Bad disc read with backups?
 

I have a Messiah 2 installed in my ps2 and recently i've been having troubles with reading my game backups. First of all, the backups take several tries before they actually load. And once they do, any movie whether it be a simple company logo intro or a complex CGI plays terribly. Basically unwatchable because they skip and chop so much. The strange thing is that it isn't my laser simply failing on me. I've tried the originals and they still work perfectly fine. Any ideas? Thanks.

Media:
Usually Ritek DVD-R (shiny silver top, reflective purple bottom)
Tried:
Using a CD lens cleaner
Different DVD-R brands

Actually it does sound like your laser. Your laser needs to be in better shape to play backups than originals. No backup will have as high of a reflectivity as an original. Try cleaning your laser.

Well I've tried cleaning the Lens with a CD that has little dust collectors on the bottom. Is cleaning the Laser a different thing? If it is...could you point me to a tutorial on how to do it correctly? I'll start looking for one myself right now anyways... Thanks bighap

awesome :D . Thanks again, I'll let you know how it works out after cleaning. On a side note, if the cleaning is not effective, would backing up my games onto a hard drive through HDLoader be a safe alternative?

yeah :)