Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player under the
label, Go-Video

This unit displays very strange tracking on a favorite DVD. It seems
to 'lock up' when it gets to the track. Sometimes can't go passed the
scenes once into them. That includes PLAY, FF, and even super FF.
When the player gets to this section it just doesn't seem to go
further.

Luckily, depending on temperament of the day, the player has
'unlocked' and jumped through the "bad" section so we have seen the
end of the film. But usually takes a good six to seven or more 'back
up and forge through it' attempts.

Besides the obvious, where is a tutorial describing tracking, tracking
failures, etc?

My questions a

From the experiences of the membrs of this group who deal with actual
machines, which machine generally has the best playing and tracking?

Which DVD player is the best in terms of robustness at playing less
than perfect DVD's?

And, which machine lasts enough time to make it a purchase, not a
rental of trash?

Robert

On 9 mar, 17:24, Robert Macy wrote:
Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player under the
label, Go-Video

This unit displays very strange tracking on a favorite DVD. It seems
to 'lock up' when it gets to the track. Sometimes can't go passed the
scenes once into them. That includes PLAY, FF, and even super FF.
When the player gets to this section it just doesn't seem to go
further.

clean and relube the sled. could also be the laser struggling with the
2nd layer of dual layer disc.
-B

Robert Macy wrote:
Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player under the
label, Go-Video

This unit displays very strange tracking on a favorite DVD. It seems
to 'lock up' when it gets to the track. Sometimes can't go passed the
scenes once into them. That includes PLAY, FF, and even super FF.
When the player gets to this section it just doesn't seem to go
further.

Luckily, depending on temperament of the day, the player has
'unlocked' and jumped through the "bad" section so we have seen the
end of the film. But usually takes a good six to seven or more 'back
up and forge through it' attempts.

Besides the obvious, where is a tutorial describing tracking, tracking
failures, etc?

My questions a

From the experiences of the membrs of this group who deal with actual
machines, which machine generally has the best playing and tracking?

Which DVD player is the best in terms of robustness at playing less
than perfect DVD's?

And, which machine lasts enough time to make it a purchase, not a
rental of trash?

Robert

Good morning Robert,

While it might be possible to find a player that handles this one disc
better, if it is the only disc that is really giving you problems, then
the problem is a damaged disc, not your player.

So, you might find that buying a new copy of the disc in question is
the hot ticket. Alternately, you can look for a video rental store that
has a professional disc polisher (like Research Technology
International's "DiscChek" system) who will polish out the disc for a
few dollars. These polishers cost thousands of dollars. I have not had
satisfactory results with the home kits, though there could be some good
ones.

Keep in mind that like an audio CD, DVD's play from the center out, so
if your disc is scratched at the outer edge, it is likely to be your
problem.

Regards,
Tim Schwartz
Bristol Electronics

Tim Schwartz writes:

Robert Macy wrote:
Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player under the
label, Go-Video

This unit displays very strange tracking on a favorite DVD. It seems
to 'lock up' when it gets to the track. Sometimes can't go passed the
scenes once into them. That includes PLAY, FF, and even super FF.
When the player gets to this section it just doesn't seem to go
further.

Luckily, depending on temperament of the day, the player has
'unlocked' and jumped through the "bad" section so we have seen the
end of the film. But usually takes a good six to seven or more 'back
up and forge through it' attempts.

Besides the obvious, where is a tutorial describing tracking, tracking
failures, etc?

My questions a

From the experiences of the membrs of this group who deal with actual
machines, which machine generally has the best playing and tracking?

Which DVD player is the best in terms of robustness at playing less
than perfect DVD's?

And, which machine lasts enough time to make it a purchase, not a
rental of trash?

Robert

Good morning Robert,

While it might be possible to find a player that handles this
one disc better, if it is the only disc that is really giving you
problems, then the problem is a damaged disc, not your player.

So, you might find that buying a new copy of the disc in
question is the hot ticket. Alternately, you can look for a video
rental store that has a professional disc polisher (like Research
Technology International's "DiscChek" system) who will polish out the
disc for a few dollars. These polishers cost thousands of dollars. I
have not had satisfactory results with the home kits, though there
could be some good ones.

Keep in mind that like an audio CD, DVD's play from the center
out, so if your disc is scratched at the outer edge, it is likely to
be your problem.

I agree. A careful visual inspection of the DVD may reveal some obvious
damaged area.

However, I'm not sure one can infer the location on the DVD based on
when the problem occurs as easily as on a CD expecially if it is double
layer.

Try the DVD in another DVD player, or your PC to see if it also has the
problem.

The key may be: "Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player
under the label, Go-Video".

--
sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Sites: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is
ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the
subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.

On Mon, 9 Mar 2009 09:24:33 -0700 (PDT), Robert Macy
put finger to keyboard and composed:

Samsung manufactured a very inexpensive VHS/DVD player under the
label, Go-Video

This unit displays very strange tracking on a favorite DVD. It seems
to 'lock up' when it gets to the track. Sometimes can't go passed the
scenes once into them. That includes PLAY, FF, and even super FF.
When the player gets to this section it just doesn't seem to go
further.

Try the disc on your PC. I'm not suggesting that you copy it, but DVD
Decrypter will report read errors if the disc has bad blocks. IIRC, if
it starts to struggle, the read speed will be reduced.

You may be able to detect whether you have difficulty reading the
second layer of a dual layer (DVD-9) disc by watching for abrupt
changes in read speed in the case of a Parallel Track Path (PTP) disc,
or slow reduction in read speed for an Opposite Track Path (OTP) disc.
OTP discs start reading from inside out on the first layer and then
outside in for the second layer, whereas PTP discs read from inside
out on both layers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD#Dual_layer_recording

You could also watch the file sizes -- there would be approximately
4.3GB of data on the first layer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD#DVD_capacity

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.