Irresponsible use of Blu-ray rental discs

[Bobby Henderson]

It shouldn't be a hassle to rent movies on Blu-ray Disc, but sometimes it is -largely because of people who have very poor habits in handling discs. They either don't know how to handle discs properly or, more likely, they just don't care.

I'm pretty sure I'm "preaching to the choir" in making this complaint. But what gets into the heads of some people that compells them to take all sorts of stupid chances with a disc they don't own?

I encounter Blu-ray rental discs soiled with finger prints fairly often. Some careful cleaning usually solves that problem. Still, any optical disc should be handled only on its edges (and perhaps a finger on or through the center hole to have a more stable grip).

I rented The Lookout on BD from our local Hollywood Video store. The disc just wouldn't load in my PS3. It turned out the disc had a few little scratches on it. That was enough to render it unplayable. I had to go back to the store and exchange it for a different movie. They had only 1 copy of The Lookout on BD and that copy was ruined.

Blu-ray has a more scratch resistant surface, but I wonder if some people are taking that as a cue to be extra abusive to the rental discs.

To involve others in the conversation, what sort of bad practices have you seen in disc handling?

I've seen lots of people just leave bare CDs and DVDs laying around outside of the case. That alone can do a great job of damaging discs.

Those CD albums and other disc holders with pages of clear plastic sleeves do a fantastic job of scratching and ruining discs of all types.

I've also observed some of my own relatives doing really crazy things with CDs and DVDs, such as letting their infant kid play with the disc and try to load it into the machine as if it is some joyous family moment. Sure, let the baby put the disc in his mouth, drop it on the carpet or slap it on the coffee table. How dare anyone have any problem with that! Anyone who does automatically hates children! So don't be a meanie and let Junior give the same treatment to that pricey new BD!

Sometimes I wonder if people are using optical discs as an SOS pad to scrub their walls clean.

It would be a really sad thing for a video store to need to install a sign or poster preaching to customers proper disc handling practices. Unfortunately it seems like we're headed in that direction. Or some stores may actually start doing like they did in the hey-day of VHS and actually check returned movies for damage and bill negligent customers accordingly.

[Kuraudo]

Of all my years using optical discs, I can't remember scratching one.
My whole cd collections I have had over 12 years has no scratches.

The thing that messes up discs are leaving them on tables then when people come up to grab them, they slide it against the surface, and sometimes dropping it on the ground, sliding it on the ground again to try to pick it up. Thus this leaves 2 opportunities for the disc to be scratched against very rough surfaces. You can then also add the fact a persons hand is trying to pick it up, leaving fingerprints.

The person realizes they put fingerprints on that disc and tries to find something (usually harsh) to wipe it off because they don't have a cheapo Microfiber cloth. (3x it gets scratched)
I've then witnessed people dropping it again then yet another time repeating the whole cycle over

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Bobby Henderson

It shouldn't be a hassle to rent movies on Blu-ray Disc, but sometimes it is -largely because of people who have very poor habits in handling discs. They either don't know how to handle discs properly or, more likely, they just don't care.

I stopped renting movies years ago. I'd go to Blockbuster, and learned to have them open the case before I left. Usually, the movie was damaged, or dirty, and I'd have to get another copy - if it was available.

I got tired of the aggravation. I have no idea what happens at Netflix or any of those, but I'm just not interested in fooling around with it.

[ManUtd]

So far my rentals from Blockbuster online have very few or no scratches at all...oops maybe I've jinxed it.

[Heart&Soul]

You won't find a single scratch on any of my discs.

[Kaldaim]

most of my discs are scratched but i actually take care of my netflix movies. they're either in my drive or in the sleeve

[TheEnd187]

The amount of scrathes and damage to rental disks, sometimes it seems like people do it intentionaly

[IvanDrago]

Wait, you mean I'm NOT supposed to use my NetFlix discs as drink coasters?

[Zipzap713]

Originally Posted by IvanDrago

Wait, you mean I'm NOT supposed to use my NetFlix discs as drink coasters?

So that was you!

Of course people treat their rental discs like crap. They see them once and don't get penaltied for them. Unless if rental placed did like you said and check the discs after each return and bill accordingly, abuse like this isn't going to stop. Now how the heck to people scratch a BD? You'd have to abuse the poor thing really badly! Unless if people do it on purpose, but I doubt that they'd pay $5 bucks to watch a movie, abuse it, and return it.

[Jacobisthe]

people don't care about rentals on anything.

[blu-ray fan002]

Jacobisthe is right. I work at Hastings and everyday a customer comes up saying that their copy didn't work and I inspect the disc, and as usual, it's scratched. I know people don't care about the condition of the rental discs because it's not their disc. I love idea of checking each disc and if it's damaged, bill the previous customer. However, I know many customers will argue about it saying they didn't scratch it or they will say, "Do you have proof?" Of course we could say, "Yes, the disc is scratched." But we can't prove it was from them. Besides, if we did bill customers for damaged discs, they will get annoyed by it and stop renting from that business. I can't think of a way to prevent it, except for protecting our own and what we can of the rentals.

[dpomp]

to be honest i think the reason is that people don't care about other people's property (i.e. blockbuster, netflix....) but if it was there's i'd like to see if they did the same thing.

[WickyWoo]

Blu-ray has a more scratch resistant surface, but I wonder if some people are taking that as a cue to be extra abusive to the rental discs.

I think a lot of people have sandpaper coffee tables

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by dpompeo

to be honest i think the reason is that people don't care about other people's property (i.e. blockbuster, netflix....) but if it was there's i'd like to see if they did the same thing.

+1

[MOONPHASE]

if you checked my discs you wouldnt even see a smudge or even a hair on them for that matter

[BluHavik]

I got a Blu 'Patriot' with a crack in it. Could never have told by just looking at it with a glance. Tried to play it and no go, took it out to look for scratches and bam a crack from center to edge. I'm sure that was good to have spinning in the player

Edit: got it from netflix. I don't blame them at all, I put the damn thing in and didn't see a problem. It wasn't glaringly obvious, but I do check all discs now.. The old fool me once bit applies.

[lch]

i think some scratches are due to the player themselves.

[TheEnd187]

Originally Posted by lch

i think some scratches are due to the player themselves.

did your 360 scratch your Discs too? jk, my players have never scratched any of my discs thank godness.

[Bobby Henderson]

Jacobisthe is right. I work at Hastings and everyday a customer comes up saying that their copy didn't work and I inspect the disc, and as usual, it's scratched. I know people don't care about the condition of the rental discs because it's not their disc. I love idea of checking each disc and if it's damaged, bill the previous customer. However, I know many customers will argue about it saying they didn't scratch it or they will say, "Do you have proof?" Of course we could say, "Yes, the disc is scratched." But we can't prove it was from them.

One solution to that problem is checking the disc before it leaves the store. Not just eye-balling the playing surface either. Put it in a Blu-ray player to verify that it will load. That would take more time, but it's a more reliable way to know the customer has a good disc and have a more concrete idea of who is damaging the things when they are returned to the store in bad shape.

IMHO, Hastings ought to be doing something like this anyway since they jacked up the price on Blu-ray rentals in my town from $4.99 to $5.99.

Another thing Hastings really has to correct is their own methods of packaging rental discs. I'm usually not very concerned when renting a single disc release. But I avoid Hastings completely when it comes to renting any movie that has more than one disc.

The Hastings location in my town uses little square-shaped single disc cases for all DVD and Blu-ray releases. If the movie is on more than one disc, guess what they do? They cram both discs on top of each other into the single disc container! That ruins DVDs very quickly. Lord only knows how much faster BDs will get ruined being sandwiched into a little single disc case. That practice is unbelievably retarded. It has to be costing Hastings a serious amount of money in terms of damaged discs. I've complained to Hastings corporate management about this on numerous occasions and they have done nothing to correct that idiocy. What ever old fart is holding to that policy needs a slap upside his head (or maybe he just needs to be fired). Hastings needs to stop being a freaking cheapskate and use real multi-disc cases for movies with multiple discs.

[haste]

I've only had 1 bd out of around 60 or so from netflix be not playable. it had a crack around the inner edge.
some come dirty and/or fingerprinted, but the bd discs wipe off nicely.