Customer Reviews

Digital Innovations 10185 Skip Dr. Motorized AutoMax Scratch Repair System

5 star:		(130)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(59)

 

 

I have used the hand cranked version of product and its sister product the Skip Doctor to repair a few dozen CDs and DVDs. They have 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.

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.

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

I bought this to clean up all of my kids DVDs. They have a ton of discs that are dirty, scratched, etc. I have cleaned over 30 discs so far and have fixed all but one (it was *really* scratched up).

I am suprised at the negative reviews on this item since I have considered this one of my smartest buys this year.

I bought this to try to fix some of my child's scratched up DVDs. It works well, but you might have to run a DVD through multiple times. Example: DVD that had a place where it skipped/got stuck towards the end. First run through, the DVD was terrible. YOu couldn't even watch any of it. I came very close to writing a terrible review. I ran it through a second time and the DVD was returned to its original condidtion without the skip being fixed at all. I ran it through a third time and the skip was almost completely fixed. Slight mess up in the audio and a few weird pixels on the screen. So, I ran it through again and I think its completely fixed.

The Skip Dr. is one of those rare devices that does exactly what it is advertised to do (no DVD that has a scratch on the label side of the disk can be repaired, and some very deep scratches on a playing side may not be repairable--if the first repair does not work, repeat the process). Though operation of the device is fairly intuitive, the directions for use are clear and it is worthwhile to read and follow them. It's important to realize that CDs and DVDs aren't read the same way that LPs were, back in the olden days (okay, MY olden days--it's humbling to have to explain to your 14-year-old what a "45" or "LP" or even "an album" is). CD/s and DVDs aren't read starting at the outside and spiraling in, they are read in lines starting from the center of the disk and out toward the edge. This is important to realize so that you know why you should only dry and buff a disk from the center outward, take the cloth off the disk, and do it again (from the center straight out,working your way around the disk. Don't swipe the cloth around and around the face of the disk or you will just create more scratches that will interfere with playback. Don't scrub back and forth, just wipe from the center out. Same with the buffing cloth. The Skip Dr's cleaning wheel cleans the disk in the proper direction, from the center out. It leaves "rays" that are like faint shadow-spokes radiating out from the center of the disk to the edge. These faint lines don't interfere with playback in any way. A drying cloth and buffing cloth are included. The procedure is basically spray on the repair solution, place the disk in Skip Dr. (which will start and stop automatically), remove the disk when ejected, dry it off, buff a little (don't go for a chrome-like shine--it's not important for reading the disk and if "new car shine" is that important to you, forget repair and replace the disk with a new one. This is a repair, not a reincarnation). I have used several manual machines over the years and this does the best of the lot--5 moderately damaged disks, all of which play without errors. Oh, and Disk Dr. comes with a lifetime warranty, but I believe you have to send it in its original box--so hang onto the box.

If you have even a noticeable scratch this will not repair it. It will clean up the light touch scratches a disc normally receives over time. It only comes with one wheel which will need replaced in a short period of time, as well as the solution which is mostly water anyway. Also it runs off of batteries as is and they are not included. However I tend to prefer things that don't plugin because I already have too many things that do.

I had a couple xbox 360 games that were unplayable. This did not help. It did clean up a few lightly roughed up discs though. I ended up buying a memorex circular disc cleaner/repairer though which plugs in. This also was not able to repair my 2 unplayable discs but I think it does a better job of buffing out light scratches normally seen on used games. Each buffs the disc in a different direction and Ive been told that this Skip Dr does it in the proper direction (from the inside of the disc to the outside while the Memorex spins in a circular motion like a record player while two smaller wheels spin (one for wet one for dry).

If you have a disc with a very visible scratch that is unplayable I think you're out of luck. For normal wear and tear I think this product is good.

Simply put, this is an amazing piece of machinery. I order a lot of used house/trance CDs from overseas, which can be quite expensive. They don't always arrive in the best shape unfortunately, especially older CDs. The SkipDR has managed to save every single CD I've used it on, no matter what condition it arrived in. It's truly saved me a ton of aggrevation.

I highly reccomend the automated version instead of the manual one, which I ordered first. The automated version is about 20x easier and faster to use, which you'll appreciate if you have a bunch of CDs to clean.

There is only one slight downside to this machine that's been talked about before, and that is how fast the disposable parts run out. The wheel and fluid will only last about 20-25 CDs, far less than the advertised amount. But if you really want to save your CDs/DVDs, it's just a small issue. The price of replacement kits is far cheaper than re-buying a ton of CDs and DVDs.

I definantly reccomend this if you have tons of optical media laying around. Well worth the cost!

I picked up the automax skip dr. and have been very happy with it's performance. However, it has very real limitations, that I think may be leading to the bad reviews I have seen.

1) If there is a scratch on the label, your done for. Label side scratches destroy the data. Nothing can help there.

2) It will not remove the scratches completely. It polishes and cleans the surface enough. Scratches alone, don't usually cause skips, it's the dirt, oil and dust that gets trapped in scratches that causes a problem. Just cuz you can still see the scratches, doesn't mean it didn't work. It usually does

3) Bad disks need to go through twice! I have yet to find 3 runs to do better than 2, but a couple of bad disks needed to be run through twice to make playable.

4) Finally, don't skimp on the resurfacing fluid. The instructions say generous, and they mean generous!! If the disk isn't dripping one or two drops when you turn it vertical to put in the skip dr, it's not wet enough.

5) Buff those puppies real well. That is the manual step, and it sucks. But you really need to buff them clean.

After all that - the thing works great. I'm really perplexed at the number of bad reviews and can only guess that the unhappy people had really bad disks.

I found the Skip Dr. Motorized Automax Repair system very handy, and a pretty good value for the money. For the most part it fixed my 3-year-olds skipping and freezing DVD's. There were a couple DVD's which it could not repair, despite running them through multiple times. Those being a result of my daughter's careless handling of disks, and my carlessness of leaving them in reach. It cleans and buffs out small scratches easily, but will not do heavy repairs like the machines at the video stores. In fact, I know a manager at a local store, and their machine was able to fix the discs this machine did not. HOWEVER, I want to repeat it fixed 99% of all my glitches!! The problem I see is the flex wheel. It is rubber, and from first use, the seam on the sand paper started to separate. It did not and so far has not impacted the effectiveness of the unit, but I do see that I am going to have to buy a replacement wheel soon (after about 30 uses). I've used other types of clean/repair systems, mainly the ones you crank for yourself. This is a breeze compared to those, and I would certainly not shy away from reccomending this product. I would be nice if it came with a refil of fluid, an extra wheel, and a power adapter instead of costing about $20 total for the three of these items... but, nothing in this world is free! :-)

I was playing Metal Gear Solid 2:Substance one day, and BAM!!!! The game stopped working. My town has a game shop where they can repair your games for a dollar. I tried there, but it STILL didn't work!

One day, I saw this while on a vacation in Florida. I was a bit skeptical, after all, it cost $40! But what the hey, I could refund it if it didn't help repair my nonworking disc. It worked. My game plays like new again.

Here's how it works: just spray entire play-side of the disc with the spray provided, stick it in the machine [with the play-side facing the wheel], wait a minute, then, when it pops out, dry the disc with cloth provided, and buff it using the little pad provided [that helps restore the shine].

It's small, lightweight, and easy to carry. I suggest to get this if you have a nonworking disc.

This device, and the handcranked version I had before it, works very well for repairing DVDs and CDs. In fact, it is the only repair product I've used that works well consistently. However, there are some caveats:

1. THIS IS NOT A CLEANER. It repairs scratched disks by sanding them down and polishing them. There are lots of cleaners out there (or for us rednecks, Windex and my t-shirt covered belly :-) I'm sure someone will write how horrified they are that I use Windex on DVDs.....If you use it to clean, you may be horrified by what you see, leading to #2....

2. It will leave semi-radial sanding marks on the disk. That's how it works. That's why you DON'T use it to clean disks, only repair. The sanding marks don't affect playback, but if they turn you off, you can use a lesser disk repairer like the motorized Memorex unit to buff them out.

3. Be sure you clean the disks after repairing. This will help reduce the sanding marks and remove any particles left from the repair process.

4. Contrary to the product description, it will NOT work on 3" disks. I tried to repair a GameCube disk once, and it destroyed the sanding wheel.

If you buy this unit understanding these limitations, I think you will be totally satisfied with the performance of this device and I can highly recommend this unit for its intended purpose.

David V