fault with DVD player

[rja211077]

my DVD player has developed a fault - it often won't 'pick up' discs. by that I mean you stick a disc in, it whirrs around a bit for about 15 seconds and then just says 'no disc'. occasionally it does recognise the disk and once that happens, it plays fine. it never fails to pick up audio CDs though. strangely, this also happened to the DVD-ROM drive on my PC a while ago. the PC was under guarantee and I sent it back to the evil people at Time and they replaced the whole drive - which fills me with fear and dread for the plight of my DVD player, which isn't under guarantee. anyway...my question. has anybody else experienced these problems? does anybody know how much it might cost to repair?

[Headtime]

Unless it's a very posh DVD player, I would reckon it would be cheaper to buy a new one than try and getting it fixed.

[shybearuk]

This is usually surprisongly easy to repair using the techniques described on the 'net for fixing a Playstation2 with the same problem.

If you're not too scared about opening up your DVD player, try this page:
If target=_blank>http://www.techtv.com/xplay/features/story/0,24330
,3516150,00.html
If you're going to replace it otherwise, it's worth a try anyway. In place if the alcohol, you can use any non-smear glass cleaner (I use Windolene spray).
You may not necessarily be able to raise/lower the laser housing in a DVD player in the same way as a PS2, but in my experience, it's not necessary, as sometimes just cleaning the lens properly does the trick.
I've now 'repaired' three different players, as well as my PS2 like this, and they all work excellently now.

[shybearuk]

And DVD/CD cleaning discs seem to have absolutely no effect, so don't waste your money!

[branchinghen]

my old sony dvd player has the same problem .its mostly copied discs it doesnt pick up . its like a film has become over the lazer usually due to smoking or sumfin .

[shybearuk]

Oops, fixed link here:
http://www.techtv.com/xplay/features/story/0,24330
,3516150,00.html