Not content with the bed breaking last week, it looks like our DVD player is also on the way out.  For some reason the discs aren’t playing at all, and we’re getting told “No Disc” when there patently bloody well is one.

Normally, a replacement DVD player wouldn’t be an issue. Thirty quid (at most) and job done.

However, we’re in a similar situation to when my DVD player died years ago – it’s not just a stand-alone DVD player, it’s a multiple disc thing that also deals with all the surround sound, Dolby® etc., so it’s pretty much DVD plus the full stereo etc. Which means that ideally I’m looking for a DVD player with the Dolby 5.1 outputs, so I can plug the speakers into it and job done.

Only of course, they’re hard to find – if they exist at all. The players are rarely sold on their own, instead coming with all the speakers as a completely new bit of kit.

All told, it all becomes a bit of a pain. I’d rather just get the player, so we don’t have to get new speakers etc. too – but that doesn’t seem to be a possibility.