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TomatoNut95
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How to clean a DVD?

I know this might be a strange subject to bring up, but according to the internet, a lot of people experience this problem with some DVD's, and sadly, I have it to.

I own several sets of show series on DVD and some of the discs show filmy, cloudy like smears on the reflective (readable) side. Sounds like its a common thing to happen on certain sets of discs like from Paramount or Shout Factory.
The question that really puzzles me is what CAUSES the cloudiness on the discs? Deterioration of aging, or highly replayed discs? Poor quality of certain discs? Sounds like discs from the Shout Factory are most vulnerable to getting that cloudy problem.

Some people say its a chemical reaction over time to an oily substance on the plastic backing on the DVD case. Sounds like once that cloudy look on a DVD is too severe it's too late to clean it off and save the DVD. But if caught early enough, it can be cleaned off. One of my elder show series is starting to show light spotting of the cloudiness.

I know what you might be thinking: simply replace the DVD sets with a whole new thing. But complete series of shows can be expensive or hard to find. So I'd like to preserve the ones I already have, even if they're 10-20 years old.

What is the best/safest way to periodically clean a DVD that might prevent the cloudiness? I read rubbing alcohol was a good thing to use?

IDK, what does anyone else think?

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We find that DVDs, especially the ones borrowed from the library, sometimes won't play properly if we don't clean them. I just wash them in warm water & dish soap.

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TomatoNut95
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Ugh, I hate borrowing movies from the library because people totally mistreat them. I won't forget that one movie that looked like it had been buffed with sandpaper.

Anyway, I have heard of 'bathing' your DVD's. How do you do it, dunk the whole disc? And do you air dry or buff it dry gently with soft cloth?
Mainly I want to remove the cloudy appearance on my own DVD's. I don't treat my discs like Frisbee's, so scratches and fingerprints aren't the problem.

Read that the cloudiness could also be caused by the glue between the layers of stuff on the disc?

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To clean DVDs I just give them a squirt of dish soap then use my fingers to rub it around and rinse under a warm-water tap. I dry them with a soft cloth, or on paper towel. Can't say I've noticed the cloudiness you mention - just fingerprints & smears.

I no longer buy books, CDs or DVDs if I can borrow them from the library. When I do buy books I look for them used, online - and get them from someone who doesn't inflate the shipping cost :). That's frequently overseas. There's a couple of literacy places in town with take-one leave-one honor system book lending.

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TomatoNut95
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The reason I don't like to get stuff from the library is because people mistreat DVD's, and it's no telling what hidden germs are in everything. People might sneeze on their books, or pick their nose while they're reading.
As a personal preference, I prefer owning my own stuff.

But I'm mainly concerned about the cloudiness on discs that concerns me, not fingerprints.

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This is an old thread, but since I often fix old dvd's, here's some info that might be helpful...

1) Be aware that there are different disc manufacturing techniques and some are better than others. You want to buy discs from companies with the best track records.

2) Careful handling and storage of discs can make a big difference in how long they last.

3) Although sold to the public as a long-lasting robust medium, many dvd's last only 5 to 15 years. How old are your discs?

CLOUDINESS -- This is due to disc rot. (Technically, it's out-gassing or chemical deterioration of your disc.)

As others have said, start by with washing with soap and warm water, and drying with a lint-free cloth. In many cases, this will preserve the disc.

In other cases, there is nothing you can do to prevent deterioration of the disc to an unusable state.

SCRATCHES -- If you have scratches on discs that prevent playing, clean and rub gently with toothpaste and water (instead of soap and water). Toothpaste is slightly abrasive and wears down any scratches to less depth. This allows the laser reader to access disc data without distortion.

I've used the toothpaste trick many times on bad dvd's bought used from Goodwill or from checked out from the library with great success. My experience has been that this fixes 90% of scratched discs that others say are unreadable.

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Thank you very much for the informative response!

My DVD discs vary in ages. Many are 10+ old, some maybe around 15. (I've gotten plenty of new ones since the Covid, lol!) I've noticed that discs (season sets) from the Shout Factory and Paramount get that cloudy look. I've also read about giving your discs a bath. So, I could like dunk the whole disc down in a bowl of soapy water then blot dry with a dry soft cloth? What kind of soap can I use or should not use?

I for sure never mistreat my discs like children and other irresponsible folks do. I've checked out some library movies that were in shameful shape. That's why I prefer buying my own movies instead of getting them from libraries.

Most discs are made in Mexico, I believe. From what I read discs have many layers, and the chemical deterioration happens between those layers, right?

That's cool about the toothpaste trick. It's rare I come across a scratched disc, but could you explain that method a little more? Like, how do I apply the toothpaste/water mixture? Spray it on?Rub it on with my finger?

What are your thoughts on music CD discs? Are they made differently from dvd's? Some of my CDs are around 10+, 15+ years old and I've never seen cloudiness on those. Music means the world to me, so I treat my CDs with TLC. Meaning I NEVER lay a disc out in the open to get dusty, I never leave it in the player more than 12 hours, (I listen to CD's mostly at night for sleep assistant), I never touch the readable side of the disc, and I never expose them to extreme temperatures. But, I never have cleaned them because they never get dusty or scratched. Should I do anything extra to them to insure a longer lifespan?

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Just a side note: I've found that disks borrowed from the library very often need washed before they will play properly.

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benali wrote:
Wed May 19, 2021 2:11 pm
I've used the toothpaste trick many times on bad dvd's bought used from Goodwill or from checked out from the library with great success. My experience has been that this fixes 90% of scratched discs that others say are unreadable.
Thanks for the great explanation of what causes these issues and for the toothpaste trick!

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Some more info in response to questions...

DISC QUALITY -- Manufacturer quality varies by the year of production you're talking about and the particular factory, but over the years, Paramount and Warner Bros are both widely thought to have had some bad periods. (I don't know anything about Shout Factory).

What we really need is a way to look up a quality rating before buying a particular movie disc. There are websites that do exactly this for those buying blank computer discs... but I don't know anywhere that gives quality ratings for consumer dvd movie discs.

DISC ROT -- I've simplified a bit about what is popularly called disc rot, in that the term is used by techies for several different (but related) dvd issues. The Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot gives a good overview with more detail if you want it.

The reason that there are several forms of disc rot is that there are different materials and manufacturing techniques used by different manufacturers. Note that DVDs are different from CDs.

HOW TO CLEAN A DVD -- Here's an excellent general How To https://www.wikihow.life/Clean-a-DVD. They use IA (isopropyl alcohol) which is pretty popular for this task. Personally, I always use IA, not soap and water.

HOW TO DO THE TOOTHPASTE TRICK -- This works well for scratches. Also for other kinds of problems with the DVD surface (the clear plastic/lacquer coating that covers the shiny recording surface you see underneath).

Use regular toothpaste -- not something with "whitening crystals" or other gimmicks.

Your goal is to reduce the thickness of the plastic/lacquer coating just a bit wherever you see imperfections in it. By rubbing it with mildly abrasive toothpaste.

Take a dab of toothpaste on your finger. Apply it to the DVD surface on top of the imperfection. Then rub the toothpaste on the DVD with your finger. Rub in straight lines from the center.

Then rinse in water, and damp dry with lint-free cloth.

This technique is highly effective, even for discs with lots of wear and scratches. However, you will run across the occasional deep or wide scratch you just can't fix.

I hope this helps.

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I really appreciate these tips. Just this evening I looked at a DVD I have from Warner Brothers. The dish has some fingerprints around the outside edge (how they got there I don't know, that disc isn't watched often) Along with those prints is a mild, dusty looking appearance all over the disc. I watched the movie with no problems, but I think I'll try out the rubbing alcohol/water rinse wash shown in the article you gave me on this disc.

In the other article you gave me, it didn't explain cloudiness, just pinholes and coffee looking stains on dvd's and CDs. However, I'm sure the milky cloudiness I have experienced on some of my elder DVD's is still a symptom of 'cheap disc rot'.

Shout Factory is a well known DVD company that has helped bring many old time shows like the original Dennis the Menace episodes, The Patty Duke show, Mr. Ed and others to DVD. Shout Factory is also associated with the still running, VERY popular Hallmark TV series When Calls the Heart. My mother is a huge fan of old comedy sitcoms like that (as am I and thousands of other people) and she has told me that she's seen the cloudiness on her Dennis and Patty discs.
I've also seen the cloudiness on discs from the Andy Griffith Show, and another old time favorite, which were Paramount made.

Update: so I did some internet research and found a forum (Home Theatre) where people actually discuss their favorite movies/shows. Other people are noticing the cloudiness on discs from Paramount and Shout Factory. One person named a stuff called De-Solv-It. (said it was similar to whatever Goo-Gone is) Ever heard of it?

benali
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Hi TomatoNut95,

Thanks for the info on the Shout Factory. I appreciate the update.

IT people (I'm one) often use Goo-Gone for removing residue left behind by the stickers on computers (eg "Intel Inside" and the like). Also for de-gunking keyboards and similiar computer cleaning. I'm not familiar with using it on discs. Its function would be to remove external gunk from the dvd's plastic/lacquer coating. (I'm not familiar with De-Solv-It.)

Sorry the link I provided didn't talk about disc cloudiness. Googling lists many good links, several from computer forums -- https://www.google.com/search?q=fixing+cloudy+dvds

I hope you're able to find something that helps.

The ultimate answer here would be to make a backup copy of any suspicious or failing dvd.

It's really unfortunate that US law forbids making a backup copy of a copy-protected disc when some manufacturers sell dvd's that are clearly substandard.

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Got a music cd question:

My latest addition to my soundtrack collection was a rather problematic one. I bought it brand new, the disc has NO scratches, scuffs or anything. But when I listened to it the first time it skipped 9 or 10 times. Amazon will be sending a replacement that won't arrive until late November. It'll probably sit in one of those cargo boats in the ocean for a long time...
Anyway, I have continued to try and listen to the skippy cd because of the beautiful melodies on it and since then it hasn't skipped as many times as the first. Last night it didn't skip at all. I know it's not my cd player even though it's a piece of junk.

So my question is: what causes am undamaged cd to skip?

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@TomatNut I've had skipping CDs that were fine after I washed them with warm soapy water. In fact when I get DVDs from he library I usually wash them before I try playing them. They often skip if I don't. Mostly I can see if they are smudged but not always.

I'm curious: assuming you're set up to receive email notices when someone responds to you, did you get a notification of this one even though I shortened your username?

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Vanisle_BC wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 1:26 pm
@TomatNut I've had skipping CDs that were fine after I washed them with warm soapy water. In fact when I get DVDs from he library I usually wash them before I try playing them. They often skip if I don't. Mostly I can see if they are smudged but not always.

I'm curious: assuming you're set up to receive email notices when someone responds to you, did you get a notification of this one even though I shortened your username?
But my cd was brand new. Sealed in it's jewel case. Would bathing it still help? I can try that when I get a moment of time.

My mom told me she bought a movie set that was sealed but she opened it and said the discs looked like the person had goopey fingers when handling the discs. I know there are ways of re-sealing stuff. I offered to wash the discs for her but she returned the set.

Actually no I'm not receiving email notifications. Back when I joined the forum I used to but when I had to get my second phone I was dumb and lost the password to my gmail. When I got my second phone I created a brand new gmail and still have it here on my third phone. (I'd still have my old phone if it weren't for nitpicky Tracphone). Anyway, I just pull up the forum via chrome browser whenever I feel like checking it and log in.

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Sure enough, I guess the only way to find out whether washing your skippy CD would fix it is to give it a try: good luck and let us know..

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Vanisle_BC wrote:
Wed Oct 27, 2021 6:18 pm
Sure enough, I guess the only way to find out whether washing your skippy CD would fix it is to give it a try: good luck and let us know..
So yesterday I bathed the cd. Last night it skipped twice and both times sounded worse than before. The first skip made a quick roar/hum. The second skip sounded normal but lasted a couple of seconds longer than usual. So unfortunately the bath didn't help, if anything it must have worsened it? Skips in brand new dvds and cds must be an 'internal' issue: a damage or glitch within the layers of the disc.

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T-nut: Sorry washing the CD didn't help.

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Vanisle_BC wrote:
Thu Oct 28, 2021 2:40 pm
T-nut: Sorry washing the CD didn't help.
That's ok, this is only the second skippy cd I've gotten that was brand new. The first one was a kiddie storybook cd that was a gift. I could only listen to it on my portable cd player that had auto ESP. This new cd still skips even on my new portable with auto ESP. I'm hoping the replacement will arrive in one piece. When getting CDs from Amazon there is always a chance of the jewel case being cracked. I've had to put a few of my disc in new cases. A couple of my discs came in skimpy cardboard cases with a chance of slipping out and I put those in new plastic cases as well. If a disc isn't stored properly I know it can scuff in its own case if it's loose.



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