Do DVD players differ in playing damaged DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Joe Main]

Greetings,
My Sony S560D Player is 4 1/2 years old and is giving me lots of trouble playing DVDs. I'm throwing in the towel and getting a new Player. Looking to spend no more than $249. I rent a lot of movies and many are in bad shape. So lately my player has been freezing, jumping skipping and now refusing to play many disks. The question are some players rated better at playing scratched or dirty disks. Any player recommendations would be helpful.
PS I've opened up my player and have cleaned the eye that didn't help.

 

[Jose G]

I'm in the same boat and what I have come up with so far is that igt seems that newer units have really improved on the disk skipping issue. Here's some of the info I have so far (in short). For just the basics- a Sony dvp-ns575p is a good unit, but if you want better cd sound and slightly less video qulity (I'm sure most would not be able to tell), the toshiba sd-3960 is a good bet. Therse are real budget dvds without dvd-A or sacd. I'm looking at the pioneer dv 578a-s for those just mentioned features and one review that said it played well with disks that skipped on older machines. There are a couple of Sony models above the 575 but they did not get the best reviews until you get to the Sony dvp-ns975v, which is said to have increadible sacd sound quality but an issue with compatible connection to it's hdmi/dvi port if you plan to use this feature. Personally for the basics the sony 5750 really looks like the best bet and for a little more, the Pioneer seems to be the clear winner. I think I'm ordering that one today, but I can't help looking for better and better and then better, as the upgrade bug is always biting. I hate it! Good luck.
José