Repair, buy new or wait ?

[admin_exported]

Hi all - I've been the very happy owner of an Arcam FMJ DV27 for 5-6 years. Was expensive when I bought it (£900+ if I remember). Recently I've started to have some probs:
[*] purchased DVD's will jitter and/or lock up with the only option to open the tray and start again. There are no scratches on the disks and generaly when I put them back in they either work ok or occasionally lock up again in a different spot. [*] Some created DVD's (using +R or -R disks) wont work on the machine at all - whereas they will work on a cheap and cheerful Tesco's machine in the kids room or in my PS3
I spoke to Arcam. They confirmed I had the latest firmware and said that it was likely in need of a service which would cost about £200 (or more depending on what they find)

Q: Is it worth having the machine serviced or would I be better off buying a new player - i.e. are modern players going to give me better quality and more options than I'd get by repairing my current machine.

Also, if I were to have it serviced, is it likely to overcome the DVD + / - probs or is the machine is too old to handle these formats properly ?

Re budget I could spend up to £1000 for a new DVD player but I'd prefer to keep it in the 5-750 range if possible - albeit for a quality product.

I watch a lot of DVD's but havent yet got into BlueRay.

Alternately, is it worth waiting for a super dooper product that is coming out soon and use my PS3 in the mantime to get by ?

Other components are

• Amp. Denon AVC A1SE. (which I'd really like to update and run all my HD links through)
• TV. Pioneer PDP 427XD
• Sky HD
• PS3 (I occasionally use this to play dvd's but hate to use the gamepad as a remote)
• 5.1 speaker setup with KEF Ref series 1 fronts and KEF centre/rears
• 3 young children who like all things sticky and dont wash their hands before putting a DVD in (I see this as a permanent constraint rather than something I can fix)

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions

 

[professorhat]

[quote user="JoePineapples"]PS3 (I occasionally use this to play dvd's but hate to use the gamepad as a remote)[/quote]

Don't have an answer on the Arcam I'm afraid, however, if you do decide to go with temporarily with your PS3, why not get one of these. Much much easier than the gamepad, I can assure you.

I've also got that Denon amp - fantastic isn't it?! Like you though, I'll be looking to replace it with an HD capable one soon.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Just out of interest have you tried using a disc cleaner on your Arcam ? It might just need 5-6 years worth of dust cleaned off the laser.

If your player is faulty and your interested in going the HD route with your amp ,then I would personally wait a few months until all the new blueray players from the likes of Denon etc come out. You'll need a blueray player to take advantage of the new HD audio formats. And it's possible that these new players will be as good and maybe even better than your Arcam with dvd's.

I would use your PS3 for a few months as it's a pretty decent player. If you don't like using the controller as the remote you could always buy one of these http://www.play.com/Games/PlayStation3/4-/3308576/Official-Sony-Blu-ray-Remote-Control-For-PS3/Product.html# . I've seen the remote in Tesco's as well but for £18.

With blueray winning the HD format war, and the price of players droping all the time I would expect blueray sales to out sell dvd in the next year or two. And the price of blueray films has already droped in price from last year. Play have some good films on their 3for2 offer, and they have a 2 films for £25 as well. So what im basically saying is that in a year or 2 all your purchases will be on Blueray. So I don't think it's worth buying a new dvd only machine.

Just give it a few months and there should be some very good new players on the market.

EDIT: Looks like the Prof beat me to it

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for speedy replies.

Remote now ordered from Play and will be visiting my local Maplins for a DVD cleaner on Tuesday. Are all cleaners the same - or are there benfits of wet over dry versions ?

Thanks again

 

[professorhat]

Never tried a wet version I have to say... I've had limited success with dry cleaners though.