HI, I have a new DVD player from Phillips (DVP2800), a cheap and cheerful one I know but I would have hoped it would play most DVD's like it said. Anyway, I'm getting a NO DISC error when I've put in a disc, I've tried a few and it seems pot luck. For example, I have a box set of four DVD's, two work, two 'no disc'.
Any ideas what might be going on? All the DVD'd tried work fine on the PC.
Thanks

The most common cause of not playing disks is a dodgy laser. Would be unusual, though not impossible, for a brand new machine to have an iffy laser.

One thing to try before you chuck it in the nearest skip is to run a laser cleaning disk through it. If that doesn't work and it is brand new then take it back to where you bought it from and get it replaced.

I would replace it with something decent, a Sony player for example, or at least something that has better quality video connections! A DVD player really ought to have RGB SCART at the very least not have only Composite video if the manual I read on the Phillips website is correct.

yes a poor laser sounds most likely. if beam not strong enough for player to focus and find the digital bitstream. presumably it makes a few whirring sounds before spitting dvd out ......

A common problem with the Philips DVD players was that the cable that connects the drive unit to the "motherboard" could become loose very quickly. It's all rather flimsy stuff.
You could try opening it up and see if that's the problem. If so, just reconnect the cable and use some sellotape to keep it in place.

Wouldn't that affect every disk or at least be purely random, ie you could play the same disk 3 times in a row and have it work twice but not the third time?

if u hear whirring noise then the focus servo moves the lens several times before giving up. cos it cant find a usable bitstream. hence "no disc". why it cant is the question. a laser can fail but emission is controlled until it finally does. sounds like there is a problem with beam detection and focus ........

if fiddling around be careful. 5 seconds of a focussed laser is enough to burn a hole in your retina causing a blind spot.

Thanks for your help folks. Back to the shop it goes and maybe an upgrade. Any suggestions for a dvd player under £50? I dont have a spare HDMI BTW.

Richersounds do a couple of Sony players for under 50 quid

http://www.richersounds.com/products...-separates/dvd

They are both Multiregion hacked so will play US disks as well if you have the need to do so. Though I see the more expensive one has HDMI and Composite video outs but no RGB SCART while the cheaper one does have RGB SCART.

So the "expensive" one would more or less directly replace the Phillips but have inferior video to the "cheaper" one unless you could make use of it's HDMI output.

For under 50 quid I would go for this if it was my wallet being emptied...

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ny-bdps1200-r2

Which is a reasonably decent Blu-Ray player. Only HDMI out though. But shouldn't be a problem as you can get HDMI switches fairly cheaply if all the sockets on the TV are in use already.

I've had experience with three Philips players. My own, my brother's and one from a friend of mine. All developed the same problem. It occurred purely random with retail discs and burned discs of different brands. If a disc was accepted it would play every time.

Shocking to see how little hardware there actually is inside a player. Most of the weight comes from a metal strip and the casing (if it's metal).

After the Philips fiasco I bought a Pioneer and never had any trouble. It plays everything thrown at it.