How long will a dvd player last?

[jreamy4]

Hi

i have been burning backup dvdr's for several years now. i have used expensive players and cheap players, but they all seem to stop playing dvd-r's after about 1 year.

Is this a common problem, or am i just buying the wrong players? Right now i have a pioneer, an apex and a sanyo. the apex quit playing dvd-r after about 6 months, but still plays original stamped dvd's. sanyo is still going strong and my oldest, the 3 year old pioneer is starting to flake out on some dvd-r's.

any comments appreciated

thanks
jim

[Capt.Video]

Ive got a Pioneer that refuses to quit, its over 2.5 years old. The only reason I upgraded was to get the 642 so I can play Divx. Only, Im ending up just playing cropped MPEG files off data disk instead. The Pioneer I have will do DVD, SVCD and VCD. The Philips will do all that plus MP3, JPEG, Divx and MPEG. Now I dont have to re-encode all my Tivo movies and generate DVD VOBs and such, just drop them on a data DVD and watch them! Im happy as a pig in mund!

[Capt.Video]

Ive also had some Apex units that I got rid of, and they still played!

[Bodyslide]

I would try having the laser cleaned on the Player. If you clean them they will normally last a few more years. I still have an Apex703 that plays very well after quite a few years. It gets cleaned about once every 6 months.

[jreamy4]

what kind of cleaning are you talking about......the little discs with brushes on them or a major take it all apart cleaning?

[redwudz]

If it gets to the choice of dumping the player or cleaning the lens, you have little to lose.

I clean the lens with denatured alcohol (Isopropyl if you have nothing else available, use 99%) Use a foam 'Q' tip, or a cotton one if that's all you have. Cotton has fibers that can get caught in there. Keep it damp, not wet. Let it dry a few minutes. You may have to partially disasemble it, but you will know how to do it the next time. It looks like this inside:

[lordsmurf]

It's all about hours in use. And it depends largely on the quality of the laser to begin with. Your $20-50 players won't last longer than 12-18 months on average. Your more solid-quality products from Sony, JVC, Pioneer, Toshiba, etc ... they can last years, depending on the model.

Typically a player dies slowly, first rejecting CD media, then burned DVD media, and eventually even pressed discs. A lot of them even have the drive motors fail. That's how I lost my Cyberhome 300 after about 18-24 months, the motor fried. My old Apex player quit reading discs after about 12-15 months, and now it's a doorstop.

I can't really complain though, as I got a lot of use from them.

[somedude3210]

I've had my pioneer 525 (I think that's the model) for about 5-6 years. It still plays everything it's capable of playing. Even though I picked it up before dvd player prices really started to drop, it was a worthwhile purchase. I haven't really played many vcds or svcds on it in a while but I use it frequently to play burned dvds and pressed dvds alike.

It'll be interesting to see how much longer it lasts.

[madwok]

My kids Apex 1500 been running 2 years - 4-6 hour daily use !!!
My Cyberhome 300 meanwhile last only 2 months ...

[mats.hogberg]

Also, smoking is about as hazardous to Laser pickups as to your health, so if you're a smoker, this is yet another reason to quit (or at least go outdoors for smoke)

/Mats