Review: MAXELL BLU-RAY LASER CLEANER

Mike LoManaco

comfortablycurt wrote: »

If it's not a disc with "two holes drilled in it", then what is it? Is there anything else on the disc that would have a cleaning effect? Does it look exactly like a regular disc...but with two holes in it? That's what it looks like to me.

That's what it looks like to you, but it seems to be more than that, with the holes being "filled" by some kind of air...

Where would this pressurized air be coming from? I find it REALLY hard to believe that a disc with two holes in it would create enough air pressure to do anything significant to an optical lens. It's not as if there's some kind of fan blowing pressurized air through the holes in the disc.

I am uncertain as to where it's coming from, but Maxell claims there is compressed air coming through those holes to blow gunk off the mechanism.

I stand by my earlier statement...I'm calling BS on this one.

Could be; I've used it a couple of times now and like most of these "laser cleaners," there's no immediate, obvious effect...

I also find it funny...this is advertised as a Blu-ray player cleaner, and can also be used for PS3's...this is logical, yet it can also be used for Xbox 360's? 360's don't use Blu-ray media...they use DVD media.

Yeah, the packaging and marketing rhetoric for this product seems excessive in some places...what disturbed me the most, as I said in the review, was that the disc comes in a Blu-ray blue box, is marketed as a "Blu-ray lens cleaner" and yet the onscreen menus are in standard DVD resolution...this was ridiculous.

kawizx9r

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

Yeah, the packaging and marketing rhetoric for this product seems excessive in some places...what disturbed me the most, as I said in the review, was that the disc comes in a Blu-ray blue box, is marketed as a "Blu-ray lens cleaner" and yet the onscreen menus are in standard DVD resolution...this was ridiculous.

Considering the low cost of $11, the company wanted to keep the cost of production at its lowest hence the dvd resolution....could it be considered that this disc is actually a dvd-encoded disc? You should try popping it in an older dvd-only unit and see if it starts up. :rolleyes:

Mike LoManaco

kawizx9r wrote: »

Considering the low cost of $11, the company wanted to keep the cost of production at its lowest hence the dvd resolution....could it be considered that this disc is actually a dvd-encoded disc? You should try popping it in an older dvd-only unit and see if it starts up. :rolleyes:

Interesting suggestion 'kawiz -- I don't have a DVD player on hand to do that, but it would be interesting to see what happens. Like DVE HD Basics on Blu-ray I was expecting this to deliver high definition images for the onscreen menus and prompts.

John K.

Mike, the terminology can be clarified a bit. The part that actually does the lasing is a laser diode. The output of the diode is then aimed at an objective lens to focus it on the disc being read. The combination of the diode and the lens is commonly referred to as a laser module. In the example that was given of a unit other than the PS3, two separate lasers are used, with one of them being able to switch electronically between two of the three wavelengths needed. They each lase into a lens, but the two lenses are immediately alongside each other and no mechanical shifting is necessary to read the three possible wavelengths. So, a cleaner that would clean one lens would also clean the other in a two lens setup. For your purposes it makes no difference.

I also did a patent search now and the one covering the Maxell disc is apparently this one . You'll note that the patent does in fact describe one or more holes in a disc with the holes being either straight-sided or "preferably" with slanted sides resembling a funnel. The inventor points out in describing related prior art that brush-type cleaning discs have the potential to damage the lens. The claim is that the various holes shown were experimentally tested and were satisfactorily effective in cleaning.

Independent testing would be necessary, of course, but despite the arrows in the diagrams indicating an alteration in the air flow occurring across a rapidly rotating disc which would supposedly result in an increased cleaning effect, it seems questionable that the magnitude of this effect is significantly above that of the disc without any holes.

comfortablycurt

Mike LoManaco wrote: »

That's what it looks like to you, but it seems to be more than that, with the holes being "filled" by some kind of air...

Of course there's some kind of air going through the holes...but it's only the air that's already in the CDP. I can't see a CD spinning fast enough to create enough turbulence to actually do anything.

I am uncertain as to where it's coming from, but Maxell claims there is compressed air coming through those holes to blow gunk off the mechanism.

The air isn't coming from anywhere...it's just the air that's already inside the CDP. All it's doing is being channeled through the holes. Once again, I doubt that it's enough to actually do anything...and it definitely wouldn't be anywhere near "compressed".

mmadden28

Exactly what is the rotational speed of a BluRay disc? Or since this product may actually just be a DVD, the RPMs of a DVD.

I don't doubt that having some holes in the disc can cause air to be sucked through the holes and forced out at a higher pressure causing a forced airflow--seems feasable-assuming the holes are designed for just such a purpose. After all isn't that how paint sprayers work? High Pressure Low Volume (HPLV) air sprayers work by blowing air past a small hole--that causes a difference in pressure which sucks the paint up into the path of the air and whalla--you have paint being sprayed. Mind boggling to say the least.

Didn't anybody ever take a bike turn it upside down on its seat and handlebars and spin the tire as fast as they could? I could feel quite a bit of air on my face. Granted there were spokes and nobbys causing some of that air flow, but that is also and relatively low RPMs.

And what about a fan? Its only taking air and moving it-the same air that's in the space-its not making its own air.

I don't think the CD/DVD cleaners are rubbish-(not saying that claims are noever overstated) they serve a purpose and have come in handy many times for me. I can't tell you how many users at my office came to me with issues reading discs in their computers--I'd verify the issue, run a quick clean and BAM, problem resolved--usually a dust ball works its way loose from somehere inside the filthy computers and gets on the lens-obviously causing read issues. Now, let me add that I don't think that they do anything beyond blow/brush dust off--I don't think they should be used as a daily or weekly maintenace tool--but to resolve a specific problem-but they are not snake-oil.
If you have visible access to the lens, then that would be the best way to check it and blow it off with a can of compressed air.

Where talking about dust here--what else would you need to clean from your lens? Grease? How the hell do you get grease on your lens? From the DVD that never touches the lens? Now nicotine and other crap like that? Well-if you care enough about your components to be worried about whether a tiny brush might scratch the lens in your player, then I would suspect you care enough not to have the device in such an environment. And if so, then open'r up and clean her manually every so often.

mmadden28

comfortablycurt wrote: »

...
I also find it funny...this is advertised as a Blu-ray player cleaner, and can also be used for PS3's...this is logical, yet it can also be used for Xbox 360's? 360's don't use Blu-ray media...they use DVD media.

They are trying to sell a product-a product for all intents and purposes can be used on multiple types of products-Some people go to a store and look for something for their particular product-If a Grandmother went to the store to buy something like this for her Grandchild (and lets say his XBox)-and she knew nothing about the ins and outs of DVD lens cleaers, she would look for something listed as good for use on an XBox-and that's good enough for her and purchase made--if it didn't say Xbox, regardless of what the main purpose is, she probably would look at another product on the shelf. Or for that matter for the dumbass salesperson who knows nothing about anything and simply grabs the product off the shelf for that Grandmother because its a Disc cleaner and it says XBox on it. That's smarter marketing on their part.

Mike LoManaco

John K. wrote: »

So, a cleaner that would clean one lens would also clean the other in a two lens setup. For your purposes it makes no difference.

So if a DVD laser lens cleaner is used on a Blu-ray player, is it "cleaning" the common laser that plays both types of media, not just one per se?

mmadden28

I'm going to guess that if there are two separate lenses, then only one will be getting cleaned as it probably has to be in the 'path' of the brush/wind tunnel. If its just one lens well...
Hasn't anybody taken apart their BluRay players yet?

Mike LoManaco

Madden,

From what I am reading on other forums and from the information I have been gathering, it seems the players have one laser reader, but there are three or so "supplemental" lasers which read the other media...

I don't know for sure; seems there are no straight answers on it. I tried contacting both Panasonic and Maxell with the question but haven't heard back yet.