What Causes DVD Players to Give Up?

[dchawcroft]

I've read recently that DVD players, when they die of old age, generally die because the laser gives up.

My player is apparently dying. It has an intermittent problem that seems to occur when it warms up (and then stays there until I take the top off, upon which it repairs itself until the next time) the symptoms of which are that it fails to recognise there is a disk in the drive.

I would like to know what causes this and can it be fixed or can the lasers be replaced? I'd assume they can if the part is available (which it quite probably isn't, I know) but surmise that perhaps it requires factory equipment or somesuch to set them up accurately.

Please don't confuse economic considerations with 'possibility'. We are looking for information here, not running a bean counting exercise. Anyway, I'm an eccentric billionaire.

And... lastly, are there any other 'well known' causes for the eventual death of a DVD player.

regards,

ab

[Soopafresh]

Take it down to your local satellite provider and broadcast an image of the player over the transponder. Let us know what channel it will be on and we'll take a look.


1) Heat

2) Mechanical wear and tear

3) Misalignment from rough handling

4) Power fluctuations eventually frying out the electronics

[BJ_M]

capacitors drying up (really)

solder joints (covered somewhat in soopafresh #2 and #3)

mostly laser wearing out and/or cant track anymore cus parts are built like crap ...


the guts of most dvd players cost no more than $5 for the whole insides (for dvd players that retail for under apx. $80-$100) ... the case usually costs as much or more ... the remotes are about a $1
and the quality of the cord , the external connectors , what is included and packaging can add as much as another $5-8 or so to raw manufac. costs ..
shipping and handling will add another $2-$4 (by container, air or sea) ..

usually you will sell wholesale at 3-4 times your raw costs + add warehouse, bonding, currency exchange , bank costs, advertising, distro middle man (or more than one) .... the retailer markup of between 30-100%

just a because a dvd player is cheap doesnt mean it is bad though ..

just a an expensive player mean it is good (toshiba made a $2000 dvd player for a couple years -- it is really good looking and weights about 30lbs -- the audio quality is superb and the build quality is absolutely the best -- but the picture is shit. I have one and use it only as a cd player (i got it at a special deal from toshiba - i would not have paid for one)...


the dvd players sold for $30 cost no more than about $12-14 to build and ship .... less than most coffee makers

[dchawcroft]

That's very interesting BJ_M, thanks for that.

You temp me to look into importing and/or building/fixing DVD's.

Probably I could get 'the guts' of my DVD player from China, I still have many contacts there. Wouldn't that be a good laugh. A five year old player made new again for $5 (and postage).

The thread I started before has a posting from a guy who's DVD player reports 'No Disk' on DVD's - but apparently plays CD's still with no trouble.

Why?

Because laser alignment is less critical? Or because laser strength is less important (giving a strong indication it is, indeed, a laser problem) ?

Or something else?

What perhaps I should do is research the theory and practice of the manufacture of DVD players in order to further my understanding of what's going on with a failing player.

Could any of the readers perhaps suggest an online place where I might be able to do that?


I'm not sure what you are getting at, sooperfresh. Are you serious? If you are serious I can only imagine - I haven't been able to think of anything else - that you mean if you could see a picture of the machine you'd be able to idenfity the manufacture, brand, model, whatever.

But why would I take it down to my ISP and 'broadcast over the transponder...' etc... ?

Why not just post a picture on this forum?

[nic2k4]

In the case of the guy with a player that only reads CDs, he probably only needs to clean the laser lens. In some major cases, the mirror (prism) needs cleaning too. I've repaired all sorts of optical readers, for machines that are less than 2 years old, often the cause is crap in the air like smoke, smog and especially those sented oil freshners. Keep those things away from your PC and electronics!

As for your player, it's likely the victim of cheap transistors, capacitors and resistors, that have had their value drift over time, making them more sensitive to heat. Drilling some vent holes near the top of the cover sides should help.

Most of the time when a player dies completly, the power supply is at fault. The large capacitors in the switching section become noisy (causing the output voltage to change) or a diode fails.

[ntscuser]

There was a guy in uk.media.dvd had a very old Sony player which was mistracking. A reader pointed out that the Sony contained a built-in recalibration program and how he could activate it. The original poster followed the advice and lo and behold his player is now working like new.

[dchawcroft]

Thank you all. Excellent information/advice.

regards,

ab

[handyguy]

I agree, lasers need cleaning too. Its the same whether its your dvd player or dvd writer.

[cyflyer]

I sympathise with dchawcroft's train of thought. Its the 'not knowing', the 'uncerntainty'. I will sometimes loan a dvd-r to friend, who reports problems with the playback, freezing, pixelating (from decent quality dvd-r's) etc, and you can't help thinking 'whats wrong, its ok on mine, is it my recording ? it must be his dvd player's problem' . With dust and shit on the lens, aren't dvd players designed with reasonably dustproof closing doors to counter this, as the lens is so vunerable to dusting ? Has anyone actually seen how much dust it takes to cause playback issues ?

[handyguy]

Its not just dust. It can be oil or stuff. You know people pick up disks & put oil on them cause they don't know how to pick up a disk. Or they put a disk on a dusty surface & its the disk that's dirty. I have washed disks a few times.

[dchawcroft]

If mine is really dead I'll use it for testing and I'll discover how much dust/dirt it takes to 'blind' it or intermittently blind it or whatever..

I'll subject it to heat and cold and see if that is screwing up the electronics.

And I'll come back to this thread and post the informatiion.

NTSC user's post about mistracking was interesting. It seems to suggest that the tracking can be adjusted in software. And it perhaps suggests that tracking can commence okay (the disk starts) but then wanders off.

[jsbpepe]

I am wondering though, how actually do I clean / recalibrate /replace the laser or prism in my cheap-o dvd player? Please refere to my post at https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1695226#1695226

Greets
Pepe

[nic2k4]

I use Contact 2000, it's an electronic part cleaner/degreaser that's safe for plastics and painted surfaces and dries without leaving residues. Just open the drive to expose the laser assy, spray on the lens and prism and carefully blow off cleaner with compressed air and dry with a warm hair dryer. Repeat as required, I've had to do it three times on a drive that was all gummed up by one of those Glade plug-in, but it had a nice country fresh smell.

[lordsmurf]

- Cigarette smoke
- High humidity
- Heat
- Dust
- Wear-out of mechanical parts
- Poor original build quality, poor original parts

[jsbpepe]

Thanks for your input. Man, this is stupid but it seems like the "clean cd" (a cd with little brushes on it) did the trick. The cd case explicitly says not to use it on regular DVD players but I tried anyways. It seems to work fine 8) I now also noticed that the big cd tray (for the five cd's) is quite dusty. I should have noticed that before... Well, I will also take the lid off and give it a whirl with some canned air. I guess our place is either too dusty (does not seem like it though) or this player is overly touchy and/or is a dust magnet.

I guess one of the reasons my brain just did not think about the most obvious is because when I complained to Samsung the first time they just sent a new player. This led me to believe that there must be something wrong with the player. I turned off my brain and guess never found the on switch again. So, all you forum people looking to fix their dvd first try cleaning it.

PS I thus guess:
- Overly touchy
- Dust
- Possibly poor design / quality

P.PS:
I'll go get myself some contact cleaner. Good tip about the air freshener. Man, that stuff is vile. It can also "not super good" for your health.

[Alan69]

PS I thus guess:
- Overly touchy
- Dust
- Possibly poor design / quality

P.PS:
I'll go get myself some contact cleaner. Good tip about the air freshener. Man, that stuff is vile. It can also "not super good" for your health.

Understand for reading a DVD, it's something close to seeing the dashes on a highway from 50 miles up. That dust can affect it hardly means it's poor quality etc, that any of them work at all is amazing, much less for the prices. Some are built more practically than others though, and are more tolerant, but even one that isn't too tolerant isn't necessary that bad, heavy or long term dust is a problem they're not really designed to deal with..


For particles, just FYI your lungs have a removal system. It's only certain sizes or types (like silicates etc that cause certain lung diseases) that are especially bad in the general sense. Most particles get tossed back out eventually if the system can get a grip on them. You have the below almost everywhere in your respiratory system to sweep stuff back out. Still not good to breathe extra crap, but much of it gets caught and tossed..

"Millions of tiny hairs called CILIA act like tiny brooms to sweep out the bad stuff caught in the mucus. Each cilium sweeps back and forth about ten times every second! That's 36,000 every hour, 24 hours a day! They do this to keep your lungs clean."