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Know anybody who services LASERDISC players???

 
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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 1:44 am    Post subject: Know anybody who services LASERDISC players??? Reply with quote


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For the first time in...quite some time...I fired up the good old Pioneer Elite DVL-90 just to see if it still worked.

It does but obviously it's showing signs of age. The picture jumps frames frequently and even upscaled to 1080p it just
does not look anywhere as good as I remembered.

Clearly it needs servicing and alignment.

The grip pads on the laserdisc clamp are not very grippy so startup is hit and miss.

Fortunately, the rubberized coating on the disc trays, which first turns gummy and then turns to dust, is past the
gummy stage so it won't foul a disc. But that dust can't be good for optical performance.

I'd like to restore this unit to (as much as possible of) its former glory.

Know anybody who does that?
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gregstv




Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Posts: 628
Location: Australia


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Getting parts may be a problem. You should be able to do it yourself if you can get the service manual and parts.
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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 3:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't have the test equipment required to do an alignment. Not anymore. A few years ago, yes. But I sold it all off.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 17850
Location: Ottawa, Canada

TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You sure it's not just laser rot? An example video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giyZdKmPLs8

Quote:
The earliest laserdiscs date from around 1980, many of these laserdiscs where defective and after many years, have began to experience "laser rot," corrosion and contamination of the reflective layer that causes artifacts and eventually renders the disc unplayable. Laser rot may not be apparent to the naked eye on the disc surface, but is easily discernible by "snow" artifacts on playback, garbled sound, and unexpected pauses. Dual layer laserdiscs are more prone to this rot effect, with one side usually being more affected than the other.

This example uses the intro, outro, and warning screens to "Taxi Driver," A dual layer CLV laserdisc printed in 1983 by Pioneer. Artifacts are clearly visible on side one playback, but not so much on side 2. The disc surface has no visible corrosion or discoloration.

It is important for those who would like to collect laserdisc media, to verify playback before purchase, as laser rot may not be apparent on the actual disc surface.


Another link: https://www.lddb.com/laserrot.php

Try a few different discs ...

Kal

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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 2:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do know about laser rot, it usually manifests as speckles of all colors randomly flashing on the screen. I have one LD which has it for sure,
but I know that's not this problem. All discs I tried skip frames, the picture quality is far from what it should be even for standard NTSC video.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 17850
Location: Ottawa, Canada

TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cmjohnson wrote:
...the picture quality is far from what it should be even for standard NTSC video.

The video output side is all analog right? (S-video and composite if I remember correctly). Could be that some other components have gotten old causing the picture to be softer... it could also be that you're so used to HD that watching 480i these days just looks worse than you remember it. I know I find it really hard to watch 480i on the big screen today and wonder how I was ever able to enjoy it (which I did back in the day!).

If your Blu-ray player supports it you could set the video output to 480i and compare. Of course, the mastering done on the Blu-ray's probably better than what was done on the old LD... but it would still be interesting to compare (would be disc specific of course).

What titles do you have on LD that you can't get on Blu-ray?

Kal

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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 3:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a fair number of LDs that I might want to watch but not so much that I want to spend money to get HD transfers of them.

There's no doubt that this player is somewhat degraded. I did compare to BD set to 480i and that was pretty conclusive.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 17850
Location: Ottawa, Canada

TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cmjohnson wrote:
I have a fair number of LDs that I might want to watch but not so much that I want to spend money to get HD transfers of them.

Was just curious how many because if the number is low, it may be cheaper to get the Blu-ray versions instead of paying to fix/tune the LD player. Older Blu-ray titles tend to be dirt cheap too. Often under $10 (see list: http://amzn.to/2r0kH0J )
1080p too which of course is an added bonus. Often a better transfer too with better sound (lossless).

Kal

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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I still want the LD player to work properly. There is a non-rational nostalgia factor in play here.
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kal
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Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Posts: 17850
Location: Ottawa, Canada

TV/Projector: JVC DLA-NZ7


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 5:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nothing wrong with that!

Kal

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gregstv




Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Posts: 628
Location: Australia


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 9:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe re-cap the power supply to start with. If the two problems are related this would be a good start.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24296
Location: Langley, BC

TV/Projector: All of them!


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 11:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chris, you're on Facebook; there's a very large LD user group of people that are very friendly, and should know someone that can work on them. There's lots of pix of laser rot, etc there as well.
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cmjohnson




Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 5180
Location: Buried under G90s


PostLink    Posted: Wed May 10, 2017 11:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I sent a join group request.
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jbmeyer13




Joined: 03 Dec 2010
Posts: 1135



PostLink    Posted: Thu May 25, 2017 5:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

cmjohnson wrote:
I still want the LD player to work properly. There is a non-rational nostalgia factor in play here.


Contact Chris Stephen's; he was refurbing/modding CLD-99's a couple of years back

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UncleWill




Joined: 11 Dec 2012
Posts: 413
Location: WashDC area, ViennaVA


PostLink    Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

You can replace the grip on the clamp assembly. I forget the part number...but I saw a link for it on Pioneer's website. See this video here. Might have some info: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5uerkY2iuA

Cleaning the laser lens should be easy. Clean the LD eye lightly with distilled water or light windex.

LASERDISC FOREVER on Facebook is a wealth of information.
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UncleWill




Joined: 11 Dec 2012
Posts: 413
Location: WashDC area, ViennaVA


PostLink    Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are a few places that do LD repair. This one claims to: http://rubiconelectronics.com/ http://www.a1photolab.com/repairs/

A few others out there...there was another one out in California that I read about that was supposed to be quite good. The name escapes me.
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