I bought a Panasonic RP-82 less than 2 years ago and it worked as well as advertised, at least until recently. I was watching a movie and, about 15 minutes into it, the picture started skipping and freezing up, and did so for quite some time. I thought it was a problem with the DVD movie until I tried playing another another one last night. I found that the first chapter played fine, but I had to skip thru the next 6 until it would work normally again, and it did thru the rest of the disc without any problems.

I guess this could be caused by dust on the laser, but why would it only cause problems on part of the DVDs? If it is dust, are there any products on the market that can clean the sucker without having to open the unit? Do those discs with the little brushed on them really work or could they damage the laser?

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions you may have.

Swish