I'm wondering if there have been any numbers released that confirm the usefullness of the hard coating on BDs. Since HD-DVD's don't have this hard coating, are more discs failing due to scratches? It would be interesting to see if this really is an advantage or not for Blu-Ray.

I know that none of my Blu-Ray discs are scratched and they play just fine.

I am not aware of any numbers, though I can say from personal experience that the Durabis coating makes a huge difference.

I have had to wipe fingerprint smudges of HD DVD and Blu-ray discs and in a few instances have ended up leaving small scratches on HD discs. Fortunately, the player's error correction almost always deals with this correctly.

I have yet to scratch a Blu-ray disc. That's a huge positive if you have kids handling the discs.

I am using Blockbuster Total Access and I have had no problems watching movies due to scratches. Haven't seen any scratches but I have seen fingerprints.

So far 25+ BDs from Blockbuster.

I can't say how well it's working in comparison with DVDs, but I do know a lot of my HDDVDs have gotten scratched from wiping the bottom of the disc with even a microfiber cloth. Not horrible scratches (and I'm not sure if these are causing some of the skipping-problems I've been having) but they're definitely noticeable.

I havent had any problem with Blu Ray's yet - even fingerprints have wiped right off without leaving a mark.

I'm wondering if there have been any numbers released that confirm the usefullness of the hard coating on BDs. Since HD-DVD's don't have this hard coating, are more discs failing due to scratches? It would be interesting to see if this really is an advantage or not for Blu-Ray.

I know that none of my Blu-Ray discs are scratched and they play just fine.
None of my BD, HD DVD, DVD, or CDs are scratched either.

Every BD i've rented has looked brand new.

Not a disc in my collection is scratched, and I've had a few floaters arrive in the mail.


I'd say it works and I enjoy having it. I treat my BD's as I would DVD's (DVD's are cheap, easy to backup and/or replaceable). I don't baby them at all.

For optical media I clean the disc by using warm water and mild soap. Drying is done by placing on ½ of a Bounty paper towel, fold over the other half, press down gently. This will dry off most of the water and will not cause streaks on the disc. Gently wipe any remaining water with a part of the towel that is slightly damp.

The Bounty brand was recommended for cleaning plastic lens by the eyeglasses folks.

I rent from Netflix and I never have gotten a scratched Blu Ray disc. This is the one feature that SD-DVD and HD-DVD need to have from Blu Ray.

The hard coating works really good imo. It give you a bad disc handling habit though. I kind of throw my discs around now =P

I've gotten one Blu-Ray that was sctrached and it would play but skipped pretty bad towards the middle of the movie. I've had one HD-DVD that also had problems because of a scratch. Both from BB online. When I had Netflix I got one HD-DVD that was cracked in two.

Been renting 2-3 BDs a week since January - no issues at all on my PS3. I do think the coating helps a lot.

Unlike DVD/HD-DVD's, Blu-ray discs require a hard-coating material since they only have a 0.1mm polycarbonate surface layer over the data layer, whereas DVD/HD-DVD have a 1.0mm polycarbonate surface layer.

If you so much as miss the hub putting back an HD-DVD disc you have a very good chance of scratching it* in my experience. I've actually *tried* to scratch a BD disc under normal conditions and they are all apparently flawless. I for one like the coating, even if it costs as much as $0.15 more a disc.

*Not that the HD-DVD scratches have proven to be a problem (yet), but it's still lame.

Odd thing about blu ray -

the smallest of cracks on the outer ring renders the disk unplayable. Got one from netflix that way, I was shocked it wouldnt load. I had to look for the crack for a few moments to find it, it was that small.

But never got scratch on the disk, rented or not.

. I've actually *tried* to scratch a BD disc under normal conditions and they are all apparently flawless. .


You must not have tried as hard as the Blockbuster Online customers.

Forget the extra storage capacity - the coating is the biggest advantage Blu-ray has if you rent movies more than buy them.

You must not have tried as hard as the Blockbuster Online customers.
Well I did mean under normal use. :)

I just joined BB online via their trial to see if I could use them to help fill in the (growing) gaps in Netflix's catalog. I'm not sure how much longer I can tolerate their online catalog/'listings' though, which after using Netflix are frustrating and near-useless, if they even have a disc to ship. But most of all I was surprised at how little (that is, how there is no serious) protection of the discs. At least the Netflix mailers feel a bit thicker, and are larger so they don't get as mangled and fold over themselves when stressed. I'm not surprised BB online discs are getting beat up or destroyed in shipping. Even Netflix has started to reinforce their disc hubs with those stickers.

I think the BB online thing overall is a half-hearted effort to stave off their fleeing customer base, and their shipping and online structures show it.

On the other hand, GameFly (even worse than BB online if that's possible) at least sends their stuff in heavy-duty cardboard mailers, and all their discs thus far have been pristine. But then maybe I'm just lucky. So far all my HDM discs have been playable with no problems, 100% versus a few dead/cracked SD discs.

Every BD i've rented has looked brand new.

I'd say it works and I enjoy having it.

Same here and I agree. The protective coating on BDs is superb!

You must not have tried as hard as the Blockbuster Online customers.

I'm curious to hear your experience. I've rented 38 BDs from the Total Access program and only had a problem playing one. The problem disc had three large cracks in it that more than likely occured during the shipping process.

I've also rented about 10 more through their B&M stores and have yet to have a problem.

BD has to have the hard coating, period.

Odd thing about blu ray -

the smallest of cracks on the outer ring renders the disk unplayable. Got one from netflix that way, I was shocked it wouldnt load. I had to look for the crack for a few moments to find it, it was that small.

But never got scratch on the disk, rented or not.

I also had one just like that. I didn't even try to play it.

BD has to have the hard coating, period.


And HD DVD needs to have the hard coating, period. It doesn't. Sad to say.

And HD DVD needs to have the hard coating, period. It doesn't. Sad to say.
Nice comeback. :) It amuses me how the HD trolls keep dismissing the fact that all discs get scratched sooner or later. Yeah yea, all their DVDs, CDs and especially HD-DVD never get scratched ... come on, grow up.
Durabis is a great technology. Period. I am renting lots of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and agree with everyone above who said the rental Blu-Ray discs arrive in pristine condition save for occasional peanut butter spot or two. DVDs however often have scratches. Granted BB does a good job cleaning them up, but DVDs, even brand new releases are nowhere close to the condition of the rented Blu-Rays.

I rent from Netflix and I never have gotten a scratched Blu Ray disc. This is the one feature that SD-DVD and HD-DVD need to have from Blu Ray.

Yep.

And HD DVD needs to have the hard coating, period. It doesn't. Sad to say.
Why does it need it. They are DVDs,and DVDs don't have it. If they can sort out the process where it has better yeilds, it might be cool, but at this point let the discs that have to have it do the testing.

Nice comeback. :) It amuses me how the HD trolls keep dismissing the fact that all discs get scratched sooner or later. Yeah yea, all their DVDs, CDs and especially HD-DVD never get scratched ... come on, grow up.
Durabis is a great technology. Period. I am renting lots of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and agree with everyone above who said the rental Blu-Ray discs arrive in pristine condition save for occasional peanut butter spot or two. DVDs however often have scratches. Granted BB does a good job cleaning them up, but DVDs, even brand new releases are nowhere close to the condition of the rented Blu-Rays.

I don't think anyone is dismissing the fact that all discs might get scratched sooner or later. It is a fact that BD can't survive at all with out the hardcoat. Is it a good idea for other discs to get this technology, maybe (there are recordables with a none scratch coating of some sort), but they don't have to have it. BTW, troll does not mean "has different opinion".

I don't think anyone is dismissing the fact that all discs might get scratched sooner or later. It is a fact that BD can't survive at all with out the hardcoat. Is it a good idea for other discs to get this technology, maybe (there are recordables with a none scratch coating of some sort), but they don't have to have it. BTW, troll does not mean "has different opinion".
No, Slim, I perfectly know what troll means. I appreciate different opinions. What I do not appreciate is massive generation of negative noise about anything Blu-Ray. Instead of saying that Durabis is great and there is no reason why DVDs and HD-DVDs do not get the same treatment, you simply go on repeating how un-important this hard coating is, how none of your discs get scratched anyway, how Blu-Ray "cannot survive" without it.
Yes, the top layer of Blu-Ray discs is much closer to the surface than that of a DVD format. therefore the hard coating was speced from the get go. However, I appreciate this hard coating regardless of the reason it was applied originally and wish that my CDs and DVDs had similar treatment.

Forget the extra storage capacity - the coating is the biggest advantage Blu-ray has if you rent movies more than buy them.

I agree, other then support at this time I believe it may be it's strongest advantage for the renter.

this hard coating comes into it's own for badly packaged boxsets like planet earth. two of the discs came loose in transit (hardly surprisingly given the poor design of the case). no scratches. glad i went with the blu-ray set ... wouldn't like to think what the HD-DVD discs would have looked liked.

Besides the disc capacity this is the main feature that impressed me about Blu-ray.
I think all the BDs have a TDK hard-coating. There was some bizarre video clip about the scratch resistance of BD from a fan few months ago.

Never had a problem yet, so I'll have them stay with whatever they're doing!

Never seen a scratched BD ...

I'll chime in also. Renting from Netflix... not a scratch.

I just wish they would put the coating on every CD/DVD/etc out there. I mean once you run your fingers over the slippery smooth surface of your disc, it gives you a calming peace of mind that you just rarely find in consumer electronics :rolleyes:

Odd thing about blu ray -

the smallest of cracks on the outer ring renders the disk unplayable. Got one from netflix that way, I was shocked it wouldnt load. I had to look for the crack for a few moments to find it, it was that small.

But never got scratch on the disk, rented or not.

1/5 BD discs I get from netflix have the same exact tiny crack at the edge of the disc that you describe. I think BD's have a definite problem being shipped in the same packaging as SD discs, they just not as ressistant to cracking... scratches, sure... but not cracking. I own many BD's, not one is close to being cracked or scratched, but they arent being shipped in thin paper envelopes.