britcep

I have a Sony DVP-NS725P CD/DVD player. Had it for at least 7 years. To save money, I usually check DVD's out of my local library (they're free) instead of renting. Not surprisingly, a lot of these DVD's are badly scratched from constant misuse by other library patrons. When I attempt to play some of these, they will occasionally freeze, skip, jump back, etc. Sometimes it's so annoying I just give up and eject the DVD.

However, these same damaged DVD's will always play in my computer's DVD drive without any problems. I don't like watching movies on my computer, but if there's only a few minutes left in the movie, I may just pop it in to finish it.

So my question - Is my DVD player acting normally considering the condition of some of these DVD's? Or is it time to replace it? Does my computer use a different type of laser to read them? My computer is a HP desktop bought last year new. I don't own a hi-def TV, so I have no intereste in a Blu-Ray player.

Spiky

Pretty normal. Computers tend to do a better job reading discs.

A few options I can think of...

• Rip the disc, make a new one. (pretty long work just to watch, assuming you aren't pirating and delete later)
• Get a bigger monitor, enjoy the computer playing DVDs
• Place the computer close enough to the TV to run a cable to it (note: much better with an HDTV)
• Netflix...not too expensive, and when you get a bad disc, they ship you another copy really fast

britcep

Thanks for the suggestions, but Netflix is phasing out DVD's in favor of streaming (and now they're charging more for what DVD's they still have). Plus, most of the streaming I've seen on friends' TV's looks terrible - heavily pixilated and fuzzy images. The blacks look especially bad. I know the times are changing, but I will never stream movies as a replacement for hardware.

I have a 36-inch Sony XBR tube TV that can rival any computer monitor.

I use to rip discs for the exact reasons you mentioned, but sometimes the files wouldn't copy properly.

I guess I'll just have to deal with scratched discs form time to time. After all, they're free rentals.

Mr. Salty

Uh, no. They split DVDs from streaming, but Netflix's DVD business is not going away anytime soon. And yes, they raised their prices by a whole dollar.

Spiky

The big price increase was not exactly an "increase". See, they used to give the streaming for free to DVD renters. They stopped that, separating the streaming from DVD in terms of payment, making us pay the full price for both. I'm not saying that isn't annoying, it got me to drop the DVD side, and nearly everything. But if you pick just one of those, it is still the same price. Also, streaming is great from Netflix, much better than almost anybody else. (for streaming, I'm not comparing to BD, here) Your friends must have crappy equipment or crappy broadband. There have been versions of Silverlight that screwed things up, but for the most part it has been an excellent setup.

If you can't even rip a DVD in the computer, then it is really too scratched.

kd5

Don't know if this will help, I use a Philips from time to time, I'd like to buy one of these, Allsop seems to do a better job of cleaning (from past experience with their Cassette tape head cleaner):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000J1QM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER -kd5-

JimRochester

I'm in the monirity but I've had Blockbuster online for years and have never had problems. Immediately get new releases with no throttling. When I was ripping titles I was getting 12 week. They too will immediately ship out a replacement should a disc be unplayable. No extra charge for Blu-rays.

For scratched discs I've had some luck with an automotive spray wax.

If your player is more than 7 years old I'd say you got your money's worth. A new BR player for less than $100 will get you into the next generation. Not all libraries have BR for loan but they'll have far fewer problems with scratches when you find them. I've purchased numerous previous rental discs and they all looked pristine. You really have to work to scratch a BR.

soundman2

I agree with scratched dvd from library - people are plain idiots when handling dvds - I have had my personal dvds scratched when i lend them to friends

Some times the library dvd are just dirty - greasy finger prints etc, YOu can use a clean paper towel. make it slightly moist with water and wipe it from center to outside ( not circular) it has helped me 75% of time.

Spottedfeather

My first dvd player made it about 11 years before it started crapping out. A few years after I got it, while it was still working, I got a 300 disc dvd player. That crapped out after only a couple of years (damn you, Sony) so, I got a cheapy 30 dollar player, which is great. It had DIVX playback and JPEG viewing. But I've had a blu-ray player for about 4 years now.

Alan Smithee

I check out DVDs from my library and a lot of them are also damaged from mishandling. I don't know why they don't CHARGE the people who damage them- in the 70s I used to get records from the public library and it was impressed on me that there would be dire consequences if I damaged any of them!

I remember getting Fellini's "8 1/2" and having to fix some scratches on it to get it to play. I wondered what sort of idiot would be watching a movie like that and not know how to properly handle a disc?

JimRochester

Wouldn't it be tough to prove who scratched it? I know I wouldn't pay for a disc that was already scratched. I think most discs at smaller town libraries are all donated anyway, I don't think they care. If they play fine, if not, toss it out.

OldBoy

what's a DVD player?

JimRochester

You remember those. They weigh about 80lbs. Sit on top of the TV with great big push buttons. A carrier pops up and you insert the DVD. It was called BETA.