How do I know if depth of scratch on DVD is really bad and will affect playback?

[GTdiver]

Can anyone give me a tip?

I decided to start this thread cause when I was in tech central choosing from their sale, I did'nt know how to differentiate if it was really, bad, bad or fair enough.  I have a thread in the sales etc forum here, if you want to know more about the Tech central dvd sale.  All dvds are going for P199.  Most of then are R1, some even DTS

[fpy]

Hi Heffer, i hope you're still interested. From my experience, it is very hard to tell. I've had discs which you need to put under a microscope just to see why it skips. Some scratches can be so fine but deep. One sure fire sign, though, is to hold the cd label side against bright light. If you see some light shining through the disc data area you can be sure there will be skipping because the data layer has been damaged.

I've had moderate success of repairing discs even with intentional scratches but once the data layer is compromised data will never be fully recovered.