DVD Player Freezes Up

[JJuggle]

I have a Panasonic DVD/VHS player that is a couple of years old.

It is freezing up on movies generally after about scene 12 or so, i.e. towards the end of the movies. The screen freezes and after about 5 seconds it either skips right to the next scene or shuts down and gives a message about cleaning the DVD or checking for scratches; as the same DVDs play perfectly well in a different player they are clearly not the problem.

Does anyone know of fixes for this problem other than the obvious replacement of the machine or watching in the other machine? Thanks.

[tobbogonist]

Go to your local 'mart' and buy a DVD lense cleaner, in Australia they are about 25 dollars. Then all you do is follow the instructions. The fact that you said it was a few years old and that you did ot mention any lense cleaner history i would imagine your lense is dirty, especially over a few years of hard work. If that doesn't it probably does not have any warranty left so i suggest an electrical fixer man. Or just whack it?

also maybe try unplug it and let it sit for a day or so, i have no idea why this works but it does.

[JJuggle]

Go to your local 'mart' and buy a DVD lense cleaner, in Australia they are about 25 dollars. Then all you do is follow the instructions. The fact that you said it was a few years old and that you did ot mention any lense cleaner history i would imagine your lense is dirty, especially over a few years of hard work. If that doesn't it probably does not have any warranty left so i suggest an electrical fixer man. Or just whack it?

also maybe try unplug it and let it sit for a day or so, i have no idea why this works but it does.
Thanks, I will try that.

[Jerrick]

Just sounds like a dirty lens.

I think you can get the lens cleaners for a lot cheaper than 25 dollars, I got mine for 5.

Because its so old you should take the main covering off and blow all the dust off. Not with your mouth cause that spreads moisture, you can if you want, but its better to use those compressed air cans made to blow out electrical parts.

Hope it starts working again soon.

[ThisGuyIKnow]

Being that it happens about the same time into a movie it might be having trouble with the dual layer switching. Try a lense cleaner, then just buy a new player, they aren't that expensive anymore.

[Jerrick]

Thats true. I can get a dvd player for 20 dollars. =p

[UniBrier]

We have a "good" DVD player that started to act up in a similar maner reletively recently.

Almost every time it happens we find the disc itself is dirty, cleaning the disc would usually stop the problem. Also did the lens cleaning and that helped too.

I think part of it is just age too because even in perfect conditions it will sometimes act up, ususally towards the end of a movie. What is dual layer switching?

[ThisGuyIKnow]

DVDs coem in two varieties Single Layer which is 4.7 GB of Data and Dual Layer which hold 7.whatever GB. On a dual layer disc there are actually 2 layers of data. When the player moves from one layer to the other sometimes there is a slight pause in video, a dual layer pause. So if the lens were dirty, it might not be able to find the right spot when it's switching to the second layer.

[maestro8]

1st option:
Shampoo. Rinse. Repeat.

2nd option:
Drop kick.

[harper]

Your DVD player freezes up? It's cold here too. Don't be such a sissy about it.

[harper]

Raphael-

All that stuff is so cheap now. I remember taking a VCR to a repair shop down the street several years ago. I couldn't fix it so I thought I would give the shop a try. The VCR was several years old at the time. I asked the guy behind the counter what could be done with it. He looked at it and then he looked at me and with a bored expression said, "you can take it home and throw it in your trash can or you can step outside and put it in my dumpster. It's cheaper for you to buy a new one that is ten times better than this one than it is for me to fix it."

I chose his dumpster.

[tobbogonist]

Just sounds like a dirty lens.

I think you can get the lens cleaners for a lot cheaper than 25 dollars, I got mine for 5.

Because its so old you should take the main covering off and blow all the dust off. Not with your mouth cause that spreads moisture, you can if you want, but its better to use those compressed air cans made to blow out electrical parts.

Hope it starts working again soon.

your economy is so different from ours, i checked at work today and the cheapest you can pick on up for is about 18 dollars. As for cheap 20 dollar DVD players, The cheapest i have seen was 69 dollars and that was on clearance, our cheap ones are around 100 dollars at the least.

[tobbogonist]

oh yeah and Jjuggle,
thats ok ;)

[JJuggle]

Bought a DVD cleaner for $19+tax. Just watched a movie and it didn't skip. Hope that continues to be the case.

Greg, thanks for the advice but I'm glad to report that I didn't have to blow my family's holiday crack money on a new DVD player. My mom would have been pissed. And Emma, our 12 year old, is glad we'll be able to have our annual Christmas viewing of Caligula this year without skips.

Cheers everyone.

[harper]

Bought a DVD cleaner for $19+tax. Just watched a movie and it didn't skip. Hope that continues to be the case.

Greg, thanks for the advice but I'm glad to report that I didn't have to blow my family's holiday crack money on a new DVD player. My mom would have been pissed.

Good work. Sorry to have misled you. I didn't mean for you to junk yours, I just wanted to tell you the story. Holiday crack money is a sad thing to waste.

[monkeyman]

http://www.thebestoil.com/thebestoil.com/products/antifreeze.jpg

[JJuggle]

I just wanted to tell you the story.
It was a gripping read and a compelling story.

[JJuggle]

Contrite and somewhat abashed I must confess that the lack of skipping was short-lived. A new $100 DVD player has been installed.