DVD player

[slade]

Some of my backups freeze up randomly on my old player (Philips DVD621). They do not freeze up on my new player (Sony SLV-D261P). My originals do not freeze up on either player.

This leads me to believe that (1) the quality of my burner (NEC ND-3540A) and DVD media are inferior to commercial equipment/media, and (2) my old player needs cleaning.

I don't plan to upgrade to a commercial quality burner, but I have begun to use better quality media. This has reduced, but not stopped, the random freezing up on the old player.

A friend suggested wiping the old player's laser lightly with a Q-tip. However, I don't know how to access the laser without taking the unit apart. The manuals are either quiet on the cleaning subject, or say to take it to a repair facility.

Can someone please tell me how to clean the laser on my old player, or direct me to the appropriate thread or FAQ?

Thank you.

[Taelon]

You can buy CD/DVD player cleaning disks for $10 or less at just about anywhere that sells blank media. It may not completely solve the problem, since it won't clean dirty mirrors etc, but won't hurt to try it.

[slade]

Thanks, Taelon. Do the player manuals warn you not to use the cleaning disks--but rather bring the player to their repair facility--just to drum up more business?

[anonymez]

'cleaning' discs don't really do anything from my experience...

[LT. Columbo]

you won't get a cut and dry answer here on this but i found them to be useful.

[Taelon]

Thanks, Taelon. Do the player manuals warn you not to use the cleaning disks--but rather bring the player to their repair facility--just to drum up more business?

Of course they want to justify their investment in "authorized service centers". But unless it's a very expensive machine it's not likely to be worth the cost for repairs.

Since we're on the subject lets throw out a couple other possibilities, do you have any pets or children? It's amazing what kids will try to stuff into machines, I just read about a guy whose kid tried to play the DVD in the VCR (no it didn't work . And I've seen pet hair get into the strangest places, some people recommend a short blast of canned air into a player, but that can actually cause more problems.

So, I'll stick by my recommendation to try a cleaning disk, it's unlikely to hurt and may possibly help the situation.

[slade]

I have used cleaning disks on my older player, Philips DVD621. I have purchased and used more expensive media. I have burned at a slower speed. I have stopped using labels.

And still, my backups freeze up randomly on the Philips DVD621. They play perfectly on my newer player, Sony SLV-D261P. Originals play perfectly on either player.

Any further suggestions?

Thank you.

[Branagan]

I have the same problems with my copies freezing in my Philips player with the originals working fine. Ran the burned disks on my portable Polaroid player and they work fine. I'm convinced from this - and reading others' experiences - my next player won't be a Philips.