My DVD player sometimes is very jerky - picture jams, there is a pause and then restarts. What is the cause and should I pay to have it looked at. Many thanks for your advice

Maybe one or more buttons jammed or wet inside.
Try opening front panel and clean the contacts. If problem persists then it is the buttons controller IC/PCB faulty.

The video is jerky because the rate at which the video stream is being received on the internet is not keeping up with the rate at which the video is being played on the screen by the video player application that you are using. The video player has an incoming video stream buffer and if the amount of video data in it falls below a minimum amount, the player will pause until the incoming stream refills it to some point above the minimum amount. Most video players will have a pause button and clicking it will manually pause the video player so allowing its buffer (or cache) to fill until you click its play button again. The player will have an indicator of how much of the video content has been downloaded into the buffer and if you pause until all the content has been downloaded, clicking play at this point results in a play of the video that will not be jerky.

Looks like it is the problem with the DVD disc / media source. Replace the disc with another disc. Last but not least.. why dont you try connecting the DVD player and TV via HDMI cable? Sometimes older cables may cause video drops .. just guessing anyway!.

THis is a very common problem (you can see quite a bit of complaints like this)...complain to Sony and tell them that it is a common problem...

Are you in the UK? Is the new DVD player compatible with TV in your area?

Some technical details like make and model would be helpful.

I have seen many issues with these internal dvd players, I will recommend that you pick up a nice inexpensive walmart dvd player and hook it in to the red. green blue connections, that is really the best solution, the players in all these units fail within 4 years. hope this helps have a great weekend

What are your PC specs for RAM and CPU speed? VLC player is an amazing player. Are you saying this player is jerky on the same videos that another player was NOT jerky on? That seems very odd. I have yet to experience a jerky playback on VLC for movies (mostly HD).

Is your PC doing something else in the background while attempting to play the movies? Hit Control, Shift, Escape while playing a movie and look on the bottom at how much CPU % the PC uses before and during movie playback.

cost you $500 for a consoltaion
please pay quickly - inflation on the way up

thanks
tony

ok " get a CD/ DVD cleaning disk , you pop that in and it will clean the lens inside, and they don't cost much, but do so much
good. happy movie watching

Drive is on its way. Typical behaviour. Try air dusting lens but unlikely to fix it. Very easy diy repair and cheap. EBay the new disc drive or refurbished. Then go to youtube. Nearly all laptop drives are the same to replace no matTerry brand. You could even get a faster drive.