Are all cheapo DVD players the same today ?

[Mikey]

The problem with my current one ......
It has trouble reading and moving through menu's.
Especially on burned DVD-R's

It never did before, and used to play all DVD-R's perfectly.

Now, as soon as I get to the menu and hit play --- I hear the laser making funny sounds for a good 30 seconds and then it either says "no disc" or it just runs an endless cycle trying to read the disc.... Then I have to manually stop it by shutting the player off.

That sounds like the player is dying, right ?

[mego73]

The problem with my current one ......
It has trouble reading and moving through menu's.
Especially on burned DVD-R's

It never did before, and used to play all DVD-R's perfectly.

Now, as soon as I get to the menu and hit play --- I hear the laser making funny sounds for a good 30 seconds and then it either says "no disc" or it just runs an endless cycle trying to read the disc.... Then I have to manually stop it by shutting the player off.

That sounds like the player is dying, right ?

or the lens needs cleaning

[Adam West]

Believe it or not my cheapie DVD player is more forgiving than my more expensive player.

Any little scratch and it won't play on the high end DVD player but pop it into the cheapo and it plays no problem.

$35 and you can get a decent DVD player. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles but it will be suitable for basic needs.