Can DVDs Kill DVD Players? 178
aidanpryde asks: "In the weirdest situation I've ever seen. My DVD player died on Saturday while watching the episodes of a favorite sci-fi series. I was watching disk 5 with my wife and noticed that it was getting jumpy. I took the disk out to see if it was dirty or scratched, but seeing nothing, we put the disk back in. Now the DVD player won't read anything, not the Season 5 disk, none of our other disks...nothing! So, we take the DVD player as a loss. Hardware failure happen all of the time, right? So I go downstairs with my wife on another day and try it on her DVD player in her computer. We get through one episode of the disk and it starts to jump again. We take it out, try another disk and sure enough -- nothing works. Has anyone ever run into DVD's that kill DVD players? Is there any way that I can get compensation for my dead DVD players? Is there any ideas as to why this has happened. Can I download firmware updates for the computer drive that may fix the problem?"
Well... (Score:2, Funny)
Stop trying to squash them in your hardware, and everything will work out fine.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)
I know how you lost your laserdisc player!
obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Re:obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Burning a priest just because he isn't available seems a little excessive.
Now, burning a priest just because he is a priest... that sounds much more reasonable.
Please place this disc for sale on ebay (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Please place this disc for sale on ebay (Score:5, Insightful)
Check eBay history for this disc (Score:2)
firmware updates (Score:5, Informative)
I know that CyberHome and Panasonic have released firmware updates for some of their players over the past, and I'd bet others have too..
it works like:
burn a CD with the firmware file using a computer
put the CD into the DVD player
press "Play".
Hope you didn't fry it.
Re:firmware updates (Score:1)
Of course, I suppose that you could be joking, but I know not.
Re:firmware updates (Score:2)
And a firmware update could keep it from happening again..
i know one of the firmware updates that i saw for a cyberhome recorder once fixed a bug that kept a machine burning coasters instead of usable discs after a certain series of things happened...
Re:firmware updates (Score:3, Informative)
Re:firmware updates (Score:2)
On a related note, I heard a rumor that some newer DVDs took advantage few different chipset fact and sent bad firmware updates to disable devices that were not properly licensed (i.e. region free) - take this with a big grain of salt...
Re:firmware updates (Score:2)
Second that ... (Score:2)
Firmware incompatibilities have been around for quite a while.
Computer based DVDs get to fudge the spec a little more. Sometimes disks will have known incompatibilities with certain players.
Several years ago I had my Toshiba DVD player die a painful death as a result of a firmware problem on one of the Aliens disks. Someting on the DVD hosed the firware so bad, the machine needed to be sent out for repair.
Cheers
Re:firmware updates (Score:2)
Re:firmware updates (Score:2)
are you TEH PIRATE?? (Score:5, Funny)
If so, you are automatically placed on the global MPAA shitlist. Any DVD you buy automatically detects your unique fingerprints (even if you just grip by the edge, you crafty pirate), and instructs even the cheapest korean DVD player to self-destruct.
You agreed to this on May 27, 1996 when you walked within 50 feet of our EULA in that wal-mart (you know, the one that uses the act of disagreeing with the terms and/or being unaware of them, to indicate agreement to the terms..our lawyers love that one).
Sorry old pal. Hate to do it to you. But that's the price of being a pirate.
**
Note, this post was a work of fiction. However, a young MPAA intern reading this post ejaculated approximately 65% of the way through. After changing his trousers, he is on the phone with his supervisor explaining this cool new invention he read about on "The Slashdots".
I SECOND THAT! MOD UP! (Score:2)
Paul B.
Re:I SECOND THAT! MOD UP! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I SECOND THAT! MOD UP! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I SECOND THAT! MOD UP! (Score:2)
Skinner: Children, I'll be blunt. In the event of a nuclear war our fallout shelter only has room for greatest. As such, we've reserved space for CmdrTaco, CowboyNeal, our 1337 group of Karma whores, and Timothy, but not Hemos.
Two possibilities... (Score:5, Interesting)
(1) A disk whose decoder disrupted your device's firmware; this may be related to your DVD's region setting, especially if it was set to "zone-free". This may have been deliberate or accidental. Does the player turn on? Do you get the big DVD screen when no disk is inserted? If so, try resetting the DVD's region settings. You may need to access a "hidden" menu; anyone have a source for how to bring up those menus handy?
(2) Because of the way the MPEG encoding on DVDs works, some encodings may require more CPU usage than others, and on a hardware decoder like in standalone DVD players, this may actually cause the processor to overheat. While letting the unit cool down may solve the problem, too much heat might actually induce a hardware fault.
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:1)
The players somehow became region borked.
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:4, Insightful)
DVD players are meant to play DVD's and have specialized DSP's that don't run ridiculously hot like a Prescott. The idea that some DVD's are "just too much for your DVD player to handle" is slightly ridiculous.
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
But, in this case, the region crap is more likely.
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
completely right, though, that DVD players are built to play DVDs and are going to have hardware that should be able to deal with any disc. However, it is possible that it ran into something
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've also had DVD's wreak havoc on my Apex DVD player. The first time I tried X-men2 and Planet of the Apes it choked on the menu introduction animation. My sisters have a habit of leaving it running 24/7, so turning it off for an hour or two and trying again usua
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
Where I live (Switzerland), practically all DVD players sold are "zone-free". I assume this is true in most of Europe (though I haven't checked outside Switzerland - maybe someone elsewhere can comment). Obnoxious though DVD publishers are, I doubt whether one of them would be such an idiot as to do something that would piss off the ~350 million consumers in E
Re:Two possibilities... (Score:2)
Killers on the loose (Score:4, Interesting)
Don't take no for an answer. Manufacturers should and are held responsible for damage to property under tort law.
Re:Killers on the loose (Score:5, Funny)
Mod parent "insightful", not "funny" (Score:4, Insightful)
That is a damn good idea! - the best and most useful comment on this topic. Try it, and tell us what happens.
Disc balance ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:5, Informative)
If it is something "good" though (like scratching the lens or something), then go after the manufacturer of the disk or the place that rented it to you (if you rented it) and ask that they do something about it. They should be nice enough. If not, you may want to go through small claims court as another poster suggested. And if you keep the "killer" disc, you'll have great evidence.
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:2)
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:3, Informative)
The infamous "click of death" [grc.com], was not because of "...read heads were ripping off..."
The following quote is from the link provided above, "The clicking sound itself is nothing more than the sound of the heads being retracted from the cartridge into the drive then immediately reinserted."
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:2)
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:5, Funny)
I began by putting progressively larger pieces of tape on a CDROM disk to put the disk 'out of balance' in the drive. It got progressively noisier.
Then I taped a small metal washer on the CDROM. It spun up and made the whole CPU case shake loudly.
I had to unplug the computer quickly and use a bent paperclip to extract the CD. It would have been embarassing to explain why the computer in my cubicle was making so much noise.
Re:Disc balance ? (Score:2)
Not exactly a "very low" RPM (Score:2)
I'd think that physical damage to the inside of the player is very possible, even at the low end of the speed range.
Re:Not exactly a "very low" RPM (Score:2)
Re:Not exactly a "very low" RPM (Score:2)
Yep! (Score:3, Informative)
Hitachi dvd player. I tried this copy on my Cyberhome
player but it refuses to play (suggesting something
wrong with disk). I got another copy of the movie
and that copy works okay. Apparently the crap
Hitachi player had something happen and now it won't
read any disks.
Re:Yep! (Score:2)
Warped by heat? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Warped by heat? (Score:2)
Shintaro Blank DVDs (Score:4, Informative)
Apparantly unless you put in some after-market firmware the drive will be irrepairably damaged by burning onto these Shintaro blanks.
Wierd!!!
Re:Shintaro Blank DVDs (Score:4, Informative)
A simple firmware fix from Pioneer corrected this problem.
Re:Shintaro Blank DVDs (Score:2)
Heard of something similar (Score:5, Informative)
I had a similiar problem with a CD Recorder... (Score:4, Interesting)
Here I was, trying to use cdparanoia to recover some CDs, and my drive stopped working.
It took three RMAs before I finally convinced Sony to stop shipping me back the drive and fix the damn firmware. The next time the firmware was upgraded, and the drive gave several more years of good service (probably still works, wherever it is).
[Off Topic] Reminds me... (Score:4, Funny)
... of a NIC I once had. It was a run-of-the-mill 3Com 905. Every computer it was installed in, the motherboard burned out within 2 or 3 days. I went through 3 motherboards before I figured out it was the Cursed-NIC-From-Hell.
I keep it around just so I can stomp on it now and then. It's quite therapeutic.
Re:[Off Topic] Reminds me... (Score:2)
Re:[Off Topic] Reminds me... (Score:2)
And the particular VISA I used to purchase the equipment was the only one that didn't have warantee protection.
When it rains, it pours
Is it contagous? (Score:3, Interesting)
All of the sudden we had a rash of broken zip drives. After much aggrivation, interagation of users, and many new drives we traced the problem back to one bad zip disk that would kill the zip drive in such manner that the any disk placed in the newly busted drive would kill any drive it was put in such a manner that
Effectively we had a hardware computer virus
Re:Is it contagous? (Score:2)
I've tried a DVD too (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I've tried a DVD too (Score:3, Funny)
It's so nice to see that not everyone has succumbed to broadband arrogance
Not a DVD but... (Score:2, Informative)
Luckily my HIFI was still under gurantee.
Out of the subject, but the album SUCKS big time
Re:Not a DVD but... (Score:5, Funny)
So I walk back into the Sam Goody and stood around with the case in my hand, flipping it open and closed till I got a sales drone to see me.
me: Hi, I need to return this.
drone: I'm sorry, but we don't take returns on opened merchandise. Store policy.
me: I know what your store policy is. The disc is defective.
drone: Oh, is it scratched? Sometimes that happens in the packaging process.
me: Naw, the disc looks fine. But whenever I put it in my player, all I get out of the speakers is noise.
drone: Wow, I've never heard of that happening.
me: Only happens with this one disc. The copy of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours I bought here at the same time sounds great.
drone: Hmm. I think we've still got a couple copies on the shelf, we can exchange it for another.
me: I'd rather like to return it versus exchange it, because it was supposed to be a gift and I already had to buy an alternate gift in a hurry thanks to it throwing up through my speakers.
After discussing the model of my player, the fact it also produced garbage when played in my car stereo, the clerk gets his manager to sign off on a refund.
So I'm up at the register with the salesdrone and the cashier to get my money back.
clerk: Wow, I don't think I've heard of any problems with that album.
me: Don't ask me.
clerk: I ought to go stick it in one of the demo players and see how bad it sounds.
[clerk hands me my money and a new reciept]
me: Go for it. Don't put the volume up too loud though, I'll warn you.
[clerk pops it in a player stuck under the counter, player spins up and starts playing "Cowboy"]
clerk: Seems to work just fine, that's weird.
me: Funny, I paid $26 for a CD full of music, I expected music. That sounds like overmodulated static with some profanity thrown in. Not music. It's gotta be defective.
Re:Not a DVD but... (Score:2)
The problem was you bought a Kid Rock CD. (Score:2)
Re:The problem was you bought a Kid Rock CD. (Score:3, Insightful)
The root of the problem is the fact that you're not (normally) allowed to return music after having listened to it. How are you supposed to know if it's any good if you can't listen to it beforehand?
If I go to Wal-Mart and buy a DVD player, or a stereo, or a power tool, I can bring it home, try it out, decide I don't like it, and put it back in the box and return it for a full refund. Most stores wi
Re:The problem was you bought a Kid Rock CD. (Score:2)
No, wait... I've lived in America... and you can do it there too, so we're not the only ones.
So... maybe you should start at least giving a cursury listen to a cd before you buy it... otherwise it's really your own fault you bought a shit cd. I could have told you that just because it was by Kid Rock for f*cks sake.
Re:The problem was you bought a Kid Rock CD. (Score:2)
Well, you're certainly not supposed to share files over teh interweb, because that would be piracy and evil!
Re:The problem was you bought a Kid Rock CD. (Score:3, Interesting)
You see, software vendors claim that when you buy software, it's not the media that you purchase, but the software product itself. This is the argument that they make against copying the ones and zeros that are on the media: That the media itself just carries their product.
Then, if their software product fails to work as advertised, or causes damage to your core OS or hardware, then they limit their liability to the cost of replacement media , claiming that the media is
Re:Not a DVD but... (Score:2)
I ran into something simular awhile ago (Score:1)
He swore it was a bad cd.
I still don't believe it.
Hmmm (Score:1)
Re:Hmmm (Score:1)
I don't think they ever tried CTRL+APPLE+O+F
eject cd
Re:Hmmm (Score:3, Interesting)
~Philly
That's okay... (Score:3, Funny)
That's okay. Season 6 of "Buffy" is terribly depressing anyway, and Season 7 has the worst writing of the whole show. You've seen the most important parts.
Finished NetHack yet?
Re:That's okay... (Score:2)
Re:That's okay... (Score:2)
Re:That's okay... (Score:2)
Some players unfreeze (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Some players unfreeze (Score:3, Funny)
Let me guess. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Let me guess. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Let me guess. (Score:2)
FWIW, past
Re:Let me guess. (Score:4, Insightful)
Last time I checked, ALL DVD players are cheap consumer-grade junk these days. Even the "name-brand" players are made in the same Chinese factories that the cheap "no-name" players are.
Therefore, I see this as a pretty useless comment. It's not like someone buying a Yugo, instead of a Honda or Toyota, and then complaining it breaks down too much. There isn't much choice with consumer electronics.
Re:Let me guess. (Score:2)
If you're willing to spend a few hundred bucks, or better yet part with a grand and a half, there are some quite nice players available, with better quality for both audio and video than you get with the run-of-the-mill players. Try a higher-end Denon, for example, like a 2900 or (better yet) a 5900.
Re:Let me guess. (Score:2)
I can buy 30 regular DVD players for that price.
Is the disc warped or uneven? (Score:4, Interesting)
Listen to the drive when you put a disc in, can you hear the disc spin up? If not, you've fried your motor, if so it's most likely a firmware issue. Since you've killed two DVD players though, it's more likely that the problem is the motor fried.
Re:Is the disc warped or uneven? (Score:2)
Have you tried something as simple (Score:4, Interesting)
Either mechanical damage was done, or possibly a misauthored disc caused the DVD players' firmware to crash. (The fact that it killed a computer's DVD player too sounds odd though...)
If it's a misauthored disc, then simply powercycling may fix the problem. I mean a COMPLETE power cycle - unplug it, wait 2-3 minutes (sometimes more depending on what sort of memory backup features it might have), plug it back in.
I had this problem happen shortly after getting a DVD-R drive, one of my DVDs crashed the player. I thought it was broken at first, but a complete powercycle fixed it.
My car stopped working! (Score:3, Insightful)
See where I'm going with this?
Nobody has suggested the extremely obvious possibility: both DVD drives failed. Perhaps they were going to fail for some time but they didn't start showing problems until you played a dual-layer DVD.
Its highly unlikely anything about that disc could "damage" your DVD drives. Its far more likely that both drives were near their failure point and failed by coincidence.
Re:My car stopped working! (Score:4, Funny)
Off Balance (Score:2)
Were they still under warranty perhaps? Or you might get lucky and be able to swap the drives,like you can in many Apex units..
Heat (Score:2, Informative)
Possible cause (Score:3, Funny)
Re:...Spooky man! (Score:1)
Re:...Spooky man! (Score:1)
Re:Psst (Score:1)
It's gotta be the MPAA and their wily deeds. He probably has a Star Wars VCD he got from a guy in Hong Kong or something.
Re:Psst (Score:2)
Re:Psst (Score:2)
Re:Psst (Score:2)
Did you ever watch Fight Club? There's a great scene where Edward Norton's character is describing his job:
JACK (V.O.)
On a long enough time line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
Two TECHNICIANS lead Jack to the BURNT-OUT SHELL of a WRECKED AUTOMOBILE. Jack sets down his briefcase, opens it and starts to make notes on a CLIP BOARDED FORM.
JACK (V.O.)
I'm a recall coordinator. My job is to apply the formula. It's a story
Re:Creating a Killer? (Score:3, Insightful)