Repair or replace Lite-On DD-A100GX DVD Recorder

[Henderson]

I've had the Lite-On DD-A100GX DVD Recorder for about 5 years now, but recently it won't recognize any DVD inserted, it just says "Invalid disc" or "Insert DVD". I've tried my own regular burned DVDs from it, .avi format DVDs, and regular purchased DVDs and it's the same thing, won't recognize any of them. I love this recorder so much my first hope is to get it repaired. It's been thoroughly air-cleaned inside, the dvd does spin correctly in the drive, but it just won't read any disc.

Any suggestions on what could be wrong and if it's a replaceable part?

My other option of course is replacing it, but I haven't found any reasonably priced stand-alone recorders (up to $150) that will do what this one did. It will read and write to all types of DVDs, including +R DL (it will read CDs also, but I really don't use those). It will play .avi format, it will play both NTSC and PAL (yes, I do have both), and a simple process made it region-free (again, something I would need).

Any suggestions on a replacement that will do all that it did? This Lite-On was only $99, and it really did a great job transferring movies off my TV cable system and for copying old VCR tapes to DVD.

Thanks for any advice.

[bithead9]

Probably the laser in the DVD drive. Its probably worth repairing. you can do it yourself. NOt very hard if you are handy with a screwdriver. Maybe an exacto knife if you swap out the DVD record drive inside! The Liteons are great units. I have 2 of the older ones. 5045 and the newer 250GB HDD unit A760.

[jman98]

My dad has an old LiteOn recorder. I don't remember the model number. He has had some problems on and off, so just to be prepared I opened it up. The burner is basically just the guts of some burner, the connector is non-standard which means you can't use a typical off the shelf burner as a replacement and have to get the exact same one, and there is no indication anywhere of the model and make of the burner itself. Even an internet search (and believe, I am really good at this sort of thing) turned up NOTHING with regards to the model number. So yes, in theory you can replace it, but if yours is like my dad's and you can't even find out what model of burner you need then you will be in no better shape than I was. Finally, note that the burner may be so old that it's no longer manufactured and you'll have to roll the dice on a used part - IF you can even find out what one you need. bithead9's post is more theoretical than practical in that yes, if you can even find the part you need it would not be terribly complicated to replace the burner, but I bet you're not going to be able to find what you need.

[orsetto]

[...]I haven't found any reasonably priced stand-alone recorders (up to $150) that will do what this one did. It will read and write to all types of DVDs, including +R DL (it will read CDs also, but I really don't use those). It will play .avi format, it will play both NTSC and PAL (yes, I do have both), and a simple process made it region-free (again, something I would need).

There is absolutely nothing left in the USA/Canada market that has this combination of features. LiteOn was one of very few rogue mfrs to brazenly defy the unspoken agreement among all major recorder brands to "cripple" recorder functionality compared to dedicated playback-only units. Even five years ago, your choice was basically just LiteOn and maybe Apex if you wanted versatile PC-video playback and PAL>NTSC conversion. This doesn't exist in any other North American recorder brand. Unfortunately your LiteOn probably isn't repairable anymore: DVD recorders tend to become obsolete and unsupported ten minutes after they hit store shelves, and lesser brands like LiteOn have service arrangements one step below Russian camera distributors.

So you're gonna need to either find another LiteOn second-hand on eBay or Craigs List that still works, or settle on a compromise of using two new units (player and recorder) instead of one. Pretty much any DVD player that sells for under $50 with a generic brand name, or Philips brand, will play most PC files like AVI and can be hacked for region-free PAL playback. (Avoid BluRay players, they tend to be locked down and not hackable.) For the recorder, choices in new machines are down to almost nothing. Budget models would be the Toshiba DR430 or its twin the Magnavox ZC320MW8, at about $109 each. The Magnavox is a bit better in terms of features, but neither handles DL media. If you want the same machines with built-in VHS, figure on approx $189 for the Toshiba DVR620 or its twin the Magnavox ZV427MG9.

If you can stretch your recorder budget to $228, the Magnavox MDR533 available exclusively from WalMart website has truthfully been the only new USA-spec recorder worth buying since 2007, when all the other "quality" models were dropped by other brands. The MDR533 is a DVD recorder with built-in 320GB hard drive, which makes TV recording much easier (you don't need to use slow speeds or DL discs because the hard drive has almost limitless recording capacity). After you watch a show, you can just hit "delete" and its gone from the HDD. If you want to keep a movie or set of TV episodes, you can copy them to a DVD whenever you like (making a two hour DVD takes about 15 mins). Very convenient, and much simpler for day-to-day use than a recorder without HDD. Can't use DL media, tho: last recorders to accept DL media were the final Panasonic EZ series, which now fetch $400+ and aren't half as reliable as your LiteOn or the Magnavox 533.

[bithead9]

Keep in mind that you could just replace the LASER assembly. You should be able to take that drive apart and get the laser type off the PCB inside. Almost all of these DVD recorders used IDE drives or perhaps a special connector that was really just IDE pinout. So the laser inside is probably dead and needs to be replaced. This would be the dirt disk symptoms or perhaps burns a coaster and is unreadabel in any drive (eve itself)...Basically if it has a HDD inside, its work repairing if its just a DVD disk burner/recorder, unless you have some sentimental attachment, toss it.

[orsetto]

bithead9, the Lite-On DD-A100GX was a disposable budget DVD-only recorder (no HDD), so going crazy trying to repair it on the component level doesn't really pay unless the owner is extraordinarily adept at such repairs (like yourself), and can actually source the parts. Its easy to say "just snap out the laser sled and replace it" if thats something you've done already, for the average owner its a lot trickier than replacing the entire burner (if possible) or just chucking the unit altogether in favor of another recorder.

I've repaired a number of recorders from assorted mfrs, and all have their little "gotcha" repair traps to snare the unwary DIY tech. This usually runs counterintuitively: the major brand name recorders, that you would expect to be a total booby-trapped PITA, tend to be fairly simple and modular and repairable as long as you can source appropriate parts and know how to reset their convoluted DRM systems. The more generic bargain brands, like LiteOn, give the appearance of being more repairable but aren't: the parts look generic but half the time are actually arcane limited-production custom jobs more obscure than the majors use. This often manifests in exactly the component-level repair you suggest: "just replace the laser assembly." This is doable in an old Pioneer or Panasonic or Sony, but not necessarily a LiteOn or Apex or Coby. The name brands will have burners constructed in traditional modular fashion, with an obvious way to replace a discrete laser. The bargain brands will often have a molded plastic burner with spot welded laser assembly: the only way to remove it is to break it. Or, they use an unmarked laser thats so undocumented not even the mfr knows what the hell it was (there was a thread here about that issue not long ago). Unless you've made a career in laser sled engineering, you can't always identify and source these parts. And many once-common laser assemblies got dropped from production very quickly.

The era of the DVD recorder has unfortunately died off, to a point where there's great difficulty repairing or replacing them now. They aren't like sixty year old radios, where you can substitute parts and jury rig your way out of almost any problem. These recorders use interactive firmware that looks for specific burners and HDDs: you can fake them out sometimes, but only as long as working compatible parts are available. Recorder HDDs are ten times more "fudgeable" than DVD drives: HDDs really don't change much over the years, but recorder burners were like snowflakes: its tough finding a functional match. Other than the occasional Polaroid or RCA which used completely generic PC burners with no custom parts, most recorders contain one-off burners made with mystery parts. So options are limited: you try to buy another of the same recorder second-hand (and pray it works for a year), settle for one of the few remaining new recorders (which are not always as nice as the old models), or you migrate to a PC-based recorder. Ten years from now, there will still be millions of functional, repairable old VHS vcrs- but not a single functional DVD recorder. It is what it is.

[handyguy]

Laser cleaning?

[jman98]

Laser cleaning?

Henderson - you can try this as it's not a bad suggestion and it's easy enough to do, but do be warned that most of the time this does NOT fix this kind of problem. But it does sometimes so yes, give it a shot and if it doesn't fix the problem then consider what we've said already in the thread about how difficult it's really going to be to repair it yourself.

[bithead9]

Orsetto, I see your point. Experience in doing this is helpful. Being mechanically inclined helps too! I agree that only the HDD models are generally "worth" the effort. The LIteon units (as far as I know) did not have any limitation to use only a specific DVD drive (unless that funky connector) - In general if its IDE connector it could be swapped with a standard PC IDE DVD drive/recorder. Some like Sony do limit the drive...so it all depends on the Mfr. Always nice to hear another perspective.

[jman98]

I can only tell you, again, what I saw in my dad's LiteOn, but it did NOT use an IDE connector and it did NOT use an off the shelf DVD burner. The connector was very non-standard and I do not have the experience to tell you what it is, but I can tell you that it's definitely not SATA or IDE. Again, the burner itself looked like the guts of a burner ripped out of a standard case and I wrote down every number I could find on it and I was unable to find a single match on those numbers via a Google search and the burner had no indication at all as to who made it. I was also unable to find any references to people successfully replacing the burners themselves on his model.

[lordsmurf]

The LiteOn also has the LSI Logic chipset, so the unit is often worth repairing.
It was 3rd place behind JVC, and a few others with LSI (models from Zenith, Samsung, and a couple no-names).