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sanding dvds
Dec. 3rd, 2002 11:10 ammystery and i were watching "John Q" the other night. an ok movie. at least, what i saw of it was ok. it hooked me deep what with it's "Basic Healthcare" core plot, it appealed to the commie-pinko in me (after having a taste of socialized medicine in the military, i can say that it would be a great system.) anyhow about halfway through, the dvd did the hurky-jerky and all of a sudden we are watching the opening credits again. since this was a rented dvd from Hollywood Video, i expected a blemish or two on the dvd. no problem. we went to the chapter selection menu, selected the chapter we were on, and fast forwarded to a point just past the effected area and let er rip. the movie was fine for about two seconds, then skip.... again we are looking at the opening credits. figuring that there is a smudge or scratch on the dvd, we pulled it out and inspected it. not only were there no scratches, there wasn't even the slightest blemish. so we ended up skipping the chapter and finishing the movie with a few more skips and stalls. but we were able to decipher the plot, even if we missed a lot of the finer points. it was a cassavetes film, so most of it was pacing anyhow.
So last night, we werte watching another movie from the same place, this time it was "Frailty," Bill Paxton's sleeper suspense movie (and directorial debut) and this puppy was a good movie. the acting was excellent, Paxton was incredible, and then, as the plot reaced a pivotal confrontation, the DVD skips and wigs out. no amount of monkeying around will fix the issue. so we pop the dvd out, and just as before, no scratches. but this dvd is odd. its... somehow.... translucent. actually, it's nearly transparent. you can see the words "Frailty" through the bottom of the dvd in fact. since dvds are read by reflection, translucency is not a good thing. at first i thought this was horrible manufacturing, but as i examined the tracks i could see an odd "Feathering" on the edge of the dvd... almost as if the readable surface had been.... sanded with an industrial sander, and then buffed and polished smooth. On a hunch, i took a closer look at John Q...although it wasn't as transparent as Frailty, it showed the same feathering on the edges. in fact, the John Q dvd had edges that were actually sharp. one might cut oneself. i figured that this store was sanding down the plastic coating that covers the aluminum readable surface, (the scratches on dvd's are in the plastic, not on the aluminum,) then polishing it out, leaving a smooth surface that may refract a little, but since dvd players are forgiving, this would generally make the movie readable again. i'd never heard of this practice, but of course, a search on google produced a web page on the procedure:
http://www.cdcityinc.com/html/process.html
i'd have no problem if it were obvious that this attempt at "repair" had been accomplished with the degree of care expressed on the webpage, but in this case the attempt at repair has completely eliminated the plastic coating and sanded off a significant portion of the reflective aluminum, rendering the dvd unreadable. i would imagine that the sanding required to do this would take considerably longer than a few seconds as described on the page... so beware when purchasing previously viewed dvd's from Hollywood... (although i do have a number of dvd's from the hollywood video in seattle, none of them seem to be sanded down... perhaps it is just another example of Philly style charm.)
So last night, we werte watching another movie from the same place, this time it was "Frailty," Bill Paxton's sleeper suspense movie (and directorial debut) and this puppy was a good movie. the acting was excellent, Paxton was incredible, and then, as the plot reaced a pivotal confrontation, the DVD skips and wigs out. no amount of monkeying around will fix the issue. so we pop the dvd out, and just as before, no scratches. but this dvd is odd. its... somehow.... translucent. actually, it's nearly transparent. you can see the words "Frailty" through the bottom of the dvd in fact. since dvds are read by reflection, translucency is not a good thing. at first i thought this was horrible manufacturing, but as i examined the tracks i could see an odd "Feathering" on the edge of the dvd... almost as if the readable surface had been.... sanded with an industrial sander, and then buffed and polished smooth. On a hunch, i took a closer look at John Q...although it wasn't as transparent as Frailty, it showed the same feathering on the edges. in fact, the John Q dvd had edges that were actually sharp. one might cut oneself. i figured that this store was sanding down the plastic coating that covers the aluminum readable surface, (the scratches on dvd's are in the plastic, not on the aluminum,) then polishing it out, leaving a smooth surface that may refract a little, but since dvd players are forgiving, this would generally make the movie readable again. i'd never heard of this practice, but of course, a search on google produced a web page on the procedure:
http://www.cdcityinc.com/html/process.html
i'd have no problem if it were obvious that this attempt at "repair" had been accomplished with the degree of care expressed on the webpage, but in this case the attempt at repair has completely eliminated the plastic coating and sanded off a significant portion of the reflective aluminum, rendering the dvd unreadable. i would imagine that the sanding required to do this would take considerably longer than a few seconds as described on the page... so beware when purchasing previously viewed dvd's from Hollywood... (although i do have a number of dvd's from the hollywood video in seattle, none of them seem to be sanded down... perhaps it is just another example of Philly style charm.)
