tor_greg

Ok, my old DVD player fell a little ways behind the TV during last year's earthquake. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the problem, because it didn't start immediately, and it got progressively worse.

After that, the player started getting very selective about what it would play and what it wouldn't. Certain discs wouldn't load at all when inserted into the player, some would load fine. This even happened with some CDs. Basically, what I've noticed is this:

Silver-platter (single-layer) DVDs won't load, except in very rare cases.

Gold (dual-layer) DVD *ALL* load fine.

So, I figure the lense is knocked out of alignment and it has something to do with the laser's single-layer focus wavelength.

But what doesn't make sense is, if there's a problem with the laser focusing at the wavelength required for layer 1 (thus the problem with single-layer silver DVDs), why is it able to do it with dual layer discs?

Anyone have any ideas? I bought an expensive progressive-scan player to replace this, but I never ended up getting a better TV, so if I can fix this player I'll sell my newer one since I could use the cash.

renaldow

I would guess that was the case as well. As to why the difference in reading single or dual layer discs, the only thing I would hazard a guess at is tracking start location on the two types of discs is slightly different. In other words it can read the start of the dual, but it can't track the start of the single.

You probably can get it fixed, but unless it's an expensive player to begin with I'd forget about it. A player under $200 is pretty much disposable when it comes to cost of replacement v. fixing. If it's a model still sold you could always um... well, you know.