keep it.

I just keep it. As far as whether it will play on a future player, I'd make sure any future player is as good as the one I've got. If I got a new player I'd put a scratched disc in and if it wouldn't play right,return the player.

:up:

What's funny is that I'm more anal about the condition of the cover, since it's main job is to look pretty :lol: But then I won't spend hours trying to find a perfect cover. I'd rather spend my time watching my movie.

btw, good to see ya around :)

Exchange it (for me). While the DVD may play, what if I want to sell it eventually? Perfect products move - others simply don't. :)

If it plays fine, then I'll just keep it. It's just too much hassle to do the exchange.

If it's a new release and has any scratches on it, it's automatic exchange for me. Another thing I look at is price. If I paid full price or close to it on a big title, or a 2-disc set, such as a "King Kong" or "War of the Worlds: Limited Edition"...then it must be in perfect condition. I'll let some things go on certain discs and ones that were under $10. Or ones I got through Columbia House as enrollments. But....after going through pure hell exchanging a Harry Potter dvd at Best Buy the other day, I'll never buy a dvd from there again. They make it a gigantic hassle exchanging a product. I'll stick with Circuit City and Walmart from now on if I want to buy a movie. They're mush easier to deal with.

It goes back no question about it. I'm very surprised by these poll results :hscratch:

I would keep it just to save myself from any initial agression. Seems like it's only a light surface scratch (like for an example from a cleaning), and not a deep indentation scratch that will eventually effect the playing of the disc. Even though the comments from other forum members has stated above, a new product should be in perfect condition without any abnormalities.

As Brent suggested (;) ), make a backup copy. If, as another poster suggested, the scratched disc does not play in other players, the copy should.

Wow! So many responses already. Thanks!

I learned a long time ago from my experiences with CDs that trying to accumuate a large collection of completely scratch free discs can drive a person crazy. If you look close enough, you can find tiny scratches on a large number of brand new discs.

So I decided just not to look at the playing surfaces. If it plays fine, I'm happy.

However, I recently bought season 4 of The Simpsons. Disc 3 was loose. So I decided to look at the playing surface. It was scratched, but it played perfectly all the way through all the episodes.

I really didn't like that the scratches were there. But I decided to keep the disc, because based on past experience, I knew that if I exchanged it, my brain would just magically start worrying about some other disc that I owned, and no matter what I did, I would never be satisfied. Based on past experiences, I know that in some situations, caving in to the OCD makes the OCD worse.

It would be nice if every DVD came in its own individual case that held the disc securely. And it would be nice if new DVDs never had scratches.

But realistically, that's not going to happen.

I think there's a fine line between collecting and OCD.

Thanks for all the responses so far, everyone.

I don't know, I personally don't like to keep discs that have scratches on them. Stores like Best Buy like to ask you when you return a disc 'have you tried watching the disc to make sure it plays alright?'. But that's not the point. I paid retail for an item and I don't expect it to be damaged.

I don't really care, just as long as it plays fine.