Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Problems with DVDs

I have noticed two problems with a few of my DVDs of late and I was wondering if anyone here has experienced them (Note: I was trying to get answers over at a DVD forum, but no one there seems to make any sense)

Problem 1 (vibrations):
In my Denon 2900, a couple of DVDs (e.g. Crouching Tiger..) seem to cause an internal vibration in the player. And, I've tried this on a couple of 2900s as well as the 2200 with the same effect. It didn't happen on a couple of Sony's that the dealer had or the Denon 5800. Basically, when the DVD is playing, there is a vibration of varying severity. And, sometimes it only occurs when the disk starts-up. Othertimes, the vibration will continue throughout the movie. I'm assuming it is a 'very slightly' unbalanced DVD disk and that maybe only some players are prone to these vibrations. So has anyone else noticed something like this?

Problem 2 (LOTR TT glitch):
Has anyone here experienced the 'glitch' in ch 51 of LOTR TT? It happens after the battle when Galdolf et al., ride to the top of the hill and talk about "Saron's (sp?) wrath". Apparently, it manifests itself differently on different players. On some, it skips ahead a few seconds, on others it skips back to a previous chapter. On my Denon, it just pauses for a second or two. In addition, it doesn't even happen all the time on my player? Just curious if anyone here knows about this on this disk or any other DVD.

The first problem is most likely a slightly unbalanced DVD. Some players are just more susceptible to it than others.

The second problems most likely occurs when the DVD switches layers. The LOTR DVDs are very full and use multi-layer technology to fit everything onto them. The pause occurs when the laser adjusts its focus to a differnt layer. Players will act differently during this transition. Some more expensive ones will barely even hiccup. Others will have longer pauses that seem like skipping. Mine does this, too.

Thanks, but my bet is that the second problem isn't a layer-change. Although it acts like a layer change problem on my machine, the 2900 is known for a large memory and imperceptable layer changes (and I've never noticed on other dual-layer disks). In addition, on other machines, it doesn't act like a layer change.

According to Digital Bits, the layer transition is at at 1:30:35, in chapter 26.

Arrr, there sinks my theory.

(Sorry, today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.)

I had the same problem last night trying to listen to Nirvana Unplugged, and have experienced it with other cds on my player (Toshiba 3850 I think). Some are certainly more affected than others. Is there anything that can be done to alleviate it (it's pretty loud)? I'd thought about taking it in to have a tech. look at it but would like to spare that if possible.

If you can determine which side of the CD is heavier than the other (maybe stick a fat pen through the hole and spin it around a few times), you can try sticking a piece of tape or two on the opposite side of the CD to balance it out. This will only work for slightly off-balance CDs, though, and it's not always easy to figure which side is heavier.

sid, i had the same problem with my older kyocera(sp), 20 year old cd player. when cranking music on the 60's, and sub, cd's would sometimes skip. i took two pieces of foam. rolled them (like a joint) and put them along each side of the player; solved the problem. i haven't had any problems with a dvd player. just replaced my older panny non-progressive with a new mits progressive and it's too new to rate.

Dan,
Roll it like a joint, eh??? I wouldn't know how to do that.

Unfortunately, it's not so much skipping as it is vibration from the deck itself. It seems that it may be the cd is off-balance. I'll try experimenting to see if any are worse than others.