BD should have better protective coating

[hendra]

What is your experience when playing rented Blu-Ray discs from Netflix or Blockbuster? In my experience, some of those discs freeze with my laptop. They always freeze at the same point in the movies.

At first I thought there is something wrong with my laptop but when I bought brand new identical discs, they play just fine. So, apparently the scratches that the discs have are enough to make them unplayable. I am not talking about major scratches here folks. I just rented The Company, disc # 2 that has very little tiny scratch near the center. This wouldn't be a problem with regular DVD but since Blu-Ray pits and lands are so tightly packed, they are far more susceptible to scratches or other imperfections.

They really need to protect the discs with better protective coating. Very important for the rental business. Otherwise, people may begin to shy away from Blu-Ray discs due to this persistent problem.

[crackinhedz]

never had a scratch problem from at least 50 rented blurays from blockbuster online...sorry I cannot relate.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by hendra

What is your experience when playing rented Blu-Ray discs from Netflix or Blockbuster? In my experience, some of those discs freeze with my laptop. They always freeze at the same point in the movies.

At first I thought there is something wrong with my laptop but when I bought brand new identical discs, they play just fine. So, apparently the scratches that the discs have are enough to make them unplayable. I am not talking about major scratches here folks. I just rented The Company, disc # 2 that has very little tiny scratch near the center. This wouldn't be a problem with regular DVD but since Blu-Ray pits and lands are so tightly packed, they are far more susceptible to scratches or other imperfections.

They really need to protect the discs with better protective coating. Very important for the rental business. Otherwise, people may begin to shy away from Blu-Ray discs due to this persistent problem.

Only problem I've had with a Netlfix rental was with one cracked BD; some have refused playback on the first attempt because of fingerprints, but those were easily dealt with.

My kids have already gotten ahold of a couple of my BDs and given them treatment that would easily have rendered DVDs unplayable...I'm sorry your experience has been bad, but the scratch coating has proven to be a winner in my experience so far.

[AlexCruz]

Originally Posted by hendra

I just rented The Company, disc # 2 that has very little tiny scratch near the center.

I remember a couple of years ago I tried trading in one of my Xbox games, and they wouldn't take it because there was a scratch on the center. They said that is where the most important data is stored or something.

[darkpoet25]

Originally Posted by hendra

What is your experience when playing rented Blu-Ray discs from Netflix or Blockbuster? In my experience, some of those discs freeze with my laptop. They always freeze at the same point in the movies.

At first I thought there is something wrong with my laptop but when I bought brand new identical discs, they play just fine. So, apparently the scratches that the discs have are enough to make them unplayable. I am not talking about major scratches here folks. I just rented The Company, disc # 2 that has very little tiny scratch near the center. This wouldn't be a problem with regular DVD but since Blu-Ray pits and lands are so tightly packed, they are far more susceptible to scratches or other imperfections.

They really need to protect the discs with better protective coating. Very important for the rental business. Otherwise, people may begin to shy away from Blu-Ray discs due to this persistent problem.

Sucks that you have had a problem playing BD's on your laptop. I have rented from both and have had no problem watching them at all. Even with fingerprints, there was no problem. I think a majority of people on here have not had a problem with them. My brother on the other hand had some issues when watching hd dvd's on his 360 add on.

[MacDaddyOJack]

I've gotten two cracked BD's in the mail, but not so much as a scuff on any single one of them. They already have that hard-coating on them that makes them scratch resistant, they are more durable than any other optical media out there.

[NutsAboutPS3]

The coating on Blu-ray discs is amazing, I've rented about 40 discs and they've all looked like brand new discs.

[WickyWoo]

I remember a couple of years ago I tried trading in one of my Xbox games, and they wouldn't take it because there was a scratch on the center. They said that is where the most important data is stored or something.

Normally that woudl be true, but Xbox games are written from the outside in as an anti-copying feature

They really need to protect the discs with better protective coating. Very important for the rental business. Otherwise, people may begin to shy away from Blu-Ray discs due to this persistent problem.

These discs are darn near indestructible from casual use. The problem seems to be more that most americans keep sandpaper on top of their TVs and place the discs data side down

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5jEbZt6AIQ

seriously, you can't say it isn't good after watching this

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by hendra

In my experience, some of those discs freeze with my laptop. They always freeze at the same point in the movies.

How could they be at the same point in different movies

Originally Posted by hendra

So, apparently the scratches that the discs have are enough to make them unplayable. I am not talking about major scratches here folks. I just rented The Company, disc # 2 that has very little tiny scratch near the center.

So all your disks have had scratches in different places and yet always freeze at the same point in different movies

Originally Posted by hendra

This wouldn't be a problem with regular DVD but since Blu-Ray pits and lands are so tightly packed, they are far more susceptible to scratches or other imperfections.

Over a 100 Blu disks and a house full of kids later and we've have had a different xp compared to DVD .. so much better than DVD it's not even fair to really call it a comparison. DVD's, CD's and HD DVD are all relics .. hopefully music will be made available on Blu-ray so I can kiss goodbye to CD's as well.

Originally Posted by hendra

They really need to protect the discs with better protective coating.

It has the best coating of any consumer optical disc on the market. By far.

Originally Posted by hendra

Very important for the rental business.

They know.. and it factors into why they prefer Blu-ray as it reduces their costs and increases the resale value of "used" discs .. as people will have a higher confidence in the condition of their purchases. These are business people after all...they think about those kinds of things.

Originally Posted by hendra

Otherwise, people may begin to shy away from Blu-Ray discs

Like they have shied away from DVD rentals? Which are far far worse on that front .. it seems like they will be pushed *towards* Blu-ray on that front. Same for the used market as the chances of getting a badly scratched/damaged item that won't play is dramatically reduced. I could literally sell every one of our discs and the vast majority of people wouldn't be able to tell if it was even used or not as long as the fingerprints were wiped off.

Originally Posted by hendra

due to this persistent problem.

The somewhat confusing statements of a single person hardly qualify as a persistent problem. Especially given it runs counter to the vast majority of everyone else's xp so far. You may have had an issue but that hardly qualifies it as the persistent problem your claiming.

[delavoie]

Can anyone explain to me why a blu-ray movie will freeze or skip if there's finger prints on it, but if it's all scratched to hell it will still play fine. But finger prints cause playback problems.
I was under the impression that the protective coating on bd's made them virtually impossible to wreck.

[hendra]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

So all your disks have had scratches in different places and yet always freeze at the same point in different movies

I should have said it more clearly. EACH rented movie freezes at the same point everytime I play it.

I don't know, perhaps BD drives are more sensitive to scratches than standalone BD players?

[AikonEnt]

Never rented any so cannot comment on that, but ones I have purchased have come unclipped inside the case and been rattling around. Not one of them has had even a minor blemish and have played fine. Cannot say the same for DVD's, numerous times I received them only to find the disc scuffed which caused them to either not play or skip around.

[Joe Cain]

Originally Posted by delavoie

Can anyone explain to me why a blu-ray movie will freeze or skip if there's finger prints on it, but if it's all scratched to hell it will still play fine. But finger prints cause playback problems.
I was under the impression that the protective coating on bd's made them virtually impossible to wreck.

I've cleaned lot of kiddie fingerprints off some of my BDs and have yet to find a one has been "wrecked" as a result...

[delavoie]

Originally Posted by Joe Cain

I've cleaned lot of kiddie fingerprints off some of my BDs and have yet to find a one has been "wrecked" as a result...

No they have never been wrecked by fingerprints.. i was just under the impression that they would still play fine if they had fingerprints on them, because of the coating. But i guess they don't.

[Luis_A51]

All I can say is ive never so much as seen the tiniest scuff on any of my BDs, and thats not because I take perfect care of them. THey're damn near indestructible with normal use.

BD's have by far the best scratch-resistance of any optical media. What more do you want?

[WickyWoo]

should have said it more clearly. EACH rented movie freezes at the same point everytime I play it.

I don't know, perhaps BD drives are more sensitive to scratches than standalone BD players?

That sounds like a hardware problem to me, not a software

[hendra]

Originally Posted by WickyWoo

That sounds like a hardware problem to me, not a software

But I bought brand new identical movies and they play just fine. If it were a hardware problem, neither the rented nor the brand new one would play.

[bryaaaant]

Been renting Blu-Ray from Netflix for about half a year now, never had a single problem. Maybe the problem is your drive, not the scratches.

[XSilentCobraX]

Never had ANY problem with my blu rays, or rented blus aswell,, they dont skip, they dont pause, works amazing :P

[SpikesBluBlooded]

I have to concur with many of the posts already: Blu-ray discs have one of the best protective coatings of any media out there, including HD DVD (which, sadly, there wasn't any improvement done over DVD, again "good enough"). This is not just opinion, but is known throughout the industry, and again, is why many of the rental companies (both B&M and on-line) have chosen Blu-ray over HD DVD for the next generation software of choice. It's all about the bottom line, and the bottom line is they have the most protection (both coating and copying) available.