Can DVD player damage the disc?

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We were watching a newish (only bought last week) DVD this evening and it started to skip and stop. Took the disc out and it has what looks like a scratch - a semi circle half way in from the edge in a "perfect" circle shape around half of the disc. Does not look like something caused by one of my boys or an accidental mark. It has only been played twice - once in a cheapish portable player and tonight in our home Sony player.
Any ideas?
 
sometimes it could be the laser in the dvd player can stick or a bit of dirt transfered from the disc to the dvd player jammed in the plaer slider
 
A friend of ours brought their daughter's wedding DVD around the other day and she said it didn't play very well - I've never seen anything so scratched, it was amazing it played at all. It had scratches in every direction including 2 deep scuffs where I imagine it had got jammed as the CD drawer closed.

I cleaned it up with window cleaner and a clean cloth and it played perfectly - she was astonished.
 
It is a myth that CDs/DVDs are indestructable. They are very easily scratched & these scratches will affect the playback quality, although there are very good error correction software algorythms which reduce the effect.
A circular/circumferential scratch will cause more errors than a radial scratch, hence the disc should be cleaned in a radial (centre to edge) fashion; the opposite to vinyl.
Scratches can often be improved upon, partly because of cleaning off dirt, but also by 'filling' in the scratch with special CD/DVD cleaning fluids which are high viscosity.
 
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/padg/2006/03/msg00030.html

The data though is stored on a layer just below the printed label so if you polish the underside smooth enough it will still play!

Thanks for all the replies - and especially this link - it describes the problem better than I did.
The scratch seems too deep to polish out - I am more concerned about destroying the next DVDs rather than recovering this one.
Can I inspect / clean the lens on the two pieces of equipment that the DVD was used in? I guess it is more likely that the cheaper portable player tossed around the back of the car is the culprit?
 

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