DVD player on the fritz

[Ya Hey Der]

I know this is kinda off the topic of fishing equipment but I was wondering if anyone out there knows anything about DVD player problems. I have a Sony DVD player that is a few years old, and it has now decided to stop reading anything you put in there. Do I need to get a cleaner and could some suggest something that is fairly cheap? I know DVD players are relatively cheap now but I like the one I have and was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Thanks for the help.

YHD

[76k20]

you know, I had a dvd player once but couldn't figure out where the heck to put the tapes...

all kidding aside I believe there are lense cleaners, or if you can open it to look inside the problem could be as simple as a loose/fallen off belt or a plastic gear. if you are really attached to the player it may be fixable but depending on age I think parts would be a bit hard to come by.

[DTro]

You can buy a lens cleaner but in all reality I would take that money and put it towards a new one. Chances are that the lens is out of alignment.

These DVD players don't last long. Disposable item for sure

If you an get a few years use I would consider that good.

[Valv]

I agree with Dtro, they are so cheap nowadays it's not even worth it messing with them. I bought 2 at $ 30.00 at a sale at Walmart last spring. I am using 1 in with my bedroom's TV, the other is a spare.....just in case 1st won't..read DVDs anymore

[tomfromblaine]

same thing happened to the one in my truck brought it to the dealer and the guy whipped out a pipe cleaner and rubbed it in and out at the left and right edges of the slot and its worked ever since,he said that there are sensors there that git dirty/dusty and need occasional cleaning.

[Whoaru99]

I'd ditch it and just get a newer one. I guess it depends on what you're looking for, but you can get some really nice ones these days for $100 or less. Sure, there are some that cost much more, but unless you have a really nice setup for TV/home theater, it's probably not worth spending much more.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Our portable dvd player went on the frits one weekend. It was out of warranty and I decided to crack it open to see if I could fix it. Sure enough it had a speck of dirt in the gears and wouldn't let the head move back and forth to read the disc. Removed the dirt and problem solved.

Of coarse the wife could tell you about all the other stuff that didn't make it back together but it never hurts to try!

[Ya Hey Der]

Thanks for all the replies. I opened up the player last night and it kinda felt like (for those of you who aren't mechanics) lifting the hood of your car when it dies on you and just staring at all the cool looking parts and wondering what everything does. You guys are right, I should probably buy a new one. I was just hoping there might be a $5 fix for this.

Thanks for your help!

YHD

[Valv]

Quote:

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..and it kinda felt like (for those of you who aren't mechanics) lifting the hood of your car when it dies on you and just staring at all the cool looking parts and wondering what everything does.

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Cool looking parts ???? You haven't lifted my hood at all, they are all covered with dust and dirt, plus they have some strange "dings", they come from an object hitting them with exclamations like "come on you piece of @#$%$#, get going".

I hope your DVD player didn't look like that.

[upnorth]

LOL that is funny Valv

[Jeremy airjer W]

Thats funny valv, I thought you only had to use those "tools" on Ford trucks

[Valv]

Quote:

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Thats funny valv, I thought you only had to use those "tools" on Ford trucks

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The tool in question is called BFH (Big Freaking Hammer) and it's used on a variety of stuff.

Most known are Toyotas (just kidding Airjer I had to throw it in) many vehicle brands, and...as YOU ALL know very well, it is THE MOST used tool to fix...your computer !!!

That's right, I used to have a computer repair shop for few years, and when the machine disappeared in the back, that's what we used to fix it, right Webwarrior ??? When you get back to pick it up we always said...we had to re-format the drive. Big lie, your machine was laying on concrete floor victim of the BFH

[DTro]

Valv's early days

[PierBridge]

That's awesome DTRO....we have all been their.

[maj330]

If you haven't junked it already, older Sony DVD players were notorious for giving a C 13 error on the display. After a couple of years, mine did this occasionally after playing a DVD half way through. Then, it would not recongnize the disc when it was inserted into the player. After a bit of searching on the web, because new units were still extrememly expensive and repair costs were 50% of a new unit, I found that this problem was caused by an undersized fuse on the circuit board. Sony admittedly tried to get by cheap. The fuse is easy to find with the freely available circuit board schematic. It is not easy to replace but it is easy to yank out and replace with a solder bridge. Some would consider a solder bridge a fire hazard but the amount of power going through that port of the board is minimal. I did this to mine in 2002 after it was 2 years old and it is still working today. Was a fifteen minute job with a couple of small philips head screw drivers and a soldering iron with a small tip.

[Ya Hey Der]

maj330,

I haven't junked it yet. If you could point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it. It would probably save me a lot of surfing time.

Thanks!

YHD

[maj330]

wow! this was difficult to find. people have figured out they could sell this info on hsolist but managed to find one free site. this is exactly what i did. replace the f402 fuse witha a solder bridge and fixed the C:13 error. here's the link: www.benmorris.net/dvd/

good luck! let me know if you were successful or if you have problems.

[Ya Hey Der]

This is great! I am definitely going to try this but it won't be for a little while. This should keep my busy for a little bit. I enjoy tinkering with stuff so this will be interesting. I will let you know how it turns out. Thanks alot for digging this up. I hope it wasn't too much trouble. Thanks again, I really do appreciate it!

YHD

[Whoaru99]

Kind of resurrecting the old here, but if you have not gotten a new DVD player, or fixed the old one, Pioneer DV-588A comes highly recommended for a fairly inexpensive player (compared to what's available for much more $$). It's about $120. You can find them at some of the Ultimate Electronics stores around the cites, but hurry if you want one.

They are going fast, I'm going to have my Bro. pick one up for me. Most of the on-line stores are sold out and backordered.

[cableguy031]

Here's one that's relatively cheap for you. My PS2 stopped reading my games for a while, couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I thought about bringing it in or sending it for repairs which would cost over 200 bucks. As a last resort, I went and purchased a can of compressed air which was available in any electronic store or even Radio Shack. I went home and sprayed it kinda into the tray slot and waited about 5 minutes. Voila, the PS2 comes back to life again and had been working fine.

So you might want to try the can of compressed air as a last resort, after if it still doesn't work, you're only out a few bucks and not a few hundred.

Hope that helps with your DVD player.

[McGurk]

A 2nd on the compressed air, but stay away from the "disc cleaners" which are basically CD's with small brushes on them; they scratch more than they clean. Most of the time non-playing CD/DVD players for home and car are due to misaligned heads. Good Luck!, McGurk

[Steve Bakken]

is there an "at home fix" for mis-aligned heads?

[McGurk]

Not that I know of; it's a very sensitive process that I wouldn't want to tackle. When servicing a DVD/CD player, it gets called a "cleaning", and usually consists of a re-alignment if needed. The term "cleaning" is just a name for this service that makes unhappy consumers happy. Most don't want to hear that the player went out of alignment "just because."

Good Luck! McGurk