DVD player reccomendations

DaveH

DaveH

Joined
Dec 2, 1999
Messages
12,249
we've toasted our 2nd, ok, third, dvd player.

It lives in an entertainment center and gets used about once per week, they seems to last 1 month after the warranty expires.

Anyone know a good brand that will also play video camera dvd's and is reliable?
 
DaveH said:
we've toasted our 2nd, ok, third, dvd player.

It lives in an entertainment center and gets used about once per week, they seems to last 1 month after the warranty expires.

Anyone know a good brand that will also play video camera dvd's and is reliable?
Click to expand...

Dang that is weird. Do you have problems with other components? If so maybe you need a surge protector. If not gee I guess an extended warrranty but I'm not sure the DVD cost would make a warranty worth it. I've got a Sony and a Panasonic and they both get used more than once a month. Never had a problem.
 
I have yet to have a DVD player die on me. I have a Toshiba from '98 or '99 an APEX from 2002 that was only $70, the cheapest DVD player available at that time, and a GE that's only about a year old. All three of them still going strong. One thing I have found is that DVD players will overheat pretty easily if not ventilated well, this could eventually kill them. If your entertainment center is enclosed you might want to move the DVD player or cut holes in the entertainment center for more ventilation.

If your DVD players are well ventilated then I guess you just have bad luck. :D

Jamie
 
Yea maybe you've had a run of bad luck with those.
I have a cheap Apex I've had for 4 years , runs like a top , and in the living room a Phillips that also runs great (knock on wood now).

Funny thing on the Apex , everyone I've mentioned that too had one also that lasted about 4-6 months before dying but mines still ticking right along.

As much as you go thru them maybe just buy cheapies at Target or Wallyworld.
My Phillips plays every format known to man just about and cost just over 40$ at Target.

Also dunno how clean you are (no offense meant) but dust and dirt play big factors in these mass produced electronics. Also DVD's/CD's with sticky food or whatnot will kill your lense fast.
 
Panasonic or RCA. They get used frequently for the past few years and no problems.
 
Strange - we have 5 or 6 of them all over the house and most of them get used several times a day. Never had one die yet. Has has been suggested, I'd look into making sure it isn't in a confined space where heat can build up. (As for power 'surges' - I had a cable installer tell me years ago that a sudden power 'drop' does much more damage to electronic equipment than a 'surge'.)
 
DaveH said:
Everything is/was plugged into a surge strip.
Click to expand...
I'd say it's probably the buildup of heat. I've had DVD players, DVRs, and possibly videogame consoles die to heat buildup.
 
ive killed a pioneer an apex and a sanyo all single discs the pioneer they did repair for me then i gave it to my parents now i have been using a couple of sony megachangers and no trouble yet
 
I've never had one die, but I've wound up getting rid of lots of them because they won't play "certain" dvds. Not all dvds, just certain ones. For example, one of them would start playing "southern comfort" fine, but after 10 minutes or so, the audio would start lagging behind the video until it was several seconds off, making the movie unwatchable.
Another player would always freeze exactly halfway through "matchstick men".
Still another player would freeze the audio on "wild things" every few seconds, while the video played smoothly.
The dvds worked fine on other players & were unscratched.
MOST dvds played fine on all the aforementioned players, but I only gave a few examples of the ones that didn't. Enough to make it a problem. These were all original dvds, not copies.
Strangely enough, I gave my sister a 5 year old phillips dvd player that never seems to have a problem with original dvds at all, but won't play the copies I make on my pc. I like to watch an original once and then copy it. That way, I can leave the original in it's case, and if I scratch what Im watching up or damage it, I can just make another copy and leave my original at minimal risk.
So whereas I haven't had a player actually die on me, I still wind up buying a new one about every two years for one reason or another.
Thinking back, I probably should have tried playing some of my backups in the problematic dvd players - might have been newer copy protection schemes causing problems with the original dvds that didn't play right on them. :ox
 
OK, update, short story I fixed it.

Long story I took it apart, with no power interlock I could plug it in and punch buttons to see what happens. Undo a few screws, punch some button, is that the laser diode OWE MY EYES!. Anyway I took the carrier mechanism out, there where two motors, belt fine, gear train fine, worked by hand. still didn't work when pluging in I took a board out and there was a rocker switch. Anyway it seem like it's some sort of over travel control to turn the carrier motor off when there is a problem. Anyway some tinkering and repositioning. Voila! worked. So bolted it all backup. Still works. COol. If it fails again in that way I'll just snip off the over travel arm.
 
Hi the best bet is to buy from COSTCO they have the best policy. If it breaks just take it back and get a new one. You don't need to ever purchase a warranty again.
 
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