I have a pricey Marantz DV9500 DVD player. It's admittedly a few years old, but it has worked extremely well for most of this time. About a year ago, the open/close button periodically didn't work. The tray wouldn't open, as if it were stuck. Usually pressing the button a second or third time would do the trick. It happened infrequently, but it became more and more common as the the months rolled by.

I finally took the DVD player in. I received a call today and was told that there was 'glue' from cheap DVD labels inside. Repair tech explained that it was common if you used cheap DVDs, for example pirated copies that you find for sale in third world countries or possible from those "RedBox" rental boxes. He said those are just some possible sources, and this is a problem related to how labels are affixed to DVDs, not scratched surfaces. I've never had any of those 3rd world mass-distributed copies, but I have used Redbox, starting about 8 months ago. (The problem, importantly, happened extremely infrequently before I ever heard of Redbox.)

I'm definitely not accusing Redbox of anything, but I also believe this repair tech knows his stuff and isn't making this up. I could have also misunderstood his explanation. Bottomline: is there any truth to the claim that poorly affixed labels, particularly those on RedBox DVDs, cause damage to the transport assembly of a DVD player? Is this something that should be examined more closely?

I always examine DVDs closely before loading them, especially rented ones. Is this something that could be identified with the naked eye?

Thanks.

I have a pricey Marantz DV9500 DVD player. It's admittedly a few years old, but it has worked extremely well for most of this time. About a year ago, the open/close button periodically didn't work. The tray wouldn't open, as if it were stuck. Usually pressing the button a second or third time would do the trick. It happened infrequently, but it became more and more common as the the months rolled by.

I finally took the DVD player in. I received a call today and was told that there was 'glue' from cheap DVD labels inside. Repair tech explained that it was common if you used cheap DVDs, for example pirated copies that you find for sale in third world countries or possible from those "RedBox" rental boxes. He said those are just some possible sources, and this is a problem related to how labels are affixed to DVDs, not scratched surfaces. I've never had any of those 3rd world mass-distributed copies, but I have used Redbox, starting about 8 months ago. (The problem, importantly, happened extremely infrequently before I ever heard of Redbox.)

I'm definitely not accusing Redbox of anything, but I also believe this repair tech knows his stuff and isn't making this up. I could have also misunderstood his explanation. Bottomline: is there any truth to the claim that poorly affixed labels, particularly those on RedBox DVDs, cause damage to the transport assembly of a DVD player? Is this something that should be examined more closely?

I always examine DVDs closely before loading them, especially rented ones. Is this something that could be identified with the naked eye?

Thanks.

I have heard that adhesive labels on DVD are a bad idea for the reasons you describe, but the little hub labels that Redbox and Netflix use do not look particularly risky to me. I have had no trouble yet...

I would not use a disc where the label was loose.

-Bill

If the labels are not placed properly, the glue can get on the spindle, creating problems. Just look at the disks that you put in your machine. If they are clean there is no problem. If they are sticky with glue, clean it off or bring it back to the vendor. Sort of like washing your hands before you eat...not rocket science.

Thanks for the replies. As for examining the discs, I've always checked my discs out closely, so I guess the question is whether this problem could arise even IF the disc looked "good". Then again, perhaps someone using my DVD player wasn't as careful. I dunno.

It's possible the label could come off even if it looked good. Anything could happen. It depends on how likely you think it would happen and whether you want to deal with the consequences. A risk assessment, really.

Personally, if the label isn't obviously peeling off (i.e., "looks good,) and I wanted to use the Redbox service, it's an acceptable risk. But it's up to you whether you agree.

Sounds good - appreciate the feedback. :)