DVD player issues - Printable Version

DVD player issues - Printable Version

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DVD player issues - ECSNorway - 06-28-2009

Le sigh. This is the second DVD player I've had die on me in as many years. The first one went when it decided to jam the disk tray. This one seems to work
fine, but feed it any disk at all and it just spins for about 30 seconds, then says "The disk could not be played, please check your disk".

Unit is a Samsung VR-330 DVD/VCR combo unit.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

- Ankhani - 06-28-2009

Well, it would be silly to suggest you clean the disk ....

Does the tray and lens look clear and good? If the little lens is dirty, probably wouldn't be able to read right.

(I have no idea what's wrong)
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

- jpub - 06-29-2009

Do you still use the VCR portion?

If not, you're looking at under $50 for a new one. Under $100 if you want upconverting.

- Wiregeek - 06-29-2009

the 'dvd player' has become a disposable object. I keep a reoccurring 6-month '50$ - DVD player' entry in my budget
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

- robkelk - 06-29-2009

As long as we're discussing DVD players... Anybody got recommendations for upconverting players with both Menu buttons on the remote (because some DVDs
ignore "Main Menu" but accept "Top Menu" while playing the pre-menu crap, and some are vice-versa)? I'm in Canada, so region-free
isn't absolutely required (but would be nice)...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

- jpub - 06-29-2009

I've got a Toshiba SD-6100, and it has that. Nice player, but I dont get why a player that outputs at up to 1080P has a menu/OSD that looks like it's
320x240.

- Wiregeek - 06-29-2009

Quote:but I dont get why a player that outputs at up to 1080P has a menu/OSD that looks like it's 320x240.

I agree - I've a Samsung that will do 1080p (but doesn't - it won't hold an HDMI link with the off-brand TV for more than ten minutes or so, but 480p via Component is OK with me), and the UI is ugly...

Also, on boot, it SLAMS the analog audio outs with overamplified audio. WTF.

I agree - I've a Samsung that will do 1080p (but doesn't - it won't
hold an HDMI link with the off-brand TV for more than ten minutes or
so, but 480p via Component is OK with me), and the UI is ugly...

Also, on boot, it SLAMS the analog audio outs with overamplified audio. WTF.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

- Foxboy - 06-29-2009

We got double posting trouble today?

We got double posting trouble today?
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

- ECSNorway - 07-12-2009

Hrm. On the topic: I've got an old laptop set up as a media box. Right now I've copied pretty much all my video and music stuff to a 500-gig USD box.

However, access speed is still not quite the greatest for some videos that require more processing than others.

I'm using the laptop's PCMCIA slot for a network card right now, but I could get a cheap USB wireless NIC to replace it.

The question is, would a PCMCIA USB2.0/Firewire card give me enough of an improvement to be worth the investment?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

- Black Aeronaut - 07-13-2009

ECSNorway, I've had problems like this before with DVD and CD players.

You have a slippery spinner.

You insert your disc, it seats on the spinner, and for whatever reason, it's not getting enough traction to spin up your disc. That is why your disk
'spins' for thirty seconds, and then nothing. In fact, I bet if you put a stephoscope to the thing (or just your ear) you can hear the little bugger
slipping away as it revs up.

I have found no really solid solution yet, except to smear a minute amout of syrup on the clear area in the middle of your disc before slipping it in. It has
to be absolutely miniscule - just enough that that area gets tacky. Use too much and the stuff will go flying into your player's laser lens, and then it
will become impossible to clean. Don't use any adhesives because A) you want your disc to come back out and B) the syrup washes off easily with warm
tap-water, even after it's been on there for a while.

As a permanent fix, try finding a place that repairs electronic appliances. This issue is wide-spread enough that it may be a common fix they do, ergo
inexpensive.

If the syrup solution doesn't work, then you possibly have a dirty lens. Buy a DVD lens cleaner kit and run that through.

And if that don't work, then use the gun cause your DVD player has deeper issues - ones that would cost far more to fix than to replace it outright.

- Sofaspud - 07-14-2009

The thought of introducing syrup to electronics fills me with a deep, abiding dread.

And would make me dance in joy if I still worked for my father, running an electronics repair business.

Your diagnosis of 'slippery spinner' is quite possible, but slightly wrong all the same. Most CD/DVD 'spinners' grip the CD from both sides.
(Not including laptop and portable devices, which typically use a center-post pressure locking mechanism). This being the case, it's not a matter of the
CD or the spinner being too slippery. Let's face it, gravity is not the best way to handle that situation -- that's why they grab from both sides in
the first place!

No, if it's related to the spinner at all, what's likely going on here is dust/hair/fur/etc contamination, in one of three places. The platter itself
(the part pressing against the bottom of the inner ring of the CD), the pressure plate (the part on top), or the gearing mechanism that puts the platter into
position. Unfortunately, just blowing it out isn't likely to fix it, as they're (by design) not exactly accessible to the outside -- not easily,
anyway.

Another likely culprit is the rotational speed sensor, which can be blocked in some designs (CyberDrive, I'm looking at *you*) by a single strand of hair.
Thus you get the drive attempting to spin the disc up... spinning the disc up... spinning the disc up... not getting any feedback from the sensor, must be a
problem, abort!

Again, a blast of air *might* do the trick, but these are picky things which are in any of a number of out of the way places inside the drive, and thus hard to
reach.

When it stops spinning, do you hear the motor stop but the disc continue to spin for a few seconds? (Might sound a little like a fine-grit sander) Or does it
behave normally, except it just won't play?

I'd be inclined to suspect a misaligned lens more than anything else in the latter case, which is fixable, but hardly worth it.

Also, for future reference: combo units of any sort are, without exception I've found, more prone to breakdown and failure than standalone units. We used
to recommend our customers avoid them like the plague. I'll further note that we made a great deal of money off of people who didn't listen. Big Grin

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

- Black Aeronaut - 07-15-2009

Quote: The thought of introducing syrup to electronics fills me with a deep, abiding dread.

That's why I said to use only enough to get it tacky. Any more and you risk sending the stuff flying into other parts of your DVD/CD player.

I honestly can't say if the issues I've had in the past were due to spinners without a 'top piece'. The units that I've had this problem
with the most were TV/DVD combo units with the DVD player sealed in a box that would have necessitated the removal of the TV tube to get at. Not happenin'.
I may dabble in DIY repairs, but anything that involves something as treacherously tricky as messing with a CRT... I draw the line there.