I have picked up a couple of used Blu-rays and found they had very faint scratches. When I played them they did freeze up on me.

I know Blu-rays have a protective anti-scratch coating because the content layer is .1mm from the surface (DVDs are .6mm).

In my experience when a Blu-ray shows any scratch whatsoever, it affects the playback unlike a DVD, which will play fine with even several scratches.

I check every Blu-ray very closely when buying used from now on.

Any way to repair a Blu-ray? The car wax thing, which works well on DVD, doesn't work on Blu-ray. It seems when that protective coating gets a scratch, the content under it is damaged and not repairable.

Blu-rays are quite intolerant of any scratches. Once it's scratched, it's done.

TLK

But on the other hand, it's a lot harder to scratch a blu-ray. To scratch one, you'd probably REALLY have to mishandle a blu-ray.

I have purchased three new blu-rays that had scratches on them that disrupted playback. They were all Warners blus, for what it's worth. Funny thing is, they were in regular cases and not sleeves (live Alien Anthology or Star Wars Complete Saga).

Three of my Alien Anthology discs were scratched, apparently by the case, with very fine scratches. I have had no problems playing these discs, so those scratches don't seem to cause much disruption. The Warners ones I had trouble with had deeper scratches, and almost look like the discs were damaged before the anti-scratch coating was applied. They also ran across the playing surface and not perpendicular to it like the Alien ones.

Minor scratches have almost no effect on BD playback, whereas deep scratches will stop a BD immediately from playing. BDs are a much more durable used medium than DVDs ever were.

This is my experience also. My two year-old got a hold of a BD a couple of times. Wiped it off, practically like new. Maybe a very faint scratch or two, playback unaffected. I was impressed...a disc that survived a toddler who tried using it for a play toy.

Certainly they can be scratched, but I agree that it seems harder to do compared to a DVD.