LaserDisc REPAIRED: how to fix a tray that won't eject or load 

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!

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 RU-vid 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.

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!

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 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.

Thank for sharing this info. Now my Pioneer CLD-315 LD Player works perfectly.

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!

Great video, another one rescued. 👍Enjoy your LaserDisc player.🙂

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 👍

Happy memories of working in the Pioneer UK head office workshop.

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 :)

Love laserdiscs! My collection is now over 200..!

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

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

Watching this has inspired me to dig out my CD player and tape deck, fingers crossed it all works!

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.

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

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!

Bro it took me so long to go back and find this video

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.

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?

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.

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. :(

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.

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 :)

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.

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

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!

Also where do I get the bands??

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'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.

Just purchased a laserdisc player/cd player karaoke machine, pioneer CLD-V880 won’t open when I hit the open button won’t open

My 1991 pioneer CLD 1090 won't play most discs but plays my image entertainment space 1999 discs.

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

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.

Can't get the tray open to get to the belt......

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?