The Infidel

I don't think this is a Tech issue, because there's not much that can be done to fix it. It's probably an it-will-or-it-won't sitiuation. But, people better than me will decide if the thread needs to be moved or not.

Background: I've never had problems playing DVD's in my player or in my computer, and if I ever did, it turned out to be the DVD, not my players. I've had skipping problems, as most people do at one time or another, but I've buffed out the scratches and that usually took care of the problem, depending on the severity of the scratch or smudge or whatever.

Recently, I bought a bunch of movies from a rental place's GOOB sale, and the copy of Idiocracy I bought wouldn't even "boot up" on my DVD player. I just got a message saying "No Play", and I had to take it out. It won't play in my PC either, using any of the players I have installed: WMP, PowerDVD, VLC, etc. The DVD looked fine; no really worrysome-looking scratches to speak of. I went back and bought another copy (since they were dirt cheap), and it looked OK too. Same thing. Won't play in my main player or computer. I took them next door to my brother's, and it plays just fine for him. Figures. He's got a cheapy player he bought for probably less than $100 at Wal-Mart. I've got a $1000 Denon. I just gave my brother the copy of Idiocracy and said screw it.

Another one of the movies I bought there, Serenity, had some skipping, and eventually froze in the middle of the movie. I put it off until I could afford it, and I just went and bought a $40 resurfacer. I ran Serenity through it, watched the whole movie through, no problems this time. Worked great. I went and got that copy of Idiocracy from my brother and ran it through the resurfacer (on the off-chance that might be the problem)...and the damn thing still won't play. Still plays fine for him.

So, what's the story here? After all this time, and never having any problems playing anything that couldn't just be attributed to scratches that could be fixed, is this just some kind of compatibility issue? Any idea why I can't play this movie? I'm tempted to go buy a brand-new copy this time and try it out.

crs

Yes, sounds like a compatibility issue. Some DVDs have data structures that causes problems in some players. Copy protection with "illegal" instructions used to be common. If you have an older player, a firmware upgrade might help (if one exists).

The Infidel

Well, my player is almost 5 years old now, but I've upgraded the firmware once or twice since I bought it. I'll have to see if another upgrade exists.

WEEDEDOUT

idiocracy always skips on my player too

The Infidel

I wish it were just skipping. This thing just flat-out won't load up at all.

The Infidel

I just checked Denon's website for a firmware upgrade for my player. The only one they have is four years old, and I remember already installing it a long time ago. I guess I need to think about maybe getting a newer player.