Hello,
I am looking for some assistance/advice. I have owned a LG LRY-517 DVD-VCR recorder for about 2 years. Recently, the machine started to take longer and longer to read DVDs and now will not read any DVDs except ones that are store bought or rented. I have recorded a lot of programs on DVD using DVR +R and DVD+RW and they have always worked fine. Now, the machine will not read any of the homemade DVDs made on this machine or others. I have an older DVD player in the house that reads the same discs fine.
I have used a commercial DVD cleaner but no luck. I e-mailed the company and they sent me a list of places to send it for repair. Of course, the warranty is no longer valid. I am wondering if I am missing something here. Is there any way one of my kids could have changed settings or something that would make the unit stop reading home made DVDs. You can tell from my line of questioning here that I am indeed a novice in this area.
Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have.
jimmylittleman
No i highly doubt if a setting could cause this problem. Most of the time when this happens on DVD players/recorders, it is the laser optics that are getting weak. You may want to try and clean the laser lens by hand before taking the unit into the repair shop. It explains how to do this HERE
Good Luck, and let us know how this turns out for you.
Thanks Larry,
That is a very informative article and I will give this a try when I get the time.
jimmylittleman
The problem with this device is most likely a waekening of the laser. Standard pre-recorded/stamped DVDs are a different color than the recordable ones. As the laser begins to weaken, these colored discs will be effected more than the purchased ones. Try the cleaning as Larry suggested as any dust or grease film will ineffect block the laser light and result in the symptoms you are seeing.
Keep us posted.
Dan
Thanks Dan, and I think you may be right. I took the unit apart yesterday and cleaned the laser. I put it all back together and to my amazment, I didn't break anything and the machine still works. It now reads movies and DVDs we had previously recorded so I made some progress. It read a new blank top brand name DVD +RW (Memorex) but will not read new blank DVD +RW that are of the cheaper kind (Kybermedia). I am not sure if I should go back in and clean it more thoroughly or not. I was very cautious with how much alcohol I used and how much rubbing I did.
If this is fact a weakening of the laser, then can I assume that this will continue to get worse again? This was a top of the line machine with less than 2 years of use.
tx
Jimmylittleman
I doubt if cleaning the lens again will help. Once the laser starts to deteriorate, it will progressively get worse I'm afraid.