consequences of leaving a cd player in pause overnight? (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

hi all -

do you know if leaving a cd in pause for an extended period of time can damage a player in any way?

what about in a PC?

thx!

ted

btw - can you guess what i recently did? :rolleyes

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I always wondered about this too: i.e., does the player leave the laser on, just "paused" (but replaying over and over again that radius of the CD/DVD?) (I assume the discs keeps spinning, but who knows.)

I always more worry about leaving a CD-R paused. Not as robust at the Al in a real CD. Anyone know for sure?

 

[ColinM]

I have a Sony CDP-291 at work and I've left it on pause over the weekend before, no effect on disc or player yet!

 

[TomCW]

My grandkids left my Sony CA-70ES on pause while we were on a two week vacation, two years ago... still works great.

Tom

 

[John Royster]

Just remember that a motor has a limited life. Now I used to leave my adcom player on overnight and slept to music.

But motors do eventually fail.

 

[Ted Lee]

i actually did this in my pc. so i'm not too worried, but still.

also, not too long ago a friend of mine also left my dvd on all day during one of those menu sequences that constantly recycle.

i came home, saw that the dvd menu was recycling (thank god he at least turned off the tv) then shrieked in horror.

 

[Ken Chan]

Was it a girly shriek?

//Ken

 

[Ted Lee]

well....remember the infamous scream from "psycho"? it had nuttin' on me!

 

[MannyE]

I have a Sony DVP-S300 that is almost 7 years old. i've done the pause thing over the weekend a few times. In fact once I also went away for 14 days and inadverdently left "Outbreak" on pause. The player is still going strong...must have a great motor

When oh when is it going to finally DIE????

 

[Joe Szott]

I work in DVD/CD/MP3 chips for a living and no need to worry. As far as the player motor is concerned, there is no difference between playing a song/file and leaving it in pause. The laser just sits still on the disc and the motor just keeps rotating the disc. It even still tracks and syncs on the disc, it simply doesn't read any more data until you unpause it. The lasers don't damage discs, the motors can run for a long, long time before they break down. Don't worry about it.

The reason this used to be a problem with cassette tapes was that the motor would run and a "brake" would actually physically stop it from turning. So it would be like revving your car in drive while you step on the brake. They would stop after like 5 mins of pause before either the motor or the brake broke the unit. CDs/DVDs don't work like that.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Once last year I was at a party across campus. My roommate had gone to his girlfriend's place and I decided that I wanted to watch an episode of Twin Peaks when I got back from the party. Of course, since I'd been drinking I wasn't following the episode at all and eventually I passed out. I woke up and heard this creepy music and realized the episode had finished and it had gone back to the menus(which are pretty creepy if you ask me). So I got up turned everything off and glanced at my alarm clock only to find it was 6:30am and I had been watching the episode sometime between 1 and 2am. The next morning my suitemate said he knocked on the door at like 3:30 because he heard the TV on and thought I was up. He popped his head in and I was out like a sack of bricks. DVD player is still fine over a year later (and the player is almost 3 years old now on top of it).

 

[Kimo Bonnelycke]

MannyE,

I also have a S300. I am amazed as too the number of movies I have watched on it. I almost hope it never dies.

Kimo B.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

The other thing with putting a cassette player in pause, is that it keeps the capstan up against the pinch roller, and can create a flat spot on the roller. Not good!

Joe Sz- thanks for the info!

 

[Jack Briggs]

Very interesting thread!

Fun stories. The longest I think I ever let a DVD player remain on pause was about two hours. I had nodded out.

It wasn't the explosion that awoke me but, rather, the paramedics as they were carrying Attila and me on a streatcher, away from the blast radius and the outlying debris field. Shortly after the medivac helicopter rose and lifted us above the carnage, my cat and I came to fully.

One of the medics then leaned over and held a piece of burnt plastic right in front of my face. Peering closely, despite my blurred vision, I could just make out the following lettering: "...ny DVP-S550D DVD/CD/..."

"Never leave a DVD player on 'pause' for a long time! Are you crazy?" the medic screamed.

I then lost consciousness as the helicopter banked into a turn. That's all I remember. But my cat still hides in a closet when I play DVDs.

 

[ColinM]

All hail the Sony '300!

My daughter slams the drawer in when it's movie time (She's 1.5 yrs old, so I cut her SOME slack) - the sound of the gears spinning the retract motor at 5x speed is scary!

I leave that thing on pause / menu cycle at least once per week, over the last 6 years. Not intentionally....

I never want that player to die.

Now that I've said that, it'll smoke fer sure.

 

[MannyE]

Colin,

If only it had DTS...

 

[ColinM]

Been down that road - all players I tried for the sake of DTS had a picture that was not as good as the '300, and the dts soundtracks weren't worth it IMO.

If only it had component....

 

[Ted Lee]

jack -