@@Setsuna_Kyoura Suppose it's needed for the DVD part somehow. My player (a slightly earlier LD only model) the laser cradle simply goes on curved track from bottom to top.
@@cbmsysmobile Greetings: That would B called the "Dragon . Each of the 3 types had advantages. 4 near uninterrupted play the 4 track was best, 3rd in line of record quality. 2nd, and my preferred was the swivel head. It offered the near best of the 3 types.
Hi Marc , you dont have to put the motors to a power supply to check, the unit has a test mode where you can check all Motors and Servos by pressing buttons on the front panel. You can activate it by short the test mode PIN to GND and switch on the Unit, the display changes an test mode is active. The Test mode Pin is on the main Bord and sign as "test". If you have a Porblem with spindle low RPM the main Spindle Motor is defekt. The collector is litte burned and you have to change the motor, so the change from A to Side B goes much faster ! Also the time for reading the TOC is much faster. The Motor lost thrust by this Problem. But here it works in perfect conditions, Greetings from an old Pioneer engeneer. Lovley content !
I own one of the older Models without DVD Playback. Sadly not working at this Time. The Drawer will not open. The time for a side change is around 12 Seconds. At the Beginning of the DVD the People complaint about a half second Layer change. I could only shook my Head about it.
Great device btw. and thanks to you both for showing this off and that you shared this kinda "hairy" repair for us to watch:) Do you miss anything around the location of your eyebrows, Mister Flyboy? Hehehehe Have a good one!
Hi Mark, your easy calm manner and approach to problems is most entertaining. Most of the time, in fact nearly all time I have no idea what you're talking about but it doesn't matter, you're still a very clever bloke and very entertaining to watch.
What an amazing piece of kit. No wonder it cost £900 when new! But still not as amazing as your ability to understand and repair almost anything electronic, and produce compelling videos! Thanks Mark.
@@adrinathegreat3095 i kind of find it sad that alot of multi thousand dollar devices in the 90's/ early 2000's are now worth practically nothing... though it at least makes sense, whats a 20 year old brick phone that runs off 2g going to do for you in a modern day aspect anyway...
@@UserAccount-ThisOne I have a Krell amp and KEF speakers. I got the amp for $800 and it's now going for $1300. Pretty stable. The speakers...need more work. But yeah, anything VHS, TVs etc. - not needed, and it is really inferior. This top of the line LD player just has "good quality" analog TV resolution from that time. I recently streamed "First Blood" (Rambo), something we only know from BAD VHS copies on an old tube TV. It's remembered as a cliche movie to run away from. Wow, just the opening scenes look completely different when you see it in high quality. Quite interesting.
That flipping mechanism was one of the coolest things ever. Ya can see why the unit was so expensive and it wasn't the electronics, but would have taken some time to build from scratch even in the factory.
Mark, you are my hero! Your calm approach, your analytical way of trouble shooting, your equipment choice, your reverse engineering skills As a former electronic engineer having worked in Industrial , studio and Hifi environments I wish that I had a mentor like you back then. And always this mischievous smile. Kudos to you man. The best channel on equipment repair so far.
I agree. Sadly it's mainly the more moronic and dumbed down TH-cam channels grow their subscriber counts at a rapid rate, anything intelligent and genuinely interesting like this brilliant channel takes a long time. Quality over quantity and all that. Keep up the great work Mark.
I agree Mark is a very clever bloke. I have been watching his videos for a while now and really enjoy watching them and find them quiet relaxing. Thanks to him I found out about JIS screws and the appropriate screw driver sets. I bought a set of Vessel and Sunflag screwdrivers both top quality tools and both Made in Japan and the tell tale punch mark on the screw head a good indicator the JIS screw. I do model railroading and some of Marks cleaning products and tools have been a good guide what to safely use around electronic equipment. Proto 2000 locomotives from the nineties have a terrible grease in the bogies (trucks Americanese) that dries like bees wax. I used shellite to degrease the crud off and a wood tooth pick to clean the gears. I lubricated them with excellent Labelle USA white grease with teflon and they run smooth and quiet. No split gears either. Keep bringing out those videos Mark. I love those retro Amps and various players with the Made in Japan on the back. Cheers from Australia .
I didn't think I'd watch a 30 minute video of someone fixing a Laser Disc, but it was very enjoyable and informative to watch. I like the format and presentation of your video. I like fixing and tinkering with electronics too, but have a lot to learn. I'm probably never going to take a Laser Disc player apart, but this taught me some good diagnostic techniques applicable to all sorts of things!
The bottom line is, if Mark can't fix it, it can't be fixed. You can take that to the bank. Mark is "Stunning ", in his abilities to repair electronics. OUTSTANDING !!!...
@@Synthematix I think that this claim is not valid for "retro enthusiasts", or people like Mark who are specialized in that kind of repair. We are practically drowning in old grease and rotating, well (over?) specked heavy mechanisms and are always on the hunt for replacement parts. There are many well engineered mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic, electronic and a mixture of all of those kinds of devices in action these days. You just have to open your eyes. At least I have some evidence for that just by looking at a car, a motorbike or ordinary kitchen appliances or machine tools. What I don't have any evidence for is "god". I guess now we are at full circle, hehehe. Have a good one you both and much fun with anything that is wonderfully designed and put together by our fellow people (including god:P).
I repaired one myself, it worked for about a year and then went back to skipping tracks on the B side of the laserdisc. I repaired it again and it worked for a few months, but eventually the mechanics gave out. TOP video as always, best channel ever!
Mark I believe you'll find the dim fluoro display issue to be the 2 Electrolytic cap's for the displays required high voltage on the power supply board. As for screws, it is important to make sure you use the screws in their intended location as I had a Pioneer laser disc player in for repair which a local service tech and Pioneer service agent were unable to repair. Believe the original tech had used a case screw in the wrong location which was able to cut a PCB track preventing the unit from powering up properly. Oh and that units original fault was tray would not go in properly just needing realignment. Oh and very entertaining video. Brought back memories of repairing them back in the day & also used to own (with 240v step-down transformer) a 110v twin tray varient so never needed to get up to swap a disc to watch a movie (fortunately didn't own a 3 disc movie in my library collection).
@faustoalencar1509 the caps in question are on the power supply board. After having a quick refresh of the 919 circuit found this actually uses 3 caps for the Fluro AC with -27V DC offset - C711 (likely culprit), C712 & C713. There is also C195 on the -27V rail, but this is on the Fluro Display PCB & least likely to be at fault.
Repaired one of these myself. Looks like the "Gear Box" has already been changed. They are usually made from brittle plastic (the brittle plastic one looks lighter and fibrous) and the nub breaks in transport (the nub that keeps the laser assembly level on the B-side). For the other commenter that said it worked for a year, then skipped again; try a different grease. I've run into lithium greases that tend to bind on plastic some time after use, never had an issue after switching to a thicker grease. edit: it's AMAZING that entire drive and laser assembly lift is driven by one motor and one belt!
Agreed I couldn't believe it when they were introduced, typical French engineering. What the hell was wrong with 25 way D Type and RS232 standards??? Oh yes that little thing called cost and save a few pence on each unit. The amount of house calls I went on only to find loose scart leads. D TYPES would not have come loose 🤬
This is likely close to the zenith of consumer electronics. The LD Combi-Player design was brilliant in that it did things no optical disc player was ever envisioned to do when the various optical discs it played were made. To say it breached so many technical hurdles which seemed to be impossible is no understatement. The amount of moving parts and electronic systems boggles the mind. Mark shows his usual fearless never say never mindset to tackling this "kitchen sink" optical player. You, sir, are a prince among paupers in the electronics repairs scene on TH-cam.
Hi Mark found your channel a few weeks ago have watched most of your videos, brought back memories of when I worked in the TV repair industry before moving into computer repairs ( Main frames )
What a wonderful mechanism. I do love the tech of the late 90s. I did have the little brother of this player, the DVD only 717. Beautiful machine that didn’t quite survive a lightning strike.
Mark, thank God you were able to get this unit working, so that we could all see the "Greatest Rapper" video ending. As always great job what a beast of a machine.
Just a hobbyist here... I remember once repairing a late era Philips home stereo mini-set that would not turn off (go to stand-by) when asked. I was reluctant just to trash it, so I removed the hood and watched the thing go through its paces... as far as mechanical things go, there was just the CD tray. And I noticed it wouldn't close completely. Tracked the problem down to a loose rubber string / micro belt-drive. Once I replaced the original rubber belt with a kitchen variety rubber band (much too elastic), the CD tray drive would regain enough muscle to fully "close the door", the "door closed switch" would click, and the set was willing to turn off! That door closing belt was the whole problem! Soon after that, I noticed that the original speakers supplied with the set already sounded like yoghurt cups. Well the woofers' "elastic" suspension/seal around the circumference of the diaphragm was not proper rubber, rather some softened plastic, and as the softeners evaporated over the years, the woofer would no longer woof... And when I attached some decent broadband speakers, it turned out that the mini-set's tone controls were pre-adjusted for the small-volume speaker boxes, and would produce an ugly "boom" on generic broadband speaker sets... so I just scrapped the darn thing anyway. Now watching Mark wading through this beast, I was clutching onto my table with a gut feeling like "just back away and return this to the owner, with a pointer to the nearest scrap yard". A modern fighter jet must be easier to maintain than this clockwork marvel. Ohh those flagship toys of yesteryear... (yester -year? -decade? -century? millenium actually :-)
All across the land, little old ladies have noticed your upload, got up to put the kettle on before watching, and are currently saying to themselves "I wonder if he gives himself a shock again in this one".
A very enjoyable and inspirational 30 mins of viewing … particularly as I still have the previous 909 model sat in my living room!! Wouldn’t be surprised if mine needs similar treatment as it hasn’t been run for some years now. I also still have my LD collection in the cupboard (must be pushing 75 of them) … but mostly now superseded by DVD … then Blu Ray … and now with 4k where possible and where the movie still works for me. Even when I was moving over to DVD, a couple of my LDs were starting to suffer the dreaded laser rot😢. This was the attraction of this series of LD players… they allowed us to cut across to the new DVD format without the anguish of having to have multiple types of player and still access our LD collections. I was, however, always puzzled as to why Pioneer went down the road of the complexity of the rotating head mechanism … I could never understand why they didn’t simply double up on the laser heads and avoid the labour and material costs and reliability warranty risks of that mechanism. I guess the only reason must have been component costs at the time … but the mechanism they came up with and all the additional associated tooling costs really defies belief to me 🤯😵💫🤯😳😱 I do worry now about keeping our current 4k hardware going … there being fewer and fewer optical drives and associated components available to support repairs.
im very surprised you didnt have ago a fixing the led display mark, you always seem to have a fix for everything else in your videos, grest to see a true craftsman at work
It's a VFL (vacuum fluorescent) not LED. When they start to go dim like that, it's usually the filaments starting to break down. You have to replace them, and most likely will be unobtainium.
@@AstrosElectronicsLab In many devices the power supply for anode voltage goes low. Usually there are electrolytic caps in series from the transformer winding, those pass the current through. As they loose capacity, the display dimms. Fixed that on various hifi units.
I think it is more fun and interesting to watch the mechanism working and that huge disc spinning that fast than the picture quality it produces... Great video as always keep it up Cheers from Greece!
That's the funkiest mechanism I have ever seen especially the rotation of the laser head to read the other side of the disc! Thanks for a great video Mark!🤣
Indeed it's also crazy watching and listening to the laser disc spinning down to a complete stop and then spinning back up again but in the opposite direction!
I remember a guy in Vermont, of all places, who had a player in the mid to late 1980's. There was a local store that rented these discs out. The same store where you get your gas, milk and other sundries. This was in the middle of nowhere. So cool.
ive done some fixing on some of the pioneer laser disc models in the late 90's, i remember one of my customers complaining he cant turn on his laser disc, as i checked it the primaryu fuse had blown, and when i checked the back side of the unit it says 120 volts, here in the philippines we have 220 volts probably he plugged it directly to the power outlet and as ive told him he says he got the unit from his brother from the USA so yeah great memories, btw thanks for the great video
Mark: making this ancient player work very well with so many brittle plastic parts. I mean the next time it needs serviced imagine those clips that lock the sections down snapping off to not lock the component to the other piece. Of course I can see Mark making a special clip holder to hold it down. That grease is like 10 times the quality of the original grease which oxidised a bit. You saved it Mark. It is a fine piece of kit as you Brits say.
Great to see one of these again Mark. That florescent display may have just been tired capacitors in the supply. Aside from the filament there is (usually) a negative supply of around 30 odd volts supplying the anodes. Many times on similar displays I've found that the capacitors on the 30Vish rail have gone high ESR...virtually open circuit and replacements bring the display back to life.
nice to see that there is someone around that is repairing old electric equipment as i have an old xenon 2 tape cd and radio 2 speakers that is looking for repair
questa macchina è meravigliosa . Mark al solito ha dimostrato nessun sconforto davanti la complessità . In definittiva un oggetto molto bello che avrebbe meritato un tentativo di riparazione anche per il display
Laserdisc that,s rare , my friend has a Philips Laserdisc player , it looks the same as that Pioneer LD player , greetings from Assen in the Netherlands , and great job Mark !!
Great job sir. While my own TV career focused mainly on video recorders and early satellite boxes such as Amstrad and Salora, I did do my fare share of CD players. Never got to work on Video Disc but all the mechanics looked so familiar, I would have gladly jumped in, feet first, to tackle any fix that came into the workshop. Thanks again for sharing and stirring up some very happy memories from 30 years ago. Cheers 🍺
When you put the top plate back on I said NOOOO you didn't plug in the laser! Good job over all. I hate jobs that seem too simple to be true. Here's hoping it stays good!
Mark, you're the best, hands down! I'd love to purchase an older Sansui receiver from you if you ever come across one or have one! I've been looking for YEARS! ANYBODY???
Very good job. I owned a Panasonic Prism LX-1000U back in the day.. Bought it new for almost a grand USD.. Early 90's. Loved it, but the unit failed about 5 years after I bought it. I may still have it somewhere around the house.. Lol. Keep up the great work.. Love your repair videos!
Wow, size of those discs…that mechanism is old school cool. Respect it, and respect you to my good man for tackling an intricate job, not for the faint of heart, I would wager! Lol well done
Mark mis respetos para tí,😮 allá por los comienzos de los 90 un amigo tenía ese reproductor Laserdisc Pioneer y me sorprendió cuando lo ví por primera vez y ahora tu Mark que subiste este video como lo estás reparando este reproductor Laserdisc me sorprende todavía más al ver como funciona ese reproductor con esa tecnología Japonesa de hace 35 años, gracias por tus vídeos que nos orientan mucho. 👍👏👏👏 Saludos desde Guadalajara Jalisco México. 🤗🤗🤗
Another blazing success Mark! Well done. Maybe its just me, but I get so anxious when the reassembly bit happens on all the videos; will a plastic mechanical bit snap from old age, will there be 4 screws left over, will the unit get perfectly reassembled only to find there is a small screwdriver missing... You are a Repair Legend and a great sense of humour, Mark! Keep 'em coming!!
Thanks for the video. Brings back memories as I had the top of the line Pioneer LD player back in the 90's in my theatre. Quality was the best you could get in resolution at the time and a lot of us used line doublers to improve the picture even more. Now it's all streaming etc and the only disc player I own in my X-Box.
You actually helped me! I'd bought some electric contact cleaner, just to have around when, for example, RCA sockets start getting dirty. Well a few months back we bought a Shark vacuum cleaner. I went to do the stairs, and the rotating head ... er ... didn't. I found another TH-cam guide about the problem, mainly how to get to the innards of the head, but the guy who did the video discovered a belt had fallen off, and put it back on and it worked. Not my one, the spindle that the belt drove wouldn't turn against the casing. After a bit of messing around, I realised that it wasn't meant to. The fat bit in the middle of the spindle was actually a bearing! By gripping the end that drove the carpet beater with my fingers, and the casing with a pair of pliers, I noticed it moved a tiny bit. At this point my wife told me that she had washed the head! Rust, I thought! Right, so I got the contact cleaner and sprayed it into the bearing, and managed to move it a bit more. Sprayed it again and again until it eventually unjammed and rotated freely. I partly put it back together, put the belt there and turned it on, left it running for a while, and put in a bit more contact cleaner. Now it's working nicely, and if it happens again I know what to do! Had I not been watching some of your videos, I probably wouldn't have had the contact cleaner around. Thanks!!
If that's a metal bearing with ball bearings, which I assume it is, you probably should pack some bearing grease back into it. To help prevent it from rusting up again. Contact cleaner may remove any grease that was there from factory.
Hi Mark, great job again I have been working on such a machine aswell. Also the display was dark. But I could clean it I was amazed you didnt took it out. There 2 parts a filter for color sometimes it's blue or orange. And the display it self is most off the time blue. But after years of use those display's do atract a lot off dust and do burn a bit in. Also the plastic what before. I would say give it a go. If you never shoot it's allways a miss. Cheers.
I really enjoyed that video! Most of these players you don't find them in such good condition and this one was very clean! Thanks You for a great Video! 😁
Laser disc, never seen one in the wild, and I'm almost fifty years old 😂. Incredible technology, very interesting to see one taken apart and back while again.
Just discovered your channel Mark and apart from the Tourettes style giggles I've really enjoyed the 2 watched so far. Not a Linus Tech fan what with the ads and splashy video editing and game show host style presentation. I like it clean and pure and your vids do that in spades. Sad to see that other bloke gets 2.8 million views for a snazzy laser disc presentation and you get only 120k views. Good numbers for you mind but I hope you know what I mean. P.S. I was given one of these in the 80's and it couldn't read discs properly. I managed to get it going by increasing the laser voltage and I now know that wouldn't last with its weak laser. Horribly large format and as you said, expensive as heck. Dunno what I did with it but I suspect it went to landfill. No online shopping back then and had just the one or two movies as I recall. Good luck with your endeavours (just as your teacher said 🙂 cheers from Oz
Sticker on the back says April 2000 so it must've been one of the latest models made! 5:13 how COOL is that! Bet the disc wobble is killing the bearings though!
I am in complete awe with regards your skill, knowledge, attention to detail and problem solving. Skills I hold in high regard. You are truly a superb artisan.
Great job Mark, I never worked on Laser disk players ( a bit thing on the ground around here !!)But have repair a few cd and dvd players that suffered from the same problem ! and the fix was the same , clean the sled shafts and re lub. keep up the good work, i really injoy channel.
Seem to remember the "jitter" on still frames is because the disc has 2 frames stored per circumference so there's a very slight movement between these two when paused or seeking
Ahhh JIS screws! The motorcycle guys know that a Philips does not work as well. and nearly every Honda brake rotor/drum will have its retaining screws cored out by people trying a Philips... Great video as usual Mark!
Nice one Mark. Reminds me of getting imported latest movie discs from Canada before they were even out in the UK to play on my dual sided Pioneer Laser Disc and CD. Thanks.
Great to see you again! I was little disappointed because you didn't checked the DVD and never tried to fix the display! I was quite sure that you would fix it with some magic, but you really disappointed me! 😊 See you next time!
Awesome work, I think you'll find the DVL-919 was released in 1998.. I had one when I upgraded to DVD's as I wanted to keep my old laserdisc collection too.. one of the last models.
That mechanism that flips the laser to the other side is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
Reminds me of the old Nakamichi RX tape decks that flipped the cassette 180.
Reminds me of these Vid: th-cam.com/video/2CE_zmpHcWQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=FkRIZBKeqjdSLDBv
Beautiful, yes... But a bit over-engineered. It was probably a pain to get it cheap and to work reliably...
@@Setsuna_Kyoura Suppose it's needed for the DVD part somehow. My player (a slightly earlier LD only model) the laser cradle simply goes on curved track from bottom to top.
@@cbmsysmobile Greetings: That would B called the "Dragon . Each of the 3 types had advantages. 4 near uninterrupted play the 4 track was best, 3rd in line of record quality. 2nd, and my preferred was the swivel head. It offered the near best of the 3 types.
Hi Marc , you dont have to put the motors to a power supply to check, the unit has a test mode where you can check all Motors and Servos by pressing buttons on the front panel. You can activate it by short the test mode PIN to GND and switch on the Unit, the display changes an test mode is active. The Test mode Pin is on the main Bord and sign as "test".
If you have a Porblem with spindle low RPM the main Spindle Motor is defekt. The collector is litte burned and you have to change the motor, so the change from A to Side B goes much faster ! Also the time for reading the TOC is much faster. The Motor lost thrust by this Problem. But here it works in perfect conditions, Greetings from an old Pioneer engeneer. Lovley content !
I own one of the older Models without DVD Playback. Sadly not working at this Time. The Drawer will not open. The time for a side change is around 12 Seconds. At the Beginning of the DVD the People complaint about a half second Layer change. I could only shook my Head about it.
Thanks for fixing my machine Mark. I shall look forward to seeing you over the weekend to collect :-)
Great device btw. and thanks to you both for showing this off and that you shared this kinda "hairy" repair for us to watch:)
Do you miss anything around the location of your eyebrows, Mister Flyboy? Hehehehe
Have a good one!
Hi Mark, your easy calm manner and approach to problems is most entertaining. Most of the time, in fact nearly all time I have no idea what you're talking about but it doesn't matter, you're still a very clever bloke and very entertaining to watch.
What an amazing piece of kit. No wonder it cost £900 when new!
But still not as amazing as your ability to understand and repair almost anything electronic, and produce compelling videos!
Thanks Mark.
Today, that would be 2,168.35 pounds 😮😮
Not unusual, I paid £2000 for a dvd recorder back around 2000/2001.
It's also worth nothing now.
@@adrinathegreat3095 i kind of find it sad that alot of multi thousand dollar devices in the 90's/ early 2000's are now worth practically nothing... though it at least makes sense, whats a 20 year old brick phone that runs off 2g going to do for you in a modern day aspect anyway...
@@UserAccount-ThisOne I have a Krell amp and KEF speakers. I got the amp for $800 and it's now going for $1300. Pretty stable. The speakers...need more work.
But yeah, anything VHS, TVs etc. - not needed, and it is really inferior. This top of the line LD player just has "good quality" analog TV resolution from that time. I recently streamed "First Blood" (Rambo), something we only know from BAD VHS copies on an old tube TV. It's remembered as a cliche movie to run away from. Wow, just the opening scenes look completely different when you see it in high quality. Quite interesting.
How you remember where all the parts and wires go is a mystery to me. As always great video Mark.😀
probably by watching back footage already shot in reverse
@@barcooter8248 Yeah, it must be something like that.😃
@@barcooter8248 if you watch the video in reverse he becomes wreck it mark :)
"I think this goes here"
Things have a habit of falling to where they need go/plug in.
That flipping mechanism was one of the coolest things ever. Ya can see why the unit was so expensive and it wasn't the electronics, but would have taken some time to build from scratch even in the factory.
Mark, you are my hero! Your calm approach, your analytical way of trouble shooting, your equipment choice, your reverse engineering skills As a former electronic engineer having worked in Industrial , studio and Hifi environments I wish that I had a mentor like you back then. And always this mischievous smile. Kudos to you man. The best channel on equipment repair so far.
I cannot figure out why this channel hasn't got more subcribers. It's brilliant.
I agree. Sadly it's mainly the more moronic and dumbed down TH-cam channels grow their subscriber counts at a rapid rate, anything intelligent and genuinely interesting like this brilliant channel takes a long time. Quality over quantity and all that.
Keep up the great work Mark.
88,4k subs is A LOT for a channel that specific. Mind you that most viewers are probably 30-60 years old 😀
it is quickly rising in popularity, you are still arriving ahead of the curve tho
I agree Mark is a very clever bloke. I have been watching his videos for a while now and really enjoy watching them and find them quiet relaxing. Thanks to him I found out about JIS screws and the appropriate screw driver sets. I bought a set of Vessel and Sunflag screwdrivers both top quality tools and both Made in Japan and the tell tale punch mark on the screw head a good indicator the JIS screw. I do model railroading and some of Marks cleaning products and tools have been a good guide what to safely use around electronic equipment. Proto 2000 locomotives from the nineties have a terrible grease in the bogies (trucks Americanese) that dries like bees wax. I used shellite to degrease the crud off and a wood tooth pick to clean the gears. I lubricated them with excellent Labelle USA white grease with teflon and they run smooth and quiet. No split gears either. Keep bringing out those videos Mark. I love those retro Amps and various players with the Made in Japan on the back. Cheers from Australia .
'cause TH-cam hates to admit that there is "geek porn" category.
Great to see you back Mark, we’ve all missed your informative and entertaining fixes 😊
Bringing back the “good old days”
I didn't think I'd watch a 30 minute video of someone fixing a Laser Disc, but it was very enjoyable and informative to watch. I like the format and presentation of your video. I like fixing and tinkering with electronics too, but have a lot to learn.
I'm probably never going to take a Laser Disc player apart, but this taught me some good diagnostic techniques applicable to all sorts of things!
The bottom line is, if Mark can't fix it, it can't be fixed. You can take that to the bank. Mark is "Stunning ", in his abilities to repair electronics. OUTSTANDING !!!...
Besides the actual repair, it must be so much work setting the camera up between every shot. Really enjoyable watch this one.
Incredible machine, you just don't see home electronics like this anymore
Thank god
@@Synthematix I think that this claim is not valid for "retro enthusiasts", or people like Mark who are specialized in that kind of repair. We are practically drowning in old grease and rotating, well (over?) specked heavy mechanisms and are always on the hunt for replacement parts. There are many well engineered mechanical, hydraulic or pneumatic, electronic and a mixture of all of those kinds of devices in action these days. You just have to open your eyes.
At least I have some evidence for that just by looking at a car, a motorbike or ordinary kitchen appliances or machine tools. What I don't have any evidence for is "god". I guess now we are at full circle, hehehe.
Have a good one you both and much fun with anything that is wonderfully designed and put together by our fellow people (including god:P).
I repaired one myself, it worked for about a year and then went back to skipping tracks on the B side of the laserdisc. I repaired it again and it worked for a few months, but eventually the mechanics gave out. TOP video as always, best channel ever!
Are we both watching the same channels? 😂
Mark I believe you'll find the dim fluoro display issue to be the 2 Electrolytic cap's for the displays required high voltage on the power supply board. As for screws, it is important to make sure you use the screws in their intended location as I had a Pioneer laser disc player in for repair which a local service tech and Pioneer service agent were unable to repair. Believe the original tech had used a case screw in the wrong location which was able to cut a PCB track preventing the unit from powering up properly. Oh and that units original fault was tray would not go in properly just needing realignment.
Oh and very entertaining video. Brought back memories of repairing them back in the day & also used to own (with 240v step-down transformer) a 110v twin tray varient so never needed to get up to swap a disc to watch a movie (fortunately didn't own a 3 disc movie in my library collection).
Hello, Mark. Sorry to bother you. Can you be more specific about those caps? Where would I find them on the power supply or in the front panel itself?
Sorry, I meant Damian
@faustoalencar1509 the caps in question are on the power supply board. After having a quick refresh of the 919 circuit found this actually uses 3 caps for the Fluro AC with -27V DC offset - C711 (likely culprit), C712 & C713. There is also C195 on the -27V rail, but this is on the Fluro Display PCB & least likely to be at fault.
@@damianscott431 Thank you very much, Mr. Damian. I'll be checking them as soon as possible. Have a great week. :)
Repaired one of these myself. Looks like the "Gear Box" has already been changed. They are usually made from brittle plastic (the brittle plastic one looks lighter and fibrous) and the nub breaks in transport (the nub that keeps the laser assembly level on the B-side). For the other commenter that said it worked for a year, then skipped again; try a different grease. I've run into lithium greases that tend to bind on plastic some time after use, never had an issue after switching to a thicker grease.
edit: it's AMAZING that entire drive and laser assembly lift is driven by one motor and one belt!
There's not many things in this world I'm more glad to see the back of than Scart sockets!
Agreed
I couldn't believe it when they were introduced, typical French engineering.
What the hell was wrong with 25 way D Type and RS232 standards???
Oh yes that little thing called cost and save a few pence on each unit.
The amount of house calls I went on only to find loose scart leads.
D TYPES would not have come loose 🤬
Watching TH-cam for free with better quality than a 900 quid Laser Disc player. What a time to be alive!
This is likely close to the zenith of consumer electronics. The LD Combi-Player design was brilliant in that it did things no optical disc player was ever envisioned to do when the various optical discs it played were made. To say it breached so many technical hurdles which seemed to be impossible is no understatement. The amount of moving parts and electronic systems boggles the mind. Mark shows his usual fearless never say never mindset to tackling this "kitchen sink" optical player. You, sir, are a prince among paupers in the electronics repairs scene on TH-cam.
Enormous noise too
Very few channels make me as excited as this one. One of my main inspirations for getting into repair!
Brilliant =D I am always amazed at how complex the mechanisms are on these, no wonder they were so expensive!
Hi Mark found your channel a few weeks ago have watched most of your videos, brought back memories of when I worked in the TV repair industry before moving into computer repairs ( Main frames )
What a wonderful mechanism. I do love the tech of the late 90s. I did have the little brother of this player, the DVD only 717. Beautiful machine that didn’t quite survive a lightning strike.
Mark, thank God you were able to get this unit working, so that we could all see the "Greatest Rapper" video ending. As always great job what a beast of a machine.
Dim VFD is often caused by the surrounding components. I've had that with a portastudio, it was a leaking (fluid) capacitor, part of the VFD circuit.
Greetings: Yes. usually the heat generated .
Just a hobbyist here... I remember once repairing a late era Philips home stereo mini-set that would not turn off (go to stand-by) when asked. I was reluctant just to trash it, so I removed the hood and watched the thing go through its paces... as far as mechanical things go, there was just the CD tray. And I noticed it wouldn't close completely. Tracked the problem down to a loose rubber string / micro belt-drive. Once I replaced the original rubber belt with a kitchen variety rubber band (much too elastic), the CD tray drive would regain enough muscle to fully "close the door", the "door closed switch" would click, and the set was willing to turn off! That door closing belt was the whole problem!
Soon after that, I noticed that the original speakers supplied with the set already sounded like yoghurt cups. Well the woofers' "elastic" suspension/seal around the circumference of the diaphragm was not proper rubber, rather some softened plastic, and as the softeners evaporated over the years, the woofer would no longer woof... And when I attached some decent broadband speakers, it turned out that the mini-set's tone controls were pre-adjusted for the small-volume speaker boxes, and would produce an ugly "boom" on generic broadband speaker sets... so I just scrapped the darn thing anyway.
Now watching Mark wading through this beast, I was clutching onto my table with a gut feeling like "just back away and return this to the owner, with a pointer to the nearest scrap yard". A modern fighter jet must be easier to maintain than this clockwork marvel. Ohh those flagship toys of yesteryear... (yester -year? -decade? -century? millenium actually :-)
All across the land, little old ladies have noticed your upload, got up to put the kettle on before watching, and are currently saying to themselves "I wonder if he gives himself a shock again in this one".
🤣😂😂🤣
_looks around for hidden camera_
Tis not snooker
Its me...I'm the little old lady
@@joshuacook5280 are you sure you are not joshing?
Another brilliant fix, What I like learning on your videos is how to get things apart, thats always a battle. I do wish I still had a LD player.
A very enjoyable and inspirational 30 mins of viewing … particularly as I still have the previous 909 model sat in my living room!!
Wouldn’t be surprised if mine needs similar treatment as it hasn’t been run for some years now. I also still have my LD collection in the cupboard (must be pushing 75 of them) … but mostly now superseded by DVD … then Blu Ray … and now with 4k where possible and where the movie still works for me. Even when I was moving over to DVD, a couple of my LDs were starting to suffer the dreaded laser rot😢.
This was the attraction of this series of LD players… they allowed us to cut across to the new DVD format without the anguish of having to have multiple types of player and still access our LD collections.
I was, however, always puzzled as to why Pioneer went down the road of the complexity of the rotating head mechanism … I could never understand why they didn’t simply double up on the laser heads and avoid the labour and material costs and reliability warranty risks of that mechanism. I guess the only reason must have been component costs at the time … but the mechanism they came up with and all the additional associated tooling costs really defies belief to me 🤯😵💫🤯😳😱
I do worry now about keeping our current 4k hardware going … there being fewer and fewer optical drives and associated components available to support repairs.
I just love the way you pull the machine a part with the greates of confidence. I wouldn't have a clue how to put it back together
He's got a video recording of disassembly to help with re-assembly.
@@FreakyPete That's pretty obvious, he's actually my son's next door neighbour
im very surprised you didnt have ago a fixing the led display mark, you always seem to have a fix for everything else in your videos, grest to see a true craftsman at work
It's a VFL (vacuum fluorescent) not LED. When they start to go dim like that, it's usually the filaments starting to break down. You have to replace them, and most likely will be unobtainium.
@@AstrosElectronicsLab In many devices the power supply for anode voltage goes low. Usually there are electrolytic caps in series from the transformer winding, those pass the current through. As they loose capacity, the display dimms. Fixed that on various hifi units.
@@karelmensik2698 that is also true.
I think it is more fun and interesting to watch the mechanism working and that huge disc spinning that fast than the picture quality it produces...
Great video as always keep it up Cheers from Greece!
That's the funkiest mechanism I have ever seen especially the rotation of the laser head to read the other side of the disc! Thanks for a great video Mark!🤣
Indeed it's also crazy watching and listening to the laser disc spinning down to a complete stop and then spinning back up again but in the opposite direction!
I always watch marks video to cheer me up, I've learnt things along the way. I absolutely love electronics to
I remember a guy in Vermont, of all places, who had a player in the mid to late 1980's.
There was a local store that rented these discs out. The same store where you get your gas, milk and other sundries. This was in the middle of nowhere. So cool.
I have a DVL-909 and watching the mechanism work is mesmerizing. A well build machine. Keep up the good work Sir.
Hello Mark, you have changed my life. I owned a metcal solder iron like you, it's so impressive ! Thanks for your videos !
ive done some fixing on some of the pioneer laser disc models in the late 90's, i remember one of my customers complaining he cant turn on his laser disc, as i checked it the primaryu fuse had blown, and when i checked the back side of the unit it says 120 volts, here in the philippines we have 220 volts probably he plugged it directly to the power outlet and as ive told him he says he got the unit from his brother from the USA so yeah great memories, btw thanks for the great video
Mark: making this ancient player work very well with so many brittle plastic parts. I mean the next time it needs serviced imagine those clips that lock the sections down snapping off to not lock the component to the other piece. Of course I can see Mark making a special clip holder to hold it down. That grease is like 10 times the quality of the original grease which oxidised a bit. You saved it Mark. It is a fine piece of kit as you Brits say.
Great to see one of these again Mark. That florescent display may have just been tired capacitors in the supply. Aside from the filament there is (usually) a negative supply of around 30 odd volts supplying the anodes. Many times on similar displays I've found that the capacitors on the 30Vish rail have gone high ESR...virtually open circuit and replacements bring the display back to life.
nice to see that there is someone around that is repairing old electric equipment as i have an old xenon 2 tape cd and radio 2 speakers that is looking for repair
questa macchina è meravigliosa . Mark al solito ha dimostrato nessun sconforto davanti la complessità . In definittiva un oggetto molto bello che avrebbe meritato un tentativo di riparazione anche per il display
Laserdisc that,s rare , my friend has a Philips Laserdisc player , it looks the same as that Pioneer LD player , greetings from Assen in the Netherlands , and great job Mark !!
Nice one, Mark. I know you have a business to run, but it would be nice to see you post a little more often. Thanks for sharing.
Great job sir. While my own TV career focused mainly on video recorders and early satellite boxes such as Amstrad and Salora, I did do my fare share of CD players. Never got to work on Video Disc but all the mechanics looked so familiar, I would have gladly jumped in, feet first, to tackle any fix that came into the workshop. Thanks again for sharing and stirring up some very happy memories from 30 years ago. Cheers 🍺
Mark, you are a Master in mechanic engineering
I'll say it again, how the heck do you only have 88K subscribers !?!? You have one of the best channels on youtube.
When you put the top plate back on I said NOOOO you didn't plug in the laser! Good job over all. I hate jobs that seem too simple to be true. Here's hoping it stays good!
The laser head is the Terminator !
It lits up its red laser and asks "Sarah Connor ?" 😂
Great job Mark !!!
Back in the day I had a few of those and the CLD-900s in the shop.. They did not like dust or heat. Thx 4 the share.
This is so satisfying!!!
The level of patience to do this work is awesome.
That style of cable, I've always had problems with, they are so easy to be damaged!!!! Glad you have the touch!!
Mark, you're the best, hands down! I'd love to purchase an older Sansui receiver from you if you ever come across one or have one! I've been looking for YEARS! ANYBODY???
Very good job. I owned a Panasonic Prism LX-1000U back in the day.. Bought it new for almost a grand USD.. Early 90's. Loved it, but the unit failed about 5 years after I bought it. I may still have it somewhere around the house.. Lol. Keep up the great work.. Love your repair videos!
Wow, size of those discs…that mechanism is old school cool. Respect it, and respect you to my good man for tackling an intricate job, not for the faint of heart, I would wager! Lol well done
Mark mis respetos para tí,😮 allá por los comienzos de los 90 un amigo tenía ese reproductor Laserdisc Pioneer y me sorprendió cuando lo ví por primera vez y ahora tu Mark que subiste este video como lo estás reparando este reproductor Laserdisc me sorprende todavía más al ver como funciona ese reproductor con esa tecnología Japonesa de hace 35 años, gracias por tus vídeos que nos orientan mucho. 👍👏👏👏 Saludos desde Guadalajara Jalisco México. 🤗🤗🤗
Another blazing success Mark! Well done. Maybe its just me, but I get so anxious when the reassembly bit happens on all the videos; will a plastic mechanical bit snap from old age, will there be 4 screws left over, will the unit get perfectly reassembled only to find there is a small screwdriver missing... You are a Repair Legend and a great sense of humour, Mark! Keep 'em coming!!
😂 fixes EVERYTHING with the utmost precision, electric screwdriver goes wonky “probably gonna need a new one of these”, I fully support this logic!!
Thanks for the video. Brings back memories as I had the top of the line Pioneer LD player back in the 90's in my theatre. Quality was the best you could get in resolution at the time and a lot of us used line doublers to improve the picture even more. Now it's all streaming etc and the only disc player I own in my X-Box.
Amazing maschine, so much details to consider. all these flatcables etc is amazing. And what a great video again!!
Jesus, that takes me back they were expensive at the time you were luck finding that fault on the motor, thanks so much for the video
Not luck but careful, logical tracing of the fault.
Great camera work on the lazer pickup. Fascinating to watch.
great Mark! you solved the problem effectively. It was not easy but you did it very well. Great job. Greetings from Italy. Bye
You actually helped me! I'd bought some electric contact cleaner, just to have around when, for example, RCA sockets start getting dirty. Well a few months back we bought a Shark vacuum cleaner. I went to do the stairs, and the rotating head ... er ... didn't. I found another TH-cam guide about the problem, mainly how to get to the innards of the head, but the guy who did the video discovered a belt had fallen off, and put it back on and it worked. Not my one, the spindle that the belt drove wouldn't turn against the casing. After a bit of messing around, I realised that it wasn't meant to. The fat bit in the middle of the spindle was actually a bearing! By gripping the end that drove the carpet beater with my fingers, and the casing with a pair of pliers, I noticed it moved a tiny bit. At this point my wife told me that she had washed the head! Rust, I thought! Right, so I got the contact cleaner and sprayed it into the bearing, and managed to move it a bit more. Sprayed it again and again until it eventually unjammed and rotated freely. I partly put it back together, put the belt there and turned it on, left it running for a while, and put in a bit more contact cleaner. Now it's working nicely, and if it happens again I know what to do! Had I not been watching some of your videos, I probably wouldn't have had the contact cleaner around. Thanks!!
If that's a metal bearing with ball bearings, which I assume it is, you probably should pack some bearing grease back into it. To help prevent it from rusting up again. Contact cleaner may remove any grease that was there from factory.
Yeah, second the guy who mentions greasing the bearing again, won't last long otherwise.
Once again a great video, This unit is very different from the Phillips VLP700 laser disk players I repaired many years ago.
Me too but I couldn't remember the model number.
Thanks for reminding me 😎
always a good day when Mark has got a new video for us. awesome as always Mark, thank you for the time spent making this. keep them coming my friend.
As usual,
Great job.
Love to watch you working.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi Mark, great job again I have been working on such a machine aswell. Also the display was dark. But I could clean it I was amazed you didnt took it out. There 2 parts a filter for color sometimes it's blue or orange. And the display it self is most off the time blue. But after years of use those display's do atract a lot off dust and do burn a bit in. Also the plastic what before. I would say give it a go. If you never shoot it's allways a miss. Cheers.
It's not aswell it's as well.
The tech in a laser disc machine was amazing for the time.
I think it still is!
I bought and sold these 20 years ago - laserdiscs split over time but loved collecting the films
I really enjoyed that video! Most of these players you don't find them in such good condition and this one was very clean! Thanks You for a great Video! 😁
The runout is MENTAL... that laser focussing gear is doing some _serious_ legwork.
Finally, a video from Mark's workshop.
Love your videos, and this is particularly good because that mechanism is way more complicated than I expected! 🙂
Laser disc, never seen one in the wild, and I'm almost fifty years old 😂. Incredible technology, very interesting to see one taken apart and back while again.
Just discovered your channel Mark and apart from the Tourettes style giggles I've really enjoyed the 2 watched so far. Not a Linus Tech fan what with the ads and splashy video editing and game show host style presentation. I like it clean and pure and your vids do that in spades. Sad to see that other bloke gets 2.8 million views for a snazzy laser disc presentation and you get only 120k views. Good numbers for you mind but I hope you know what I mean.
P.S. I was given one of these in the 80's and it couldn't read discs properly. I managed to get it going by increasing the laser voltage and I now know that wouldn't last with its weak laser. Horribly large format and as you said, expensive as heck.
Dunno what I did with it but I suspect it went to landfill. No online shopping back then and had just the one or two movies as I recall.
Good luck with your endeavours (just as your teacher said 🙂
cheers from Oz
Sticker on the back says April 2000 so it must've been one of the latest models made!
5:13 how COOL is that! Bet the disc wobble is killing the bearings though!
Jaysus...! That is one big beast! Great viewing as always.
I am in complete awe with regards your skill, knowledge, attention to detail and problem solving. Skills I hold in high regard. You are truly a superb artisan.
A good amount of knowledge and some grease and the Laserdisc is fully operational. Good job and c u next time 😊🇩🇰
Great job Mark, I never worked on Laser disk players ( a bit thing on the ground around here !!)But have repair a few cd and dvd players that suffered from the same problem ! and the fix was the same , clean the sled shafts and re lub. keep up the good work, i really injoy channel.
Seem to remember the "jitter" on still frames is because the disc has 2 frames stored per circumference so there's a very slight movement between these two when paused or seeking
This player has a digital still memory, so there should not be. Players without it had no still frames at all on those type discs though.
Incredible mark ! , It has a robot inside !, as always spectacular pioneer !
best channel on youtube, not gonna lie
A master class in repairing elector-mechanics.
Could a machine get any more complex than this, great episode.
Greetings: Yes. It was called a VCR.
I've just started watching all the videos from the beginning waiting for a new video to arrive and I wasn't disappointed keep up the fantastic work
Cheers mark,I’m in the category of knowing sweet F.A. About electronics but love your channel.. how very peculiar… keep up the good work
Love the way it rotates at 6.17 🤣 Keep up the good work 👍
awesome Mark, Best man for the job always.
I really enjoy the fact that Mark temporarily stores small components in the same place i do....a Gü pudding dish 😂
Top stuff, once again Mark!
Ahhh JIS screws! The motorcycle guys know that a Philips does not work as well. and nearly every Honda brake rotor/drum will have its retaining screws cored out by people trying a Philips...
Great video as usual Mark!
My daily dose of relaxation.. watching your videos😊😊😊
Another fantastic fix Mark… Love the clunky noises from these old players 😜
I loved my Pioneer DVL909, an earlier version of the one you fixed… A very sturdy bit of kit….
Nice one Mark. Reminds me of getting imported latest movie discs from Canada before they were even out in the UK to play on my dual sided Pioneer Laser Disc and CD. Thanks.
Great to see you again! I was little disappointed because you didn't checked the DVD and never tried to fix the display! I was quite sure that you would fix it with some magic, but you really disappointed me! 😊
See you next time!
Awesome work, I think you'll find the DVL-919 was released in 1998.. I had one when I upgraded to DVD's as I wanted to keep my old laserdisc collection too.. one of the last models.
Half an hour of joy and amazement as Mark struts his funky stuff.