NEWS

April 19, 2005
USA Today

Picture is clearer on disc care

Neil Levine prides himself on his DVD collection. But he's paranoid about keeping his discs pristine, particularly because he has children ages 8, 10 and 12.

Machines such as the Disc-Go-Pod PLUS from Disc-Go-Tech can grind and buff scratches away

"The kids handling them: That's the worst," says Levine, an internist in Poway, Calif. "I try to keep them in good shape. My wife even got a cleaner, and we always try to put them away, but inevitably they get scratched.

"Even putting them back into those containers is not so easy sometimes. It makes me feel helpless; there's really nothing you can do about it."

But there is. The emergence of DVD has spawned a cottage industry of products that grind scratches out of the plastic discs and polish them up like new.

The repair industry began with the arrival of the CD in the early 1980s but didn't really take off until movie rental stores needed to fix DVDs that were damaged from frequent use. A tiny surface scratch can interfere with the laser reading the data, causing the picture to freeze or "pixilate" — break up into tiny pieces, like a mosaic.

Retailers are making their equipment available to customers for a fee. Marc Oringer, who owns the five Champagne Video rental stores in New York City, says he recently bought four disc-repair machines. "They remove superficial scratches and smudges, and the disc comes out perfect." Oringer charges customers $2.99 to fix damaged discs.

Disc-repair machines sell for anywhere from several hundred dollars for home-use models to the Disc-Go-Mech. Made by Canadian firm Disc-Go-Tech, the "Disc-Go-Mech" machine can repair 100 discs an hour.

To prevent damage, store discs in the original case. Do not spin the disc once it's secured. "Some people put a DVD in the case and spin it so the label is level," says William Hadcock of Disc-Go-Tech. "That can cause scratches to the data side."

If DVDs get dirty, clean with water and then air-dry, Hadcock says.

Keep discs away from direct sunlight or heat, such as a car's interior, because the discs can warp. "If a disc is warped, there's nothing you can do," Hadcock says.