I purchased my Panasonic DVD-A115 in November 1999. It is a great player, however....
Lately when I try to play movies, it will pop up the message on the TV, "This type of disk cannot be played. Please insert a different disk."
By ejecting and re-inserting the DVD, sometimes I can get it to play. Sometimes not. Obviously there is a problem with the player. What can be done to remedy the situation?

I had the same problem with my Panasonic A115. Your optical pickup is failing. This is a manufacturer installed defect, an excessive amount of Panasonic A110, A115 , A120's fail for this problem. They will charge you about $200 to fix it at the local Panasonic repair facility.

Just run a search on "optical pickup failure"

I refused to pay, even though my warranty had run out. I called the customer help center- and they really gave me the run around. They eventually offered to pay for a free diagnostic. ($45).

But really, I had my player for about a year, and it was breaking? That's really unacceptable. I wrote a nice letter to the president of panasonic usa, and the president of Matsushita (Parent company). They fixed my player for free.

Good luck.

So who did you get the favorable result from, Panasonic USA, or the parent company?

BTW, I already wrote email to the general consumer electronics helpdesk of Panasonic. We shall see if they are any help.

I went through the customer call center for a month, with them never returning my calls, and refusing to help. When I finally got them to cover a diagnostic, I dropped it off at the local repair center. When the local repair center confirmed the failure, I sent a letter to BOTH Panasonic USA, and Matsushita, with a CC to both. I figured when Panasonic USA saw that I had already sent a letter to Matsushita, they would be more forth coming with the free repair. They were.
This problem should have been the cause of a product recall. I personally won't buy from Panasonic again.
Stand your ground, be polite, and send a nice letter to the CEO's. This usually gets results.

I am having the same problems reported with the A110 model as well(Chapter skipping, no disc reported, Pixellation, sound break ups). If it is the optical pickup, it seems to be an expensive part to replace as you guys have noted already. There is a lot of information on http://www.hometheaterforum.com relating to all of the issues surrounding these DVD players. Can anyone provide the names of the execs of Panasonic / Matsushita as I have drafted a letter to them and would like to send it off to see if I can get some results.

Thanks. Hope someone can help......

Hey Cogliostro,
Did you send email complaints or snail-mail complaints. I am betting the snail mail gets a better response. Carries more weight, since I have to put more effort into it. Please provide the addresses if possible, along with the names. Any help is appreciated!