Odd ? Can DVD players harm DVD discs?

[bracafan]

First off I'm not as tech savvy as most on this forum, I gathered that whilst trying to self-help my query. However, I'm not totally tech illerate as well.
So if my question is inane please feel free to laugh at my expense.

About 2 years ago I purchased an RCA RC5240P DVD player I paid about $50-60 at Wal-Mart for it. It's a no frills machine I bought just to view DVDs on, primarily my ever growing collection fo Farscape DVDs.

Up to and even now it works fine... However, and I'm not sure if this is feasible or not. I believe/am wondering if it could be the cause to damaged prerecorded DVDs? The discs in question are not physically damaged as in scratches or smudges or anything comestic (that I know of).

Now this is the weird part, two discs after being played half way on this machine now won't play properly. Both discs contained two episodes of a TV show the first episode played fine but later when trying to view the second episode the picture freezes, get pixelated, freezes or jumps to a chapter much further ahead.

The first disc that did this was put in other machines and did the same thing at the same spots. I thought the disc became damaged through handling and didn't think anymore on it.

However, the same thing happened to a second two episode disc first episode plays fine, go back later to watch second episode and again the freezing and pixelated picture. And again the same problem in other machines.

That is why I wonder if the DVD player is responsible, ridiculous as it sounds. Also, I found that the previously viewed first episodes on the damged discs play fine on other machines.

Another question beside if anyone thinks the player is the culprit, is there a way to repair the damaged discs? I'm not sure if I want to bother with the player it is most likely destined for the trash bin after it may have scrambled $70.00 with of DVDS.

And no I am not joking this really happened and it has me boggled and frustrated.

Any insight would be much appreciated!

[rcb]

are the disks labeled in any way ?

[nexus123]

Could the lens be dirty?
I had an apex that would refuse to play dvd's at all after time, bought one of those lens cleaning kits cleared it up fast, also have you tried the disc in another player

[bracafan]

I have not added any labels to them if that is your question. They both bear the stamped label from the manufactor,looks like a silk screen print on the disc's surface...

I didn't consider cleaning the lense basically because the problem repeats with both discs and all machines (I put the discs in 2 other machines).

Also the problem is identical in all machines and quite odd that on both discs affects the same spot (middle of disc/second episode)

I did try gently wiping both discs with a soft/static free cloth to no avail.

Thank you for your replies

[Kingnog]

I don't think you metioned this in your post, but if you did, ignore me

Were you ever able to watch the second episode on these disks? The way you described it, it seems that you never actually watched the episodes before they stopped working...maybe the disks are defective? Try playing them in a computer and see what happens, a dvd-rom drive is a lot better at playing damaged disks.

[barrybear]

DVD players can damage disks in many ways . Firstly if the lazer lenz gets to close to the disk , can scratch. Also the lazer power is much higher in a dvd player and can burn the surface of the lands and pits on the disk .
Just somthing for you to think about
Barrybear

[lenti_75]

it could be the player...but I think that the dvd's are the problem here....
maybe a factory problem ??!!
but if you were able to see those at least onec before...then definetly is the player.....

[redwudz]

On some players, heat is the problem. If your DVD's get hot enough in the player, they can be damaged.

[bracafan]

First of all thank you to everyone for their insight and not laughing at me

Based on your input I came up with the following...

Yes my DVD player is the culprit off to the trash heap it goes...

My discs seem to be damaged as a result...

I took the advice of playing them on my computers...

Both created a fatal disc error -36 or something on my Laptop (Mac G3 Powebook)

However, both play fine on my G4 eMac...

THanks again everyone! I guess I need to do a little DVD player shopping...

Ohh I forgot to mention that I had viewed these discs in their entirety at least twice prior probably even more than that...

[nexus123]

Hey since it will play on your mac I'd make a backup of it so perhaps you can save it. Chances are it won't play on your new dvd player either.....