DMP-BD60 picture wobble on DVD playback

Hi.
Just bought the Panasonic DMP-BD60. Nice little player but I’m having a DVD related problem with it.
When playing DVD-R discs there is a video ’shudder’ every 5 or so seconds. I have 3 small children so am continuosly re-burning our kids dvds due to damage and loss so really need to sort this out. The dozen or so bought DVDs I have tried have all worked fine as well as the one Blu-Ray disc I tried. Some older burnt DVDs seem to work fine but I can't remember what brand they were.
The brand I have used the most to burn with is Imation DVD-R 16x (printable suface) recorder reference number 5112217350.
I have tried to re-encode my films but to no avail. They play fine in other players and both my PC DVD drives. The VOB files play fine prior to burning as well.
I have looked in the manual and have tried changing HDMI Video Mode to off but this made no difference either.
Have unit hooked up to network and have the latest firmware installed.
I am using the Component Video Out ports to my TV as I don’t have a HDMI TV yet. Wife says this one has to blow up first although I am an Electrician and could organize this .
I will try the AV video output after I post this as it’s about the only thing I haven’t tried yet. Me making my burnt DVDs region free should not make any difference as this player is DVD Region free I believe.
Any help would be appreciated as wife not overly happy considering I just went to buy a new el-cheapo DVD player and came home with this.
Help with DVD problem NOT wife, just to clarify.
Thanks.
Regards Lynton

I'm not familiar with the BD60 but I have seen the video stutter you talk about. I've seen it with 3 Memorex DVD players on my copied DVDs. The same DVDs play fine in every other player/recorder I've tried. I've wrote Memorex DVD players off my list. I'd be surprised if all Panny BR players were like that but all I can think of is to try another(either in store if possible or exchange yours). If the next one does the same I guess I'd scratch Panasonic off your list. I doubt it is any setting in the player or your TV, it wasn't with the Memorex players I tried. Mine would play fine for several seconds followed by a slight pause followed by a slight speed up of the video, the audio remained fine throughout.
You could try Sony BR players, I've seen the 360 on sale for ~$129.

Thanks for the post jjeff.

It's not really a stutter but an actual wobble..... as in it looks like someone has shaken the camera up and down by a few inches about 4 or five times. No pauses or audio glitches.
Really quite odd.
I have been going through my kids DVD collection trying to find out what does it and what doesn't.
Verbatim seem fine but I only have old films that they don't watch much so they are not too scratched. Only have a handfull of those. Found two Imation ones (same brand but different batch I'm sure) where one works and one doesn't. Both encoded with same version and settings of ConvertXtoDVD.

I sent a request for support to Panny Australia (I'm an Aussie) with the same info I posted above and they sent the lazy one sentence answer of "Take it to your nearest service agent".
I'm an Electrician/Refrigeration mechanic of 20 years so I have a little bit knowledge of fault finding and logic, (dangerous I know ) , but to me it seems to becoming a problem with the batch of discs I'm currently using and not the player.
I think I'm going to grab some different brands of DVD-Rs and try some out. Always a last resort for me to take something to get looked at where I live. Normally don't see any electronic devices for a month or two due to backlog at service agent.

Thanks again for your post.

Madcat73

Bah humbug!

Tried Verbatim DVD-R discs to no avail.
Have also uninstalled ConvertXtoDVD to an older verion that some of my compressed DVDs (as avi) were encoded with. Still no joy.

There has to be some reason but I'm scratching my head at why.
Put on one of the older burnt Wiggles DVD for my youngest this arvo and it played fine until it got to the big scratch near the edge. No wobbling at all.
I'll wait a week and try a few more different encoding programs and then maybe give up and swap it under warranty.

Any suggestions welcome. I'm outa my depth.

Madcat73

I have that panny bd60, a terrific player. Upconverted discs really look like HD. I don't have your problem with playback. I might suggest, or strongly recommend getting some Taiyo Yuden 8x +R media, the best media made. I don't buy anything else any more because media has become so unreliable. Even Verbs are made in 3 different countries now and can't be counted on, even though they are probably the 2nd best media out there. There is no 3rd best they are all crap. Memorex is notoriously unreliable. I don't know if Rima.com ships to Aus. but it's definitely worth trying and spending the extra 10 cents a disc to get TY premium (not value line) media. Most people that know will tell you that 8x media is better than 16x and they burn perfectly at 12x. Good luck.
The bd60 is a "best buy" highly regarded player for the price, so if you are still having problems after trying TY, I would look to your burner for the problem. Update your firmware if you don't have the latest.

Hey Ricoman. Thanks for the post.

Have the latest firmware via network connection.
I can get TY 8xDVDs in Aussie Land just not in my town.
Since posting I have tried more of my old burnt DVDs and half of them play fine (apart from the ones the kids have used to polish concrete with ).
I got deperate late last night and installed Nero Vision. I re-encoded a compressed avi to DVD format and bugger me if it didn't get rid of the wobble. I'm left with a clean picture BUT have now got the tiniest pause every now and then. Not to mention the fact that it takes about 1 1/2 hours to do it.
I also tried something else different. I re-encoded an avi movie to AVCHD on the same Imation 16x DVDs i'm having problems with. It took eight hours so I let it go overnight and tried it in the player when I got home from work. Lo and behold it worked and plays fine. Am I right in thinking that AVCHD format uses the Blu-Ray laser and not the DVD laser.... I'm making a guess that the machine has one for each format.
Just about to believe it is the player but then I go back to the fact that a lot of the older burnt DVDs play fine.
I tell you if I wasn't bald and kept my hair short I would have pulled it out by now!

Any theories with this new information?

Thanks all

Madcat73

How about the firmware on the burner? Is that up to date?

Sorry Ricoman, misread / misunderstood your question.
No I haven't updated firmware for either of my burners for over a year. One is a Pioneer and one is a Lite-On that I was given by someone.
I have tried burning with both and have the same problem but tomorrow after work I shall find and flash one or both drives. One of the things I always forget about.
Will let you know the result.
Am going to try another program for encoding tomorrow as well.
Damn this 'work' thing that takes up all my time .

Regards
Madcat73

Finally had time to do a bit of experimentation. Firmware now up to date for my drives. Have found that it seems to be encoder related though I don't know how. All the discs that 'wobble' on my Panny DON"T wobble on anyone elses machine or the computer. Tried a dozen different proggys to re-encode original file and have found that the opensource DVDFlick has worked. It worked on several other files as well so I think I have a winner. Why the Panny DMP-BD60 is so bloody fussy I don't know. Some older disc don't have an issue even though they are the same type and were done with the same encoder. Thankyou to those that took the time to post and to try and help me. I would be keen to know if anyone else has experienced this problem so please PM me if you like. Regards MadCat1973