Play Scratched DVDs From The Library or Netflix

Finding entertaining shows for children to watch can be a challenge. Fickle tastes mean that one day a certain show is your son or daughter's favorite TV show and the next day it is boring. Add in the fact that DVDs are easily scratched or gotten dirty and you have a recipe for either a shrinking collection of fun kid's movies and good children's TV shows, or you have a very expensive entertainment option.

One great parenting tip for dads looking to increase the variety of shows and movies their kids watch is to rent DVDs. Places like Blockbuster, and online movie rentals from Netflix both provide a lot of kid friendly DVD rental options. DVD rental kiosks like Redbox provide a cheap option to rent DVDs, but they only have a limited selection of children's movies. An even better option might be your local library.

The Denver Public Library downtown branch, for example, has a huge selection of children's DVDs and family movies that can be checked out for free with a regular library card. Many public libraries in other cities offer the same service. Modern library systems even offer the ability to log into the library's card catalog online from your own home and reserve or place titles on hold. In the Denver library system, you can even choose which library branch you want to pick your materials up at. That means that you don't have to drive across town to pick up your copy of Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakquel.

The big catch to renting movies from the public library is that they are often scratched or dirty. Whether parents let their kids play with the DVD discs or if some people's DVD players just scratch up movies when they play them, lots of the movies you check out from the library or the family DVDs rented from Netflix are scratched or dirty. Nothing is quite as frustrating as sitting down for a fun family night with one of the best childrens movies for the whole family only to find out the DVD won't play because your DVD player is showing an error message that says, "Can't Play Disc. DVD is dirty."

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Fortunately, there is an easy, free way to fix the problem of dirty DVD movies. The DVD players in computers are built to a much higher standard than standard home theater DVD players. That means that while your living room DVD player chokes on that dirty disc checked out from the kid's section at the library, your computer DVD player might play it with no trouble. Unless you want to crowd the family around the computer monitor, however, that isn't much of a solution.

The fix for dirty DVDs and scratched DVD shows?

Burn a copy of the DVD with your computer.

Now, before everyone freaks out and admonishes me for advocating movie piracy, hear me out.

I do not advocate stealing movies or copying movies for your kids. After all, children learn by watching what their parents do, and even if there is a difference between stealing and piracy in your mind, that is a distinction many kids may not be able to pick up on.

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However, by making a temporary backup copy of the movie or kid's television show you rented or check-out, you are not violating any copyright laws or engaging in digital piracy. You have both the original DVD disc and the backup disc in your possession. Only one copy of the movie is being played, so there is no licensing issue. When you are done with your copy, or more specifically, when you return the DVD to the library or sent it back to Neflix, destroy your copy.

This can get expensive and wasteful if you are using regular DVD-R, or record one-time DVD blank discs. Instead, use rewritable DVD blanks, often designated as DVD-RW or something similar. Each time you get a new movie, just burn the copy of the scratched media over the top of the last movie you rented and you will have skip-free, no disappointment family movie night every time, no matter how scratched those library DVDs are.