Samsung DVD-S221, Post-Move, Has Rolling/Fading Pic or Messed-Up Movie. Fixable?

October 9, 2004 9:08 AM

Since moving, my DVD player is unable to play some DVDs it once was able to play. There's sort of a rolling/fading picture at all times, or the menus look fine but the movie itself is messed up. The sound is okay, and some discs play perfectly. It's a Samsung DVD-S221.

Is there anything I can do, or is it just plain broke?

Also, the DVDs are fine. They play on a computer.

posted by swift to Technology (6 answers total)

That type of equipment doesn't tend to be easily fixable--they're not designed to have their parts replaced, there's not a ready supply of replacement parts, and the cost for parts and labor would almost certainly exceed the cost of just replacing the unit.

Unless you've got a super high-end home theater, you can buy a perfectly good DVD player (progressive scan, Dolby Digital, optical outs, etc.) for $100 or less.
posted by LairBob at 9:44 AM on October 9, 2004

Since moving, my DVD player is unable to play some DVDs it once was able to play. There's sort of a rolling/fading picture at all times, or the menus look fine but the movie itself is messed up. The sound is okay, and some discs play perfectly. It's a Samsung DVD-S221.

Sounds like macrovision. Did you, perchance, when hooking your DVD player back up, run it through a VCR? Or maybe you're using it on a different TV?
posted by shepd at 11:01 AM on October 9, 2004

second the macrovision idea.

make sure the dvd is connected directly to the tv.
posted by fishfucker at 12:40 PM on October 9, 2004

I actually encountered this problem when I tried running my DVD player's signal through the VCR. Undid it, and all was fine. Hearing that it's a macrovision problem makes me think I should have just put it in macrovision-defeat mode (which is possible on this model).
posted by adamrice at 2:31 PM on October 9, 2004

Response by poster: Yeah, I'm running it through a VCR - a different VCR from what I used to run it through (the old one died).

I'll try to figure out a way to hook it up to the TV, but unfortunately the TV only has a coaxial input, and the DVD player doesn't have that kind of output. There must be an adapter for this kind of situation, though.

Thanks for keeping the player out of the trash.
posted by swift at 4:32 PM on October 9, 2004

The item you're looking for is an RF Modulator. Around $20 last time I looked.
posted by ODiV at 5:57 PM on October 9, 2004