Anybody know what that weird pause mid-movie on a DVD is all about?

[Blue in a Red State]

Like it's a new reel or something. That frozen pause with no sound. Why is it there? Why don't they splice it out or conceal it somehow? Questions that bother me so...

[sir_captain]

1. It's the layer-change break

There are two discs glued together on a dual-layer DVD, which pretty much all dvds are all now. The laser has to literally re-focus at a slightly different depth to read the new layer. This takes a split-second. Some players are better at it than others...

[Blue in a Red State]

2. Aha.

So it's not something they can edit for (say a fade to black at that exact moment), huh? Thanks for the info.

[sir_captain]

3. Nope, unfotunately

Just a limit of technology. The next generation of optical discs is probably going to have even more layers, so get ready for even more little pauses! It's better than having to flip the disc over, though!

[Technowitch]

4. Newer / more expensive DVD players have a bigger buffer

Which usually minimizes or eliminates the layer pause.

We've a Denon multi-disc player that has the feature.

[Blue in a Red State]

5. Mine's going on 5 years old now

But the pause is not an annoyance, really. We kinda make it a game to spot it, actually...

[Floogeldy]

6. Your player is old and sloooooooooooooooooooooow.

I think.

B-)