I have a strange problem with the playing of DVDs on my Magnavox home theater system. Sometimes when playing a disc, towards the end it just freezes or slows to an absolute crawl, as if it were going frame by frame. I have taken the cover off and cleaned the lens and both cleaned and lightly oiled the 2 rails, but it doesn't seem to have helped. It doesn't appear to be scratched discs either, since it seems to happen at the same point on the disc, no matter which one is in there. Any ideas on what might be wrong? Thanks for any help you can provide.
Yes, I've done all that, and it usually gets "stuck" at about 3/4 of the way through, and has no problem for the rest of the disc. Plus, last night it played a brand new disc without any problems at all. It's a tough one...
It's very likely that the laser is getting marginal. Playability problems, particularly with less than perfect discs - i.e. not absolutely brand sparkly new - is a typical symptom. You can usually get a good idea if the mechanics are sound, by playing a full length CD right through, although I think you will find that it will play correctly, because the laser is almost certainly getting to the outside edge of the disc without incident. What is usually happening when the problem occurs like this after about 3/4 of the film has played, is that the worn laser is having difficulty with the lower output from the disc, when it has moved over to the second internal layer. (It changes over to this second layer when the laser has reached the edge of the disc. The second layer then plays in reverse fashion, being read
*through* the outer semi-transparent layer, with the laser now heading back in towards the disc centre).
Although some disc manufacturers try to implement the layer change at a 'fade to black' scene transistion, many do not, and you will see the layer change take place as a momentary freeze in both the sound and vision. If the problems start soon after you see this happen, you can be pretty sure that a worn laser is your problem.
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