DVD playing up

[Francis Asis]

Hi, I posted the below question a couple of weeks ago and some kind people answered but nothing worked. Today i have bought a replacement disc and I am getting EXACTLY the same problem with the new disc. Exactly the same problem in exactly the same place on the disc. Can anyone help?

I have a DVD of Stargate. Its one of a set which I have played a few times. Suddenly it will not play in my DVD/HDD recorder (Toshiba). It starts fine, plays the first scene then stops and jumps to the next episode. It then plays the first scene of that then stops again and jumps to the next episode. The disk plays fine in my other DVD player in my kitchen and other disks play fine in the Toshiba. Can anyone shed any light on this? Thanks

[ACtheTROLL]

if the player is slightly sensitive ... and the disk is slightly off .... commercial discs are stamped - the fault could be common to all discs.

post the link to 'tother one so we can see what was suggested

my only suggestion is always watch the first episode in the other room

[Francis Asis]

Thanks for replying. i dont know how to post a link which is why i didn't.
The other answers were mainly about cleaning the disc and the player.

[paintpowder1]

Have you looked at the possibility of the skip feature on your DVD recorder being enabled on some commercially/bought-in discs? Some HDD recorders automatically enable the skip option to allow you to view the titles briefly, so you can select a chosen title quickly.When you play these discs,disable the skip option.

[redman41]

Hello again Francis Asis !
It seems ACtheTroll and Paintpowder are on the right lines regarding the Answers they have given.
The Question I ask is;
Are the Disks you are using single or dual layer ? Single layer disks only hold about 2 HRS 15 Min of film space and if the film is longer you will either get 2 disks or 1 disk with dual layer recording in order to accomodate the Film.
What is the playing time of your discs ? If the playing time is longer than 2hrs 15 min then you have dual layer recorded dvd's. Check your Toshiba manual to see if your Player is compatible with Dual Layer DVD's.
If need be, go back to shop where you bought it and ask for some advice from shop Technician by telling him what Model Toshiba you have.
There could be some conflict within your DVD Player when playing Dual Layered DVD's which is causing your Player to Skip Chapters.

[Francis Asis]

Thanks for your reply paint. If that was the case wouldn't it do it on all dics? This only does it on this one disc (both copies).
I will check it however. Any idea where i might find it?

[Francis Asis]

Hi Redman, looks like we overlapped.
The disc doesn't say on it that its dual layer. I have other DVDs which ARE dual layer and they play OK. It is just this particular one.

[redman41]

If as you say your Toshiba plays Dual Layer DVD's OK and does not Skip with your other DVD's, then I'm at a bit of a loss as what to suggest next.
Although I have lots of DVD's, I do not have any Dual Layer ones as all the long Films I have such as 'Lord of the Rings', 'Once upon a time in America' etc etc, are all double Disc rather than Dual Layer. There is an incompatibility issue somewhere between the Disc in Question and the DVD Player!
The Disc in Question seems to be activating the Skip Feature, so whilst the actual Disc is loaded up in your Player, look in Screen Menu of your Toshiba to see if Skip Feature is enabled and disable it if it is.
Maybe some other knowledgeable contributor can come up with some other ideas !

[Francis Asis]

Thanks Redman, i will try that as soon as I can. Hubby is hogging the telly at the moment.

[paintpowder1]

It only 'jumps' in those two discs because they are encoded with identical data...and your Toshiba is reading it. So,in order to resolve this problem you must look at why it played before, and not now? The answer lies in the way you programmed the recorder via the remote....ie,you inadvertently enabled the skip function with those two similarly formatted discs AFTER you had viewed the first one. Your Toshiba is doing exactly what you 'told' it to do,so the fault hardly lies there! Hence, they play on your other DVD recorder with no problems. There is a way to test this theory. Return to default/factory settings which you may or may not find in the users manual....failing this,the shop will do it for you. Next, play the problem disc...if everything is fine,then all you have lost is the time,date etc which can be easily restored along with your personal settings.

[Francis Asis]

Firstly let me say "thank you" for your interest in my problem. Its great to have someone to turn to.
Secondly, i have tried searching for the "skip" function and can not find it on any menus, or in the manual. I have also tried the suggestion of resetting to factory defaults but that has not worked either.
I suppose the next thing will have to be to contact Toshiba.
Thanks again for all your help.

[redman41]

Speak to the Technician at the shop you bought it first, quoting Model No, then you could possibly contact Toshiba Direct

[Francis Asis]

Hi Redman. I got it from Argos. i'm not sure if they have technicians.

[paintpowder1]

F Asis:if you were able to return to factory default and it still didn't play,then at least we can now see what probably happened. Somewhere along the way your recorder started to react in a negative way to these two discs till it rejected them altogether,most likely because of the way they were formatted....'tho i've never heard of this phenomenon....it either plays them or it rejects them,and you said you had a set, 'tho you didn't say if the rest were ok or not? But from what you did say,it seems most likely that there is a fault developing in the recorder with regard to those types of discs. So beware when you buy similar ones, who knows where they originated....i've bought bad discs from reputable dealers....it can happen. I wouldn't take it back yet, if it plays all other types,as the same problem.or worse,could happen again with a new one. I would watch them on the other recorder,but i'd still want to know exactly what happened,so i would agree with Redman, and ask Toshiba. Also,i'd want to know where those discs came from!!!

[Francis Asis]

Hi Paint. The boxset came from ebay. The single "replacement" disc came from Play.com. Yes, i know what you're going to say.
The other discs in the boxset are fine (so far).