AKICOLJ

[desperance]

My DVD player is v old, as these things go. Occasionally the picture breaks up as if it were a digital TV signal suffering interference; occasionally it will skip part of a scene altogether, in a nasty jerky fashion.

Is this likely actually to damage the discs at all?

If not, is there any other reason to buy a new DVD player, other than saving myself the annoyance (which I can live with, if it's not doing actual harm)? Given that I won't be upgrading the TV for a while, so there's no point thinking about high-definition stuff or that kinda thing?

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Do you know for certain it's the player and not the discs? I ask because I've bought two copies of one TV show, both of which deteriorated and did what you describe, and eventually became unwatchable. One of our earliest West Wing discs is showing signs of going the same way. (Hmmm, the first show I refer to is Sports Night, so maybe it's just a Sorkin problem.)

[desperance.livejournal.com]

These discs is new discs, and one at least I rewound (or whatever is the proper verb, as that is as old-fashioned and inappropriate as "spooled back")(tho' I pause to observe that we do still say steamroller, for machines that are entirely untouched by any steam at all) and the scene played fine the second time through. So I am inclined to blame the machine...

[jeremy-m.livejournal.com]

> old-fashioned and inappropriate

I'm told that in some languages the word for current diesel and electric trains includes the "choo-choo" sound, delightful fossil onomatopoeia.

[ellarien]

It shouldn't damage the disks, I think -- there's no physical contact with the data surface. (If the skipping and jerking happens consistently on particular disks, it might be a disk problem rather than a player problem.) It might be worth trying a lens-cleaning disk.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Older dvd players are more finicky when it comes to dusty or scratched discs, always clean your dvd with a lint-free cloth before putting it in there, if it happens a lot you might want a new one to avoid the frustration of pixellated denouments.. There's no way it can damage the disc, the laser is just reading the data, not making a good job of it by the sounds. You can get dvd lens cleaner discs which might solve the problem if its the lens that's got a bit dusty over the years - I've never actually tried one of these though I know the cd player versions are quite effective.

[jeremy-m.livejournal.com]

While it's true the laser head makes no contact with the disk, that's of course when it's working rather than When It Goes Wrong In Unknown Ways.

The analogy for hard disks would be the head crash, where instead of flying just above the surface of the disk and interacting only magnetically, the head ploughs into the surface of the disk like a train wreck, making the disk itself poisonous to other good heads too. The first time I encountered a head crash, back in the '80s, I unwisely did a series of checks with different disks and drives and spread the contagion amongst all of them (STD for RL01s).

Fortunately a quick google for DVD head crashes doesn't find anything about them, so I guess we've come a long way in 30 years and they don't actually happen with this technology.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

The analogy for hard disks would be the head crash, where instead of flying just above the surface of the disk and interacting only magnetically, the head ploughs into the surface of the disk like a train wreck, making the disk itself poisonous to other good heads too.

This happened to me, with my first computer (an Apricot, 'way back in the mid-80s...). Calamitous failure of floppy drive; I returned the machine under warranty; they fixed it and sent it back; I then experienced exactly the same problem, making the same horrible noises, and phoned them in tears and rage. They said, "Are you using the same disks?" Um, yeah, I was...

Happily, the poisonous floppies had not harmed the new drive head; double-happily, it was a double-drive model (no hard drive! hee! I had a conversation with my guru, who said, "Chaz, you don't need a hard drive" - and he was right!!), programs in the A-drive and data in the B-. I'd only fouled up the software, not the stories...

Happily

[possumqueen.livejournal.com]

We wash our CDs and DVDs in a very watery dish washing liquid solution, gently using our hands -- after washing our hands in dish washing soap to begin with, to remove dirt and oils without adding moisturizers that would leave a film. After thorough rinsing with plain warm water, we let the discs air dry a bit before blotting up remaining droplets with a lint-free cloth.

That often does the trick. :) Discs can build up body oils and dust from handling. Washing them carefully seems to minimize damage from routine scratches.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't harm the discs, but given you can pick up a Region 2 DVD player for about £20, why put up with the nuisance?

[desperance.livejournal.com]

This is what I'm thinking, really. There's one with an all-region hack on sale in town for £26; I've been trying to think of Reasons Not To Buy It, but I'm running out...

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Personally, if you don't have one already, and have the cash, I'd suggest getting a DVD recorder, particularly one with a hard disc in it. I use mine *all the time* to record TV programmes ... my landlords do the same but they use a DVD-recorder with a DVD+RW disc and erase things once they have been watched. Probably around £150 now ...

Alternatively, buy a DVD player with USB/card slots so you can put in video files from a PC, or pictures from a digital camera (mine cost me about £30 in Aldi a couple of years back)

The important things, for future proofing, is to make sure there is composite/scart *and* component output (Red/Green/Blue) as that will give you the better picture on your new better TV next year or whenever ... and if there is the option for an HDMI output, that's good too (but rare!) as it is a digital connector and should give the best quality.

A DVD player that "upscales" would be good for the future, but not worth bothering about unless it is a tie-break between two machines ... it makes your DVD output more like high definition by adding additional lines of information by looking at the lines above and below the current(new) line.

But it does sound like it's worth at least buying a cheap new player and getting rid of the old one ...

[samarcand.livejournal.com]

If you are serious about being desirous of a new DVD player, then speak to me first. I have one going spare - y'know, as you do - and we could probably come to some sort of an agreement.