really odd dvd question

[Kali]

kid one has a cheap toshiba dvd/vcr combo player. Kid two has sony playstation 2. Most of the time if kid one plays a movie dvd on the combo machine first then it won't play on the playstation. If they play it on the playstation first it works fine in the combo machine, but if they try to play it again on the playstation it won't work.

It just says reading disk but it doesn't play.

Occasionally it still plays but not usually.

Anybody have any idea what is going on?

[ET Awful]

1. Considering that neither device has the ability to write to or alter

the DVD itself in any way, I'm not sure what the problem is.

[momzno1]

2. the kids are

getting fingerprints on the dvds in between plays?

[Kali]

4. kids - fingerprints?

nah c'mon!

No they really have been conducting clean experiments and this is odd. Maybe the combo machine is creating some kind of static on the disc or something?

[trotsky]

8. Static probably not an issue.

DVDs and CDs are never "touched" inside the machine - the laser rides just over the surface and reads the pits. (That's why they will essentially last forever - the recording surface is not affected by multiple plays.)

[trotsky]

3. About all I can tell you is that I've heard PS2s can be touchy.

It could be just that it appears to be the pattern you've observed, but it's really just a random thing, discs only sometimes work in the PS2.

[Kali]

6. kid two is telling me

everything they try works in the playstation as long as it has not been through the combo machine. Then most will not work again, with the occasional exception.

So it really sounds like its the combo machine that is doing something. Because certainly most of the movies coming into this house are rentals or have been played somewhere else - not buying too much new stuff that's for sure!

[trotsky]

9. I guess look carefully at a disc before & after it goes in the combo.

Look for scratches. If that unit was ever dropped or hit hard, the laser could be out of alignment and gently scratching the surface of the discs. The PS2 could be touchy enough to be tripped up by that, but the combo is more forgiving. :shrug:

[Kali]

10. will try that

and they already more or less have the situation worked out that the boys get first play of rentals. But its kind of a drag for stuff that we own. Oh well the combo machine is alrady almost a year old - probably about to die anyway - time for another. Isn't that about their lifespan? gggrrrrrr

[sonicx]

5. IMO, PS2's not that good of a DVD player

use the real DVD player for movies.

[Kali]

7. kids

teens - boys and one girl - do I need to explain more? Not much "sharing" of toys.

[Kali]

11. thanks everybody and

maybe just kick this up another round or two for any other experts up later.