Sony 725 - Weird problem with "no disc" or C:13:00

[pnykanen]

I have had Sony 725 /w EAV MOD for sometime now. Overtime, the device started to have problems reading standard DVDs, although CDs worked fine.

When original DVD (or burned DVD+R/+RW was inserted) the device tried to read the disc and after trying for a while you get either "no disc" or disc dirty (C:13:00) indication. However, sometimes it read the disc eventually after several tries.

I dropped the device off at repair shop, and got it back with the indication that there was nothing wrong, it read all discs the guy had. I was quite buzzled at this and went through my DVDs. It turned out that about 1/3 of the discs had problems being accepted by the drive.

Now, any comments to the following - do I ask for trouble with this?

I found out about the maintenance mode and did the following (use at YOUR own risk):

1) entered the test mode menu by entering in standby TITLE, CLEAR, POWER ON on remote ctrl.

!! You might want to skip step 2 below and try if it works without it.

2) selected (2) Drive manual operation

- Selected (6) Memory check.
- Noted on paper the EEPROM values (a bit paranoid am I?)
- pressed CLEAR for restoring default set.
- returned to main menu


3) selected (1) Drive auto adjustment

- Selected DVD-SL (followed instructions, and entered own DVD+R when asked for disk)
- Selected CD (followed instructions, and entered a working CD)
- Selected DVD-DL (followed instructions, and entered a DVD when asked for disk).
- did not have SACD so did nothing for that.
- returned to main menu

4) after this I exited the test mode menu with POWER.

All my problems reading commercial DVDs, or reading DVD+R, DVD+RW (HP media) authored with DVDit LE or NERO on HP DVD200i drive disappeared.

Earlier only DVD+RW were accepted by the device, or very seldom a DVD+R. With DVD+R there was major problems (leading to C:13:00 error) trying to read disc with slideshow (authored with DVDit LE).

These problems disappeared at least for me.... And now it is time to try to author some VCD, so far I have been unsuccessful with them and the Sony.

Please feel free to comment if you think there is some major problem in this email - and anybody desperate enough to try the instructions - do it at your own risk.

Petri

[130T|_|L15/\/\]

Read your manual for your Player :P

C:13:00 means the disc is dirty, I suggest you clean the disc surface. Also I did get that with a brand new disc, I made a mini dvd (dvd video on cd) that would not be read, but just showed C:13:00

In the manual I think C:13:00 is somewhere in the end.

[pnykanen]

I read the manual, and I know what the C:13:00 means. I tried to clean the discs and that did not help. However, calibration helped. Gotta go now, thanks.

[garryheather]

... the problem with messing around with service menus without the proper test / calibration discs is that you've probably recalibrated the unit out of the prescribed specifications AND invalidated any warranty you may have still had left on the player. This may result in other problems.

By recalibrating the unit with a DVD+R instead of a "proper" single layer disc, you've pushed the unit's spec off of the norm. You may find now that it will not work properly with a lot of pressed DVD's instead. Usually changing the media you are recording on is in order, not messing around with the internal settings.

Having got the full service manual for this series and knowing of the existence of service discs manufactured to precise tolerances, I would strongly advise against anyone else trying this in an attempt to make their standalone players more "reliable" with frumpy blank media ! Unless you've got all the test gear necessary to confirm the voltage levels and waveform patterns based on the prescribed media as described in the service manuals, blanket bombing the media problem like this is a bit on the risky side.

The C:13:00 error code is indeed listed as "disc dirty", but more generally means the player had trouble reading the disc. However if you're making your own DVD's, expect this to mean a media incompatibilty problem or missing / corrupted file structures down to poor authoring. If the player handles pressed DVD's - which is all it has to really - then you should have left those settings alone !!

They are pre-set for a reason... so good luck with your newly modified player.

[pnykanen]

They are pre-set for a reason... so good luck with your newly modified player.

This is the very reason I indicated that go ahead and use at your own risk. 8)

Anyhow, just to report back to anyone wondering if the player is working or not - It is working superb well and I have been able to burn correct VCD (on CD-RW) that work in the player ok, something I hadn't had time to play around with earlier.

I wish the local service shop actually had been professional enough to know the problem and have the right set of discs to do the calibration, but when the only advice you get is "We can change the 'read head', but that is going to cost you a fortune", you are pretty happy by just doing the recalibration...

Anyhow, I agree with Your advice.

Petri

[Banshee]

Hi Petri,

I have a slightly different problem with my Sony DVP-S 725 D like you described in your post Nov. 18, 2002. My Sony reads DVD+R burned with Philips DVDR 990 and Plextor 708 A and reads DVD-R produced with Plextor 708 A, but he doesn´t read any DVD+RW or DVD-RW produced on Philips and Plextor. These discs play fine on three different standalone Players, so it´s not a matter of bad media or bad authoring.
I tried your adjustment advice, as you posted on Nov. 18. 2002 but it doesnot work out for me. When I try to do a calibration for DVD SL with a DVD+RW or DVD-RW the player stops with an error.

Maybe I can put in the figures by hand, if you tell me the values of your machine. If it doesn´t work out for me I can always do the automatic configuration to switch back to Standard.

It would be very helpful for me, if you could send me your values. Thanks and greetings from Banshee