Review: MAXELL BLU-RAY LASER CLEANER

Mike LoManaco

You may not know this about me, but I have had a tendency to support laser lens cleaners and their "attempts" to wipe free any "debris" or "dirt" that may have been left behind on an optical disc player's laser mechanism -- the topic was discussed ad nauseum in different forums some time ago. It is never recommended to use such devices, from what I gained in those threads, and the danger to possibly scratching the lens itself or otherwise causing a laceration to the reading mechanism seems to increase twofold in doing so. However, I have been using an Allsop "DVD CarbonEdge Pro" DVD laser lens cleaner in my Panasonic DMP-BD10A since the day I first thought it needed some "servicing" and haven't had a problem with it "scratching" or "damaging" any reading mechanism in the deck (as far as I know) -- furthermore, the disc comes with a plethora of easy-to-follow test sequences for verifying personal settings on your home theater (and some video tests for setting brightness and color which I don't use) and allows me to really make sure everything is running right in the system and that all speakers are properly balanced for my room, after I do a complete diagnostic by checking the receiver levels and player/display settings.

Well, enter 2009, when I finally got my paws on what Maxell calls their "Blu-ray Laser Lens Cleaner" with "Exclusive Wind Funnel Technology" for cleaning BD players...I had heard about this product for some time, and it admittingly piqued my interest. According to the press and marketing materials, here was a product that would only not scratch your delicate lens, but would also be so remarkable it wouldn't touch anything in the deck -- it blows out a discharge "wind" of sorts to blow any residue in the area away from vital parts of the playback system. I discussed such a product in those aforementioned threads I detailed earlier, but the Maxell kind of got lost in the heap of the discussion; looking around on other forums, it seems Maxell is the only manufacturer offering such a "cleaning" system exclusively for BD players, including Playstation and gaming boxes. Does the Maxell marketing hoopla serve any side dish of truth to what this product can do? I cracked open the disc last night to find out...

First of all, the instructions on the box claim that when you put the disc in, you should initially select a language that's suitable -- but that's not possible, because when you load the disc, it automatically goes right to the cleaning process with some piercing "test tone" emanating from your speakers while a hideously fake French female accent announces what's happening. As graphics of the disc spin around on screen and emulate the cleaning process of this disc (with air and such entering the lens area), the process finally ends and you are then returned to a main menu, which is about as boring as Jenna Jameson with no ****; before I go into what else was "wrong" with this disc, let me express my biggest disappointment: Maxell's laser cleaner ships and stores in an actual Blu-ray case, complete with blue plastic and all, suggesting that like calibration systems such as DVE'S HD Basics, the video itself is going to be in 1080 high def -- this disc wasn't. Amazingly so, the graphics, menus and playback interaction plays back at standard DVD resolution, based on the way my Panasonic player threw up its menus (not to mention you can simply tell this was not high definition). That was really disappointing; I understand this is meant just for cleaning purposes, but people can keep their DVD laser lens cleaners for standard DVD video (such as my Allsop disc).

Getting beyond that, the system claimed my lens was now "clean," and the main menu then opens up. Here, there are a series of speaker verification tests including polarity checks and such, but the droning nonsense of the female narration and somewhat inaccurate instructions and confusing routines seemed to make this disc a waste. At one point the narration asks you to fade your speakers to front and then to rear, as if it were a car stereo, but I never heard this from any 5.1 channel diagnostic disc I have run. If you don't follow these instructions, the music tests played back don't sound at all accurate, and make your system sound as if it's completely mis-tuned and not dialed in at all. The tests on my Allsop DVD laser cleaner were much more detailed in terms of speaker checks, test tones and varying sweeps of frequencies. Before I ejected the disc, I ran the cleaner one last time; it seemed to be the most entertaining portion of the experience.

The audio tracks are all over the place for the testing; when the cleaning is taking place, it seems to run in a two channel output, while at other times, my receiver indicated a true Dolby Digital 5.1 stream. The Allsop disc I mentioned runs in Dolby Digital 5.1 the entire time it's operating in the system, and a TrueHD mix accompanies the HD Basics Blu-ray calibration disc. There also seemed to be just two languages to choose from -- Japanese and English.

Additionally, there are music selections to choose from in order to "show off" your speakers while graphics accompany the tunes on screen; in the end, for the 11 or so dollars you can buy this for on Amazon, it's not the most money you'll part with during this economic nightmare -- but to be honest, I was expecting more from this product. If it does what it says -- that is, blow some "wind" to dislodge and blow out some gunk from the lens area -- I suppose it was worth the purchase. But the entire overall experience is more satisfying with my Allsop cleaner. Still, I can't help but remember that the manual for my Panasonic 'BD10A encourages no usage of any "lens cleaners" on this unit...

This now introduces a plethora of varying questions to ponder:

What are the benefits of such "laser lens cleaners" especially in the high def age?

If one is using a Blu-ray player for DVD playback as well, as I am, will using a DVD lens cleaner disc simply clean the laser just for the DVD playback performance?

Do Blu-ray players share a common laser to play both types of media, so that one laser is being "cleaned" by one of these discs?

At any rate, thank you for letting me sharing my experiences with the Maxell Blu-ray Disc Laser Lens Cleaner.

kuntasensei

So it's a disc... with two holes in it... that's supposed to blow off the lens head. Rrrrrrright, Maxell. That's just crazy talk.

megasat16

The best way to clean a lens is to remove the laser from the assembly and blow off with a few Hundred PSI of compressed Air. It'll be nice, shiny and as good as it gets.

Knucklehead

I may give it a try, with kids putting their fingers all over the DVD's and game discs, I guess it cant hurt. Maxell has usually been a pretty trustworthy company IMO.

kuntasensei

You're paying Maxell to blow your Blu-Ray player. And that's the kind of guilt you can't wash away.

bobman1235

Knucklehead wrote: »

I may give it a try, with kids putting their fingers all over the DVD's and game discs, I guess it cant hurt. Maxell has usually been a pretty trustworthy company IMO.

This is a lens cleaner, not a disc cleaner. Since the lens of your DVD /BluRay player never touches the disc, any "grease" or grime on your DVD will never come into contact with the lens.

As to the product, I know people with this hobby like to insist that things have an effect even without any real evidence, but this thing seems like a huge ripoff to me. Even if it was free, it would be a ripoff.

Knucklehead

bobman1235 wrote: »

This is a lens cleaner, not a disc cleaner. Since the lens of your DVD /BluRay player never touches the disc, any "grease" or grime on your DVD will never come into contact with the lens.

As to the product, I know people with this hobby like to insist that things have an effect even without any real evidence, but this thing seems like a huge ripoff to me. Even if it was free, it would be a ripoff.

Now that I think about it, your right. Thanks for clearing that up.

kuntasensei

Sounds to me like you could just open the tray and blow in there with the same effect. Kinda' silly... but sadly, people will buy it.

Knucklehead

yep your right, after I thought about what the disc actually claims to do.....well you know the rest. Its a shame Maxell would put the name on a snake oil product.

Monster Jam

Nice writeup Mike. Thanks for sharing.
A few nights ago I threw away a Maxell tapehead cleaner cassette. Looked like a regular tape with an abrasive tape instead of the black magnetic tape. It had boxes on the shell that you would mark out until you maxed out at ten, then theoretically your cleaner was expired.

I never noticed any improvement using the Maxell tape head cleaner.

Instead, I found great improvement in using a Q-Tip and regular rubbing alcohol. That worked like a charm.

Mike LoManaco

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all your comments; indeed, the concensus seems to be that this product does nothing positive for a "cleaning experience" but I figured it was worth the investment just to discover what all the "hubbub" was about being it was the only product of its kind on the market (that is, claiming to "clean" a Blu-ray laser). Reports have been such that standard DVD laser lens cleaners with brushes and chemicals can and will damage Blu-ray players, but as I mentioned in the review, I have been using an Allsop DVD CarbonEdge Pro system on my Panasonic player without any visible problems; at any rate, last night, I again ran the cleaning process on the Maxell through my player and did a lens cleaner on top of that with the Allsop, preparing for a review I am going to do on the remake of Last House on the Left which I obtained on Blu today.

Still, I have to wonder...should DVD laser lens cleaners be used on a Blu-ray player? Do Blu-ray players share one common lens to read both types of media, or are there two lasers in the player with varying tasks ahead of them? Can any "damage" be done to a laser such as being scratched by the brushes that are supposed to brush away debris and such?

Mike LoManaco

Monster Jam wrote: »

Nice writeup Mike. Thanks for sharing.

You are quite welcome -- and thank you very much for reading.

Mike LoManaco

kuntasensei wrote: »

So it's a disc... with two holes in it... that's supposed to blow off the lens head. Rrrrrrright, Maxell. That's just crazy talk.

It's not so "crazy" if you break down what they're actually saying it does without going into it immediately thinking it's a fraud -- the wind "funnels" in the disc blow a kind of compressed air through the lens area and mechanism without the need of a brush or chemical coming in contact with the laser. I believe it does what it physically is claiming it will do...whether that blows all the "gunk" off a laser that may accumulate is another story. But it's not necessarily "crazy talk" on Maxell's behalf.

kuntasensei

Yeah, but the point is... there's no way it can blow a significant enough amount of air to actually do much as far as removing dust from a lens. The amount of air that it could move in the confined space of a disc transport would be roughly equivalent to you opening the tray and gently blowing into the transport, and anyone who has tried to clean lenses in photography can tell you that's pretty useless. Not saying that the disc doesn't actually do what it claims, i.e. blow air about, but I just don't think it's of any use. There's just no way that this disc can push as much air as a good ole can of compressed air would.

But then, I've never had to clean a CD or DVD player to get it to work again. This, to me, seems like a solution without a problem. Yes, it fixes the typical problem with cleaning discs where you risk a brush scratching the lens (or worse, shifting the lens on its transport so that it's misaligned, which is the more destructive issue with cleaning discs), but it doesn't do anything that you couldn't do yourself by just exhaling. Perhaps this would be of use in slot-loading drives like the PS3 where you can't blow into the transport... but then, slot loading drives are far less likely to get dust into them in the first place.

Knucklehead

I sent an e-mail to maxell asking them to explain how this helps when the disc and lens never contact each other. Hopefully they dont tell me that it blows air on the lens because I already understand that it does that.

everpress

Knucklehead wrote: »

I sent an e-mail to maxell asking them to explain how this helps when the disc and lens never contact each other. Hopefully they dont tell me that it blows air on the lens because I already understand that it does that.

I'm going to guess that it blows the dust off of the lens. Not grease. ****, try blowing a finger print off of anything... Good luck.

If air can enter any system, dust can enter it too. Whether or not this disc w/ two holes in it moves anymore dust around than a regular disc... Well, who knows. But I'd rather use this thing than the ol' Nintendo cartridge cleaning way.

Then again, I've never noticed enough dust build up on my 5 year old DVD player or my newer 2 year old crappy XBOX360 player to make a difference on movie playback.

mhardy6647

Is there a(US) patent number somewhere on the disc or packaging? If so, it's E-Z to search the US patent database; that might give you some more concrete (so to speak) information. The discs do spin pretty fast; might be able to kick up quite a local breeze.

Mike LoManaco

For what it says it does, I believe that it does...that is, blow enough "compressed air" in order for perhaps light surface dust to be blown off; whether this improves playback quality at all is still up in the air (no pun intended)...I played back a few Blu-rays since using the product, but didn't really sense any visual improvements, unless my eyes were just playing tricks on me and my brain wanted to "see" what it "wanted to." :rolleyes: At any rate, visual improvements wouldn't be wildly aggressive anyway; perhaps there would be some improvements with skipping or freezing and such.

This brings in another area of questioning, though...are there two lasers used in BD players, one for DVD and one for Blu-ray, or do they share a common laser? If so, could a DVD laser lens cleaner be used on a BD player?

mhardy6647

A quick and dirty patent search turned up this very recently issued (July 28, 2009) patent assigned to Sony (Maxell, I thought, was a Hitachi brand)... but at a quick glance, it looks cogent.

http://www.patentgenius.com/patent/7565716.html
7565716 Cleaning method and device for objective lens of optical disc device

ABSTRACT. A cleaning method for an objective lens of an optical disc device that rotatable drives an optical disc medium by a spindle motor and records and/or playbacks data to/from the optical disc medium by the objective lens of an optical-pick up, includes: an airflow generation mode for generating a high speed airflow at a surface of the optical disc medium by increasing a rotational speed of the spindle motor to be faster than a rotational speed during recording and/or playback of data to/from the optical disc medium; and a blow-off mode for blowing off dust attached to the surface of the objective lens by the high-speed airflow generated at the surface of the optical disc medium by moving the objective lens from the inner periphery of the optical disc medium to the outer periphery while vibrating the objective lens up and down and/or from the left to right.

Mike LoManaco

Thanks, 'Hardy...

Can we confirm that Blu-ray players have one common laser that's shared for DVD and BD playback? If so, these "cleaning discs" are cleaning the one common laser for both media...

BTW, Hardy, you a Pats fan? I'm a diehard fan since they were Boston and wore Pat the Patriot on their helmets...to me, the ONLY Patriots team there ever was...

comfortablycurt

This sounds like complete and utter BS to me. Waste of money.

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

Can we confirm that Blu-ray players have one common laser that's shared for DVD and BD playback?

I don't believe they share the same laser. Not positive though.

The laser in both CD and DVD players is a red beam...this isn't so in Blu-ray players. The laser beam in a Blu-ray player is...well...Blue, hence the "Blu"-ray player terminology.

Unless the laser can somehow change it's color, I would guess that they have two different lasers for reading different types of discs.

This is all just speculation though.

wutadumsn23

Don't know much on the subject, but I would suspect they are different lasers as Curt suggested. As for Maxell being the only one out there.... not so fast, Phillips to the rescue!! It claims to be a DVD/Blu-Ray lens cleaner.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/my/consumer/cc/_productid_SVC2523W_10_MY_CONSUMER/DVD-Blu-ray-lens-cleaner+SVC2523W-10



A few snipits from a quick Wikipedia search on the laser issue.....

"The name Blu-ray Disc derives from the blue-violet laser used to read the disc. While a standard DVD uses a 650 nanometre red laser, Blu-ray uses a shorter wavelength, a 405 nm blue-violet laser, and allows for almost six times more data storage than on a DVD."....... "Blu-ray Disc uses a "blue" (technically violet) laser, operating at a wavelength of 405 nm, to read and write data. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red and near-infrared lasers, at 650 nm and 780 nm, respectively.

The blue-violet laser's shorter wavelength makes it possible to store more information on a 12 cm CD/DVD-size disc. The minimum "spot size" on which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, the laser beam can be focused to a smaller spot. This allows more information to be stored in the same area. For Blu-ray Disc, the spot size is 580 nm. In addition to the optical improvements, Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase the capacity. (See Compact Disc for information on optical discs' physical structure.)"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc


-Jeff

John K.

Mike, the title of your thread caught my eye, so I spent a little time now trying to check this out. The claim is that they hold a patent(they don't identify it)on a "Wind Funnel" effect. It should be kept in mind that even if a patent was issued, this just indicates that the item is different, not that it actually has the benefits claimed. Examples of this are patents held by fantasy wire sellers such as Monster and Audioquest which illustrate that a difference in construction may be meaningless to audible results.

If this is simply two small holes drilled in a disc(which seemingly could be done by anyone with a drill)it seems implausible that any significant "Wind Funnel" is created. User reports which as usual may not be realistic aren't really helpful in deciding this and scientific analysis to determine if there is such an effect, if it cleans to a significant degree and if the cleaning occurs whether it actually benefits performance, would all be necessary.

As a practical matter, this may be in most cases another solution in search of a problem. Typical home environments don't get optical disc readers so dirty that performance is degraded, even over several years. For example, one of my mega-changers is now about seven years old and is still performing flawlessly.

You've also asked(several times)whether Blu-ray players use the same laser as CD or DVD players. You're really interested , however, in the lens which focuses the beam from the laser diode, not the laser itself. As has been pointed out, the lasers themselves differ in their operating wavelength. Blu-ray discs require a violet wavelength at about 405nm, DVDs(plus SACDs and DVD-As)require a red 650nm beam and CDs an infrared 780nm beam. Players accomplish the changes in wavelength in various ways, but in all cases the result is that all types of discs are read optimally. Contrary to what some imagine, a "dedicated" player operating at one wavelength has no advantage in this area.

For example, the laser module in the PS3 player uses three separate laser diodes, one for each wavelength, closely grouped together in the can and firing at a single objective lens. Other units use two diodes(one of them capable of operating at two of the desired wavelengths)firing at two objective lenses immediately alongside each other. The point is that there's no mechanical rotating of the laser modules, including their lenses when there's more than one, to change positions when different types of discs are selected to be played. Any "DVD lens cleaner" would also affect the single lens type of module in some Blu-ray players, and the two lenses immediately alongside each other in other players. References to "delicate" Blu-ray lens which I saw in some of the advertising are pure nonsense. The lens is either the same one used for the other discs or a similar one(higher numerical aperture to focus 405nm)alongside it. All lenses in optical readers are delicate enough that they shouldn't be scratched up(possibly by using brush-type cleaners), but Blu-ray introduces no new vulnerability which requires buying a new product.

Mike LoManaco

comfortablycurt wrote: »

This sounds like complete and utter BS to me. Waste of money.

Okay...

I don't believe they share the same laser. Not positive though.

The laser in both CD and DVD players is a red beam...this isn't so in Blu-ray players. The laser beam in a Blu-ray player is...well...Blue, hence the "Blu"-ray player terminology.

Unless the laser can somehow change it's color, I would guess that they have two different lasers for reading different types of discs.

Yes, I know Blu-ray is named after its laser color and abilities to read with such lasers, but...

This is all just speculation though.

THAT'S why I have been asking because we can't seem to get a straight answer anywhere and it's been only speculation up to this point; even Panasonic wouldn't return my e-mail regarding this question.

Mike LoManaco

wutadumsn23 wrote: »

Don't know much on the subject, but I would suspect they are different lasers as Curt suggested. As for Maxell being the only one out there.... not so fast, Phillips to the rescue!! It claims to be a DVD/Blu-Ray lens cleaner.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/en/my/consumer/cc/_productid_SVC2523W_10_MY_CONSUMER/DVD-Blu-ray-lens-cleaner+SVC2523W-10

When I purchased this product and did the writeup on it, it was my understanding Maxell was the only company making such a product; thanks for the info on Phillips.

Mike LoManaco

John K. wrote: »

Mike, the title of your thread caught my eye, so I spent a little time now trying to check this out. The claim is that they hold a patent(they don't identify it)on a "Wind Funnel" effect. It should be kept in mind that even if a patent was issued, this just indicates that the item is different, not that it actually has the benefits claimed. Examples of this are patents held by fantasy wire sellers such as Monster and Audioquest which illustrate that a difference in construction may be meaningless to audible results.

If this is simply two small holes drilled in a disc(which seemingly could be done by anyone with a drill)it seems implausible that any significant "Wind Funnel" is created. User reports which as usual may not be realistic aren't really helpful in deciding this and scientific analysis to determine if there is such an effect, if it cleans to a significant degree and if the cleaning occurs whether it actually benefits performance, would all be necessary.

As a practical matter, this may be in most cases another solution in search of a problem. Typical home environments don't get optical disc readers so dirty that performance is degraded, even over several years. For example, one of my mega-changers is now about seven years old and is still performing flawlessly.

I was not standing as an advocate for this Maxell product, nor am I endorsing it as something consumers should buy -- I merely used it and reported my findings; the thing that bothered me most about the disc was the fact that the SCREEN resolution for the menus during playback were in standard definition (DVD quality), NOT 1080 high definition.

Furthermore, I personally believe this disc is more than an optical media piece with "two holes drilled into it;" the Wind Funnel technology may be hobunk, but I do believe that some kind of pressurized air is being blown through those holes to "blow" some kind of gunk or debris off the lens. You are of the school that these digital products like changers and players don't require any maintenance in terms of dirt building up on the laser, but I have always felt comfortable cleaning my DVD players with an Allsop CarbonEdge Pro disc.

You've also asked(several times)whether Blu-ray players use the same laser as CD or DVD players. You're really interested , however, in the lens which focuses the beam from the laser diode, not the laser itself. As has been pointed out, the lasers themselves differ in their operating wavelength. Blu-ray discs require a violet wavelength at about 405nm, DVDs(plus SACDs and DVD-As)require a red 650nm beam and CDs an infrared 780nm beam. Players accomplish the changes in wavelength in various ways, but in all cases the result is that all types of discs are read optimally. Contrary to what some imagine, a "dedicated" player operating at one wavelength has no advantage in this area.

For example, the laser module in the PS3 player uses three separate laser diodes, one for each wavelength, closely grouped together in the can and firing at a single objective lens. Other units use two diodes(one of them capable of operating at two of the desired wavelengths)firing at two objective lenses immediately alongside each other. The point is that there's no mechanical rotating of the laser modules, including their lenses when there's more than one, to change positions when different types of discs are selected to be played. Any "DVD lens cleaner" would also affect the single lens type of module in some Blu-ray players, and the two lenses immediately alongside each other in other players. References to "delicate" Blu-ray lens which I saw in some of the advertising are pure nonsense. The lens is either the same one used for the other discs or a similar one(higher numerical aperture to focus 405nm)alongside it. All lenses in optical readers are delicate enough that they shouldn't be scratched up(possibly by using brush-type cleaners), but Blu-ray introduces no new vulnerability which requires buying a new product.

No...I am really interested in whether a Blu-ray player inherently carries one common laser to play both kinds of media, or if there are two lasers in the chassis which alternate duties depending on what medium is being played back...

Do we not yet know the answer to this?

Mike LoManaco

RE: The Phillips BD cleaner...

Regular cleaning of your DVD/Blu ray player's lens ensures optimum performance of your equipment. This dry-brush system safely removes dust, debris and other contaminants.

According to Phillips, this is a BRUSH-based disc, like traditional DVD laser cleaners, but according to Maxell, this could HARM a BD player's "sensitive laser system." Furthermore, it seems that Phillips believes regular cleaning of these devices can yield optimum performance...

John K.

Mike, you'd know the answer if you'd read the last paragraph of my reply more closely.

comfortablycurt

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

Furthermore, I personally believe this disc is more than an optical media piece with "two holes drilled into it;" the Wind Funnel technology may be hobunk, but I do believe that some kind of pressurized air is being blown through those holes to "blow" some kind of gunk or debris off the lens.

If it's not a disc with "two holes drilled in it", then what is it? Is there anything else on the disc that would have a cleaning effect? Does it look exactly like a regular disc...but with two holes in it? That's what it looks like to me.

Where would this pressurized air be coming from? I find it REALLY hard to believe that a disc with two holes in it would create enough air pressure to do anything significant to an optical lens. It's not as if there's some kind of fan blowing pressurized air through the holes in the disc.

I stand by my earlier statement...I'm calling BS on this one.



I also find it funny...this is advertised as a Blu-ray player cleaner, and can also be used for PS3's...this is logical, yet it can also be used for Xbox 360's? 360's don't use Blu-ray media...they use DVD media.

kuntasensei

Curt, I'm sure it's just a DVD, considering the screens are all in SD. There'd be no sense in them taking a piece of BD media and popping two holes in it when they could accomplish the same airflow with a DVD. Hence, it will work in anything.

And when I say work, I mean do absolutely nothing of benefit other than make the end user feel like they've accomplished something.

Mike LoManaco

John K. wrote: »

Mike, you'd know the answer if you'd read the last paragraph of my reply more closely.

I re-read it and there still seems to be a bit of confusion surrounding the issue; are there two actual lasers in non-PS3 players, or one laser with two output diodes of sorts?