Recycling DVD recorder burner?

[AlanHK]

I picked up a a dead DVD recorder.
Smelled like the power supply had burnt out, no chance of repair, but I was wondering if the parts could be used.
Aside from miscellaneous screws and brackets, I took out the DVD burner itself.
Though not a standard PC burner, it would fit into a 3.5" bracket, has an IDE socket.

So can these be used in a normal PC, or are they crippled or limited in some way? .
No brand name I recognise, but I will Google the various numbers and see if anything comes up.

Model is "BDR-L08", Smartpro International.

[Number Six]

Probably not - does it have a standard power connector and a jumper for Master / Slave?

You could connect it to a spare or junk computer to see if it is recognized, but I would not recommend connecting it to your main computer.

[AlanHK]

Probably not - does it have a standard power connector and a jumper for Master / Slave?

Yes, IDE, Molex power socket, jumpers (presumably master/slave).

Having jumpers indicates it might be more generic and hopefully reusable.

Anyway, I'll put it aside and give it a try later.

[jimdagys]

I would look carefully at the capacitors in the power supply, and if one is slightly bulging on the top or bottom (top should be perfectly flat), replace it with another of the same capacitance and voltage. Sometimes the bottom of the capacitor will bulge and release some of its insides onto the circuit board, but it is hard to see that unless you first remove it from the board. A bad capacitor could also blow the fuse, burn out a resistor (look for blackened resistor) or destroy the regulator transistor/IC. All these parts (except for the regulator) can be easily salvaged from any other similar type of electronic equipment.

[Number Six]

Having jumpers indicates it might be more generic and hopefully reusable.

This is a god sign - it probably is a standard burner, and should work

[lordsmurf]

What machine? People here have fixed various models, myself included. We know what to look for, and what parts are acceptable replacements.

[AlanHK]

What machine? People here have fixed various models, myself included. We know what to look for, and what parts are acceptable replacements.

Too late -- already gutted and in the trash. My wife has a low tolerance for piling up old electronic devices.

I had initially hoped to score a hard disk, but though it had the connectors, it hadn't been installed.

I've already got a similar, working, recorder so I wasn't too concerned about spending time or money fixing another. They're basically obsolete here since television went digital, and new models incorporate a digital TV decoder. This one just had an analog tuner. So resale value is minimal.

[lordsmurf]

DVD recorders are far from obsolete. And certain models are very valuable to own, from a quality standpoint.

[hech54]

I'd be more interested in creating a plain HDD recorder of some sort from an old DVD recorder....using the on-board encoder components, bypassing the burner portion and going straight to a hard drive.

[jimdagys]

...certain models are very valuable to own, from a quality standpoint.

Can you tell me what models those are, in case I see them for $5 at the thrift shop? I might buy one.

[AlanHK]

I'd be more interested in creating a plain HDD recorder of some sort from an old DVD recorder....using the on-board encoder components, bypassing the burner portion and going straight to a hard drive.

Many DVD recorders here have that built in. The basic model doesn't have a hard disk, just a burner, but it has the cables and mounting points. You can just install a standard hard disk (IDE in the models I've seen) and you've got a HDD recorder.
Anyway, I have a digital TV tuner now, which can act as DVD recorder if you connect an external disk by USB.
I haven't done that yet as what's on the air here is hardly worth watching, let alone recording. My wife and daughter like to watch their soaps in high-definition though.

[hech54]

I'd be more interested in creating a plain HDD recorder of some sort from an old DVD recorder....using the on-board encoder components, bypassing the burner portion and going straight to a hard drive.

Many DVD recorders here have that built in. The basic model doesn't have a hard disk, just a burner, but it has the cables and mounting points. You can just install a standard hard disk (IDE in the models I've seen) and you've got a HDD recorder.

Mine is an antique....with many different connections and I know for
a fact that it happily accepts either NTSC or PAL signals with the
greatest of ease.....hence my interest in "Frankenstein-ing" it.

[wensley]

I picked up a a dead DVD recorder.
Smelled like the power supply had burnt out, no chance of repair, but I was wondering if the parts could be used.
Aside from miscellaneous screws and brackets, I took out the DVD burner itself.
Though not a standard PC burner, it would fit into a 3.5" bracket, has an IDE socket.

So can these be used in a normal PC, or are they crippled or limited in some way? .
No brand name I recognise, but I will Google the various numbers and see if anything comes up.

Model is "BDR-L08", Smartpro International.

Alan,

I'ld love to get my hands on your BDR-L08. I have a DVD HDD recorder with a dead burner with exactly the same model number. Are you prepared to sell it?

Michael W.

[AlanHK]

I pulled the burner, plugged it into a PC where it's recognised as a DVD burner, but am rather stymied as I can't eject the tray.
There is no mechanical "eject" button that I can see, and software eject commands appear to succeed, but do nothing.

Can't find any manuals or drivers for this, of course.

[orsetto]

Recorder burners may look just like "off the shelf" burners, and some even use standard PC connections, but if they are the specially-modified versions with no internal eject facility you're out of luck. The eject command from the recorder motherboard is not the same as the eject command in Windows.

Dead DVD burners are still valuable as parts donors for many models: even if the laser no longer works, often the proprietary burner control board can be swapped into an identical "off the shelf" burner to convert it into a replacement for the recorder. This is especially true for Pioneer recorders mfr'd from 2003-2005 (the x10, x20, and x30 series).

The "desirable" models LordSmurf refers to include too many to list, and each person has their own definition of "desirable". LS is particularly fond of vintage JVC recorders such as DRM100, for their exclusive noise filters, while other users would kill for a Panasonic EH-55 (which LS would not even use as a doorstop .) So you see, it varies. The USA market has always had a smaller selection of models than most other countries, so there are more "recorder cults" here than elsewhere. In the US, any Japanese brand with a hard drive is considered valuable, working or not, the most desirable being Toshiba, Pioneer, Panasonic, and Sony. Some older models without hard drives are also sought after, either for image quality (JVC, Toshiba) or for unique error correction passthrough (Panasonic). Third-tier brands like LG, Samsung, LiteOn, older Phillips/Magnavox, etc have little value in the States but may be in demand elsewhere.

The moral is, if you find what seems to be a decent unit for $5, hide it from your wife until you ask about it here on VH : someone may want it, or tell you what its worth.