Rental DVDs - tracking errors

[Kaonohi]

I have been increasingly disappointed with the quality of rental DVDs.

My experience is that even relatively new titles have skips, backtracks, lockups and indescribable errors. Since Blockbuster and other video/DVD stores are gone... there is no one to report to, and the inscribed errors are passed on. The big red boxes have no texting keypad....

I suppose it is rough handling and repetitive playing that create most errors, but I'm not educated in that field. Still it's a pain - to try to see an entire movie without interruption.

Maybe it's time to move to a new media? USB thumb drives? They have plenty of memory, but do they have enough for quality video? For a 2 hour movie? Protection against being corrupted by credit-card magnetics?

Where to go, what to do?

[anapuni808]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

did you ever hear of Netflix? if you have a newer DVD player or TV, it most likely is possible to stream videos via Amazon, or other video rental sources. You don't have to go to Blockbuster. and except for Netflix, you can get many "first run" videos in HD too. and with some planning, you can get new releases from Netflix. It just depends on how much you want to pay. I'm sure there are other sources that i just cant think of right now too. sorryb - i just had a small stroke, my brain is still a little scrambled. LOL

[helen]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

1) How old is your DVD player?
2) Do you have access to other DVD players?
3) Do you own any DVDs?

There is the possibilty that the problem might be your DVD player, the older the unit the more likey this might be the issue (like 4 or more years old).

To test this out is to try your own DVDs (if you have any) or try the rented DVD on another player to see if you have the same results.

[lensperson]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

Chiming in , In a tropical climate lenses can fog up quickly.
The read laser in dvd and bluray players is focused with tiny lenses .
For a cheap possible solution try a lens cleaning disc.
It has little whiskers that attempt to remove the fog.
Radio Shack probably has them.

[TuNnL]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

I have been increasingly disappointed with the quality of rental DVDs.

My experience is that even relatively new titles have skips, backtracks, lockups and indescribable errors. Since Blockbuster and other video/DVD stores are gone... there is no one to report to, and the inscribed errors are passed on. The big red boxes have no texting keypad....

I suppose it is rough handling and repetitive playing that create most errors, but I'm not educated in that field. Still it's a pain - to try to see an entire movie without interruption.

I feel your pain, Kaonohi — but only because I now watch movies in the Blu-Ray DVD format (1080p) almost exclusively. However, if you are content to settle for standard DVD quality (480p), Anapuni’s suggestion makes a lot of sense. Just stream the video over the internet using Netflix. That does open up a new can of worms, though. U.S. and Hawai‘i internet providers in particular, have lately been a letdown, in terms of speed. This is why Blu-Ray quality movies are still unavailable, even on Netflix. The U.S. ranks 17th in the world in average internet speed. Too slow for 1080p video streaming.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

sorryb - i just had a small stroke, my brain is still a little scrambled. LOL

Yow! I hope you are recovering OK. Thanks for the netflix info, I'll look into that as an alternative. Take care of yourself - you are valued here.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

1) How old is your DVD player?
2) Do you have access to other DVD players?
3) Do you own any DVDs?

There is the possibilty that the problem might be your DVD player, the older the unit the more likey this might be the issue (like 4 or more years old).

To test this out is to try your own DVDs (if you have any) or try the rented DVD on another player to see if you have the same results.

My personal DVDs, even old ones, play fine. They have usually been played only 3-4 times at most. I think it has to do with multiple plays and rough handling of rented DVDs.

We need a new medium.

[lensperson]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

Sometimes the encoding of the dvd/blurays is changed.I got an Olevia bluray player at target about 2 years ago.It still plays all my dvds and the bluray discs I purchased around that time.
At a point in time some discs (bluray) would not play. The player informed me in a cheeky
message...disc not recognised!
The recently puchased movies would not play.
I was forced to get a new bluray player.
Keep in mind that Sony is now buying the EMI assets.
The disc encoding was changed to force purchases of more stuff.

[TuNnL]

Re: Rental DVDs - tracking errors

Sometimes the encoding of the dvd/blurays is changed.I got an Olevia bluray player at target about 2 years ago.It still plays all my dvds and the bluray discs I purchased around that time.

At a point in time some discs (bluray) would not play. The player informed me in a cheeky message...disc not recognised! The recently puchased movies would not play. I was forced to get a new bluray player.

My first inclination is to say if you bought a blu-ray player at Target, you got what you deserve. I’ve never heard of “Olevia” before and frankly, I would only buy Denon or Oppo Digital. (I might consider a Panasonic if I was going to go the 3D route, or a Sony PS3 if I wanted to play games, too.)

Anyhow, did you attempt to see if Olevia offered a firmware update? As you correctly surmised, studios have begun to add improvements that require them to change the way the discs are encoded. But quality manufactures offer firmware updates as a way to upgrade your existing player — to ensure all new discs will continue to be compatible. Typically, these updates are available for download from the manufacturer’s website. Of course, companies that are here today, gone tomorrow (Olevia?) usually don’t bother to make the effort.