DVD Playback question

[Deja Q]

Hiya! Tonight I was watching Family Guy volume 2, disc 3. For the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", the disc paused inexplicably several times throughout the first half. The other episodes seemed unaffected.

Could this be a bad disc, or is this a sign the DVD player itself needs a head cleaning?

[FlashHarry]

1. That's because it's a dual-layer disc.

In the old days, you'd have to flip it for longer movies. Now it pauses and reverses itself. They all do it. Don't worry.

[Deja Q]

8. Not likely

The episode is nowhere near the middle of the disc. (Whereas my "Avengers" discs would consistently pause for .5 second, at a predictable spot, during the middle episode - there are 3 eps per disc, which is odd as dual-layer discs can hold 4 hours and each Avengers ep is 50 minutes.) Also add that this pause phenomenon happened several times within a span of one minute; I doubt the disc is reversing itself that many times.

The pause is sometimes accompanied by a video distortion, usually in the form of a part of the picture frame being updated with the next frame yet the bottom portion remaining the previous frame.

It's a great idea and I understand where you're coming from, but it doesn't sound right. (the disc also played without any errors or abnormal pausing on my computer's DVD drive.)

[Papa]

2. could be a fingerprint or a spec of dust..

wipe it down with a soft cloth and try it again. Ive had it happen several times with diff discs. Hopefully that will do the trick

[FlashHarry]

3. Not likely. See here:

From the DVD Journal Web site (a great resource, BTW):



RSDL
Acronym for "reverse spiral, dual layer," a feature of the DVD format that allows two layers of information to be placed on one side of the disc, with the top layer being transparent. When the laser moves from the top layer of the disc to the bottom, the player may pause briefly. This is called the layer switch, and some are so good you don't know they are there. However, some layer switches are distracting and not well done. An RSDL disc (a type of DVD-9) is gold in color, whereas a single-layered disc has a silver hue. Before the first RSDL disc (Terminator 2), movies longer than about two hours were split across two sides of the disc, which required that the disc be ejected and re-inserted on the other side. As such, they were nicknamed "flippers." Many flippers are still in release, but they are no longer widely manufactured.

[Papa]

5. I would not put it out of the realm of possibility

What you say is valid, and it very well could be that it's switching layers, however the poster said it was glitchy in one particular episode, happening more than once. Since it happened more than once, I would not think that it's a layer switching issue.

It only takes a second to wipe the dvd down, he should give it a shot. As i said in my post, i have had 3 dvd's that were glitchy and it was due to fingerprints and dust. A dvd is more finiky than a cd .

[FlashHarry]

7. You're right.

See my apology below! :hi:

[Papa]

10. No problem

You posted some good info here.

[Deja Q]

4. Will do

Strange that it would be like this on a new disc, but nothing's perfect. :-)

I played it in my computer and it worked without any hiccuping at all. But laser quality still says a lot, which is strange as my set top player is a Sony...

[FlashHarry]

6. I'm an idiot.

I re-read your post and saw that you said it paused 'several times.' That, indeed, is not normal. As the poster above said, try cleaning it. If it still 'skips,' I'd take it back.

Sorry. :hi:

[Deja Q]

9. Don't worry!

:D I sometimes make those reading mistakes too, far more often than I care to admit. So if anybody is an idiot, it's me! It's nice of you to offer advice, too!

The disc did look clean though, but that's not to say it isn't dirty and I wasn't using the brightest look to look upon the disc...

[emulatorloo]

11. How Old Is The Sony?!?!?

I have 3 dvd players, and the oldest one, 2nd generation panasonic I think, really has problems playing discs that have the slightest fingerprints, dust, scratches, etc. Some discs it just wont play at all, while the newest Pioneer $60.00 special plays discs that are scratched to hell.

The newer players are a lot more robust!

When you clean yr disc, make sure your cloth won't scratch -- I have been buying soft cloths at the autoparts store which are designed for polishing cars and so far have had good luck.

Best Regards

On Edit: added stuff I forget because of that third glass of wine

[Swede]

12. When a DVD pauses or skips and it isn't a flaw on the disc

then it will be either the laser or the disc motor. If these have to be replaced it will be cheaper to buy a new player. Take it to the an electronics shop some DVD's have EEPROM upgrades from the factory that will also fix this problem.