When do you know that your player is on the fritz? (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan W]

This past three week, I watched about ten new disks on my player (Pioneer DV-C503) and have had trouble with three of them:

1.) The bonus disk to LOST IN LA MANCHA would load fine, the menu would come up fine, but all the features had pixelating and distortions and the overall play was a mess. The disk played fine, however, on the store's Pioneer DVD player and has been used as a successful rental for the past three days.

2.) Disk 1 of THE DARK SHADOWS COLLECTION 6 had great difficulty after the layer change, with constant picture pixelation and sound distortion for the following chapter. After that chapter, the disk played fine, but I returned it anyway.

3.) My copy of PISTOL OPERA skipped around and pixelated a bit after the layer change - always in different places right after the layer change. This problem seems to have ceased after I wiped off the disk, but who knows?

I'm waiting for replacements for the first two disks, so I cannot yet compare performances. What concerns me is this sudden increase in trouble. Is this a sign that my player needs to be replaced or have I had a string of bad luck?

 

[Jack Briggs]

In addition to the player's age, how often has it been used (and for how long during a typical session)? What you're describing is a sign of a player in decline. Have you tried cleaning the unit, specifically the laser assembly?

 

[Jonathan W]

Thank you for your swift response.

I've had the player for over two years, and it gets a lot of play. It isn't unusual for me to watch DVDs for three or four hour intervals. The DARK SHADOWS DVDs, for example, have 220 minutes of continuous material on them. The player gets used for at least two hours a day. Some days, of course, the player isn't used at all.

I haven't tried cleaning the unit. What is involved in this process?