Results 1 to 17 of 17

Thread: DVD thingy Not working

Hybrid View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default DVD thingy Not working

    Picked up an old DVD recorder / HDD recorder combo today (free)
    Naturally enough the DVD doesn't play.
    So, explain to me why no DVD will play, but my 2 cleaning discs will ?

  2. Look Here ->
  3. #2
    Administrator
    mtv's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Posts
    19,893
    Thanks
    7,508
    Thanked 15,066 Times in 6,761 Posts
    Rep Power
    5647
    Reputation
    239305

    Default

    Cleaning discs are usually CD audio.

    There are many variations of DVD's so it may be an incompatibility issue.

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to mtv For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (21-07-19)

  5. #3
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    One is for DVD, the other CD. I tried them both cos the brushes are in a slightly different position.
    The DVD's are purchased movies and work in other players.
    I'll have a look at the flat ribbon laser cable tomorrow.

  6. #4
    Senior Member
    Uncle Fester's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Commonly found in a pantry or the bottom of a fridge, searching for grains, fermented or distilled
    Posts
    6,405
    Thanks
    2,289
    Thanked 4,414 Times in 2,517 Posts
    Rep Power
    2046
    Reputation
    81778

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by loopyloo View Post
    One is for DVD, the other CD. I tried them both cos the brushes are in a slightly different position.
    The DVD's are purchased movies and work in other players.
    I'll have a look at the flat ribbon laser cable tomorrow.
    I doubt there is a separate ribbon for the CD and DVD laser but sure, try reseating every connection you can find in that thing.
    Try playing a DVD with the lid open, sometimes there is a microswitch stop you from doing that on older models but more often there is not.
    You should see the red glow of the LASER, when you play a CD you will see nothing as it is Infra-Red but your phone camera will.

    When you say that one cleaner disk is for DVDs, is it supposed to display a video ?
    Otherwise it would just be another CD.
    The position of the brushes is not relevant.

    Forget the cleaner disks, especial if the DVD recorder has been standing around near a coastal environment. The mid north coast has destroyed every rubber belt and pinch roller on my Tascam multitrack reel to reel, the rubber around speakers and so many other things. The CD spindle has no belt, just the loading mechanism but mold loves the coastal air.

    The first thing to do is clean the lens carefully with an earbud slightly moist with Isopropanol. Then check with a magnifier if there are still any stubborn particles or scratches. Repeat cleaning, soaking a bit longer with the moist earbud, until it all looks shiny.
    Last edited by Uncle Fester; 21-07-19 at 12:43 PM.
    Update: A deletion of features that work well and ain't broke but are deemed outdated in order to add things that are up to date and broken.
    Compatibility: A word soon to be deleted from our dictionaries as it is outdated.
    Humans: Entities that are not only outdated but broken... AI-self-learning-update-error...terminate...terminate...

  7. The Following User Says Thank You to Uncle Fester For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (21-07-19)

  8. #5
    Premium Member
    TVguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    1,096
    Thanks
    576
    Thanked 1,106 Times in 490 Posts
    Rep Power
    559
    Reputation
    17128

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by nomeat View Post
    The first thing to do is clean the lens carefully with an earbud slightly moist with Isopropanol. Then check with a magnifier if there are still any stubborn particles or scratches. Repeat cleaning, soaking a bit longer with the moist earbud, until it all looks shiny.
    Optical readers have been plagued by dust since their inception. CD with its longer wavelength was more immune to lens contamination than DVD.
    Having had access in the past to factory analysis of optical reader failure data, the most common was accumulation of airborne particulate matter UNDER the lens.
    No cleaner will remove these deposits. Heat convection will draw up particulates that eventually reside under the lens destroying the focus tracking circuit's ability to lock.
    I am glad that optical storage has gone the way of the dinosaur; it was never robust or durable, merely a product that provided mass storage at an affordable price.
    "The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom." - Issac Asimov

  9. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to TVguy For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (27-07-19),tristen (26-07-19),Uncle Fester (26-07-19)

  10. #6
    Banned

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    still above ground level
    Posts
    1,779
    Thanks
    5,562
    Thanked 1,964 Times in 714 Posts
    Rep Power
    0
    Reputation
    35657

    Default

    when you are playing with it make sure its not in daylight cos it wont go Don

  11. The Following User Says Thank You to hinekadon For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (21-07-19)

  12. #7
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    The flat ribbon looked fine and so did the laser lens but I cleaned it anyway.
    Still won't read disks though.
    The cleaning disks I have both display a menu and play music while cleaning. If they don't work I go in to clean manually.
    This unit has only one belt for the door and raising mech, the rest is just gears. So I also cleaned the belt which always gives back the grip even if for only a short time, but that's good enough for testing.

    DVD/CD players are a pest to fix. I check cables and ribbons, clean the laser and clean belts, then it seems there's nothing else I can do after that.
    Last edited by loopyloo; 22-07-19 at 03:27 PM.

  13. #8
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    194
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 56 Times in 49 Posts
    Rep Power
    167
    Reputation
    1035

    Default

    9 times out of 10 laser unit is faulty, not worth buying new laser. Go back to record player, easy to fit new needle/stylus,. belt etc. Sounds better anyway!

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to Tom Mix For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (23-07-19)

  15. #9
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    The DVD is a similar size and shape to a computer DVD. I wonder if I can fit the mechanical guts of one into the player chassis.

  16. #10
    Premium Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    perth wa
    Posts
    337
    Thanks
    25
    Thanked 135 Times in 97 Posts
    Rep Power
    254
    Reputation
    2739

    Default

    check if it is locked to a zone

  17. The Following User Says Thank You to dai For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (23-07-19)

  18. #11
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dai View Post
    check if it is locked to a zone
    You mean locked to a region ? ... Interesting thought.
    It comes up with the error "no disc" after a long attempted read.
    It does have selectable area codes (countries) so I could check that.

    PS....I take that back, can't check the menu as I don't have the correct remote for it. yet it does have for Australia printed on the back of the unit.
    The manual states if it's the wrong region it will display “Incorrect region code. Can’t play back”
    Last edited by loopyloo; 23-07-19 at 10:28 AM.

  19. #12
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Swapped the mech from a computer DVD and it reads the disc but comes up with "unknown disc - please check the disc".
    I can see the red laser operating and the head moves.
    Interesting ! I wonder what's different.
    Last edited by loopyloo; 23-07-19 at 11:34 AM.

  20. #13
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    194
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 56 Times in 49 Posts
    Rep Power
    167
    Reputation
    1035

    Default

    I used to know, but they are def incompatible, saw an explanation why somewhere . Be good if they did mate!

  21. The Following User Says Thank You to Tom Mix For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (23-07-19)

  22. #14
    Banned

    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    still above ground level
    Posts
    1,779
    Thanks
    5,562
    Thanked 1,964 Times in 714 Posts
    Rep Power
    0
    Reputation
    35657

    Default

    From memory the comp reads from the center and dvd from the outside ????

  23. The Following User Says Thank You to hinekadon For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (27-07-19)

  24. #15
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by hinekadon View Post
    From memory the comp reads from the center and dvd from the outside ????
    Ah ok well in this case I don't know if it would matter cos I only swapped the mechanical bits which includes the laser. The board and the door / raising mech are original.


  25. #16
    Premium Member
    SS Dave's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    North Canberra
    Age
    63
    Posts
    2,117
    Thanks
    5,296
    Thanked 7,917 Times in 1,280 Posts
    Rep Power
    3335
    Reputation
    154682

    Default

    DVD's read from the center some have a look at the outer edge for a region code then back to the center to play.
    CD's also read from center.

  26. The Following User Says Thank You to SS Dave For This Useful Post:

    loopyloo (27-07-19)

  27. #17
    Senior Member
    loopyloo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    Mid North Coast NSW . Australia
    Age
    67
    Posts
    2,207
    Thanks
    1,431
    Thanked 469 Times in 313 Posts
    Rep Power
    415
    Reputation
    7297

    Default

    Well that sounds very logical. Perhaps the lens might even be prone to degradation since it's plastic, like a car headlight deteriorates from the sun's UV rays, it might deteriorate from the IR or just age.
    I have a stack of old computer DVD's of which some might be faulty. I should have checked this one in a computer before swapping over.
    Reading the disc from the centre or the outside shouldn't matter here since the one in the recorder and any that I try are all meant to read CD's and DVD's.
    Might try again with another one and see what happens.
    Last edited by loopyloo; 27-07-19 at 03:24 PM.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •