Customer Reviews

DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I had a really bad disc with what appeared to be very light scratches. I first tried a Memorex disc repair machine and that didn't help at all.

Bought this today and turned the handle and the wheel got stuck. Just a note to people that if this happens, it's because you're turning it the wrong way. The way the resurfacing material is put on the wheel makes it get stuck when you turn it towards you. Turn the wheel AWAY from you. Clockwise.

First try and the disc still wouldn't copy (it was a video capture I made) or play correctly. I tried again and was able to back it up finally on my computer with NO errors at all. I have now done a Scandisc in Nero CD/DVD speed and it's reported no errors. I think for some discs it will take 3-4 rotations, but overdoing it may be a risk!

NOTE: The buffer pad (not the wheel) scratches DVD-R media. Use something else to clean/buff the disc after it's repaired.

I mostly agree with the comments provided by the one-star reviewers. This product IS flimsy and definitely not worth the $30 I paid for it at a local Radio Shack. (It was the cheaper of only two models available.)

The resurfacing wheel is designed to bend or "give," but I can certainly see how it could fail to operate properly (although I haven't had that experience yet). The "resurfacing solution" is nothing more than purified water (99.5%) and a preservative (0.5%), so there's nothing special to that, either.

I tried mostly PlayStation discs, and I had mixed results. Some discs were made functional after one pass through the product; others needed a second or third pass (and even then one of them still failed to work). It seems that the success you'll have in repairing your discs depends on how deep the scratches are and in what direction they are facing. (The product works by scoring or scratching the disc radially--from the inside hole outwards to the edge. Discs become unreadable when the scratches are more in a circular path around the disc's surface--in line with the "grain" of the disc, if you will.)

My guess would be that there are better products out there on the market, so do your research before making a purchase. Admittedly, I bought this product more on impulse and convenience (the store was 5 minutes away). In retrospect, I should have read more product reviews and then bought a product that had a better rating by consumers.

I am a bit confused at all the reviews I have read, they either loved it or hated it. I hated it, a defective design.
The very first disk I inserted and started to turn the handle slowly, the flimsy resurfacing wheel buckled and bent and would jam upon every turn. Besides that the there was no velevt buffing square included in the packaging. It's going back!

I have yet to fix a single cd, dvd, or video game disc with this piece of junk. And they didn't even have deep scratches. They were just superficial scratches that prevent the disc from working. Save yourself the time (believe me you will spend a lot of time buffing and polishing after the actual grinding process), energy and money by simply buying a replacement cd, dvd or video game. I hope that others will learn from my mistake.

I had the skip dr. the one with the green repair disk,

This product is nothing compared with it. It stops the wheel just stuck into itself and happens a lot. could not use it very well we will try the other versions.

This product DVD Dr. Advanced Optical Disc Repair System works for me so far and has fixed minor defects (scratches). For the price it was worth trying.

This DVD Doctor is complete garbage. I had bought it awhile back (unfortunately so long ago, I had to contact the manufacturer to get my money back) thinking it would be good to have in case I have a problem with a DVD or CD. Anyway, I had a DVD that jammed and skipped. After carefully cleaning the DVD, the problem persisted. I whipped out my DVD Doctor, assembled it, and tried to use it. The wheel buckled and would not turn correctly. I called the manufacturer (remember it was purchased long ago and couldn't be returned). Instead of allowing me to return it, they sent me two new replacement wheels. Okay. All well and good. I got the replacement wheels and they, happily, did not buckle. I followed the directions to the letter. Now, instead of the DVD jamming and skipping at certain places . . . IT DOES NOT PLAY AT ALL!!!!!!!!! This product is pure junk and I would not only never recommend it to anyone, I would steer clear of any and all Digital Innovation products. I now have a completely ruined DVD (which I also cannot return since it was bought more than ninety days ago) and this piece of junk - which is going right into the trash where it belongs. Do yourself a favor - DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT OR ANYTHING MADE BY DIGITAL INNOVATIONS!!!!! As you can see by the reviews, it's a 50/50 crapshoot on whether it will work or not or even further destroy your CD/DVD!