Is my DVD player POSSESSED?

I use my Theta Carmen as a CD transport as well as DVD player, and I also have found some weirdness. It skips more often than other players, and just last night spit out Watermark (which no other player has refused to play). I think the Theta stuff must be very VERY sensitive to minor flaws. When I asked the Theta tech, he suggested making sure the disc is properly centered. I believe the devil theory, although I conjecture that the government is involved. You see, there is this...uh-oh, they're coming for me...

HDM, I tried unplugging the unit. I have found that to work on pre-amps before but no luck on the DaViD. I will see about picking up some of that cleaner you recommend. Dbwl sounds like a typical tech answer. Have you thought about sending the piece in? Maybe it just doesn't like ENYA? I thought about compressed air or possibly a DVD player cleaning disc. But those scare the hell out of me more than the devil himself. I was able to hop over the bad track #13(Coincidence,I think not) And finish watching the rest of the movie. If this problem gets any worse it's back to the factory OH BOY!!!

I had this problem with a Panasonic DVD player. When I had it serviced the technician said there was a problem with the laser, and this was not the first time he had seen it. No problem after the laser was replaced.

Glen, I have thought about sending it back. I haven't tried things like cleaning the CD's though. Many are old, and have minor scratches. For some reason, the Theta skipped much more when it was new than after it had been burned in. Until it spit out that one CD last night, I had figured the occasional skip was not enough of an annoyance. Now, I suppose I'm wondering again. I think I'll discuss it with my dealer (the unit is only a month or two old). If the dealer suggests any of these are typical problems for Theta, or ones that can easily be fixed, I'll probably send it in, 6 weeks or not. I'll let you know what he says.

Someone e-mailed me this, it's good info so I thought I would add it to this thread. Thanks Dave.

Hello, you are not alone. Although I do not own the unit you have,I have
experienced this on a number of DVD players I have owned including the DVD5000
Denon and Pioneer Elite DV09. The Sony 7000,7700,9000es that I have had are the
only ones I did not experience it on. NAD has issued statements on the condition
and it has to do with the readability of the discs themselves as they are
produced and by which studio and can also depend on the player itself. I sent my
DVD5000 back to Denon and they put in a new laser mechanism. The NAD statement
indicated their commitment to try to improve/update their players as needed to
prevent such performance glitches. The other night I rented a dvd that pixelated
and finally froze up, I gently wiped it off and it played through the same part
then staggered through a few more scenes without audio and finally cleared up
and continued playing fine. This was the DV09. Apparently there are a few
factors. Good luck. Maybe contact Theta and see wh!
at their theory is. Dave