The fault listed is quite common with many CD transports and can often be
traced to the inability of the laser tracking to stay focused on the disc.
DVDs will be worse because they must track more accurately. The fault is
that the carriage that the laser is carried on must move very smoothly and
is typically either on a simple ball bearing or a linear track. It is worth
opening the player, checking the type of transport and adding a small amount
of oil to lubricate the movement of the laser. As the oil dries out the
laser finds it more difficult to track, the same is true when it warms up
hence it plays from switch on but stops and will not restart until cool.
Good luck
"Stephen McLuckie" wrote in message
...
A friend has asked my opinion on this, and I have no idea. Is there a
general reliability problem with DVD transports?

Her Philips machine can play a (rented movie) DVD for between 15 and 45
minutes, after which time a NO DISC or DISC ERROR is displayed.
Reinserting
the DVD doesn't help, although it will sometimes play for 1 - 2 minutes.
Playing a different DVD makes no difference.

The machine is about 18 months old; so she's not very happy. She is also
wondering how reliable these players are, as a lot of her friends are
having
reliability problems with their DVD players.

Any ideas what the problem might be?

Stephen