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  1. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    So I have a several year old offbrand AXION dvd player. It had been working just fine up until recently. It wasn't overused. Just a few times a year on roadtrips. It was a 4 inch screen model.

    Now what happens is it powers on and the background screen with DVD PLAYER on it is visible on the screen but no discs can load. I have tried commercial discs, homemade tv capture discs (via capture card than authored), and backup rips. I have tried a few different brands of dvdrs (I believe both -r and +r aren't working - I don't have any rws handy to test - though I haven't tried any off my liteon dvd recorder come to think of it).

    I do have a 30gb ZUNE for wmv playback but i only have about 9gbs free and I'd have to convert every video I'd want to play before hand. The dvd players are nice where you just pop them in with no fuss and its limitless expansion via disc swapping. Plus even a 4inch dvd player is larger than a zune. (I mainly bought the Zune for mp3 playback with the video as a bonus so screen size was not paramount to me - otherwise I probably would have bought an arcos player for that).

    I guess my question is with a still functioning display but faulty drive is there anything I can do with the player? It's three or four years old so any warranty is long gone. Also shipping costs alone would make a repair impractical.

    One thing I would think could be intersting is if there is a way to disconnect the screen and hook it up to a dvd player. I have at least one pc dvd drive I could use for the purpose. Is there a way to get a car power adapter to connect to a four plug pc power supply connector - you know the type used on an internal 5 1/4 dvd drive? None of the dvd drives i have include on unit control functions so that could be problematic.

    I'm starting to think that a replacement player is probably in order. With black friday sales coming up who knows, I might be able to snag a no namer for 20.00

    Suggestions are welcome.

    Plus could laser swapping work?

    One last thing I did try a mp3 cd that it is capable of playing and it didn't load either - however I have yet to play a commercial audio cd that should work but I doubt it would play either.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  2. Member cyflyer's Avatar
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    You're lucky you've had three years of play out of it. Most people I know that have these cheapo Chinese portables are either dead on arrival or last a couple of weeks. Trouble is they buy them out of Dubai or other non-high street store and they're usually stuck with them. Cheapo Chinese crap !
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  3. Banned
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    Today's DVD players aren't designed to last. Consumers have clearly spoken that price is everything and lower is best, so the manufacturers have responded with cheaper, lower quality components and designs that are prone to heat damage so they wear out quicker. I'd have to think that it's probably cheaper to just buy a new one rather than to attempt any kind of repair.
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  4. Man of Steel freebird73717's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by yoda313

    I'm starting to think that a replacement player is probably in order. With black friday sales coming up who knows, I might be able to snag a no namer for 20.00
    Yep. You could probably pick up one one the cheap at one of the big box stores. That is if you want to fight the crowds. I was at wal-mart one black friday a few years back and saw two people fighting over one of 5 cheap laptops that they were offering. One guy actually threw a cup of coffee on the other. Man that's crazy to fight over something like that...
    Donadagohvi (Cherokee for "Until we meet again")
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  5. Member
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    that's hilarious...people have stripped portable dvd players and used the panels to make lcd projectors...that's assuming your lcd panel is compatible and it's probably a bit more work/expense than you are looking for .
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  6. Member Number Six's Avatar
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    Modifying the screen to use as a standalone is probably very difficult and impractical. Swapping out the laser is also impractical, or even impossible - If you could actually get a replacement, you would have to gut the unit to install it, and there would be no way to calibrate it properly.

    Here are a few things that you can try:

    1. Check to see if the door interlock tab is broken off - this would prevent the unit from initializing the process to play a disc.

    2. When you insert a disc and close the door - does the motor spin up to speed and can you hear the laser assembly move on it's track?

    3. Very carefully push a small object or tiny screwdriver into the door interlock switch with the unit on and see if the laser actually lights up - it should be red. If you try this - DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY INTO THE LASER FROM ABOVE - look at it from the side and at an angle, you should be able to see if it is lighting up. This will also let you see if the motor spins and if the laser is moving on it's track.

    If all the above tests fail, then drop it into the fish tank and let the fish have something to play with
    "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own" - the Prisoner
    (NO MAN IS JUST A NUMBER)
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  7. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    @cyflyer - Remember i've only had at most a dozen hours of play per year out of it. Hardly an overload. Some people may use it at that rate per week. But yes I probably am lucky in that regard - and it was only 50.00 after rebate at the time so it was not outlandish.

    @jman98 - yea its probably on deaths door stop right now. Probably a replacement is in the future.

    @freebird73717 - yeah those can get crazy. FYI I got your PM and you can check my response

    @greymalkin - that's not a bad idea either. However my projector is still kicking for now. However the bulb has been on the verge of frying since I bought it.

    @number six - those are good suggestions that I'll try looking into later.

    EDIT - I checked the main black friday webpage and the only portable dvd players under 100.00 so far was at SEARS. The direct link wasn't validy but it bounced a search to kmart and seems to be this model:

    Venturer Portable DVD Player w/ 7 in. Diagonal LCD Widescreen Display
    Kmart item# 018W035283110001 Mfr. model# PVD730

    http://www.blackfriday.info/item/16321


    That would be a pretty good replacement if I went for it. Larger screen. However no input jack for portables like a zune and no sd card or usb port. However for strict dvd playing if this is the correct venturer model seems to be a good deal.

    I don't know if I'd do this or not. I'd obviously wait until the official add is sent. Also other things may come up and I may either not go through the Black Friday insanity or something else may pop up and take over as a priority.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  8. Member Number Six's Avatar
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    Yoda - Here is a good deal on a dual screen portable DVD player

    http://shopping.yahoo.com/?name=woot#woot

    Today only - 11/21/2008
    "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own" - the Prisoner
    (NO MAN IS JUST A NUMBER)
    be seeing you ( RIP Patrick McGoohan )
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  9. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Thanks number six. I'm just not ready to commit yet.
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  10. Member
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    I know this response is a little late, but if you are still thinking about what to do, here are a couple of troubleshooting tips. I'm assuming that you have already verified that the lens is clean, there's no dust inside, etc.

    First, you can check basic laser functionality by taking one of the transparent discs they typically put in spindles to protect the rest of the stack, and loading that into the player. Next, fake out the player into thinking the lid is closed by manually depressing the "lid closed" switch. It's typically a little nubbin that gets pushed down by the lid. Look carefully, and you'll figure it out.

    When you start it up, four things should happen. The disc should start to spin; the laser should light up (don't stare directly into the beam); the laser/lens assembly should move up and down as it attempts to focus; and the optical assembly should slide along its tracks to position the laser at the innermost track area (if it isn't already there).

    There are very few practical things you can do to fix these things. A notoriously common problem is with the flex cables. They make contact by pressure alone, and often develop oxidation over time, causing flaky or dead behavior. Fixing this is simple: Loosen the retaining clips that hold the cable in, take out the cable, and gently clean the exposed contacts with a plastic eraser. Do not rub hard, or even many times. One or two gentle passes is all you should do. Do not touch the exposed contacts with your fingers, or they will oxidize rapidly over time. Simply reinsert the cable and return the retaining clip to its original position.

    If that doesn't do it, you can try to adjust the laser power. This is as likely to destroy the unit as to fix it, so you should do this only as a last resort ("it's already broken, so I've got nothing to lose"). There is typically a tiny adjustment (sometimes two) on the optical block or near it. It looks like a screw, but careful examination shows that it isn't. Before doing anything, note the position. It may be advisable to use a dab of paint or permanent marker to provide a clear orientation mark. Then adjust by an eighth of a turn. Try CW first. If no joy, go the other way. If, by a quarter-turn adjustment off of the original position, there is no improvement, set it back to the original position and sacrifice a chicken. Or just go to KFC.

    I have fixed several portable players for family and friends. The flex cable disease is the most common. Only one in five needed a laser power adjustment, but many weekend technicians are tempted to tweak it first, just because. Resist that temptation. It should be the very last thing to try.

    Oh, one last silly thing to check: Many of these players can be set to act as a monitor. In that mode, DVDs usually won't play. I've "fixed" a couple that were simply switched into that state by young 'uns.
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  11. Member
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    thanks to tomlee--i did google search to fix venturer port dvd--i found your responce--took bottom off the player, cleaned the cable contacts--no luck--found a clear cd and observed that laser head did not move---aha!! moved the gearing, put back together--it works
    so the easiest fix might be to move the laser head(not touching the laser of course)
    anyway thanks
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  12. Member
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    Tomlee you are a star! You just made a little boy very happy and made me look like the electronics genius he thinks I am. In our case his DVD player's optical assembly was not moving along its tracks so I gave it a helping hand and it came free! Not sure how long it will keep working, but many thanks for the info.
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