I have CDs that were pressed at Toshiba's and Sony's old CD plants in Japan around 1984-1985 and they still read perfectly fine. You are right there were some crap pressed discs. For example I have read Nimbus CDs will literally get destroyed if cleaned with water.
I love these old Pioneer cd players because there are so many manual adjustments available for finetuning. I was not able to kill the laser with maximum output on my PD-5100 but you can set it really low if the other adjustments are correct. Tracking offset/balance and laser focus offset are very important but you have to check many different discs to get a setting that works for most CDs. Even replicated CDs can be very different. Now my player is really fast, silent and plays even the worst CD-Rs.
I don't know why, but your fiddling with laser gain/power pots brings really nice memories I had with Commodore 64 and adjusting cassete azimuth to load a game from a cassette unit. Back then (cca 1986/1987) a fella needed to have really fine flathead screwdriver, load a "turbo tape" that would show a cassette track pattern which needed to be tuned before actually loading a game...so imagine the number of twists and turns on the head azimuth when playing 20-30 games a day... I used to steal my mom's flathead she was using for her sawing machine all the time... :) Anyway, nice video. And thanks for bringing memories...
I always wondered how a datassette got into such a state! I never adjusted my head's, not once till this day. I can only guess that some models/mechanisms were prone to letting the heads drift. Or I was just lucky
Greetings from Australia ... I remember back in the early 2000's burning tonnes of data onto Princo discs and had similar issues. They didn't last very well but they were very cheap (i recall around 1/2 the price of 'other' brands at the time) so they were very popular for a while.
It seems happy enough now dave :-D I found that the ancient deep green disks were more reliable and didn't lose data clarity over time. High speed disks burnt at silly speeds never seemed as good as the old 4x types. I had a stack of high speed tevion disks that started fading after a few years in dark storage, lucky i had secondary backups and re created the faded disks Not on tevion!!.
According to the service manual of similar Pioneer CD players, eye pattern should be 1 Vpp with stamped discs. I guess you are using a 10x probe and the 100 mV shown on the oscilloscope are indeed 1 Vpp which is spot on. Anyway given how much you had to increase the laser power, it means the optical path between laser - disc - photodiodes is pretty dirty. Very little can be done in that case, increasing laser power will fix it but it sill also shorten the remaining life of the pick-up. Does not look like a high-end player, whatever life you get out of it is fine !
Would cleaning the laser lens not help? I have a cd player that skips on almost every cd I own, and its been sitting for a long time. I have a second one that the audio is disorted on on every source as well. Both I got for free, so they arent in mint condition, but they arent in the worst condition either. but I clean the laser lens on all my players and drives every now and then.
@@julerobb1 the side of the lens that can be cleaned is only one part of the optical path. The internal optical path include the laser faceplate, the photodiode window, the prism used to separate the reflected light from the incident light and the diffraction grating used to generate the "three spots laser beam" used in linear pick-up .The internal optical path should not get too dirty, but I suspect that if the player was kept in a smokers household, nicotine and other contaminant can make the surfaces of all optical components cloudy causing attenuation and loss of signal. Anyway dirt is one of the pick-up failure cause, but there are other problems that can occur; unfortunately in almost all cases there s little to do, optical pick-up components are glued in place with accurate and precise alignment, no way to take them apart and clean.
That part of the video that goes from 28:54 to 29:22, I could say, I agree. Now, at 29:34, you did try to test itt out with a Princo disc, and yep, it failed to read it. I feel that this is an example of why good quality CD-Rs read better with certain older players.
Princo were garbage discs. They ate the ones that "proved" that cdr only lasted 5 years before failing. I have many cdr disks that are well over 25 years that play perfectly. I have a bunch of princo disks that are blank now too.
I feel that there is no denying or arguing that any of the discs that are blue-on-silver are better quality, like DataLifePlus/Verbatim Azo, anything that is by or powered by Taiyo Yuden light-blue cyanine. I did heard that CD-Rs from Fujifilm are also great quality, even though I haven’t tried them out. Maybe anything that is green-on-gold? It should be anything that is manufactured in Japan. Even if it is made in Taiwan, there are still ones that are proven to meet Japanese quality standards. Such companies, like CMC Pro and Vinpower, claim they did test all specific quality-control standards, ensuring low failure rate, and that it will last a long time. It depends on how old your CD player is. I found out that the one you’re testing out is a 1989 model by Pioneer. With that said, anything that is blue-on-silver should play fine in it. Now, me? I only own a newer CD player boombox by Sony that has Bluetooth. The blank CD-Rs that I’ve been owning for the past year, are the ones that are proven to be of better quality. It’s by CMC Pro, and is powered by TY. Although it is made in Taiwan, it’s still maintains the exact same standards as the original Japanese discs. Top surface is shiny silver, which means that it is printable through thermal printers or silk-screen, which I don’t do. Before burning, since both sides of the discs are shiny, I clean with just a pure isopropyl wipe and a microfiber cloth for drying, ensuring cleanliness, and that I get a consistent burn from my now 4-year-old LG external drive attached to my PC laptop. Overall, I got to say, I’m proud it played fine from start to finish.
@@noeljosephdelacruz7451 the green on gold were fantastic as were the gold kao discs. Blue on silver and green on silver also great. I have a 25 year old cdrw that also plays perfectly. Since cdrw doesn't use dye but changes physical metal layer there is nothing to fade but many CD players won't play cdrw but DVD players will including the really old ones that won't play cdr.
Dave i really love this video with the 2 can setup thank you .. here at home i have a Reloop RMP-2660b never has givin me any problems still works like a champ today what is your input about the brand reloop ?
This is why I love old CD players, you still have pots to turn and tweak. Isn't the amplitude with the pressed disc a bit over 1.5v, that seems too high. It's also interesting to see how the player can perfectly decode the music out of that wobbly and blurry mess, which is something those audiophools who sell snake oil don't want people to see lol.
Actually it is not perfect, that is why there is error correction circuitry, and if it is overwhelmed then you hear the clicking or skipping, What does that have to do with snake oil?
All Princo CDs i had from 1999-2000 (With logo on top) the layer turned from light green to light yellow after some years and by around 2010 i checked them all, none was working anymore. In contrast Princo DVDs i had from 2004 work perfectly even today. Though even the original OEM Windows XP SP2 Disc i had turn half bad (cannot read some files) after a decade.
Back in 2010 I bought an off brand recordable DVD pack at Circut City .It was on sale. Can't imagine why.The dye was bad. Only 3 out of 50 were left in tact and usable. A different brand but crappy regardless. Thanks to this video I know no why the Cd R got its bad reputation. 🙄 .
12voltvids + cd player = my jam Princo disc are horrible. I've used that for PlayStation backup. A lot of them have also disc rot. For me, the best are Verbatim Metal Azo, Pioneer CD-R (those are made in japan) and Yamaha.
@@noeljosephdelacruz7451 The best are Verbatim Metal Azo. They have a deeper dye. But, it's harder to write because, phtalocyanine is unstable and the laser diode need more power to write the pits on the disc.
Needing some help please ..... mine will start playing the selected cd tray but all it sounds like is a bunch of static. The lap counter runs so I assume it is reading the cd.......thoughts as to why it’s doing this ?
I have one of these but mine the tray won't stay shut it just keeps going in and out and even if it does decide to stay shut it doesn't make an attempt to even read the disc, any idea as to what would be wrong with it?
do you have any experience with Panasonic DMRs with the hard drive built-in I have a DMR eh55 that won't accept any recordable disc, the hard drive works fine everything else works fine the DVD drive will not recognize any recordable disc including its own RAM Disc, but will play a commercial DVD someone suggested it might be its programming but that's I don't know where to get that they don't sell these in the US anymore if they sell them at all, I really like these machines and I have others but I'd really like to get this one working. I took it apart but there's not much in these that you can repair all the capacitors look good, any ideas
Laser going bad. A real dvd reflects enough of the laser to let it play yet the power from the laser is too low for a DVD-R as it has a lower reflectivity.
@@catman58 A couple of things to check 1. Are you sure the optics are clean? Some units have a fan and it can draw dust into the machine (also when the tray is open). Over time that can build up enough to cause reading issues. Inspect it with powerful magnification and bright light if it looks hazy the optics are causing part of the problem. 2. Try a new disc RAM discs do have a much longer working life (writing cycles), however they still have a life cycle and will eventually fail. Try varieties of DVDs one time writes and rewritables and see if you get the same (failure) results.
I have a Pioneer PD-6700. Some CDs make noise when spinning and on pause as if they're off balance or something, while others run totally silent. Does anyone know why this might be happening?
Hello sir, i have a PD-P840F. It cycles the discs but not play anithing, i cleaned the laser lens nothing seems to be missing, but not working, if you can give an idea whats going on. Thanks
I have an NAD 5170 cd player and the minute/second counter seems to run properly but in both channels I can hear a little of the cd music but have a loud pink noise type sound. Would you give me a starting point on diagnosis, please?
@@ericcharlton311 no. Haven't seen one fail since I was working at the shop doing this full-time and the odd time when we had a converter fail people through their unit away and bought a new one
I have an old Onkyo DX-530 that I love. However, on most disks (stamped or CDR), it struggles to start playback on track 1 of the disc. It spins and eventually gives up. I have to start on track 2 and rewind back to the beginning of track 1. I wish I had someone here like Dave in the US to repair my player.
the old players are the best , because these read all "copy protected" UN-CDs (that intentionally violate the Philipps Redbook-Standard and/or contaim malware)
Previous owner admittedly tweaked every pot on a CD player that I picked up. Now, the player will not spin up. It will slightly rotate the disk in the wrong direction and then report no disk. Is there a secret to returning the pots to a neutral enough position that will cause the unit to read the TOC. Then, I can perform factory alignment according to SM. I just need help getting it to spin up. What's the key?
@@12voltvids Took your advice. Set everything near the midpoint. Then by tweaking focus bias pot, got it to spin up. That is such a good feeling when it happens. Now, it seems to play the first 5 tracks of a commercially stamped CD, but the higher numbered tracks will not play and actually cause the disk to start spinning unchecked. I was hesitant to make a move since I just got it to spin up. Any suggestions for next steps. I figure you have most likely seen this symptom before and thought I would ask before I tried anything. Thanks again. I think we are getting there.
@@12voltvids Yes. I lubricated the rails and the block moves very well. I do have a scope (Tek 2215), but the trace is a little on the dim side. I tried the adjustments recommended in the service manual, and I had a reasonable eye pattern -- on track one.
I just bought this cd player and it sounds so good with my pioneer sa-510 amp! The player is in really good condition. The only thing is that it makes a soft cricket-like noise when it spins. Does anyone have an idea what it could be?
Well when I lift up the front it seems to stop. I guess the surface underneath the player is far from level. Another thing i noticed is that i have to turn my amp volume knob to bare minimum for a normal volume of music. Is there any way to adjust this output in the cd player?
CD and DVD use what is called constant linear velocity recording. Laser disks used either constant linear velocity CLV or constant angular velocity CAV. In CAV the rotation speed is fixed. In CLV the disk speed varies depending on where the read out is. Close to the center requires a faster speed then around the edge due to the size of the disk. CD and DVD read from the center out. As the laser moves towards the edge of the disk the disk slows down as there is more surface area at the edge. The data is written and read at a constant rate. You can double your data storage by doing this. Laserdisks recorded in CAV go 30 minutes per side and perfect special effects as 1 rotation was 1 frame. In CLV mode no special effects but 60 minutes per side.
If you examine a CD or DVD you notice it's like an oval race track the inside has less distance verses the outside. CDs and DVDs compensate by faster rotation in the center (start of the disc) and slows down as it progresses towards the outer portions of the discs. Like the oval race track the inside verses the outside there is less distance to travel verses the outside of the oval track 👍😄👌.
@@12voltvids Hey Dave you did I understood, I wasn't sure if that person would understand the CLV, CAV and Z-CLV. I suppose some units perhaps use different methods during playback. I never seen an audio CD player that the speed stayed constant no matter what position the laser was reading. I have only read about those for burner units in computers specifically for the method used for burning strategy, the poster did write about audio CDs.
