Click here for more information I have been searching for a device to repair all the scratched up DVDs for a couple of years. I certainly didn't want to replace each one as that was too costly. I've reviewed several brands and models before settling on this one. I took the most scratched up DVD and ran it through the 5mn cycle. All of the glitches were repaired except for 1 - it was a pretty deep scratch. I ran it through a second time and the movie played like new. I am relieved that I won't have to throw away all those movies; I can just de-scratch them. My only con are the sparse instructions and the clean up of the machine afterwards. It is not an easy task to clean it up when you're done. Aleratec 240135 DVD/CD CG Disc Repair System
<UPDATE>
I had to knock a star off my previous review 5-star review. After polishing 400 disks, and just a week or so after the (90 day) warranty expired, the part of the lid holding one of the polishing pads broke. It should be a fairly painless fix (forty three dollars - twenty nine dollars plus fourteen in shipping and handling to just get a new lid), but I don't expect (commercial grade!) things to break down so fast. The support guy I talked to said that usually the lids last much longer.
</UPDATE>
Ok, so the initial investment for this unit is on the high side, and at the time of writing, refill polishing fluid and replacement pads run one hundred and seventy six dollars. But since the refills are good for at least 500 disks, that means the cost per disk is around thirty-five cents. That's significantly better than nearly all of the cheaper units, so if you plan on repairing more than two or three hundred disks, this unit is going to pay for itself in low per-unit cost.
If you've used any of the cheaper disk repair options, you've probably experienced some of the following: having to switch between multiple sets of polishing pads, which themselves wear down at different rates, but usually have to be replaced together. Having to manually apply polishing solutions. Having to sand down really bad scratches by hand first. Noisy, high pitched electric motors. And at the really cheap end of the market, disk repair systems that leave more scuffs than the disk started with - though the scuffs are 'against the grain' of the disk, and 'usually' leave the disk functional.
This beast rocks. One never needs to change from buffing pads to polishing pads or cleaning pads - only one set of pads is used, no matter how bad the scratches are. No need to pre-sand down bad scratches by hand either - the machine has one control - an egg-timer-like dial on the top. For deep scratches, just turn the dial all the way to five minutes. There is only one polishing solution, which you simply pre-fill in a reservoir. As you polish disks, the reservoir level does slowly drop; every 20 disks or so you have to add a splash more polish solution. This is the least fussy system I've tried.
The unit isn't exactly quiet - it sounds like a small washing machine, the way the polish solution sloshes around the tank. But it is far less annoying than all of the cheaper units I've tried.
The quality of the resurfacing is grand. I get a mirror-like polish every time.
Down sides? Sure, there are a few. It's a bit messy. When you remove a disk from the unit, it's covered in the polish solution, most of which you want to shake back into the reservoir. Then you need a few soft lint-free cloths to carefully remove the solution residue without re-scuffing your disks. I find my old worn Think Geek T-Shirts to be superior for a first pass of getting 99% of the solution off the disk (my Carhartt t-shirts just aren't as soft, and sometimes will leave a small scuff), and then I use a micro-fiber cloth used for cleaning glasses to give the disk a final buff.
You do have to keep the polishing pads clean. If you polish a disks and see new scuffs as a result, there is probably a little piece of grit in one of your pads. Use a toothbrush or your fingers to get rid of any specs that you see in the white polishing pads.
Clean-up is a bit of a pain. It has a drain hose that you can use to drain the polish reservoir, but the whole thing still needs to be rinsed out and wiped down. The manufacturer recommends emptying the reservoir every night. Since I've been using this daily to archive my collection, I don't do this. I simply polish a disk before I go to bed and polish one when I wake up, so that I'm not letting the solution sit around unperturbed for too long. Then I just dump the polish and clean the unit after I've done a hundred disks or so. (The replacement kit has 10 bottles of polish, and the pads are good for about 500 discs. It takes one bottle to fill the reservoir and in the course of polishing 100 disks, you'll use about another bottle topping the reservoir off. So after a hundred disks, you can empty the reservoir and switch to new, clean polish and you won't run out of polish before the pads are worn down.)
But because of the clean-up, this is not the most convenient unit just for polishing the odd disk here and there. It's almost not worth filling the machine unless I'm going to polish at least 20 disks. I find myself keeping a small CD rack by my computer so I can store up any scuffed disks I buy (usually cheap, used music CDs) until I have at least 20 I want to polish. So if you just want to do a single disk now and again, this might be more hassle than you want.
The instructions left a lot to be desired. They don't tell you how to change the pads. (Just pull them straight off. Obvious once you do it, but the cheaper Aleratecs had screw on pads, so I wasted some time before figuring out that these are not threaded.) The instructions also didn't mention an on/off switch. In fact, the instructions clearly state that you should plug the unit in and then you'll see the power light turn on. And if you turn the timer dial, it functions with the power off, even though nothing else happens. Had a moment of panic thinking I had a busted unit before I found the switch.
All in all, if you have a large collection to clean, this machine is easy to use and cheap to run, and does a great job. I'm also saving money because I'm no longer afraid to buy cheaper CDs that have some scratches; I'm not paying a lot extra for 'Like New' anymore. - Dvd - Aleratec - Zdag - Cd
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