I noticed on another thread (VHS extinction) someone had mentioned something about how DVDs can suck at times since they tend to skip and/or freeze.
I have encountered this problem MANY times - brand new DVDs right out of the package will freeze and/or skip either half-way or towards the end.
There's nothing more maddening than getting really into a movie and the screen freezing up within the last 10-15 of it! Argh!
So, does anyone have any suggestions or "tech help" on how to fix this problem?
Sometimes me using a can of air and spraying out my DVD player and the DVD itself and re-playing it seems to work. I've cleaned my DVD head too -but that only seems to work for a movie or two!
So, any other tips??
Posted by Devolution (Member # 1731) on :
Devolution here,
Ahh, something that I am good at, troubleshooting,
The biggest thing that I can tell you is "You get what you pay for"
I don't know what DVD player you have but the I know that the SONY that I have had since 99 has been nothing but my best friend (knocking on wood)a 50 dollar DVD player is exactly what it is. I would never buy something that doesn't have a good following or something that isn't proven. I knew actually in 99 that the DVD industry was going to take off, so I spent an unheard of 400 dollars on mine at the time. Which was a better move than trying to buy into the miserable Minidisc player or recorder. IF your BRAND NEW DVD's aren't working with your player, that could be the reason, if it's brand new there is always the possibility of buying a lemon. It is in essence a CD player but better. Same rules apply.
WE are DEVO
Posted by Ronnie (Member # 465) on :
quote:Originally posted by Devolution: I knew actually in 99 that the DVD industry was going to take off, so I spent an unheard of 400 dollars on mine at the time.
same here. i paid around 400 (arrg) for mine as well when the players were first coming out. i have had the same player ever since.
now, i may be wrong, but i thought that most dvds have that little 1-2 second PAUSE halfway through the movie? i never took it as a defect, cause it seems to happen on brand new movies that i have purchased.
Posted by spyke65 (Member # 1746) on :
Actually I have a Phillips - which I paid $140 in 2001 and it has played MANY DVDs on it!
Maybe it IS time for a new one! Posted by The Wizard (Member # 533) on :
Definitely sounds like it's time for a new player, the only time I had severe trouble playing DVDs on one of my players was when it was dying, it was under guarantee so I got my money back and now I have a new player that was about half the price (£38) that'll play anything I throw at it, plus it has practically every output under the sun - composite/s-video/scart/rgb/progressive YUV/digital audio/digital optical audio/full 5.1 decoding including DTS/and a couple of headphone sockets on the front
It used to be you needed to spend a lot of money on a DVD player to ensure all your discs would play ok but the technology has moved on so quickly and the advancements in the laser control have ensured that the cheap players today can be just as good, if not better than the expensive players of years ago at playing scratched discs.
Posted by The Wizard (Member # 533) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ronnie: now, i may be wrong, but i thought that most dvds have that little 1-2 second PAUSE halfway through the movie? i never took it as a defect, cause it seems to happen on brand new movies that i have purchased.
The reason there's a pause is that the player has to switch reading layers in the middle of playing the film, most players will have a split second pause while the laser changes frequency to read the 2nd layer because they don't have a large enough read buffer to cope without pausing slightly. The only DVD player I've come across that doesn't have the layer change pause is my portable one, I think this is because it has a larger read buffer than standard players to ensure there's no audio/video skipping when you're listening/watching on the move.
Posted by McFly (Member # 354) on :
My biggest scream of all was when my Back to the Future dvd stuck toward the end of the film. I tried it in everyone else's unit and it still doesn't work. Should of sent it in to Universal but watching the hell out of the special features.
But I just chalk it up to every new update of technology having some sort of glitch. VHS tapes get eaten, dvds skip or freeze. Perfection will come someday.
Posted by Ronnie (Member # 465) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Wizard: The reason there's a pause is that the player has to switch reading layers in the middle of playing the film, most players will have a split second pause while the laser changes frequency to read the 2nd layer because they don't have a large enough read buffer to cope without pausing slightly. The only DVD player I've come across that doesn't have the layer change pause is my portable one, I think this is because it has a larger read buffer than standard players to ensure there's no audio/video skipping when you're listening/watching on the move.
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