Pioneer DV-360, help with a "tinnitus sound"

[rimbaud]

Hello
I have had a Pioneer DV-360 for some years (4-5 years) and has been enjoying it. Recently, I had problems with it. It has started to relinquish high-frequency sound, like a high "beep", about which might be similiar to tinnitus. Not so high but sufficiently unnerving to be too much for a relaxing movie experience. It began with a Cleopatra movie, with Elisabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (if that interest anyone) and then continued with the Shogun series. With the Shogun series it was the case that the "tinnitus sound" occurred at the exact, same locations on the disc. At that time I went back again to investigate the matter further in more detail and noticed that. So the described noice comes and goes.

The sound occurs not just at random from time to time in the DVD player, but on those special places all the time. When these discs are played in other DVD players, you hear no sounds of that kind.

Questions:
1) What is the problem?
2) Is it possible to do anything to resolve it?

[filmboss80]

First, make sure you have identified the exact origin of the sound. It may not be coming from the speakers. I have a disc or two that will occasionally emit a high-pitched sound when spinning fast inside the DVD player. Some discs just make noise -- especially if there is an ever-so-slight bit of warping.

[Krispy Kritter]

Hard to say, especially without being able to hear the sound. Typically, most noises originate from the drive mechanism. Could be it is just wearing out.

[rimbaud]

The sound comes from the DVD-player, filmboss 80.

Of course that's my reading of it too, Krispy. That it's wearing down, but I am hoping I can do something to improve on its performance. Is it possible to clean it somehow, or anything else? To make something to the drive mechanics? Could I try to wash those discs with water or something? This happened just recently, so I'm not sure how many discs that will run into to this problem. Could be all of them, or just a few. I just don't know.

But I will appreciate any help on this.

[orsetto]

Aside from the $1000 first-generation DVD players like the Sony 7000, most players only last a few years before wearing out. Once you hit 4-5 years you're close to the natural lfespan for a DVD player thats used often, especially if you play rental discs with labels on them that unbalance the mechanism over time. The two most obvious symptoms that you need a new player are refusal to play some discs (lots of skipping and freezing) and weird noises that weren't there before. High-pitched "tinnitus" sounds are almost always mechanical, especially if they reliably occur in the same spot over several different DVDs with the sound turned down. Where things get tricky is in the timing of these symptoms: are these recently-purchased discs you've never played before? If so, your player may be perfectly fine but just have mechanical issues with those new discs. Try a dozen other discs you've had for years, spot check them at the beginning, middle and end of the discs and listen for the noise: if you don't hear it, the issue is definitely with the new discs. If Cleopatra and Shogun have been in your collection for awhile, though, and played normally before now, the player could be wearing out as suggested.

Intermittent sounds sometimes can't be helped: not all players use the same drives, so different players interact mechanically with different discs in different ways. I have found even my brand new Pioneer 460 recorder will make very audible, very strange sounds with certain movies or TV dvds- particularly very long movies or TV episode season sets with a lot of episodes per disc. These cause the disc spin rate to vary significantly, as well as the speed of the laser tracking, when it hits the "wrong" disc velocity I hear noise, just like a squeaky car only makes noise at certain speeds. Each of my DVD players and recorders handles such discs with more or less noise according to its mechanical design. There isn't much you can do to prevent the sound, unless you're willing to risk damage to the player. Its possible over time that sticky residue from fingerprints or rental discs labels created a film of gunk on the disc clamp that holds the DVD in place while it spins, some players allow you access to this spindle to clean it with a cotton swab moistened with alcohol (you have to open the cabinet and perhaps do further disassembly). Dirt on the clamp causes the DVD to slip at higher speeds, and as the mechanism tries to compensate you hear the high-pitched noise. Cleaning sometimes reduces this symptom, but often you just have to live with it on certain discs.