Modern Times Dilemma: The Hobbit Is Stuck in My DVD Player

Comments

And you need to use a drone to film the hammer destruction of your DVD player.

Penguinjava on May 7, 2013 at 10:50 AM

Instead of a hammer, try a screwdriver. It's easy to open up a DVD player and pop the tray out manually.

on May 7, 2013 at 10:50 AM

i'm sure you already tried unplugging it. if not, try that, and then just manually open the tray. it's not that hard, and the disc will probably cost you more to replace than your dvd player.

tainte on May 7, 2013 at 10:52 AM

Unless it's a particularly fancy DVD player, breaking it will be the cheaper method. Sad but true.

deadrose on May 7, 2013 at 10:53 AM

Option 3, unplug the thing and take a screwdriver to it. If you're out of warranty there's no real repercussion, and you get to learn how DVD players are put together since you'll be putting it back together yourself. Science!

psbirch on May 7, 2013 at 10:54 AM

Use a paperclip.

Kenneth on May 7, 2013 at 11:00 AM

As others said - open it with a screwdriver - get you disc. Simple.

CC-Rob on May 7, 2013 at 11:02 AM

I sometimes get the same thing. It happens when the disc gets slightly out of place. Unplugging it, then plugging it back in after you shake it a little, works for me.

Pope Peabrain on May 7, 2013 at 11:04 AM

You can buy ten crappy DVD players for the cost of a repairman's time -- which is one reason why the streets are not lined with DVD repair shops.

Pry just enough of the tray front to get a grip on it, then slowly pull it out. You'll feel and eventually see the plastic gears that drive it turning, though it will be stiff because the motor will be off. It might even work again after you get the disc out and plug it back in.

Fnarf on May 7, 2013 at 11:04 AM

"Take my DVD player to a shop"

How quaint.

While you are there, would you mind taking my tin teapot to the tinkerer? it seems to have developed a small crack.

Theodore Gorath on May 7, 2013 at 11:05 AM

They've got DVD players in the third world, because it's the same modern world as the one you live in.

FriscoDingo on May 7, 2013 at 11:06 AM

Step 1. Use a paperclip on the little hole. See if that works.

Step 2. Open it with a screwdriver - make sure you touch any large metal objects with bare fingers - rubber insulators are for wusses who don't like capacitor discharges. Use the flat blade to push it out from inside. Screw things back in. Close it up.

Step 3. Realize you just violated the warranty and buy a cheap DVD player. Oh, heck, just get a PS3, it does the same thing.

Step 4. Bow to Beijing three times after lighting incense.

Will in Seattle on May 7, 2013 at 11:06 AM

It's time to take a little bit of control of this modern world instead of just letting it happen to you. Buy a screwdriver. Take off the cover. Look around, wonder at the effort that went into designing each piece, each little chip on the little circuit board, the vast amount of empty space in the cover that's just there so the consumer thinks it's more valuable, the standardized components that are used in dozens of DVD players and even completely different devices.

Then figure out how to remove the DVD. It isn't rocket surgery.

Matt the Engineer on May 7, 2013 at 11:08 AM

ME WANT MAKE GO! SMASH SMASH SMASH!!!

/hulk

disintegrator on May 7, 2013 at 11:20 AM

Dunno if it is on Netflix, but I think everyone should watch the 1970s animated version of The Hobbit. Leonard Nimoy, Otto Preminger and John Huston do voices, there is a deliciously fruity folk soundtrack, and they tell the WHOLE story in 80 minutes.

Narbles on May 7, 2013 at 11:29 AM

Yeah, this isn't rocket science here. If it's one of those slot-feed DVD players, it'll have a hole to stick a paper clip in. If it's not, surely you can pry the tray out with some needle-nosed pliers, or a screwdriver, or a knife... really any stick-like implement will work in a pinch.

Ruke on May 7, 2013 at 11:36 AM

This is not a problem. Pay Redbox what you owe them for the DVD. Unplug the DVD player, put it into an old microwave oven (proven EMP proof storage), put that into another box and bury in your yard. Make sure you have a generator and gasoline to run the generator. When the Electro-Magnetic Pulse wipes all electronics out, dig up DVD player with The Hobbit, set up generator and invite all your friends over for entertainment. Sucky CGI is now a thing of the past, because this is all the electronic entertainment you now have.

KatynaKat on May 7, 2013 at 11:37 AM

Douse it in a combination of white gas and kerosene, then set it alight with propane torch. Set the propane canister on the flaming DVD player, and back away quickly. Once the propane explodes, you'll have your DVD back. Then, call the police and tell them someone just set off a bomb in your neighborhood. Move immediately to a new neighborhood. Problem solved!

treacle on May 7, 2013 at 11:40 AM

I also find using a blowtorch is fun.

Will in Seattle on May 7, 2013 at 11:47 AM

There's no option for "try to get the disc out myself without destroying the player." No need to create any toxic landfill if you can help it. Screwdrivers, tweezers, paperclips, and the eraser end of a pencil are your friends.

pox on May 7, 2013 at 11:48 AM

Stuff the DVD player containing The Hobbit back into the Redbox. You've made your return, it's their problem now.

rainbird on May 7, 2013 at 11:50 AM

Surely somewhere on the internets you can order a DIY DVD Repair DVD, no?

RonK, Seattle on May 7, 2013 at 11:51 AM

#27 on the list of things we don't do anymore due to technology. I don't where call waiting is on this list. That was a Seinfeld episode. This seems more like a Mad About You (egh!)

http://mozy.com/blog/infographics/50-thi…

biffp on May 7, 2013 at 12:18 PM

Get you and your friends together and film a 'Sweded' version of the Hobbit, then return that to Redbox.

Ziggity on May 7, 2013 at 1:14 PM

I can understand a writer criticizing the script for "The Hobbit." But to call it "shitty CGI" is just silly. It's actually the highest quality CGI available, painstakingly made by highly accomplished artists and programmers.

Obviously Grant doesn't like the amount of CGI, but that has more to do with Grant's tastes than the quality of the CGI, itself.

LJM on May 7, 2013 at 1:38 PM

Years ago somebody gave a me a VCR with Caligula stuck in it.

I called it, 'The Caligula Machine.'

CPN on May 7, 2013 at 1:44 PM

DVD trays are about the easiest thing in the world to force-eject. Use a very small screwdriver - an eyeglass screwdriver will work - to pry it just the teensiest bit out, then take needle-nose pliers and gently pull, steadily but gently, until the mechanism wakes up and takes over for you and ejects the tray.

Geni on May 7, 2013 at 2:11 PM

(Cycling power while prying the tray front will often work, too.)

Geni on May 7, 2013 at 2:11 PM

Also, be thankful it's just a DVD, and not a real Hobbit.

RonK, Seattle on May 7, 2013 at 2:38 PM

1. Are DVD players really still among the first world's problems?

Josh Bis on May 7, 2013 at 3:04 PM

RonK FTW.

Also I came into The Hobbit with really low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It was a lot better than I thought it would be.

dwightmoodyforgetsthings on May 7, 2013 at 4:05 PM

Modern Times Dilemma: The Hobbit Is Stuck in My DVD Player

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