Any tips for getting a DVD to play back properly again?

[mikeymikec]

I was a tad surprised when one of my DVD movie discs stopped playing back properly (tested on multiple drives) as it has only been played 5 times in about as many years. It's been kept in its original case the whole time and hasn't be subject to adverse conditions such as high humidity.

The only visible marks on the disc that I can see is a subtle scuff-line all around the outer edge of the disc, about 5mm from the edge, as well as one in the unused around immediately around the spindle. No unsavoury noises have been made during playback that I can recall.

Admittedly I ordered another one after testing this one on various drives, but it would be nice to manage to 'fix' this one. The movie starts to stutter then bomb out soon after about halfway through (so nowhere near the outer edge of the disc). I tried wiping the disc down several times with a wet wipe then drying it off with loo roll, which allowed the film to play for about 5 minutes longer, but that's it. Skipping a few chapters allows the rest of the film to play back without any problems.

 

[corkyg]

Sounds like the disk is damaged. The scuff mark could be enough to kill it.

 

[Mike64]

Have you tried just reading the DVD as a data disc, too?

 

[mikeymikec]

Have you tried just reading the DVD as a data disc, too?

IIRC I tried to do a disk scan using CDSpeed but it started crapping out about halfway through.

 

[Elixer]

Regular toothpaste, believe it or not, has fixed some "failed" DVD disc before, it must be regular, not gel.
http://www.wikihow.com/Repair-a-CD-With-Toothpaste

 

[jkauff]

Just out of curiosity, is this a major label DVD or a "bargain bin" DVD? If it's the latter, it might just be made of cheap materials and has reached an age where it's deteriorated. Although you bought it five years ago, you have no idea how long it sat in inventory (and under what conditions) after manufacture.

Glad you were able to find a replacement.

 

[mikeymikec]

Paramount, so shouldn't be that bad.

Toothpaste - heh. I'll give it a try, nothing to lose!

 

[bononos]

You could try using a cd/dvd repair kit, I think they try to repair or fill in scratches.

 

[sdifox]

Sounds more like disc rot than scratches.

 

[fralexandr]

Sounds more like disc rot than scratches.

yeah, I've had netflix DVDs scratched to heck that played fine... They looked like someone scrubbed them with a pile of rocks or something.
unless that subtle scuff mark covers A LOT of surface area, or consists of really deep scratches I have my doubts that it's because of repairable damage.

 

[mikeymikec]

Heh! Cleaning it with toothpaste has allowed it past the point it previously was stuck on!

 

[Mike64]

Heh! Cleaning it with toothpaste has allowed it past the point it previously was stuck on!

Just a stab in the dark, but since the toothpaste - basically a mild buffing agent - worked, maybe rather than "bit rot" as such, the surface layer started deteriorating enough to affect its transparency (at the wavelength of the drive's laser anyway, if not necessarily to the naked eye) and you were able to polish the surface enough to clear that up?

Also, fwiw, I hadn't noticed that you'd used a "wet wipe" on it before, but aren't there miscellaneous "things" in those, like moisturizers? In preference to cleaning optical discs with something like that, I generally use (mild) soap or very diluted dish detergent, of if I can actually see any sort of haze or film, a little rubbing alcohol on a soft cloth/PT/tissue...

 

[mikeymikec]

I used a wet wipe to clean up the disc after the toothpaste rather than rinsing it. I finished up with a normal tissue to dry the surface completely. Perhaps the manufacturer of the disc put some layer of crap on it, perhaps to prevent scratches during delivery? And that as you say, that layer is what degraded?