DVD player problem playing DVDs (1 Viewer)

[Ranga]

I use a Sherwood DVD player to play CDs and DVDs. Yesterday, I discovered that while CDs play fine, DVDs don't play as loud, freeze intermittently and sound rough. It is consistent on DVDs.

Do DVD players have different lasers - one for CDs and another for DVDs? Is there something else going on? I even tried playing DVDs in PCM stereo instead of DTS/DD and I still have the problem.

 

[Michael Reuben]

We're talking about several different phenomena, so let's break it down.

Do DVD players have different lasers - one for CDs and another for DVDs?

Some do, some don't. I doubt that's the cause here.

M.

 

[Ranga]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my first post.

I have been playing DVDs and CDs on this player for the last 2 years without any problem. Yesterday I decided to demo my HT to a friend and the volume was way below normal, DVD freezing at different locations with slight crackling. I checked out all the connections, switched off/on the whole system and the problem continued.

I then played other DVDs with the same problem. When I checked out a standard CD, it was back to normal levels. That led a suspicion that maybe my 5-ch amp was malfunctioning. So I played Floyd (The Wall) and Eagles (Hell Freezes over) in PCM stereo mode. Still the same problem.

Checked out the bass management (setting speakers to LARGE/SMALL). Switched the system on/off again, checked out connections. Played the DVDs again and the problem seemed to have dissappeared. Checked it out again this morning, and the playback just doesn't seem right.

That leads me to the DVD player's laser pickup. Maybe some dust got through, but that wouldn't explain why the CDs sound normal. Could there be a problem with the DSP?

I have had a similar problem earlier when I was playing with the LARGE/SMALL settings and the SMALL setting sounded worse than the LARGE.

BTW, I have a 5-ch pre-amp/amp hooked up to the DVD player and an SVS sub connected to the sub-out of the DVD player.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my first post.

Yeah, I'd say a lot of that additional information is pretty important.

It certainly does sound like something's malfunctioning in the player. However, if the picture is just freezing (as opposed to breaking up), I'm not so sure it's the pickup. It sounds like something in the processing circuitry, but it doesn't resemble any problem I've encountered before; so I'll have to defer to others.

M.