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

[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 ...