New guy...Few questions

trizzane

New Member
Thanks for inviting me to your forums Tim!

Ok, I have a few questions. Very basic for most of you im sure.

1) I have an approx 3 yr old Sony DVD player.(sorry, dont have model # here) In most, if not all movies i watch, it seems to freeze temporarily in the middle of the movie, then continue. Any explination for this? It seems to be right around the middle of the movie, not sure if it gets stuck on a chapter switch or what it is.

2) This player does not seem to play VCD's. Is it just too old and will not play this format?

3) I want to get a new player. Does anyone have a recommendation? I have a Panasonic, 32" tv. It is about 6 years old. Looking for something thats on the inexpensive side, will play all formats (including VCD's) and is reliable.

Any input is appreciated!!! Thanks!! -Jason
 
That is part of the format. It happens in every movie and as far as I know on every player. A guess, now that you have me thinking about it is that there is more than one layer to read on the disc and with all the info it takes for a movie and the 5.1 sound that it takes 2, maybe 3 layers to record all the info. I would guess the pause is when the machine tracks back to the beginning of the disc to start on a new layer of info.
I bet Walt knows.
 
Yep spot on Thatch ...

The pause is the change in layer, typically between 1-2 secs depending on the actual size of the material being loaded. It is entirely normal.

VCD's are in the same catagory as CD-R's in terms of getting your machine to read them ... ie. you're lucky if you can sometimes! :D

Seriously, most new players these days will advertise whether they can read VCD or SVCD formats. Its not worth paying any extra for unless you specifically want to create your own VCD's to view. The video quality is vastly inferior to what you will get off the DVD format (just compare the storage size of the medium for starters to get an idea of the compromise).

In terms of a new player, well, firstly do you have a DD/DTS decoder and the requisite 5.1 speakers to provide you with the "whole" experience, or are you mainly buying DVD for the superior video quality to VHS?

If you don't have all the paraphenalia (sp?) then just buy a relatively cheap player (any CC or BB stock will do).

If you do then you may want to consider whether you go after progressive scan ... this will depend on your TV.

Ask a question directed at this issue in the Home Theater forum here ... I know the moderator, WildWest has recently purchased a new Panny prog scan DVD-P, and he might be able to give you some good pointers.

:)
 
Yep, that's what it is...

it happens to me too, and from reading and asking around, it's the changing of the layers.

Happened to me just this weekend.

When it first happened to me I started to think, there's something wrong, this POS DVD player is not that old, what the ____!

Nothing to worry about.

As far as VCD's, I don't know.

And for a new DVD player, I would say make sure it has progressive scan for the hi def TV you may buy in the future.
 
Wow! I surprised even myself. I didn't even know about more than one layer until I started buying SACDs. They typically have a surround and a stereo layer. Nice to know that all the grey matter hasn't melted yet.
 
I hope you guys haven't ruined DVD watching for me. I've only noticed this pause on one DVD. If they are all doing it, then I guess I haven't been paying enough attention. I'll probably be watching ONLY for the pause now and fixate on it. Thanks a lot guys, this has really ruined my day.

WRT to VCDs, just about all older Sonys and many of the older Toshibas do not play VCD or SVCD. As mentioned by others though, many newer DVD players are claiming VCD, SVCD, CD-R, CD-RW compatability. I will recommend the Pioneer DV-440 as a cheap player that can play VCDs as well. The downside is that although it claims to play SVCDs, there are limitations. It cannot play max bitrate SVCDs per the SVCD spec. There is a limit to its max bitrate. The plus side is that just about any DVD player that can play an SVCD can also play a CVD. Due to the slightly lower resolution of a CVD as compared to an SVCD, you can get away with a lower bitrate. I've been making CVD backups of my VHS tapes and they look much better than a VCD and are playable on my Pioneer.

I used to recommend Apex players to people who were interested in VCD, SVCD, and CVD playback, but not anymore. Seems Apex got so much flack for not paying VCD licensing fees that they have taken that capability out. Interestingly, they still will play SVCD and CVD. And many models will play raw MPEG files on an ISO disc. Plus, they often times work with bitrates up to 4500kbs for video.
 
Now I'm going be looking for the pause too

House de Kris is one up on me, since I had not noticed the pause before. Now that I know, I'll be looking for it too!

Reminds me of the "squiggle" on film--a little mark in the corner of the picture that told the projectionist to change from one reel of film to the next. I had never noticed it before, but some detective series (Columbo maybe) worked that tidbit into a murder plot and I couldn't QUIT seeing "squiggles" in every film I watched.

TY
 
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