Hello everyone. I have a DVD that has five episodes of a tv show (came as a set) I had to resurface it once, seemed to help. Four episodes play fine on my older Sony player, but one episode skips like a mofo. But, it'll play like a charm in my Desktop PC's DVD-ROM. Then I saw a Sony DVD player DVPNS55P with Precision Drive 3, claiming to be able to read "flawed" discs. Just wondering if getting that would make a noticeable difference with my DVD. Or, if I could have a friend burn the DVD in his PC and hope that would make that one episode playable in a stand-alone DVD player. I'd have to get a new DVD player since my current one is from 1999-2000 or so and probably doesn't recognize burned DVDs. I appreciate any imput. Thanks in advance.

Well, if the computer can read it, and it IS that it is a scratch in the disc, then burning it to a new disc should allow it to be played. And I don't think that you'd have a problem playing it if you finalize the disc, although it still is a possibility that it might not.

Most players lose the ability to play the outside of the disc first. I would guess the faulty episode on the disc is closest to the outside edge. Why don't you bring the disc to a store and try it out on a few players? That should tell you if it is your player or just a damaged disc.

I have read in the past that DVD-cloning programs have difficulty with TV-episode DVD's for some strange reason. Maybe they're really not easy to read, or they suffer from anti-copying over-dosing.

BFK2,
The only difference between a PC's DVD-ROM and a standalone DVD player is the PC is software based for reading the disc's encryption, the .ifo files (these are the info files that direct the player, like bookmarks) and .bup (backup files), where the standalone player is generally hardware based. There are some very inexpensive DVD players that are nothing more than cheap DVD-ROMS housed in a shell.

Does any other of your DVDs skip or behave poorly on your standalone player? If yes, then I would say that the player's laser is on the way out or the lense might be dirty. Try cleaning the lense. Your PC's DVD-ROM probably has a hardier laser that is more tolerant of tracking problems or has less wear on it than your standalone player.

Considering the fact that you have already "resurfaced" the DVD, whatever that means, I would first have your friend make a copy of it using a DVD-R, not a +R. -R media seems to have a better compatability with players, especially older players.