Dave Schofield

Older DVD player missing portions of movies.

I have an older Sony DVD player (second generation, a 550, if I remember correctly) that has been very good to me over the last four years. I've had a few other players, for bedrooms and second TVs, etc, but none could hold a candle to my original player, so they inevitably were given away or just plain thrown away.

I'm starting to see the player lock up during playback. It happened the first time a few weeks ago right in the middle of The Pianist, then again during Holes last night. Strangely, both times have been in the middle third of the movie. The part that makes me fear that my beloved player is starting to fall apart is that both times, I have essentially been locked out of 2 or 3 minutes of video. If I watch the section over and over again it always locks up within 10 to 15sec of the original lockup spot, and if I try to go past and rewind it locks up 2 to 3 minutes later. I have pulled both discs out and checked for scratches, but alas, they appeared to be perfect.

I have formulated a hypothesis that the player has a hard time getting to the extreme edges of the disc (i.e. right before layer change), but it is just a guess.

Has my beloved player started dying? Would a lens cleaning do the trick? Are The Pianist and Holes bad discs?

Thanks!

Don_Berg

Does it happen at the layer change point? Try to select a chapter beyond the point it locks without playing thru that point.

Sean^M

yeah I was thinking layer change problem, too.
that or it's objecting to the movies themselves *grin*
If you do end up replacing that sony (older sony units had a lot of issues with audio sync anyway) this is a good time for it with the new LiteOn units out and such, offering 1080i upscaling, and no chroma bug, and all for $150.
Considering the age of your player, have you considered taking the unit in to have the laser pickup realigned and cleaned? That may be all it really needs.. a little TLC tune-up.

Dave Schofield

I lose about 2 or 3 minutes, but after that it plays fine again. I don't know if this is right at a layer change or not, since, of course, it locks up...

I don't really mind the audio-sync problem. I setup a macro on my Pronto that just does pause_stop_play quick and that always clears it up. It gives the player some bad needed character anyway

I'll get it cleaned, I hope that helps. Where would a guy go to get a player cleaned? I live on the outskirts of the "boonies" and don't know of a good quality tv/video/audio shop in the area.

Sean^M

I live in a similar sort of area.
any decent TV repair shop should have the facilities to do a laser cleaning and realignment of a simple CD or DVD player.
Most of those shops are run by old school electrical guys anyway, and I'd trust my stuff to them long before I would someone working in a "best buy" environment just out of school.

good luck!

Paul.Little

It's probably a pretty good guess. If the lens is a little bit out of alignment, the problem is exacerbated the farther toward the edge of the disc it gets. The lasers also get weaker over time. A technician may be able to do a cleaning, and alignment, and boost the laser output a bit, but it's at best a temporary fix. Unfortunately, your DVD player is probably on its last legs.

Paul

You\'re wrong, Mr. Lucas. They\'re not your movies. They\'re ours. All of ours. We paid to go see them, and they\'re just as much a part of our lives as they are of yours

chella

I had a 550, when it worked, it worked fine. I started to get lot of audio/video problems, chapter jumps, lock up, " the classic "C 13" errors. Replaced it with a pioneer. Anyways, when the Sony gave me trouble, I followed the recalibration procedure outlined here:
http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/sonydvd.html
and that helped.

Paul.Little

Hey, that's a great link. Thanks for that.

Paul

You\'re wrong, Mr. Lucas. They\'re not your movies. They\'re ours. All of ours. We paid to go see them, and they\'re just as much a part of our lives as they are of yours