For some time now we have found our unit to be very choosy about what DVDs it can play. We're now at the point where it won't play any DVDs at all.

The instruction booklet tells you not to use a proprietary head cleaner in case it causes damage. What do you do then ?

The DVDs I've tried to play in them are just normal run of the mill DVDs you might rent or buy from new in the UK.

Does anyone have any thoughts or words of wisdom please ?

I'm glad it's not just me

I bought my GXD500 pretty much when they first came out, and I've recently relegated it to the bedroom due to similar problems. Iin my case it seems to be writing rather than reading which is the problem (it will play already recorded and shop bought DVDs with no problems, but ask it to play back something you've just recorded and it will struggle to read the disc).

I've replaced it with a HXD890 - well, it was a good excuse to get a Freeview+ machine with a hard drive (the UI on the 500 is far better btw). However, I'd like to get the 500 running properly again as it will be useful for schedule clashes (and recording muxes C & D in the correct aspect ratio until Arqiva finally sort that out).

Usual cause would be the laser or optical assembly, but it's likely the entire DVD mech may require replacing (laser assemblies aren't available) - this generally makes it beyond economical repair, probably £150-£200?.

I tried some old recorded DVDs tonight which played fine. It just won't seem to play any movie DVDs of any kind now. That to me would rule out optical lense or DVD mechanism problems.

I did wonder if it was something to do with the Region settings, but the instruction booklet says that if it can't play a DVD because of incorrect region settings it tells you so. All it seems to say is "Cannot play this disc".

I've done a bit more research and found that the following DVDs play perfectly well

The Shawshank Redemption
Roots (Boxed collection)
The March of the Penguins
Billy Elliot
In her Shoes
LoveActually
Ladies in Lavender

but these don't play at all...

Mamma Mia
Children of a Lesser God
American Gangster
Footloose

any thoughts anyone please ?


Is there some sort of difference between these two groups that I'm missing ?

They might have different optical properties, same reason rewritable CDs don't play in very old CD players.

The ones you have written will be single layer, so maybe it is dual layer it is having problems with? I imagine all the pre-recorded ones are dual layer, but maybe they aren't, or perhaps the information on the second layer did not need to be read in your tests?

Single layer dual layer ?? What a pain. Its bad enough that we have to check DVDs for subtitles before we choose them without having to see if they're Single or Double layer first.

Is there a way of checking this ?

Also wondering if my firmware is up to date as well. Does anyone know what the latest should be ?

Latest software version: v1.01.00
This is the only update that was ever broadcast AFAIK.

Dual layer discs say on the back of the box "Dual Layer Format: Switching between layers may trigger a slight pause".

Broadcast updates are ONLY for the Freeview tuner section, not for the DVD section - where updates are via files written to CDROM.

Just checked 'March of the Penguins' is in Dual Layer format, so maybe thats not it.

I've written to Sony explaining the problem as well, so hopefully they'll have something useful to say about it.

There aren't any other firmware updates for this model, unless you know different?

I can check at work tomorrow, but (like I said) OTA updates are only for the Freeview tuner, not the DVD software.

OK, I checked at work, there have been no software updates and no technical bulletins for this model.

Also, you do have to replace the entire DVD mechanism, which would cost a fortune.