What causes DVDs to jerk and freeze up?

[KansDem]

I checked out a DVD from my local library yesterday and went home to watch it. About 15 minutes into the movie, it suddenly sporadically jerks and then freezes up. I was somewhat successful in "unfreezing" it, but eventually it just stopped altogether, and I had to restart it several times. Eventually I just gave up watching it altogether.

What causes this? :shrug:

[charlie and algernon]

1. scratches on the disc

that's why I hate renting DVDs from the library, they almost always have scratches. At least with blockbuster, the chances of that are much slimmer of getting a bad DVD.

[KansDem]

5. Thanks!

It is frustrating. Now I'll never see what happens with Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt! ("As Good As It Gets") :cry:

[siligut]

8. Ask them to polish it and take it home again.

Plot spoilers ahead.

Here is a link to the plot summary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119822/plotsummary

Below is the ending.





















As there is no synopsis on IMDB yet. I will tell you that Helen and Jack do work it out. He gets her and her son gets the medical care he needs.

[NJmaverick]

2. Check the disk for smudges and/or scratches

[Swede]

3. If it's only the one disc,it may be scratched or dirty.

If it's doing it regularly,your laser is crapping out.

[petronius]

4. I find that a careful cleaning often helps - I use a microfiber screen cloth

and wipe from the middle outward. (That could be wrong, but what do I care? My DVDs come from Netflix...)

[qb]

6. Inform the librarian when you return it. They should have a disc polisher

to remove scratches.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. Shitty low class assholes who treat library stuff like they treat their filthy children - shittily.

Ignorant shitbags who show no more care for the DVDs that other people might want to watch than show in care for their cars, children, pets, and other household goods.

Hence, the DVDs end up scratched to all fuckoff and become unwatchable.

[LeftinOH]

13. Indeed. I get lots of DVDs from the library..and every so often there are those

discs which have pizza-grease smudges, dried jelly (I think), assorted fingerprints, sticky DVD covers with water circles on them, etc. I don't treat my own DVDs like that, let alone ones that I've borrowed. F*cking slobs.

[Symarip]

9. This guy:

[bikebloke]

10. Scratches or gunk

I've rented DVD's that looked like they were used as pizza slicers. It's a good thing I look at the surface before inserting them into my machine.

Smallish scratches will cause artifacts, like tiling of two different scenes on screen. Deeper scratches will freeze up. Sometimes, you can jump them by tapping the fast-forward button. I had a Netflix DVD where I had to eject the disque, the re-insert. Then I'd go to the next scene and back track to a minute past the freeze. Frustrating, because it was a good flick. I reported it to Netflix, so you should be able to get a good copy of "Cautiva".

[begin_within]

11. If it happens with more than one DVD, you need to get a DVD lens cleaning disc

There are many brands of it, I have a Maxell one. You insert the disc and play it for about 10 seconds. There is probably an on-screen menu with "Cleaning Cycle" as one of the choices. There is a tiny brush on the disc that brushes away dust on the player's lens. If you notice more than one DVD starts and stops repeatedly, where it plays, then freezes, then plays some more, then freezes, then it's probably a buildup of dust on the lens. A disc like this will probably clear up the problem.

[DS1]

12. Your parents walking into your bedroom

[BurtWorm]

14. Performance anxiety?

:hide: