Venmill's Skip-Away Fixes Chewed-Up DVDs

Before CES, the good folks at Venmill issued me a challenge. They'd send me a scratched-up DVD, which I could test for myself was totally non-functional. If I brought it to CES, they said, they'd make it whole again.

OK. Challenge accepted.

I requested a copy of the awesome Army of Darkness, which Venmill obtained and put through what appeared to be a steamroller crossed with a shredder. Here's what it looked like. I laughed. And sure enough the disc was not something you could consider watchable. It crashed my DVD player completely, in fact, at the 30-minute mark.

I brought the disc all the way to Vegas, and Venmill gave it a quick spin in its Skip-Away device, a $249 system designed for rental outlets, high-end home theater freaks, and gamers. You can use it to simply clean smudged or fingerprint-laden discs, or repair discs completely: Skip-Away uses a special combination of solvents and pressure to heat the plastic, essentially melting the surface, then pressing it back into shape so it's smooth and clear again. (Traditional disc cleaners either grind off layers of plastic or fill in scratches with wax. Venmill describes its OptoClear process as akin to "ironing a shirt.")

Bad scratches (like mine) can take multiple runs through the machine, but even after a single treatment the difference is noticeable. One Venmill employee said it once took 30 trips through the machine to repair a disc that had been run over on a gravel road, but eventually the job had been done.

As for Army of Darkness, so far so good. I haven't watched the entire film yet, but spot checks look pretty good. I've only had one trouble spot on the disc so far. And the after picture? Well, take a look for yourself...