DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System

by Digital Innovations

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 3 x 8 inches ; 13.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BZ8PWO
• California residents: Click here for Proposition 65 warning.
• Item model number: 10480 00
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #71 in Electronics > Accessories & Supplies > Audio & Video Accessories > Cleaning & Repair > Disc Repair Kits
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 4, 2005

Product Description

DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Works, July 14, 2006

By 

paulg_dc "Paul" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System (Electronics)

I knew I wanted a DVD fixer, but didn't realize how difficult a decision it would be. I found that reviews were all over the map, and that one site's "editor's choice" could have very poor user reviews on another merchant site (and I myself tend to trust user reviews more than editor's reviews, if there are a substantial number of them).

To make matters worse, the products from the maker of DVD Dr., Digital Innovations, are in so many different designs, models, and iterations, that product and price comparisons was immensely difficult. The DVD Dr. kit I bought was not reviewed at all on Amazon.com, though a similar (identical?) model under a different name scored highly.

So regarding the product I bought, DVD Dr., let me be the first to state it works as advertised. I had one DVD in particular that I wanted to be my test case. There is a point at the beginning of the movie where it freezes. Skipping ahead goes several chapters ahead rather than the next chapter. I've tried it in other players with the same result. I tried copying it to see if my computer could read the data, with no success. Nero's scan disc program showed bad sectors (red and yellow) in one major area at the beginning, and other smaller less severe areas near the end of the disc.

I am happy to report that after one use of DVD Dr., the DVD in question now plays without problem. Additionally, Nero's scan disc now shows all green-- no errors. I am very pleased with the results of DVD Dr. Spray the fluid on in a couple places, put it in the spinner, and crank the handle until there's been one full rotation of the DVD. Remove the disc, and you'll notice vertical (from edge to inside) buff marks on the disc. Wipe it dry and buff it. The end. It's a five-minute process, if that.

For the record, I think the design could use improvement. It's a little too "fussy", and I much prefer the simpler designs of previous iterations. The base is flimsy, and you have to hold the arm of the unit tight in your hand as you spin the arm (requiring quite a bit of effort, surprisingly). But I didn't buy this for the design, really.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Flimsy junk, September 3, 2006

By 

Larry (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System (Electronics)

I have the exact same experience as the reviewer on aug 19th. The cleaning wheel is so flimsy it always bends out of shape. Don't buy it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DVD Dr. Advanced gets the job done., December 2, 2006

By 

Shane - See all my reviews

This review is from: DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System (Electronics)

I have used this product and its sister product the Skip Doctor to repair a few dozen CDs and DVDs. It has worked well in most cases. I use Exact Audio Copy to make MP3s. I have had disc show up with errors in EAC and then rip perfectly after a run through the Doctor. DVDs that freeze or skip, play normally afterwards.

The Doctors use a wet sanding technique to remove a layer of plastic over the whole surface of a disk to get remove scratches. It is not a spot polisher. The Doctors will not fix very deep scratches, but they will do a good job on light scratches, even if there are hundreds of them. Some times, even if a run through the Doctor does not completely remove a visible scratch, it will help enough to fix an error. You will notice that the disk will be covered with hundreds of very light radial sanding marks. These will buff out some with the included felt pad, but not completely. I have not had these cause a disk to play any worse than it was before. You must have the disk wet and keep it wet or you will FUBAR your disk.

Expect to get about 20 repairs out of included wheel. A replacement will be about $10 and are available in most big box electronics stores, the are also available on Amazon in a 2 pack for $14. The surfacing fluid is "99.5% filtered water". Distilled water can be used in its place for about $1.50 a gallon.

Note: These machines WILL NOT repair Nintendo Game Cube games and other small form disks, especially not the DVD Doctor. The only disk I have had totally fail repair was a Game Cube game.