Pioneer DV 343 Breakdown!

[SonnetCXLVI]

Well, here's a challenging one. Please forgive me for the lengthy post that follows:

Since I bought Pioneer 343, it worked great with DVDs as well as VCDs and SVCDs.

Today, I burned a .bin file, supposed to be a VCD, with Nero 5.5.7.2. It burned ok. I put it in Pioneer 343 to play and it starts playing what looked like an intro part with the author bragging about having made this VCD. Well, when the intro was done, the picture froze and the player became unresponsive to commands. I was however able to turn it off.

Well, since this happened, my Pioneer DVD is acting very strange. When I put an SVCD that used to play, pause, stop, forward without problems before this happened, now when I press Play the display shows TRK indicator (letters) blinking with number 1 (probably meaning that it's trying to play track 1) but nothing happens. TRK indicator keeps blinking on track 1, the screen is blue, and nothing. Pressing 1 on the number pad, or Next or Skip buttons instead of Play, results in the same thing: TRK indicator blinking on 1. Sound-wise, I can hear the cd spinning and spinning, as if it's stuck and can't step over to a next region. As I mentioned, prior to today, I would play this same disk (SVCD) by simply pressing the Play button.

Not to mention the problems with VCDs that I also was able to play before. Now when I press Play it show PBC PLAY on the display and it never starts. Yes, I am aware that I should be able to start it by pressing 1 or Next and so on. Well sometimes it does start, sometimes doesn't. But even when it does, there is no sound, I can't pause, or use any other commands. If I do, it ofter freezes, sometimes to the point when I have to unplug the power cord because the on/off button does not work. Again, I should mention that prior to today's disaster, those same VCDs were never recognized as VideoCD PBC, which is what the player shows now when I put the disk in.

DVDs? Same thing. I put a DVD disk in and it starts spinning and says "Menu" on the display, but nothing happens (blue screen). Again, the sound coming from the player indicates that the disk is stuck in perpetual spinning.

In respect to the fact that I don't have audio after this happened, I should mention that when I play an audio CD it plays without a problem. Sound is there of course, and all the commands that I press on the remote work.

So, the way I see it, the problem has something to do with handling video tracks or chapters. It seems to get stuck when it needs to start a track or move to the next one. What is suspicious, is that all-of-a-sudden I have those VCD recognized as PBC. That wasn't the case before. Could it be that the player switched to a different mode and now can't play VCDs, SVCDs, or DVDs. Sounds unlikely, right? Sounds more like a hardware breakdown, doesn't it?

I apologize for the lenght of the post, and I'd like to express my gratitude to all those who endured reading the whole thing. Should I even mention that I'd appreciate any feedback.

Thanks.

[homerpez]

Unfortunely, I don't have any answers except one guess - coincidence.

I have seen, and this is typical, that an (S)VCD with PBC activated (chapters, etc) will often act funny during the same session of play. Like for instance, when the disc is done playing, all of the sudden you can't use NEXT/PREV buttons, but number keys still work. Or, the other way around.

But, if this keeps happening on different discs, even after powering down... well... is your unit still under store warranty?