My DVD player is pausing all by itself!

[supervij]

Hey guys. I've had to take a break from watching my roommate's DVD of Platoon cos at chapter 22, my player is pausing by itself. The image does exactly that, pauses every few moments, and in the moments when it isn't paused, I can hear some of the soundtrack. From what I can see on the receiver, a signal is being accepted, then it isn't, then it is, and on and on. I had this happen once before recently on a DVD from X-Files Season Six set, but it was very brief -- nothing I worried about. But on the Platoon disc, it's happening throughout the whole chapter.

I assume the fault is that of the player, since that chapter of the DVD plays fine in the DVD-ROM drive of my computer. Has this happened to anyone else's machine? And if so, is there a way I can fix it?

Man, I hope it's an easy fix. My player is past its warranty, and I really don't want to have to buy a new one. Any practical suggestions would be most welcome.

cheers,
supervij

 

[Jedi2016]

If it thinks it's receiving a signal, you might want to rule that out first... try removing the batteries from any remote that may control that device, see if it still does it.

And don't rule out that somebody may be screwing with you.. hiding behind the couch hitting Pause and giggling.

 

[supervij]

Ha ha, I love that image, Jedi: some little rascal hiding behind the couch and giggling at my confusion. Sadly, the solution isn't as easy as that. I was alone in the house, and the remotes were sitting on the table, not touching each other, and not being sat upon by my butt.

I'm not sure about the battery possibility. I put the disc back in the player, advanced to chapter 22 again, and let it play. Everything was fine, no hiccups. I advanced to the scene where Willem Dafoe is doing that pose (cos I remember it paused the first time I was watching it), and this time, it paused again. I reversed (I almost typed "rewound"!), hit play, took the batteries out of the player's remote, and the scene played without interruption. I tried this scene a bunch of times, with either the batteries in or out. The hiccupping or not of the scene didn't correspond to the batteries being in or out. It all happened quite randomly. So I'm thinking the battery thing isn't it. Although that was a darn good idea; that one didn't even occur to me.

Anyone have any other ideas what could be causing it and how to fix it?

cheers,
supervij

 

[MACCA350]

Sounds like the player is having trouble reading the disc, this could be due to scratches on the disc or dust on the players laser. check and clean the disc and try a DVD lens cleaner

cheers

 

[sivadselim]

If you're certain that it's not your player on the fritz or something wrong with the disc, then it could very well be a problem inherent to that player.

Check to see if, perhaps, a firmware update has been released by Pioneer.

 

[mtrycrafts]

Ha ha, I love that image, Jedi: some little rascal hiding behind the couch and giggling at my confusion. Sadly, the solution isn't as easy as that. I was alone in the house, and the remotes were sitting on the table, not touching each other, and not being sat upon by my butt.

I'm not sure about the battery possibility. I put the disc back in the player, advanced to chapter 22 again, and let it play. Everything was fine, no hiccups. I advanced to the scene where Willem Dafoe is doing that pose (cos I remember it paused the first time I was watching it), and this time, it paused again. I reversed (I almost typed "rewound"!), hit play, took the batteries out of the player's remote, and the scene played without interruption. I tried this scene a bunch of times, with either the batteries in or out. The hiccupping or not of the scene didn't correspond to the batteries being in or out. It all happened quite randomly. So I'm thinking the battery thing isn't it. Although that was a darn good idea; that one didn't even occur to me.

Anyone have any other ideas what could be causing it and how to fix it?

cheers,
supervij

Is this the first time that this happened? See what happens next time after that much time playing and layer change?
It might need a reboot of the player?
I had an issue after 4 month. The aspect ration started to change with corresponding picture quality change. First it didn't like non anamorphic but the next day, it didn't like that either after 20 sec of play. called the maker, got the code to reboot. Problem solved until the next time.

 

[supervij]

Thanks for responses, guys!

MACCA, I very recently used the DVD Clean Sweep from Allsop -- "twin microbrush laser lens cleaning system" -- advertised to improve the sound and video quality of DVDs. The hiccups I described started happening on my old Sony player after a couple years. I used this Allsop disc, and it worked like a charm, actually getting rid of the hiccups altogether. I used it on my Pioneer for the first time after the X-Files incident a couple weeks ago. Doesn't seem to have worked!

Miles, I checked on the Pioneer website, and couldn't find anything except for a link that was in Japanese. I'll try contacting them, but once before when I tried, it literally took them months to get back to me. We'll see!

mtrycrafts, as I said, this is the second time it's happened. I'll try to contact Pioneer to get the code to reboot, but this might take a while. I'm not sure what you mean by "See what happens next time after that much time playing and layer change?" Do you mean to play the movie again and see if it hiccups again? I'll give that a try tomorrow; maybe with more playing time, it'll settle down or something.

Worse case scenario, I'll have to replace the player. I'm considering the new Oppo 970, as it's the only player I could find that is universal, has a seamless layer change, plays DivX, and has decent picture through component (still haven't replaced that old analog TV!). But that's a last resort. Whatever I can do to get my beloved(?) 588A working again . . .

cheers,
supervij

 

[MDS]

I have an Onkyo DVD player and as far as I know this model is a rebadged Pioneer. It exhibits the same problems on certain discs. When it pauses, it briefly flashes the message 'skipping bad disc area'.

 

[supervij]

That's interesting, MDS; my player doesn't flash any message at all, not even the "pause" that I get when I actually press pause. No message on screen, and no message on the player, just the counter stuck at whatever time it's on.

But it's just on certain discs as well. Pioneer rebadged as an Onkyo? Didn't even know they did that!

Did you ever figure out what the problem was on that player?

cheers,
supervij

 

[JVC]

If it's not fingerprints, or something like that, you can try resetting the player to factory settings. It should tell you in the owner's manual, how to do that. After doing that, you'll need to turn dts back on, and reset other settings you may have customized before. Sometimes that helps, and sometimes it doesn't. Don't hurt to try.
Good luck!

 

[mtrycrafts]

MACCA, I very recently used the DVD Clean Sweep from Allsop -- "twin microbrush laser lens cleaning system" -- advertised to improve the sound and video quality of DVDs.

False advertisement

The hiccups I described started happening on my old Sony player after a couple years. I used this Allsop disc, and it worked like a charm, actually getting rid of the hiccups altogether.

Well, maybe that old player had accumulated some real dirt somehow. Smokers in the place by chance?



mtrycrafts, as I said, this is the second time it's happened.

Yes, but, was it playing without problems for a while then this started? after the cleaning job? Or, is that just a side note about other players you have tried?



I'm not sure what you mean by "See what happens next time after that much time playing and layer change?" Do you mean to play the movie again and see if it hiccups again?

No. What I mean is that rebooting may or may not cure the problem permanently. Perhaps it is time sensitive? Will come back after playing it an equal amount? After all, why would it need rebooting? And, computers never seem to go away, needs rebooting periodically
Keep the code in a good place, manual inside page


I'll give that a try tomorrow; maybe with more playing time, it'll settle down or something.

 

[supervij]

JVC, I found in the manual how to reset the player, not reboot. I presume this is the same thing? In the manual, it says that it will reset all the player's settings to the factory default. I'll be off to do that in a few minutes; hopefully, that'll do the trick!

Mtrycrafts, yeah, it might be false advertisement, but it really did the trick with my old Sony. That player was in an old apartment with a roommate who did the ol' 420, if you know what I mean. And quite a bit of it too, so maybe that's all it cleaned out of there. In my new apartment, I don't allow smoking, and (to my knowledge, anyway) there hasn't been any of that nor 420.

So the way it went down: played an ep of X-Files Season Six, and got the hiccup thing. It was very brief, and only happened once, so I didn't think much of it. I used the cleaner disc, and left it at that. A couple weeks later, I popped in my roommate's Platoon disc, and chapters 23-26 were hiccupping like mad. So this last time was a couple weeks after the cleaning. I should also mention that the case advertises that use of the cleaner disc "prevents skipping!" It worked with my old Sony, for sure, so I'm miffed it wouldn't work with my new Pio.

Anyway, I'm off to reset the player. Got my fingers crossed!

Thanks again, guys!

cheers,
supervij

EDIT: Okay, I performed the reset. Put in all my old settings afterward and then popped in Platoon. Sadly, the disc was still skipping at all the same points as before. Just for the heck of it, I used that cleaning disc. Twice. Put Platoon back in and lo and behold, all skipping had disappeared completely! So not completely "false advertisement", eh mtrycrafts?

Weird, man. I used that darn cleaning disc two weeks ago and still got the skips. Used it twice tonight and the skipping is gone. I have to admit, I feel kinda like a dork for having panicked and asked the question here. Such a simple solution! Hope it sticks, though. Don't want to have to use that cleaning disc every two weeks to keep the player in shape. But at least it was a no-cost solution -- that I feel good about!

 

[MACCA350]

advertised to improve the sound and video quality of DVDs.

I agree, False Advertising.
It cant improve the quality of what is recorded, it can only improve the readability of the player to give you the quality that was already there

They should have wrote 'improve the readability of DVDs'

cheers

Supervij, mabey some subborn dirt and it took a bit more to remove

 

[supervij]

Yeah, Macca, that's all I can think too. Glad that's all it was!

Part of me was kinda hoping that I would need to get a new player. The new Oppo has better picture quality (YC delay and blacks) over its component output than my Pioneer has. Oh well. Maybe some catastrophic failure will strike someday soon, and I'll have no choice but to upgrade.

cheers,
supervij

 

[mtrycrafts]

So not completely "false advertisement", eh mtrycrafts?

This is what I was responding to being false
advertised to improve the sound and video quality of DVDs.

I am sure that means more than fixing a skip problem

Weird, man. I used that darn cleaning disc two weeks ago and still got the skips. Used it twice tonight and the skipping is gone. I have to admit, I feel kinda like a dork for having panicked and asked the question here. Such a simple solution! Hope it sticks, though. Don't want to have to use that cleaning disc every two weeks to keep the player in shape. But at least it was a no-cost solution -- that I feel good about!


Since you used it before, only two weeks ago, and still the skipping came back you have other issues most likely. Perhaps the lens has problems? I seriously doubt it is accumulated dirt there. I had CD players for some time, never cleaned the lens with no problems.
How about that disc? Does it have problems on other players? Is it clean?

 

[mtrycrafts]

Yeah, Macca, that's all I can think too. Glad that's all it was!

Part of me was kinda hoping that I would need to get a new player. The new Oppo has better picture quality (YC delay and blacks) over its component output than my Pioneer has. Oh well. Maybe some catastrophic failure will strike someday soon, and I'll have no choice but to upgrade.

cheers,
supervij

Do you feel comfortable in lifting the cover with power unplugged? Take a look at the lens, maybe use a magnifier to get a good look?

 

[supervij]

". . . other issues most likely." Whaddaya tryin' to do, mtrycrafts, scare me?!

No, I realize that. I've never cleaned the lens either, and the player has been fine up until a couple weeks ago. Which would be roughly just over a year. That disc doesn't have a problem on my DVD-ROM drive in my computer, nor does it skip on my roommate's DVD player, so I assume the problem must lie with my player.

As much as I hate to reveal that I'm not the manly man I enjoy pretending to be, I'm afraid I'm a notorious butterfingers when it comes to delicate operations like what you described. I'm terrified that in trying to do something passive like simply observing, I'll end up breaking something important. Maybe I need to find a technically-minded friend to crack 'er open for me. I doubt I'll get a chance in the near future, but maybe it's worth a look. Thanks for the suggestion, mtrycrafts.

cheers,
supervij

 

[mtrycrafts]

". . . other issues most likely." Whaddaya tryin' to do, mtrycrafts, scare me?!

No, I realize that. I've never cleaned the lens either, and the player has been fine up until a couple weeks ago. Which would be roughly just over a year. That disc doesn't have a problem on my DVD-ROM drive in my computer, nor does it skip on my roommate's DVD player, so I assume the problem must lie with my player.

As much as I hate to reveal that I'm not the manly man I enjoy pretending to be, I'm afraid I'm a notorious butterfingers when it comes to delicate operations like what you described. I'm terrified that in trying to do something passive like simply observing, I'll end up breaking something important. Maybe I need to find a technically-minded friend to crack 'er open for me. I doubt I'll get a chance in the near future, but maybe it's worth a look. Thanks for the suggestion, mtrycrafts.

cheers,
supervij

Let me ask you one more Q before a friend pulls the cover.
Is this the only disc that is giving you this problem? Or, you have others that do the same?
If it is the only disc, I don't see the player as the problem. Have you looked at the disc surface carefully? Maybe it has a defect, a scratch that this player just cannot overcome? Or, it developed something on the layer that it doesn't like?

If other discs cause the same problem someplace during play, then I can see the player.
Some time back in DVD history, there were stamping problems, etc, that some discs would just not play on some players no matter what.

 

[MACCA350]

supervij said he fixed the problem by running the cleaning disc through a couple of times, so no reason to open it up(unless it plays up again)

cheers

 

[supervij]

supervij said he fixed the problem by running the cleaning disc through a couple of times, so no reason to open it up(unless it plays up again)

Exactly. If it works right now, then I'm in no rush to crack 'er open.

It was this disc and the X-Files disc that had this problem. And we rented Pride & Prejudice (the Keira Knightley one) and we encounted this problem then (back in March). But those are the only ones I remember having problems. I did take a closer look at the Platoon disc, and there were tiny, almost imperceptible scratches on the surface, but whether that was the problem or no, I can't say.

All I want to do now is hope that the player doesn't act up anymore. If it does, I'll go with the disc cleaner again, and hopefully that'll do the trick. Otherwise, taking her apart may be last option. Still hoping against having to do that, like, ever, though!

cheers,
supervij