Why are Games Console lasers so much more fragile than DVD/CD/PC lasers?

noodler

Never had the laser in a PC or DVD/CD player die on me...ever.

Why are game console ones so much more susceptible? Shouldn't standards be higher?

Discuss.

Retr0gamer

It's a cost cutting exercise and is carried out by lots of companies and government bodies. The company puts out a tender and other companies will offer their services and give their price for the parts/service. They usually go with the lowest bidder. All those NASA projects are made from parts by the lowest bidders

With the cost of consoles these days and the fact they are sold at a loss, keeping costs down is the top priority.

However one company have been constantly awful for their disc drives, Sony. The PS1 was originally released with a plastic disc drive that wore down and left plastic fillings all over the disc drive after 6 months. I've had 2 PS2's fail on me from the disc read error of doom and the only reason my current one isn;t failing is because I'm using the hard disk exploit. And the PS3 blu-ray of death (which honestly I don't see will be a problem, the PS3 is surprisingly well made, a nice turn around by sony, I think the PSP is a fantastically made piece of kit as well). It's really just luck if they get a good laser supplier. My saturn has seen years of use and is still going strong while my PS1 is on it's last legs. The 360 DVD drive is dreadful and I'm sure it's also prone to failure and the Wii disc drive sometimes has trouble reading discs especailly DVD 9s.

Redlion

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I've had 2 PS2's fail on me from the disc read error of doom.

thats odd, i've had my ps2 for the last six and a half years and it's never had one problem

fitz0

My PS2 started killing my PS1 discs for some reaon. Was told it happens because of the cheap laser.

Retr0gamer

Redlion wrote: »

thats odd, i've had my ps2 for the last six and a half years and it's never had one problem

My PS2's get a lot of use. First one lasted 2 years, second one barely a year.

noodler

Im lucky with my PS2, 8 years as well.

Wouldn't really low brand dvd/cd players suffer from cheap parts syndrome too?

My ps2 has seen serious use, ditto my pc dvd drive yet not a problem.

Has anyone had a non-games console laser die on them?

MooseJam

Well you install games on a PC so for your average game the laser gets used for 20 mins or so whereas on a console it's going all the time you are playing - hours and hours of constant use, thats my guess anyway.

noodler

MooseJam wrote: »

Well you install games on a PC so for your average game the laser gets used for 20 mins or so whereas on a console it's going all the time you are playing - hours and hours of constant use, thats my guess anyway.

Good point. StIll the amount of rips, burning installs etc a PC laser is asked to do at the same time.

WellyJ

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's a cost cutting exercise and is carried out by lots of companies and government bodies. The company puts out a tender and other companies will offer their services and give their price for the parts/service. They usually go with the lowest bidder. All those NASA projects are made from parts by the lowest bidders

With the cost of consoles these days and the fact they are sold at a loss, keeping costs down is the top priority.

However one company have been constantly awful for their disc drives, Sony. The PS1 was originally released with a plastic disc drive that wore down and left plastic fillings all over the disc drive after 6 months. I've had 2 PS2's fail on me from the disc read error of doom and the only reason my current one isn;t failing is because I'm using the hard disk exploit. And the PS3 blu-ray of death (which honestly I don't see will be a problem, the PS3 is surprisingly well made, a nice turn around by sony, I think the PSP is a fantastically made piece of kit as well). It's really just luck if they get a good laser supplier. My saturn has seen years of use and is still going strong while my PS1 is on it's last legs. The 360 DVD drive is dreadful and I'm sure it's also prone to failure and the Wii disc drive sometimes has trouble reading discs especailly DVD 9s.

PS1 and PS2 I agree with, but PS3?

It's one of the most solidly built consoles ever. How have they been constantly awful when PS3 has little to no Drive issues?

fitz0

WellyJ wrote: »

PS1 and PS2 I agree with, but PS3?

It's one of the most solidly built consoles ever. How have they been constantly awful when PS3 has little to no Drive issues?

Em, did you even read the post? He praised the PS3 build quality.

Nick_oliveri

Ps3 drive is pretty sweet, in my time as a Desktop PC afficianado, ive gone through multiple CD/DVD drives, not one is still working today, its not as if I was pirating 40 DvDs a day or anything, just random game installations, a couple of burnt CD's and the drive dies, always dies.

Even Xbox1 drives are more stable, Wii also. Of couse, im basing this on nothing but my own experience... I will say though, that we should revert to using cartriges or high bandwidth R/W flash drives as the medium of choice.

Jack Sheehan

Most consoles have this problem:
Saturn: No idea, never had one.
Dreamcast: Ditto
PS1: What Retro said
PS2: Ugh, I had more problems with the PS2 drive than any other console. Couldn't read DVDs, blue or red discs and towards the end, anything. Really poorly made console.
GCube: Over time the laser strength would dip until it couldn't read anything. There was a home fix but it involved opening up the case with a special screwdriver.
Xbox: I never had any problems.
360: A mate of mine had huge problems with disc read errors, games cutting out and freezing etc. I had 2 RRODs but no disc drive problems. The thing sounds like an F22 taking off though.
PS3/Wii: Dunno, I've heard good things.