Page 1 of Awkward DVD Player?

This has bugged me for ages and was wondering if anyone else has the same problem.
I`ve got a Sony DAVS-300 all in one player and amp and it`s got a couple of annoying habits.

First off it reguarly skips and judders when playing rental discs even though the discs are not particuarly dirty or marked, although it plays all of my own personal discs fine but then again they are all in perfect condition ;). I`ve tried cleaning the heads on the player using one of those cleaning discs and i`ve got a disc cleaner but it doesn`t normally make any difference. But if I then put the same disc in my PC dvd player it plays fine. Are Sony players over sensitive?

Also the dvd player is hooked up to the telly with an S-Video lead. The tv has front ports so the cable is bent back to go into the player. Sometimes when we are watching films on it and this particulary happens if it is a dark scene a 2 inch dark line come vertically down the screen and then seems to fade away.

I don`t think it`s the tv as it never does it without the dvd players, is it the player or could it be the S-video lead?.

Anyone else had anything like this happen?