Completely OT, Laserdisc player and power supply advice

[jamesrguk]

Hi all,

I know there are some electronics geniuses on the forum so thought I would post this here.

I have a soft spot for the laserdisc format, and indeed have just acquired a 'new' player for Christmas.

This is my fourth LD player, its predecessor, the Pioneer CLD2850, which I still have, packed up about 11months ago, it just gets stuck in standby mode and won't fire up at all. It seems that the power supplys on these pioneer LD players are prone to dying and that is probably the case here.

I have very little by the way of electrical knowledge but am lead to believe that often one or more of the capacitors on the PSU circuit board may have gone bad.

I have tested various internal fueses etc... Which is pretty much the extent of my electrical knowledge.

I am a little loathed to bin the unit, as it has always worked very well and is the later 2-sided style of player.

Would anyone on the forum be able to offer some advice?

Also what's the thoughts on my newer unit, should I leave it switched off at the wall when not in use? Is that better for the PSU than leaving it in standby? My latest unit is the best LD player I've had to date and want it to last as long as possible!

James

[Bitsyncmaster]

What mostly fails on power supplies are the output transistors. You can try Ebay to look for a new or used unit or power supply. If you can find the voltage and current requirements of the power supply, you can probably get a substitute supply also on Ebay very cheap.

With new equipment there is more design work done to reduce standby power. The "wallworts" now have to meet efficiency standards. As far as leaving it in standby, probably better to keep it powered as long as units don't have hard drives.

[FABombjoy]

No blown fuses? My memory on these is fuzzy but IIRC some later Pioneers have protection diodes that frequently end up going dead short and blowing the mains fuse. They are fairly unremarkable switch-type supplies and troubleshooting by someone "in the biz" should be straightforward.

What exactly are your symptoms? Many LD players have service manual scans available online. Have you found one for yours?

[Ras12]

I have over 25 LD's including the Back to the Future one.

Any interest in them? If so, send me a PM.

[jamesrguk]

What mostly fails on power supplies are the output transistors. You can try Ebay to look for a new or used unit or power supply. If you can find the voltage and current requirements of the power supply, you can probably get a substitute supply also on Ebay very cheap.

With new equipment there is more design work done to reduce standby power. The "wallworts" now have to meet efficiency standards. As far as leaving it in standby, probably better to keep it powered as long as units don't have hard drives.

Unfortunately, unlike a computer for example, the power supply circuitry is integrated on the main board so can't easily be exchanged so it would be a case of tracking down and changing individual components.

I'm quite able to solder etc... but as I don't fully comprehend what each component does (or more importantly, what it should do) I'm probably not going to be able to fix this myself. I will pull the cover off and snap some photos, I know this is along way from delorean talk but I really don't like throwing away perfectly good stuff for the sake of a chip or two which may just be a few pennies worth.

As for the symptoms:
Standby light comes on, but upon pressing the 'on' button on either the unit or the remote control, the player won't come to life, it's just stuck on standby which I'm lead to beleive is a classic symptom of the power supply failing.

J

[Tillsy]

I'm surprised you would still have that soft spot given the resolution and quality of Blu-ray?

[jamesrguk]

I'm surprised you would still have that soft spot given the resolution and quality of Blu-ray?

It's not about resolution or being the best, I just love format, the packaging and the fact it's quite quirky.

Laserdisc was never very big in the UK so it's always a good talking point when I whip out a shiny 12incher in front of bemused guests.

Much like the love for my DeLorean, I could be driving much better car for the money, yet I choose to drive a DeLorean, and no amount of new car features or benefits will tempt me to switch.

All this laserdisc talk makes me want to spin up my special edition Star Wars collection....

J

[Bitsyncmaster]

when I whip out a shiny 12incher in front of bemused guests.
J

You have some wild parties.:thumbup2:

[DMCVegas]

It's not about resolution or being the best, I just love format, the packaging and the fact it's quite quirky.

I've just been lurking so far, but that quote describes me too. I love old technology and either bringing it back, or especially repurposing it.

If you really want to blow people's minds, here's a fun one:

http://i.imgur.com/fUVi1l.jpg

[jamesrguk]

I've just been lurking so far, but that quote describes me too. I love old technology and either bringing it back, or especially repurposing it.

If you really want to blow people's minds, here's a fun one:

http://i.imgur.com/fUVi1l.jpg

Wow is that a selectavision disk now that's old school, it's read with a needle like a record isn't it? only one step up from wax cylinder lol.

J

[Flash66]

I used to repair the old pioneer LDV-1000 and PR-8210 LDP's back in the day of Dragons Lair arcade games. You are correct about the capacitors. Replace each electrolytic cap you can find on the main boards power supply section. If memory serves there are 2 - 100uf @16v that were prone to failure causing this symptom. After this is accomplished, you should hear the bridge balance engage and after its initial self test, it should return to normal operation. Good luck!

Go ahead and clean your optics while you're in there with lens tissue and a q-tip.

[DMCVegas]

Wow is that a selectavision disk now that's old school, it's read with a needle like a record isn't it? only one step up from wax cylinder lol.

J

That would be correct! Video from off a physical stylus still blows my mind.

As for repairing your unit, you can do it. Hell, my brother in-law picked up an old Asteroids cabinet with multiple boards for the Vector graphics. He went through that whole thing and tested every single component on each board. He ended up replacing a transformer, 2 capacitors, and a resistor or two if I remember correctly. Something like 2 decades sitting on some guy's back porch, and the thing just fired right up like it was brand new. It just takes patience.

Just be glad it's older electronics from when you could still service them. Back before they started spraying epoxy onto the boards so that you couldn't desolder components to replace them.

I wish RoHS regulations has a restriction on that practice. Rather that just recycle everytime something goes bad, we could just repair it to keep it in service and avoid e-waste all together. But hey, shareholders, right?

[FABombjoy]

That would be correct! Video from off a physical stylus still blows my mind.
It is a totally ludicrous method of encoding video, especially considering that Laserdisc was released before CED :D

It is fun to show people the player and how it gulps in the disc and spits out the jacket. CEDs ability to hold vertical sync during skipping can make for some hilarious movie remixes too. I have a copy of Easy Money and the scene where Rodney Dangerfield gets in shape skips all over the place like he's doing some kind of high-speed megaworkout.

My AV setup is out of inputs, so I had to route my CED player through the Betamax. It's like some new form of hipsterism.

[Flash66]

Rose! There's a Messerschmitt in the kitchen. Clean it up will ya?!

[DMCVegas]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a-982oTKR0M/hqdefault.jpg

He's got my eyes!

And got my nose!

*yeah, and my sympathy....*

[Tillsy]

It's not about resolution or being the best, I just love format, the packaging and the fact it's quite quirky.

No worries - I wrongly assumed you were an old-school die hard of the format so was curious.

To put into context, I was a big part of the DVD take-off in my country so the debate about DVD vs LD was a significant one because in the early days the poor mastering of DVD (which still stunning quality compared to VHS) did mean LD was often still superior. Over time the mastering process was significantly improved so DVD was either on-par is superior to LD, and of course BD just leaves them both behind in the dust hence my curiosity.

Anyways not relevant here - know all too well the holding onto retro stuff, have so much of it myself right down to an Omnibot 2000 :)