Octopus Overlords

anyone have one, by chance? my 25-year-old Panasonic bit the dust tonight (keeps ejecting disc tray when trying to play.) i am investigating (scant) repair options, but i might not find anything, so...

i purchased a Pioneer CLD-2090 off craigslist. worked fine until 3/4s of the way through the first disc i tried, when it make a loud POP sound and the screen when all fuzzy, then blank. i managed to sorta getting it working again, but the image quality is extremely unstable after skipping forward chapters and the disc makes a rattling sound (for either a few seconds, up to 'for the rest of the disc') - if chapters are skipped nearly to the end of the disc, it may just abort operation and stop playing.

the person from whom i purchased this, formerly very responsive to text messages, did not respond when i wrote about these problems and asked for some sort of resolution.. even if it's to tell me to f--- off, at least say *something, coward.

I'd suggest contacting the boffins at LaserDiscService.com, which is an authorized Pioneer LaserDisc service center. If your player cannot be repaired, they also sell refurbished players.

Anonymous Bosch wrote:I'd suggest contacting the boffins at LaserDiscService.com, which is an authorized Pioneer LaserDisc service center. If your player cannot be repaired, they also sell refurbished players.

i wrote them when i experienced problems with my first LD player, and never received a response. seems to be not unusual for them:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/bayview-electr ... =date_desc

i suppose i'll resend that email anyways....

EDIT: sent emails about both players.

hitbyambulance wrote:

Anonymous Bosch wrote:I'd suggest contacting the boffins at LaserDiscService.com, which is an authorized Pioneer LaserDisc service center. If your player cannot be repaired, they also sell refurbished players.

i wrote them when i experienced problems with my first LD player, and never received a response. seems to be not unusual for them:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/bayview-electr ... =date_desc

i suppose i'll resend that email anyways....

EDIT: sent emails about both players.

That certainly doesn't bode well; alas, I now also notice their Google listing indicates they're "permanently closed", so that'd certainly explain their lack of communication (though it's odd they haven't taken down their web site, assuming that's the case). I had a colleague that had a great experience with them several years ago, but it wouldn't surprise me if they've since gone kaput. It might be worth trying to contact them by phone, just to confirm whether or not they're still around. Phone number is (360) 867-1311, FWIW.

Anonymous Bosch wrote:Phone number is (360) 867-1311, FWIW.

"You have reached a number that is out of service." looks like that avenue is permanently closed to me. too bad, as they were at least within the same state...!

i called up a stereo component repair place here in Seattle, and while they do not repair LD players, nor do they know of any other place that does in the area, they referred me to Talking Dog Transducer Co. in Tucson, AZ. according to their website, they do repairs, so I will send an email to them.

heard back from the guy at TDT Co. (paraphrasing) said the Pioneer CLD-2090 is a piece of junk and probably wouldn't survive shipping anyways, and the Panasonic would ship fine, but would likely cost $120-$200 to repair (not even including shipping) ...

i opted not to repair any, and he gave me a list of decent models in the used market i should check out instead:

Pioneer CLD-2080, CLD-3080 or CLD-95
Panasonic LX-200, LX-600, or LX-1000

What's the visual quality of a laserdisc vs. dvd? Which one's better?

Wasn't laserdisc the format that came before dvd?

hitbyambulance wrote:heard back from the guy at TDT Co. (paraphrasing) said the Pioneer CLD-2090 is a piece of junk and probably wouldn't survive shipping anyways, and the Panasonic would ship fine, but would likely cost $120-$200 to repair (not even including shipping) ...

i opted not to repair any, and he gave me a list of decent models in the used market i should check out instead:

Pioneer CLD-2080, CLD-3080 or CLD-95
Panasonic LX-200, LX-600, or LX-1000

I've got a Pioneer Elite CLD-59 and a Panasonic LX-H670 here that I have no use for. I think they both work but it has been years since I've touched them. I'd probably send you both of them if you're willing to pay for the shipping. Interested?

Hypnotoad wrote:

hitbyambulance wrote:heard back from the guy at TDT Co. (paraphrasing) said the Pioneer CLD-2090 is a piece of junk and probably wouldn't survive shipping anyways, and the Panasonic would ship fine, but would likely cost $120-$200 to repair (not even including shipping) ...

i opted not to repair any, and he gave me a list of decent models in the used market i should check out instead:

Pioneer CLD-2080, CLD-3080 or CLD-95
Panasonic LX-200, LX-600, or LX-1000

I've got a Pioneer Elite CLD-59 and a Panasonic LX-H670 here that I have no use for. I think they both work but it has been years since I've touched them. I'd probably send you both of them if you're willing to pay for the shipping. Interested?

wow, super good news. the repair guy said the Pioneers in general probably wouldn't ship without breaking - he advised picking them up locally (i'm in Seattle, WA). i'll read up on these two models in the coming week and get back to you. thanks much.

JSHAW wrote:What's the visual quality of a laserdisc vs. dvd? Which one's better?

Wasn't laserdisc the format that came before dvd?

LaserDisc did indeed come out long before DVD, and DVD does best it on visual quality, but i enjoy the analog film-grain quality preserved in LDs.

ok, repair has fallen through. still looking.

Well, that was a long repair attempt.

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 9:59 am Well, that was a long repair attempt.

i put it aside for a year and a half because i was mad. but i'm going to try again - coworker has offered to help try to repair the replacement player. we both think a capacitor blew up in it, and it could be a relatively simple fix.

Hey, was just surprised when this popped back up on the site and saw how long it had been since the last time you posted. Hopefully it is just a capacitor and with a little bit of solder magic you are back in business. Good luck!

MonkeyFinger wrote: ↑Thu Jan 25, 2018 12:25 am Hey, was just surprised when this popped back up on the site and saw how long it had been since the last time you posted. Hopefully it is just a capacitor and with a little bit of solder magic you are back in business. Good luck!

LD player is alive and well now. it was an exploded capacitor. desoldered a mostly compatible cap from a dead power supply in the eWaste bin and attached it - the player now works better than when i got it from the Craigslist dude. longetivity still remains to be seen ofc, but it is looking promising.

there was a heart-stopping moment when i put the chassis on and it touched a debug wire (that was soldered onto the cap) while the player was on, and shorted something - boom, everything no longer worked. it started up again a few tries later.

tested a full length movie with it and it functioned fine. there was some video distortion after the disc 'auto-flipped' to side B, but ejecting the disc, manually flipping it over and hitting "Play" worked.