Why do all DVDs have a 1-2 second hang up in the middle of playback?

Question

Every DVD I have ever watched, on ALL players, has a slight 1-2 second pause, usually in the middle of the movie. No scenes or parts of the movie are skipped. Every DVD, regardless of player, does this. Does anyone know the correct reason why? I figured it is that the laser has to move to a new sector on the disk that is farther away than other previous sectors.

Answer 1

From wikipedia ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD


A Dual Layer disc differs from its usual DVD counterpart by employing a second physical layer within the disc itself. The drive with Dual Layer capability accesses the second layer by shining the laser through the first semi-transparent layer. The layer change mechanism in some DVD players can show a noticeable pause, as long as two seconds by some accounts. This caused more than a few viewers to worry that their dual layer discs were damaged or defective, with the end result that studios began listing a standard message explaining the dual layer pausing effect on all dual layer disc packaging.

Answer 2

You're basically correct, most dvd's are dual layered, because they have a lot of content on them. Depending on the player it can be 1-2 seconds or 1/2 of a second. For example the Xbox 360's integrated dvd player switches layers pretty smoothly, best i've seen.

Answer 3

The laser is in fact moving. It's stopping to change frequency slightly so it can switch to and read the inner layer of a dual layer DVD...which is what 90% of them are.

Answer 4

Dude I think you need a “new” DVD player, : ^ D Maybe it's just cut scenes in the movie with a bad splice job and you have a keen eye. More than likely it’s the laser that’s dirty or starting to fall out range. If you have the skills you can adjust the lasers voltage minutely higher giving you more life out of the DVD player. Info on how to do this is all over the web. Search for adjusting PS2 laser and you’ll have all the info you need.

Answer 5

Thanks for that question and answer. I've always wondered that myself.