DVD player freezes.

A bit OT perhaps but there is an enviable body of knowledge lurks about in
this group!

I have a Sony RDR - Gx120 DVD recorder, which I bought four years ago. It
cost £114.99 from Amazon. Even from early days it would play well through a
DVD then freeze. It would then continue and freeze again several times
thereby losing chunks of content. On occasions I just had to remove it and
do a bit of cursing. There does not seem to be a pattern. Some DVDs play
perfectly, some do not. This applies to DVDs I have created and those I have
bought, none of which show signs of damage. Some time back I bought a lens
cleaner disk from Maplin and I have used it from time to time. However, the
problem remains and being intermittent in nature I find it difficult to know
what to do.

Any ideas on how I might be able to fix this will be appreciated. As the
machine records perfectly I am loath to take it to the tip.



AJM

On Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:24:02 +0000, AJM wrote:

Any ideas on how I might be able to fix this will be appreciated

Have you tried looking on the Sony web site for a firmware upgrade?

(My Pioneer Blu-ray player had a similar fault, cured by firmware
update.)

--
/\/\aurice
(Replace "nomail.afraid" by "bcs" to reply by email)

On Wed, 02 Feb 2011 17:24:02 +0000, AJM wrote:

A bit OT perhaps but there is an enviable body of knowledge lurks about
in this group!

I have a Sony RDR - Gx120 DVD recorder, which I bought four years ago.
It cost £114.99 from Amazon. Even from early days it would play well
through a DVD then freeze. It would then continue and freeze again
several times thereby losing chunks of content. On occasions I just had
to remove it and do a bit of cursing. There does not seem to be a
pattern. Some DVDs play perfectly, some do not. This applies to DVDs I
have created and those I have bought, none of which show signs of
damage. Some time back I bought a lens cleaner disk from Maplin and I
have used it from time to time. However, the problem remains and being
intermittent in nature I find it difficult to know what to do.

Any ideas on how I might be able to fix this will be appreciated. As the
machine records perfectly I am loath to take it to the tip.



AJM

I have a cheap DVD player many years old now which had a similar fault
from new (I decided to try to fix it rather than taking it back).

Hypothesis: there was dirt on the commutator of the motor that moves the
laser/lens backwards and forwards. If the motor happened to stop with the
dirt under a brush, the laser couldn't track outwards any more and the
picture would freeze.

Evidence: a squirt of contact cleaner into the motor fixed it and the
player is still going strong.



--
Steve Hayes, South Wales, UK - remove colours from address

Thank you to Maurice and Steve for their responses.

AJM

"AJM" wrote in message ...

A bit OT perhaps but there is an enviable body of knowledge lurks about in
this group!

I have a Sony RDR - Gx120 DVD recorder, which I bought four years ago. It
cost £114.99 from Amazon. Even from early days it would play well through a
DVD then freeze. It would then continue and freeze again several times
thereby losing chunks of content. On occasions I just had to remove it and
do a bit of cursing. There does not seem to be a pattern. Some DVDs play
perfectly, some do not. This applies to DVDs I have created and those I have
bought, none of which show signs of damage. Some time back I bought a lens
cleaner disk from Maplin and I have used it from time to time. However, the
problem remains and being intermittent in nature I find it difficult to know
what to do.

Any ideas on how I might be able to fix this will be appreciated. As the
machine records perfectly I am loath to take it to the tip.



AJM