I recall it depended a lot on what DVD player you got. Some would play through scratched DVDs merely skipping over the bad parts, others would stutter through the bad parts while some would just stop. Interestingly enough it was often the cheaper Chinese brands that would handle the bad DVDs better than the more expensive brands (but not always!). Luckily the players I had were always pretty good so I could play pretty much any DVD movie without any trouble.
