Cheap DVD Player Service

[Nowhere-Man]

Last night I was enjoying a movie as I do last thing at night to wind down and the same thing happened again as happens often. The DVD player froze and skipped. As I was moving it about to try and get the film to play, somehow the entire DVD disk got swallowed in the player. I mean the tray popped out and no disk!!

One advantage of messing around with vintage stuff is I have lots of screwdrivers so I winded up taking the DVD player apart. It was much easier than taking an old car cassette player apart. Certainly the DVD player wasn't as robust but I did think it seemed quite well constructed. I removed the DVD disk and put it back together.

Today I decided to take it all apart again in order to see if I could see what's causing the freezes. There was a tiny bit of dust to be found inside and around the tray. I cleaned all that out and then set about cleaning the lens. One thing that did surprise me was the plastic cogs used to draw the tray is really the same kind of design used in the old car cassette players.

Anyway, I left it at that. I played a disk for about 40 mins while listening to Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band on my 1974 car cassette player (Satellite). No problems with freezing but it's early days yet. Could be the lens is a bit worn as it was second hand.

Would it be worth getting a new lens if the problem persists or could it be some other issue?

The truth is by now I have gotten through about 10 DVD players. They only tend to last me over a year at most. I'm thinking now it would be practical to learn a bit more about repair but hear it's wise to use eye protection.

[Nick]

Do you smoke? Is the environment dusty?

Sometimes, a quick blast of "dry air" - not from a compressor please, as that contains some oil - or a quick wipe with a lens cloth or cleaning CD - does the trick.

Lens should never be "worn" - its not in contact with anything and the odd photon, whatever the wavelength, is unlikely to ablate it

[Mark Hennessy]

DVD players are built down to a price, and they can't be expected to last forever. But if they are only lasting you a year, it's worth looking at the environment they are being used it. As well tobacco smoke, high humidity might be a factor. Dust levels are definitely worth thinking about, as Nick says...

The lens that is visible when you look from above is just one part of the optical system - there are other lenses and prisms and magic in there. These are normally reasonably hidden from view, but are rarely totally sealed from the elements. So fine dust can settle on these surfaces, affecting the machine's ability to read the disc.

The laser diode will eventually lose output - like all LEDs. Better DVD players will record the usage and will report it in "service mode" (Google your make/model to see how to put it into service mode). I only have Sony machines here, and all of these do that. I decided to buy a small number on eBay a couple of years back as the prices were stupidly low, and they all reported less than 100 hours of use. Nice ones too, which do SACDs and other nice things. The one machine that I paid real money for - about 15 years back - has done well over 1,000 hours - mostly thanks to the kids - and still seems to be reliable.

Note that although it's not obvious from inspection, there are usually two laser LEDs - one for DVD playback and one for CD playback. They are different wavelengths, of course. My Sony machines record the hours usage for each separately. It's entirely feasible that a machine might play CDs but not DVDs because the DVD laser is tired. Or vice-versa, depending on how the machine has been used. So try playing an audio CD to see if that's any more reliable - that might give you a clue...

Don't forget that power supply capacitors wear out. Take care if you go investigating these. The main thing to look for is bulging tops (Google "bad caps" for lots of pictures).

[tiv48]

10 dvd players is quite a lot.
I still use a pioneer dvd recorder that is over 10 years old .
as for repairing them most of the budget ones wold not be worth it .
most of the ones I used to repair had the usual psu troubles only about 10% needed a new laser.
I use IPA (not beer) on lint free cloth to clean the lenses
loading belts and dried grease on the sled were other common problems.
Rob T

[Mark Hennessy]

Yes, if the player reliably misbehaves at roughly the same time into a disc, that's classic "bad grease on the sled or rails" syndrome. I test for this with CDs, because they are "simple" - they start in the middle and work out. Anything is possible with a DVD, because of the way they are authored.

[Nowhere-Man]

DVD players are built down to a price, and they can't be expected to last forever. But if they are only lasting you a year, it's worth looking at the environment they are being used it. As well tobacco smoke, high humidity might be a factor. Dust levels are definitely worth thinking about, as Nick says...

The lens that is visible when you look from above is just one part of the optical system - there are other lenses and prisms and magic in there. These are normally reasonably hidden from view, but are rarely totally sealed from the elements. So fine dust can settle on these surfaces, affecting the machine's ability to read the disc.

The laser diode will eventually lose output - like all LEDs. Better DVD players will record the usage and will report it in "service mode" (Google your make/model to see how to put it into service mode). I only have Sony machines  here, and all of these do that. I decided to buy a small number on eBay a couple of years back as the prices were stupidly low, and they all reported less than 100 hours of use. Nice ones too, which do SACDs and other nice things. The one machine that I paid real money for - about 15 years back - has done well over 1,000 hours - mostly thanks to the kids - and still seems to be reliable.

Note that although it's not obvious from inspection, there are usually two laser LEDs - one for DVD playback and one for CD playback. They are different wavelengths, of course. My Sony machines record the hours usage for each separately. It's entirely feasible that a machine might play CDs but not DVDs because the DVD laser is tired. Or vice-versa, depending on how the machine has been used. So try playing an audio CD to see if that's any more reliable - that might give you a clue...

Don't forget that power supply capacitors wear out. Take care if you go investigating these. The main thing to look for is bulging tops (Google "bad caps" for lots of pictures).

I'm afraid that my boat has one of those pot-belly wood burner stoves and it's what I use to keep warm. The downside is there is a huge dust kick-back which has even been known to irritate my eyes. Also, I have to clean all the time as dust covers everything. Radios that are dismantled I cover with a sheet. I'm sure none of this is good for my health either.

Anyway last night the DVD player was playing and no stops or jumps. It's early days but I'm hoping it will be better.

Some of the DVD players I lost were portable ones with in-built screens. These hate changes of temps which you will get when the boat is freezing and then a big fire lit. The fire can be pretty effective but room temps swing from 0 degrees to about 85 F. That was especially hard on one model where the picture just blurred.

The player I have now is a budget Argos machine and it costs very little. However, I thought it was well built if you don't mind a lot of plastic and the fact I can open it up easier than many other models may be a saving grace. Last night I had quite a good picture.

P.S. I'm a sucker for Lost In Space on DVD. I have all the episodes. Series one is in black and white and good, series 2 wasn't that great and series 3 had its good moments. Sometimes it fascinates me to see an episode where you can see reel-to-reel tape machines in use and all the computers are also reel.

[Nowhere-Man]

Do you smoke? Is the environment dusty?

Sometimes, a quick blast of "dry air" - not from a compressor please, as that contains some oil - or a quick wipe with a lens cloth or cleaning CD - does the trick.

Lens should never be "worn" - its not in contact with anything and the odd photon, whatever the wavelength, is unlikely to ablate it

No I don't smoke but you can see below about my wood burner fire. It's free heating but a bit messy.

[Mark Hennessy]

Some of the DVD players I lost were portable ones with in-built screens. These hate changes of temps which you will get when the boat is freezing and then a big fire lit. The fire can be pretty effective but room temps swing from 0 degrees to about 85 F. That was especially hard on one model where the picture just blurred.

Ah yes - classic condensation caused by the sudden change in air temperature  

Still, I can see the attraction of life on the water. Living here, we see a lot of boats passing through and sometimes staying, and I'm a little jealous of the lifestyle!