Dvd care 101

Okay so I was cleaning my dvds in this nifty cd cleaner machine-a-ma-bob thing I bought and after I cleaned one I looked at in the light. After being mesmerized by all the pretty colors I lost track of time and my mind started wandering. My dvd had little marks on it. I couldn't tell if they were scratches or streaks from the cleaner I was using. So here's my questions, I have two.

1. What's the best way to clean a dvd?

The guy at the store said to use distilled water and some silk boxers. I stopped asking questions when he started talking about his underwear.
The spray I was using said it was made of isopropanol & water. If I'm not mistaken that's uh.. rubbing alcohol isn't it? It seems to me that would streak wouldn't it?

2. Why don't they use harder plastic to make dvds?

Since a dvd is a piece of plastic, a thin film of gold or whatever, then another sheet of plastic and some ink on top for a picture, why don't they use harder scratch resistant plastic to make 'em? Then we could bang them around as much as we want. It can't be that much more expensive. What 1 or 2 pennies more?

1.) The best thing to do is not clean them at all. The only true 'cleaning' that needs to be done with DVD is to have the laser balanced once every 16 months. That's it. If there's something that you absolutely feel should be cleaned off the surface of the disc, then try compressed air. Don't use any type of fluid or cloth on a DVD surface, it's not necessary and it only adds scratches to the surface.

2.) Because of the way a DVD is 'pressed' a harder plastic surface would actually diminish the quality of the digital encoding. On any standard DVD there are up to 3 layers...the plastic base, an opaque layer (encoded with data), and a transparent layer (encoded with sound formats)...then the finish layer (picture or title display) depending on the studio. If the base layer was made of harder plastic, then the data and sound layers would not be as sharp because different materials would need to be used to adhere to the harder plastic surface. This would in turn reduce the quality of picture and sound.

It's all good though. If a DVD is taken care of with the 'basic three' then the disc will last forever.

1. Keep away from cold and moisture sources...vents, fish tanks, etc.

2. Keep DVDs stored at least three feet off the ground and four feet away from stereo and TV equipment. Static build up from the floor and electric discharge from electronics will, over time, distort a DVDs encoding.

3. Do not smoke. Smoke will adhere itself to any electronic source and will especially cling to a DVDs surface.

A DVD can withstand heat, minor scratches, and even slight burns before it will become defective. I've seen punctured discs that still played.

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Eek! My dvds are between two speakers, they're small but can their magnetic fields damage dvds? They are also against a stone wall which gets kinda cold! Yipes!
So what about greasy fingerprints? I can't blow those off.

Yea all my DVD's are stacked between my monitor and one of my speakers.

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DVDs should be kept away from anything electronic. Eventually the encoding will begin to 'melt' and the picture will distort.

Fingerprints are usually ok, unless it's extreme...like smearing butter on a disc...lol. Don't laugh...someone on here may be into that sort of thing...lol.

Man, now I gotta find somewhere else to put them, they looked cool there too.

but I always have dvds with my butter ...
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listen, and I don't even own a dvd player. one day though, one day.