Hi. I'm quite anal about the playing surface of my disc.. I exam them quite carefully before and after it plays and notice small scratches or sometimes these little dots on that sometimes wipe off or not.. I was wondering what on the DVD player could do this (or how it actually pick up the disc and reads it).. Does slot loaded DVD players have less moving parts that can contact the disc?
Thanks
John

DVD players are powered by midget dwarves.

But seriously,nothing should be touching the disc surface in the DVD player. Trust me, you'd know if the assembly broke and contacted the disc.

Maybe you're just really greasy and you don't realize it?

You would hear a strange sound if a spinning disc is touching or scratching any surface.

Sometimes I hear the DVD player vibrating slightly or really load.. I guess it might need a cleaning and see if that helps..
John

Make sure the player is completely level.

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dvd12.htm

that vibration could be that the disc is slightly untrue. it isnt a perfect circle (a perfect circle doesnt really exist). so the weight is slightly off-balance and causing it to wobble a bit. this is why really high end players have a "puck" or metal disc that rests on the cd itself, and a heavy chassis to absorb such vibrations.

Make sure the stylus is clean and not worn out.