My DVD player (a Pioneer DV-45a 'universal' player)
has recently begun behaving oddly, in that it now often spits out
a DVD (but not a CD) repeatedly before finally
accepting it after many cycles of eject/load.

It does this with clean store-bought DVDs as well as scratchy
rented ones. Like I said, it doesn't do it with CDs.

Any ideas what part of the device might be going south?
This is a several-years old player, and I will be upgrading to a
firewire-capable one next anyway, so I thought I might take a
crack at replacing whatever part needs replacing, myself,
rather than take it to a shop.


--



-S.

"Steven Sullivan" wrote in message
...

My DVD player (a Pioneer DV-45a 'universal' player)
has recently begun behaving oddly, in that it now often spits out
a DVD (but not a CD) repeatedly before finally
accepting it after many cycles of eject/load.

It does this with clean store-bought DVDs as well as scratchy
rented ones. Like I said, it doesn't do it with CDs.

snip

Pioneer's are dual-wave types, meaning there's essentially two laser diodes
in the pickup, one for cd's and one for dvd's. It appears the dvd laser
diode may be failing to read, thus the player ejects the disc.
If true, the part may be too expensive to justify a repair as a "shade-tree"
type of a project.

It'll cost you about 60.00 or so for the part, then of course the setups and
adjustments must be done. Strangely, the entire traverse unit with pickup is
cheaper than just the pickup alone.

Mark Z.

"Steven Sullivan" wrote in message


My DVD player (a Pioneer DV-45a 'universal' player)
has recently begun behaving oddly, in that it now often spits out
a DVD (but not a CD) repeatedly before finally
accepting it after many cycles of eject/load.

It does this with clean store-bought DVDs as well as scratchy
rented ones. Like I said, it doesn't do it with CDs.

Given the great expense and relatively young age, this is very
disappointing. How is the warranty?

Any ideas what part of the device might be going south?

Laser.

You might want to try to clean the lens if you haven't already tried it.

This is a several-years old player, and I will be upgrading to a
firewire-capable one next anyway, so I thought I might take a
crack at replacing whatever part needs replacing, myself,
rather than take it to a shop.

Forget it, replacement laser assemblies are usually expensive and you need a
manual, and special tools to align the new one.

Arny Krueger wrote:
"Steven Sullivan" wrote in message


My DVD player (a Pioneer DV-45a 'universal' player)
has recently begun behaving oddly, in that it now often spits out
a DVD (but not a CD) repeatedly before finally
accepting it after many cycles of eject/load.

It does this with clean store-bought DVDs as well as scratchy
rented ones. Like I said, it doesn't do it with CDs.

Given the great expense and relatively young age, this is very
disappointing. How is the warranty?

Long past, I think. I've gotten good use out of it for a couple of years.
I'll contact Pioneer and see.

Any ideas what part of the device might be going south?

Laser.

You might want to try to clean the lens if you haven't already tried it.

I'll give that a try -- what's the recommended method?

This is a several-years old player, and I will be upgrading to a
firewire-capable one next anyway, so I thought I might take a
crack at replacing whatever part needs replacing, myself,
rather than take it to a shop.

Forget it, replacement laser assemblies are usually expensive and you need a
manual, and special tools to align the new one.


OK. Thanks for the advice. It still accepts and plays CDs, SACD and
DVD-A just fine., and the spit-out problem is only intermittent on DVDs.
So I've still got some time, I think , before it croaks compleltely.




--
-S
Your a boring little troll. How does it feel? Go blow your bad breath elsewhere.

Mark D. Zacharias wrote:

"Steven Sullivan" wrote in message
...

My DVD player (a Pioneer DV-45a 'universal' player)
has recently begun behaving oddly, in that it now often spits out
a DVD (but not a CD) repeatedly before finally
accepting it after many cycles of eject/load.

It does this with clean store-bought DVDs as well as scratchy
rented ones. Like I said, it doesn't do it with CDs.

snip

Pioneer's are dual-wave types, meaning there's essentially two laser diodes
in the pickup, one for cd's and one for dvd's. It appears the dvd laser
diode may be failing to read, thus the player ejects the disc.
If true, the part may be too expensive to justify a repair as a "shade-tree"
type of a project.

It'll cost you about 60.00 or so for the part, then of course the setups and
adjustments must be done. Strangely, the entire traverse unit with pickup is
cheaper than just the pickup alone.


Thanks for the info.




--
-S
Your a boring little troll. How does it feel? Go blow your bad breath elsewhere.

"Steven Sullivan" wrote in message

Arny Krueger wrote:

You might want to try to clean the lens if you haven't already tried
it.

I'll give that a try -- what's the recommended method?


Plan A - a lens cleaning disc
Plan B - lens cleaning tissue from a camera store