I am an original owner of a Pioneer CLD-D604 that had stopped working, where it would power up but the tray would not open. Although multiple TH-cam videos attribute the problem to a worn out belt, like in this video, mine was the result of something different. I wasn’t familiar with the tray open/close mechanism when I first started to troubleshoot my unit, but when I opened up the case and turned it on, I saw all of the white gears and pulley with the belt, and they were all moving but the tray was not. Specifically, the mechanism was partially rotating back and forth, like an oscillating saw. I thought this was how the mechanism behaved when the belt was worn and caused the tray not to open, and planned to replace the belt, but first I had to get the tray open to access the gear/pulley/belt mechanism. I didn’t realize at the time that the gears that I saw oscillating was supposed to be directly attached to the tray, and the fact that the gears oscillated but the tray did not actually pointed to a different problem. Eventually I was able to get the tray to move slightly when I turned the unit on its side. What actually happened was that gravity was pushing the tray into the two gears, cause the tray to partially open. After that, I was able to pull out the tray and access the mechanism. What I saw did not make sense, though. The belt didn’t seem stretched out at all, and with the tray out the gears stopped oscillating and could rotate with ease, as did the pulley and the belt. After an hour analyzing the mechanism and it engagement with the tray, I realized the problem was with the belt, it was the fact that the rack and pinion mechanism was not properly engaging, so the gears would spin but the tray would not open. I confirmed this problem when I saw in another video where someone manually spun the gears to get the tray to open. When, I did that, the tray didn’t open. Yet, the gears and the toothed rack seemed fine, not worn out, so I remained puzzled. Eventually I figured out that the sliding plate next to the two gears is how the unit figures out that the tray has closed and then then to move the laser assembly to start reading, but that sliding plate was also what kept toothed rack pushed against the two gears, but mine wasn’t doing it. After much trial and error, I realized that the sliding plate has a peg that is engaged to a track on the face of the big black,gear below the sliding plate. My slide plate had popped out of the track/groove and so the gears could spin without engaging the track because the sliding plate was not controlled properly. It would partially work because the peg was still being moved by the wall of the track, but the alignment was off because it was still outside the track. Once I remounted the sliding plate properly with its peg inside the track, the unit worked properly once again. It must have popped out at tome point due to loss of lubrication int the mechanism.
I dig the overall "keep the players and discs out of the landfill" philosophy! Just because it isn't the latest or greatest doesn't mean it doesn't still have value!
Thanks! The more I get back into all the electronics and formats I owned when I was younger, the more I really believe we have a responsibility to keep them working as best we can. And you've done more than most of us to make that possible!
I tell my family to give me all of their old electronics. If I can get it up and working I do. I have a couple 14 year old laptops that run Zoom beautifully.
@@ecospider5 Same. I usually put lightweight linux distros on an SSD and try to get them into the hands of people who need only basic computing power for web browsing, email etc.
It is amazing how well computers with only 2gb of memory and are upgraded with an ssd run on a lightweight Linux. Especially if they are willing to use something like open office. Word and excel are such hogs now. Maybe needed in a work environment but not needed for writing a resume and keeping track of finances. I have been thinking about Chromebook OS too. Just have not played with it yet.
I have to take apart my laser disc player and fix it. I have a Carver laser disc player. I did not try to open yet, but I am hoping I can get the player working again. I do have some laser discs I enjoy watching and have gotten more for my collection. Thanks for posting a video on how to fix the players. Wish me luck.
As others have mentioned, your video has also inspired me to dig my Pioneer CLD-D505 out of the attic and order a rubber belt to fix my own tray issue. I have close to a hundred Discs, including the same Tron box set behind you in the video that I haven't even watched yet. A new thing called DVD came out and caused me to switch my focus. Technology kept changing so often and fast back then. (Now I stream everything). Looking forward to watching the original unadulterated Star Wars movies I haven't seen in over 20 years!
@@DinoBytes I've been wanting to watch Remote Control starring Kevin Dillon then perhaps some Pulp Fiction & Top Gun... I am a bit concerned about the Laser rot, I had some mild instances of it 20 years ago and it was annoying.
@@swarthos my first disc spin when I fixed my player was Top Gun, before then seeing Maverick on launch day! The disc sounded great in AC3, and although the picture was really soft compared to what we're used to now, I did begin to get used to it before long! Hope you enjoy yours!
For some reason, I have only learned about LaserDisc about three or four years ago. It is a bit like with MiniDisc. When they were "current" technology, nobody I know had it. Only after its demise, I have read or heard about their existence. Maybe both technologies were especially rare in Germany, but for me, there was VHS (never heard of Betamax long before it was obsolete...there is a pattern here I guess) and then there was DVD. And there were Cassette tapes, then CDs, then iPods for me. I enjoyed this video a lot, many thanks and please continue on.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I should do a proper retrospective on LD. They were around for ages, but were undercut on price by VHS, and by price and convenience by DVD when that came along. I remember paying 30-100 pounds in the mid to late Nineties per movie on LD, so they were really expensive. But the box sets were amazing and very collectable.
Thanks for this video! My Panasonic CLX player is struggling to move the tray in and out. Luckily I already have a spare band. But because of this video now I know what to do!
Thank you for this video and links for sources of the belts. I finally got around to changing the belts on my Pioneer DVL-919. The parts are no longer available from Pioneer USA. There are several sources for drive belts but you need the dimensions. Your links save me the trouble of trying to reverse engineer the size from a stretched or broken belt.
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for this video. It’s exactly what I needed to fix the belt issue I was having with my Pioneer CLD-D504. You were right about the tray difficulty. I had the same issue and it took longer than the belt to fix. Haha!
@@DinoBytes if it works, it works. 🤷♂️ The guy on the next bench over did the lazer disc repairs, mostly the oddball stuff that the regular service centers couldn't do, including the lazer disc recorders. I did support and repairs for the early dvd recorders back when they were £2,500 a go. Then I moved over into doing other bits and bobs for them once dvd recorders were so cheep they were given away with tokens from a box of corn flakes.
Thank you for your info, admiration, and charm. I have a wonderful Pioneer that has also been hibernating for decades. I pulled it out, only to find out that it is not reading the disc. As I was going to try and sell it...or even give it or scrap it away, I have some hope that I may be able to restore it to its Frankenstein like eclectic offerings. I truly enjoyed your video....and stuck it out through the advertisers, not skipping through. Thanks again. My collection of disc....oh so varied....ate yearning for some play action. P.s. nice Gilliam (Brazil) background in your vid. Peace from the U.S. -JP
Thanks Jim, and I hope you can get your machine working. In most cases, it's a deteriorated belt preventing one of the mechanisms from working. Try tge Facebook group i mentioned, as someone will have experienced the same issue. As for the films, me too, I have a bunch that so far haven't made it to streaming or even blu Ray, so it's nice to be able to play them
Glad to help! I also thought it was game over when my Pioneer made that groan and wouldn't eject, but it's so quick and easy to fix - or at least worth a shot.
Happy to have inspired you to try them out again! Beware your tape deck may no longer work, none of mine and most of my friend's decks have all failed in the same way, and I think it's a drive issue, so I'll look into a fix for that too. Or try to get hold of a pro / studio deck on ebay as they tend to last the distance.
Great video! My DVL-909 has been going this direction for years, but still manage to start the movie. Seems like a simple enough fix! I actually bought a couple of movies recently, my gf favorite movie is Top Gun so it made a nice piece to put in a "vinyl" case on the wall :)
You're welcome! This project to get it working again was actually driven by my own copy of Top Gun which I wanted to watch on LD again before seeing the new one next week!
Hello, ai have the Pioneer CLD-D504 LD Player and is doing that, only opening the CD Tray and not the LD and making the same sound as Yours. And living in Puerto Rico and not having any of these Companies to fix this Machines is hard. Thank You. David Calderon
I regret getting rid of mine. I still have the laserdisc movies. Ironically a co-worker of mine reached out to me today and gave me a Sony Laservision Videodisc Player LDP-1450 with the same issue. I will troubleshoot tonight.
Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing your experience with how you repaired your player. It looks like we have some of the same LDs! And great production value as well, keep up the awesome work!
Hey buddy, nice little video there. just took out my Pioneer CLD-M90 from storage and to my surprise my tray won’t open. I hear sounds and noises like the unit is attempting to either open/close, but no luck at all. Damn, so many LDs and no working LD player. Cheers! JC/Miami
Perhaps you can help me. I have a Pioneer CLD-V850 and while it powers on, the tray won't open at all. It does not even make any kind of noise inside. I have a disc stuck inside of it and would really appreciate if you have a guess as to what the problem is. Thanks a bunch.
Sounds like a belt issue, like mine had, even if yours isn't making a sound. Of course it could be something worse, but the belt is where I'd suggest starting as it's a cheap and easy first-step. If that doesn't work though, consult the Facebook group I recommend!
I have the TRON box set. It's full of stuff that did not make it to Blu-ray or DVD. One of the rarest and interesting box is The Three Caballeros/Saludos Amigos. It has a ton of extras including a music only track.
@@DinoBytes Thanks for the video mate. Yes, that line of Disney boxed sets was some of the best home video they ever released. I've just picked up a new projector after having to do without one because of money issues. The screen has remained so I'm going to try and get my laser disc players going and revisit them once again.
Envidio a los afortunados que pudieron disfrutar en los 80 y 90 de esta tecnología maravillosa al alcance de muy pocos. Si hasta James Cameron era un profeso impulsor, su disfrute es inequívoco.
Here in Ukraine we never had Laserdisc (or Betamax, for that matter), as far as I know. We went straight from VHS (which was fairly expensive due to economic crisis) to watching films on computers and recording them first on CDs, and then DVDs. If it wasn't for the Internet, I would have probably never heard of Laserdisc, Minidisk, and other fascinating technology of the past. Wish I got to experience it first-hand, though :)
There's a strong second hand market and the discs are quite cheap at the moment on ebay if you're interested in checking it out! PS - we all support your country and hope the situation is resolved very soon.
Are things ok where you are? Anyway I have a 1991 pioneer but it only plays my space 1999 discs. I had a co worker from Ukraine great worker and a genius with anything mechanical. Sadly he kept getting cancer relapses. He was a victim of Chernobyl. Passed away 3 months after retirement in Florida.
@@retire14pattaya9 Sorry to hear about your coworker. Unfortunately, many people were affected by Chornobyl disaster thanks to Soviets' attempts to cover it up rather than inform civilians at the time. Also, I am fairly okay, thanks for asking. We have daily power outages now due to October and November missile strikes that destroyed the power grid infrastructure, but otherwise "all's quiet on the Western front".
Great video! I too have the same player and it also hasn't been fired up since the early 2000's. I know it had some issues before it was stored away, so it'll need repairing, but seeing this video has inspired to dig it out and get it working, I have a couple of boxes of LD's that I'd like to view again inc. original unedited Star Wars(!!) for one. Is there a HDMI convertion for them? I have a box of tricks I use on my PS1 to convert composite to HDMI, just wondered if someone had done a hardware convertion?
Glad you like it! There's no hdmi mods but loads of composite to hdmi converters available of varying quality. Unsurprisingly the cheap ones aren't great. I bagged a 2nd hand kramer unit that does a good job. The Facebook group I mention has great advice
I purchased a Pioneer CLD - M90 LD player. At first, the tray would not open and made this horrific sound. I turned the unit upside down.and.now the tray opens. However, it does not.close all the way and does not play the LD..not sure what to do. Ty.
Awesome video! I just rediscovered my laserdisc collection and I bought a player which worked flawlessly with the first movie, but when I started a second movie it got caught in a loop and when I stopped it, the tray won't eject it and it displays an error code of E0 on the display. :(
My Pioneer CLD-D501 only has composite video out. Did they ever make models with component video out? I also did the rf coaxial output upgrade on it to pass dolby digital and I believe DTS too. At the time I bought the Standalone DTS Millennium 2 4 6 I should've hung into it. But I would like to know if you can suggest the best composite video to HDMI converter so I can run this laserdisc thru my projector. I have a decent collection just gathering dust. And I too experience the open close problem but it does work when it is good and ready. I should probably get a new belt. Cheers from Las Vegas!
Hi there, there might have been some players with component output (which may help you connect to a certain display), but it won't improve the quality as LD's store video in a composite format. That said, most displays obviously need to convert it to something like component or RGB to actually show it, so back in the day, the quality question became whether your player or your display had the best conversion. My player has an S video output too, but my display generally had a better conversion, so I'd always start with composite output from the player. Today though not many displays have analogue inputs, so what LD enthusiasts look for is a composite to HDMI converter and there's loads of trashy cheap ones on Amazon. Better options include old Kramer models you could pick up from eBay. Then the question becomes, which device does the best de-interlacing and scaling, the converter box or your display. For me, I use a Kramer to convert composite to HDMI, then let my display (a projector) scale it up. There's loads of discussions about this on various groups - I'm a member of one on Facebook where it's often discussed!
@@DinoBytes I bought a fairly cheap composite to HDMI converter on Amazon and I tried it again last night. Pic qual wasn't too bad but I was having sound issues. My Marantz 8805 wasn't giving me any sound no matter opt 1,2 coax 1,2 or even analog stereo! I messed with the buttons on the remote too. Toggles thru left, right, stereo, analog, digital. Went thru input assign menu in marantz and never got audio. It just worked a few months ago too! I might bring it downstairs and try it on that system. The setup upstairs is kinda hard to get to as it sits, so maybe I'll strike paydirt downstairs. We'll see. I am contemplating a dvl-X0 or the 909 (can't remember prefix) but man they're expensive. My CLD-D501 was bought new and is still in great shape so may just go with it. Thanks for reply, Best regards, Eric
I have a Beautiful pioneer CLD 97 immaculate but no longer opening the tray in fact a strong clacking cracking sound and vibrations started as I quickly turned the off switch and power cable Help please I am in Miami USA
I'm thinking this is the problem with mine. Discs still play, and after hitting eject I can push and pull the tray manually to load them. But just hitting the button does nothing but make the click of something attempting to move and failing.
Unlike yours, My Pioneer CLD-F1 seems to work fine the tray works smoothly ejecting and close the tray, it just takes both Laserdisc and CD in and it did nothing afterwards no attempt to load the disc at all. What could be the problem and how to fix it. Its a shame since the player is in amazing shape from outside considering its well over 20 years old.
When I was younger, actually I skipped from VHS to VCD~DVD,I never watched a video or movie from LD before,so I got no idea how is the quality compare to VCD and DVD
VCD, DVD and LD were all standard definition (480 / 576i), but stored it in different ways. VCD and DVD were digital and the compression was horribly high for VCD. LD was analogue for video (although later had digital sound), so looked quite different. To most people, DVD looked a bit better than LD, with better colour range and the benefit of standardising on anamorphic delivery to maximise the limited resolution versus letterbox on LD. BUT LD had no compression artefacts, none of the blockiness we are all now used to, and when you see it, you notice it's not there! It's kind of like vinyl audio in a way. Not better or worse, but different. But in terms of resolution it's very low by today's standards. It's more about the fun of spinning an old format, seeing a different style of presentation, and also having access to some titles which are still hard to find on different formats.
@@DinoBytes I don't used VHS tapes that much since they eat up tapes I switch to vcd dvds blu ray and 4k ultra hd discs and laserdiscs since the audio is much clear and since they last for a long time then vhs tapes
I am an original owner of a Pioneer CLD-D604 that had stopped working, where it would power up but the tray would not open. Although multiple TH-cam videos attribute the problem to a worn out belt, like in this video, mine was the result of something different. I wasn’t familiar with the tray open/close mechanism when I first started to troubleshoot my unit, but when I opened up the case and turned it on, I saw all of the white gears and pulley with the belt, and they were all moving but the tray was not. Specifically, the mechanism was partially rotating back and forth, like an oscillating saw. I thought this was how the mechanism behaved when the belt was worn and caused the tray not to open, and planned to replace the belt, but first I had to get the tray open to access the gear/pulley/belt mechanism. I didn’t realize at the time that the gears that I saw oscillating was supposed to be directly attached to the tray, and the fact that the gears oscillated but the tray did not actually pointed to a different problem. Eventually I was able to get the tray to move slightly when I turned the unit on its side. What actually happened was that gravity was pushing the tray into the two gears, cause the tray to partially open. After that, I was able to pull out the tray and access the mechanism. What I saw did not make sense, though. The belt didn’t seem stretched out at all, and with the tray out the gears stopped oscillating and could rotate with ease, as did the pulley and the belt. After an hour analyzing the mechanism and it engagement with the tray, I realized the problem was with the belt, it was the fact that the rack and pinion mechanism was not properly engaging, so the gears would spin but the tray would not open. I confirmed this problem when I saw in another video where someone manually spun the gears to get the tray to open. When, I did that, the tray didn’t open. Yet, the gears and the toothed rack seemed fine, not worn out, so I remained puzzled. Eventually I figured out that the sliding plate next to the two gears is how the unit figures out that the tray has closed and then then to move the laser assembly to start reading, but that sliding plate was also what kept toothed rack pushed against the two gears, but mine wasn’t doing it. After much trial and error, I realized that the sliding plate has a peg that is engaged to a track on the face of the big black,gear below the sliding plate. My slide plate had popped out of the track/groove and so the gears could spin without engaging the track because the sliding plate was not controlled properly. It would partially work because the peg was still being moved by the wall of the track, but the alignment was off because it was still outside the track. Once I remounted the sliding plate properly with its peg inside the track, the unit worked properly once again. It must have popped out at tome point due to loss of lubrication int the mechanism.
Good work and thanks for the info!
Great diagnostics. Thanks for the detail.
I dig the overall "keep the players and discs out of the landfill" philosophy! Just because it isn't the latest or greatest doesn't mean it doesn't still have value!
Thanks! The more I get back into all the electronics and formats I owned when I was younger, the more I really believe we have a responsibility to keep them working as best we can. And you've done more than most of us to make that possible!
I tell my family to give me all of their old electronics. If I can get it up and working I do. I have a couple 14 year old laptops that run Zoom beautifully.
@@ecospider5 Same. I usually put lightweight linux distros on an SSD and try to get them into the hands of people who need only basic computing power for web browsing, email etc.
It is amazing how well computers with only 2gb of memory and are upgraded with an ssd run on a lightweight Linux. Especially if they are willing to use something like open office. Word and excel are such hogs now. Maybe needed in a work environment but not needed for writing a resume and keeping track of finances.
I have been thinking about Chromebook OS too. Just have not played with it yet.
I have to take apart my laser disc player and fix it. I have a Carver laser disc player. I did not try to open yet, but I am hoping I can get the player working again. I do have some laser discs I enjoy watching and have gotten more for my collection. Thanks for posting a video on how to fix the players. Wish me luck.
Definitely ask on that Facebook group I recommend as they will have more experience. I recall carver being v good
As others have mentioned, your video has also inspired me to dig my Pioneer CLD-D505 out of the attic and order a rubber belt to fix my own tray issue. I have close to a hundred Discs, including the same Tron box set behind you in the video that I haven't even watched yet. A new thing called DVD came out and caused me to switch my focus. Technology kept changing so often and fast back then. (Now I stream everything). Looking forward to watching the original unadulterated Star Wars movies I haven't seen in over 20 years!
I hope you get it working!
@@DinoBytes Belt came today, easy replace. My Player tray now opens and closes. Thanks again!
@@swarthos that's excellent news! What films are you going to spin first? I hope you don't have laser rot to deal with on the discs...
@@DinoBytes I've been wanting to watch Remote Control starring Kevin Dillon then perhaps some Pulp Fiction & Top Gun... I am a bit concerned about the Laser rot, I had some mild instances of it 20 years ago and it was annoying.
@@swarthos my first disc spin when I fixed my player was Top Gun, before then seeing Maverick on launch day! The disc sounded great in AC3, and although the picture was really soft compared to what we're used to now, I did begin to get used to it before long! Hope you enjoy yours!
For some reason, I have only learned about LaserDisc about three or four years ago. It is a bit like with MiniDisc. When they were "current" technology, nobody I know had it. Only after its demise, I have read or heard about their existence. Maybe both technologies were especially rare in Germany, but for me, there was VHS (never heard of Betamax long before it was obsolete...there is a pattern here I guess) and then there was DVD. And there were Cassette tapes, then CDs, then iPods for me. I enjoyed this video a lot, many thanks and please continue on.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I should do a proper retrospective on LD. They were around for ages, but were undercut on price by VHS, and by price and convenience by DVD when that came along. I remember paying 30-100 pounds in the mid to late Nineties per movie on LD, so they were really expensive. But the box sets were amazing and very collectable.
Thanks for this video! My Panasonic CLX player is struggling to move the tray in and out. Luckily I already have a spare band. But because of this video now I know what to do!
Excellent, let me know if it works!
Thank you for this video and links for sources of the belts. I finally got around to changing the belts on my Pioneer DVL-919. The parts are no longer available from Pioneer USA. There are several sources for drive belts but you need the dimensions. Your links save me the trouble of trying to reverse engineer the size from a stretched or broken belt.
You're welcome, did you get it working again?
Just wanted to say THANK YOU for this video. It’s exactly what I needed to fix the belt issue I was having with my Pioneer CLD-D504. You were right about the tray difficulty. I had the same issue and it took longer than the belt to fix. Haha!
Glad to help!
Great video, another one rescued. 👍Enjoy your LaserDisc player.🙂
thanks!
Happy memories of working in the Pioneer UK head office workshop.
Hah! Did I do an ok job here? What's next to go wrong on my 925?
@@DinoBytes if it works, it works. 🤷♂️
The guy on the next bench over did the lazer disc repairs, mostly the oddball stuff that the regular service centers couldn't do, including the lazer disc recorders.
I did support and repairs for the early dvd recorders back when they were £2,500 a go. Then I moved over into doing other bits and bobs for them once dvd recorders were so cheep they were given away with tokens from a box of corn flakes.
@@marvintpandroid2213 it's amazing how much this stuff cost when it was state of the art...
@@DinoBytes 2.5k was the 2nd generation, the first was 17k
Excellent
Love laserdiscs! My collection is now over 200..!
Nice! What are your favourites? I'm still impressed by the sound on some of my DTS discs...
Thank for sharing this info. Now my Pioneer CLD-315 LD Player works perfectly.
Excellent! Glad you got it working!
Thank you for your info, admiration, and charm. I have a wonderful Pioneer that has also been hibernating for decades. I pulled it out, only to find out that it is not reading the disc. As I was going to try and sell it...or even give it or scrap it away, I have some hope that I may be able to restore it to its Frankenstein like eclectic offerings. I truly enjoyed your video....and stuck it out through the advertisers, not skipping through. Thanks again. My collection of disc....oh so varied....ate yearning for some play action.
P.s. nice Gilliam (Brazil) background in your vid.
Peace from the U.S.
-JP
Thanks Jim, and I hope you can get your machine working. In most cases, it's a deteriorated belt preventing one of the mechanisms from working. Try tge Facebook group i mentioned, as someone will have experienced the same issue. As for the films, me too, I have a bunch that so far haven't made it to streaming or even blu Ray, so it's nice to be able to play them
Such a great video! Simple. Struggling forward. My Pioneer does the same thing. Wasn’t sure how easy it would be to fix. Many thanks! Now subscribed 👍
Glad to help! I also thought it was game over when my Pioneer made that groan and wouldn't eject, but it's so quick and easy to fix - or at least worth a shot.
Watching this has inspired me to dig out my CD player and tape deck, fingers crossed it all works!
Happy to have inspired you to try them out again! Beware your tape deck may no longer work, none of mine and most of my friend's decks have all failed in the same way, and I think it's a drive issue, so I'll look into a fix for that too. Or try to get hold of a pro / studio deck on ebay as they tend to last the distance.
I pulled out my Sony cassette player lately. It did not survive storage well. Don’t know if I should fix it or just get a usb one. :)
Great video! My DVL-909 has been going this direction for years, but still manage to start the movie. Seems like a simple enough fix!
I actually bought a couple of movies recently, my gf favorite movie is Top Gun so it made a nice piece to put in a "vinyl" case on the wall :)
You're welcome! This project to get it working again was actually driven by my own copy of Top Gun which I wanted to watch on LD again before seeing the new one next week!
Hello, ai have the Pioneer CLD-D504 LD Player and is doing that, only opening the CD Tray and not the LD and making the same sound as Yours. And living in Puerto Rico and not having any of these Companies to fix this Machines is hard. Thank You. David Calderon
I regret getting rid of mine. I still have the laserdisc movies. Ironically a co-worker of mine reached out to me today and gave me a Sony Laservision Videodisc Player LDP-1450 with the same issue. I will troubleshoot tonight.
I hope you get it fixed. Almost all laserdisc players as well as cassette recorders have belts that have slipped over time.
Fantastic video! Thanks for sharing your experience with how you repaired your player. It looks like we have some of the same LDs!
And great production value as well, keep up the awesome work!
Thankyou! Those are three essential discs!
Hey buddy, nice little video there. just took out my Pioneer CLD-M90 from storage and to my surprise my tray won’t open. I hear sounds and noises like the unit is attempting to either open/close, but no luck at all. Damn, so many LDs and no working LD player. Cheers! JC/Miami
Almost certainly the drive belt, they fail on almost every old player.
Bro it took me so long to go back and find this video
I hope you found it useful!
Perhaps you can help me. I have a Pioneer CLD-V850 and while it powers on, the tray won't open at all. It does not even make any kind of noise inside. I have a disc stuck inside of it and would really appreciate if you have a guess as to what the problem is. Thanks a bunch.
Sounds like a belt issue, like mine had, even if yours isn't making a sound. Of course it could be something worse, but the belt is where I'd suggest starting as it's a cheap and easy first-step. If that doesn't work though, consult the Facebook group I recommend!
I have the TRON box set. It's full of stuff that did not make it to Blu-ray or DVD. One of the rarest and interesting box is The Three Caballeros/Saludos Amigos. It has a ton of extras including a music only track.
It's such a nice package!
@@DinoBytes Thanks for the video mate. Yes, that line of Disney boxed sets was some of the best home video they ever released. I've just picked up a new projector after having to do without one because of money issues. The screen has remained so I'm going to try and get my laser disc players going and revisit them once again.
@@steveliveshere I have the Tron box, but never fully explored it. I need to put it back on!
Envidio a los afortunados que pudieron disfrutar en los 80 y 90 de esta tecnología maravillosa al alcance de muy pocos. Si hasta James Cameron era un profeso impulsor, su disfrute es inequívoco.
Here in Ukraine we never had Laserdisc (or Betamax, for that matter), as far as I know. We went straight from VHS (which was fairly expensive due to economic crisis) to watching films on computers and recording them first on CDs, and then DVDs. If it wasn't for the Internet, I would have probably never heard of Laserdisc, Minidisk, and other fascinating technology of the past. Wish I got to experience it first-hand, though :)
There's a strong second hand market and the discs are quite cheap at the moment on ebay if you're interested in checking it out! PS - we all support your country and hope the situation is resolved very soon.
@@DinoBytes I'll be sure to check it out. And thank you for the support!
Are things ok where you are?
Anyway I have a 1991 pioneer but it only plays my space 1999 discs.
I had a co worker from Ukraine great worker and a genius with anything mechanical. Sadly he kept getting cancer relapses. He was a victim of Chernobyl. Passed away 3 months after retirement in Florida.
@@retire14pattaya9 Sorry to hear about your coworker. Unfortunately, many people were affected by Chornobyl disaster thanks to Soviets' attempts to cover it up rather than inform civilians at the time.
Also, I am fairly okay, thanks for asking. We have daily power outages now due to October and November missile strikes that destroyed the power grid infrastructure, but otherwise "all's quiet on the Western front".
Great video! I too have the same player and it also hasn't been fired up since the early 2000's. I know it had some issues before it was stored away, so it'll need repairing, but seeing this video has inspired to dig it out and get it working, I have a couple of boxes of LD's that I'd like to view again inc. original unedited Star Wars(!!) for one. Is there a HDMI convertion for them? I have a box of tricks I use on my PS1 to convert composite to HDMI, just wondered if someone had done a hardware convertion?
Glad you like it! There's no hdmi mods but loads of composite to hdmi converters available of varying quality. Unsurprisingly the cheap ones aren't great. I bagged a 2nd hand kramer unit that does a good job. The Facebook group I mention has great advice
I purchased a Pioneer CLD - M90 LD player. At first, the tray would not open and made this horrific sound. I turned the unit upside down.and.now the tray opens. However, it does not.close all the way and does not play the LD..not sure what to do. Ty.
It's almost always the drive belt as detailed in this video, but do also ask the Facebook group
@@DinoBytes Thanks
Awesome video! I just rediscovered my laserdisc collection and I bought a player which worked flawlessly with the first movie, but when I started a second movie it got caught in a loop and when I stopped it, the tray won't eject it and it displays an error code of E0 on the display. :(
Yep, definitely sounds like the loading belt needs replacing.
My Pioneer CLD-D501 only has composite video out. Did they ever make models with component video out? I also did the rf coaxial output upgrade on it to pass dolby digital and I believe DTS too. At the time I bought the Standalone DTS Millennium 2 4 6 I should've hung into it. But I would like to know if you can suggest the best composite video to HDMI converter so I can run this laserdisc thru my projector. I have a decent collection just gathering dust. And I too experience the open close problem but it does work when it is good and ready. I should probably get a new belt. Cheers from Las Vegas!
Hi there, there might have been some players with component output (which may help you connect to a certain display), but it won't improve the quality as LD's store video in a composite format. That said, most displays obviously need to convert it to something like component or RGB to actually show it, so back in the day, the quality question became whether your player or your display had the best conversion. My player has an S video output too, but my display generally had a better conversion, so I'd always start with composite output from the player. Today though not many displays have analogue inputs, so what LD enthusiasts look for is a composite to HDMI converter and there's loads of trashy cheap ones on Amazon. Better options include old Kramer models you could pick up from eBay. Then the question becomes, which device does the best de-interlacing and scaling, the converter box or your display. For me, I use a Kramer to convert composite to HDMI, then let my display (a projector) scale it up. There's loads of discussions about this on various groups - I'm a member of one on Facebook where it's often discussed!
@@DinoBytes I bought a fairly cheap composite to HDMI converter on Amazon and I tried it again last night. Pic qual wasn't too bad but I was having sound issues. My Marantz 8805 wasn't giving me any sound no matter opt 1,2 coax 1,2 or even analog stereo! I messed with the buttons on the remote too. Toggles thru left, right, stereo, analog, digital. Went thru input assign menu in marantz and never got audio. It just worked a few months ago too! I might bring it downstairs and try it on that system. The setup upstairs is kinda hard to get to as it sits, so maybe I'll strike paydirt downstairs. We'll see. I am contemplating a dvl-X0 or the 909 (can't remember prefix) but man they're expensive. My CLD-D501 was bought new and is still in great shape so may just go with it. Thanks for reply, Best regards, Eric
I'm here cause my brother bought some laserdiscs but has no player yet. I remember the disc's but forgot what the players looked like. Lol
I have a Beautiful pioneer CLD 97 immaculate but no longer opening the tray in fact a strong clacking cracking sound and vibrations started as I quickly turned the off switch and power cable Help please I am in Miami USA
Hmm, not sure but try posting in the LaserDisc group I mentioned as all the experts are there!
I'm thinking this is the problem with mine. Discs still play, and after hitting eject I can push and pull the tray manually to load them. But just hitting the button does nothing but make the click of something attempting to move and failing.
Sounds like the problem I had
@DinoBytes Replaced the belt and it's spinning now...but it revealed that a gear in the tray mechanism also jams at a point and won't move.
Just purchased a laserdisc player/cd player karaoke machine, pioneer CLD-V880 won’t open when I hit the open button won’t open
probably this issue
Also where do I get the bands??
Hi David, I mention the suppliers in the video and description
My 1991 pioneer CLD 1090 won't play most discs but plays my image entertainment space 1999 discs.
It knows the ones you should be watching.
Unlike yours, My Pioneer CLD-F1 seems to work fine the tray works smoothly ejecting and close the tray, it just takes both Laserdisc and CD in and it did nothing afterwards no attempt to load the disc at all.
What could be the problem and how to fix it.
Its a shame since the player is in amazing shape from outside considering its well over 20 years old.
I'd recommend joining the Facebook group I mentioned as someone there WILL have experience with your player.
When I was younger, actually I skipped from VHS to VCD~DVD,I never watched a video or movie from LD before,so I got no idea how is the quality compare to VCD and DVD
VCD, DVD and LD were all standard definition (480 / 576i), but stored it in different ways. VCD and DVD were digital and the compression was horribly high for VCD. LD was analogue for video (although later had digital sound), so looked quite different. To most people, DVD looked a bit better than LD, with better colour range and the benefit of standardising on anamorphic delivery to maximise the limited resolution versus letterbox on LD. BUT LD had no compression artefacts, none of the blockiness we are all now used to, and when you see it, you notice it's not there! It's kind of like vinyl audio in a way. Not better or worse, but different. But in terms of resolution it's very low by today's standards. It's more about the fun of spinning an old format, seeing a different style of presentation, and also having access to some titles which are still hard to find on different formats.
Thanks for the explanations
@@DinoBytes I don't used VHS tapes that much since they eat up tapes I switch to vcd dvds blu ray and 4k ultra hd discs and laserdiscs since the audio is much clear and since they last for a long time then vhs tapes
Can't get the tray open to get to the belt......
Just open the case and turn the cogs to extend it
Less steps the better, so I just leave the unit plugged in. So I'll have mine fixed about 10 seconds faster. Lol
Who in America repairs laserdisc players?
I recommend joining the Facebook group I mentioned in the video and asking there.