Double check on the digital, they used to make them with a cap that you would remove, then a hinge flap and without anything.

So it could have part of a broken cap or hinge flap stuck inside?
Unless its actually broken then you can always replace it.

Get that soldering iron out

But then again you really only need it for DTS discs, then you need DTS in your amp.

Can you post a pic of the plug? Might give us a better idea of what might be wrong. Don’t think it’s a hinge flap issue since they were not invented until much later.

It may have a broken off cable end stuck in it.

Regardless, the digital out isn’t that big of a deal. It’s not hard to fix either.

I just know of what I've seen, but not what I've seen on LDs LOL.

Yes it could be a broken part of cable too.
Sort of remember someone else posting something like that before now that you mention it

It wasn't quite that, but vaguely similar: there was a long plug of plastic tightly jammed way, way in there. Not sure if it was a bit of TOSLINK cable (which is what I thought initially) or maybe a bit of one of those black plastic plugs that's supposed to protect the port from dust and fluff and stuff getting in there; it appeared to be solid black, which would be weird for a cable tip, but then it was a lot more like the shape of a cable tip than it was one of the protector plug things.

I sat for rather a long time very carefully but forcefully boring out chunks of plastic from the port so as to exert enough pressure to gouge the black plastic apart (after it became clear there was no chance of grabbing it with something and yanking it out) but not damage any of the actual port itself. After picking away for hours with a set of very slim screwdrivers, a map pin, and two cocktail sticks (one broke), I finally managed to dig a hole to the red LED and confirmed that the signal is now indeed getting through to the cable. Previously, the cable wouldn't go more than a few mm into the hole (and only the tiniest dot of LED was visible off to the lower left corner), but it now goes all the way in and clips in place as it should (and the whole LED is shining through to the receiving optical cable end).

Bit of a fiddly one but could most definitely have been worse if I'd had to try to find a replacement port to solder in there! The soldering itself isn't as daunting as trying to find the parts without buying a whole player or something, especially at today's prices...

Anyway, fixed it now, so am happy enough.

I think someone needs to invest in tweezers or needle nose pliers.

Glad you fixed it enjoy the LD madness....

Nah, I have those already. The trouble is not just that it was a miniscule bit of plastic in a miniscule space (like, maybe 1mm across?) but also that it was way deep down in there (not sticking out of the surface) and was in VERY tightly. So there was absolutely no way of gripping it to pull it out. I tried to get purchase with a needle tip (map pin etc.) but it just wasn't enough to get a grip of and I couldn't pull it back without the plastic tearing. So I ended up just having to rip it apart and pull out tiny fragments one at a time. Which was extremely slow and annoying work!

But aye, whatever, got there in the end. It actually appears to have pretty excellent picture side by side with the CLD-2950, I think the seller knew what he was doing and had fixed it up rather well, apart from the obvious exception of the S/PDIF port (which he didn't use so just straight up didn't check at all).

Been comparing the CLD-1750 and CLD-2950 myself to see what the most apparent differences are.

On the one hand, the CLD-1750 seems basically rock solid and a bit snappier in operation because of not having to wait for the side change thing to move around and so on. On the other, it also seems to struggle to play certain discs that the CLD-2950 has no issue with: specifically, I have one that it can't play side 2 of, or rather it plays fine for a few minutes then gets to a specific spot and starts to loop the same short bit of video over and over again even though there are no apparent physical marks on the disc surface.

I am beginning to wonder if the video processing ICs are identical on the CLD-1750 and CLD-2950 (apart from the addition of a comb filter for S-Video on the CLD-2950) because I honestly can't seem to see much, if any, difference between them over composite. I don't think I have much of a use for S-Video seeing as the comb filter in my other gear seems to be better than the CLD-2950's, which is fair enough considering it's early 90s tech. I've seen the CLD-2950 referred to as "the best" and "one of the best" PAL/NTSC dual players, and less said about the CLD-1750, but I honestly don't see much of importance that would have me preferring the CLD-2950 quality-wise. I was interested to see this review, which seemed to be saying something vaguely similar about it. Both players seem to have pretty much identical horizontal colour smearing on NTSC discs, which has me wondering if perhaps this has to do with them doing something in the PAL space even on NTSC discs. There are moments where horizontal background objects smear through the middle of people's heads and so on, but both players do this. In one notable case, I suspect the issue may be baked into the video master, as it's not a film but most likely from a video source, so it may not be the players' fault at least for that one.

So... I think I'm on the lookout for an NTSC-only player, mostly to see if there is any appreciable improvement in NTSC picture quality over either of my PAL/NTSC players. I didn't get that CLD-99 Elite in the end because I don't have £450 lying around, and it's since sold. I'm going to keep a watchful eye on eBay and here; if anybody's shifting any (ideally single-sided) NTSC only players with optical audio output, it might be worth giving me a shout!

PAL/NTSC players are mostly meh. The 915 is OK, but has worse ringing than similar models, and the PAL/NTSC DVL's might be alright.

Generally with NTSC before the 915, the circuitry is much worse than in NTSC-only players, especially when the PALB board is in use (which may or may not require rewiring the player). The 2950 has basically the same mechanics as the 99, but the electronics are worse than the baseline NTSC-only 503 (analog TBC, etc)

As for PAL, it's mostly that nobody ever made a really good PAL player, ever. They *all* suck compared to what PAL LD can do.

Yeah, that's what I figured might be happening. That's a shame. Kinda annoying as well considering the money this stuff costs at the moment...

When you say "915" by the way, which player are you referring to? I can't find any reference to a Pioneer with 915 in the model number, but I'm wondering if you mean the CLD-D925 because I believe it's close to my CLD-2950. It's also possible there's another player I'm unaware of though, given that I'm still pretty new to this.

Also: I did some more in depth comparison and actually there appears to be more noise on the CLD-2950 picture than on the CLD-1750 if I use composite (because S-Video looks quite dodgy to me, old comb filter vs new comb filter presumably) and have the "HQ Circuit" on the CLD-2950 switched off. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps the only reason the CLD-1750 looks smoother / softer (and therefore arguably "better") is just that it too has a noise reduction circuit similar to the optional "HQ" on the CLD-2950, except that it may not be possible to disable the one on the CLD-1750. Hmm.

Yup, i meant 925... the lower end ones were the 315 and 515 (which still have the dodgy AF PALB board), so my brain mixed 'em together.

Hahah, yeah, I'm not surprised. A lot of the model numbers are similar so it's easy to mix 'em up. I spent like an hour one day wondering why I couldn't find one and it was because I'd merged two model numbers together in my head, which I eventually realised when I abruptly remembered the two separate models I'd amalgamated.

I'm pretty confused by what I'm seeing on these two players now. I was distinctly of the impression that the CLD-2950 was meant to be better than the CLD-1750, but to my eyes, it's exactly the opposite way around: there is significantly more noise in the CLD-2950 picture, whereas the CLD-1750 image is a little softer but has less noise (which honestly is preferable imo). I get Very Annoyed about noise reduction in the digital realm when it's used to eradicate film grain, but on many of the LDs I've been watching (which are sometimes not from film sources) the "grain" in the image is clearly an artefact introduced by something else and therefore is probably undesirable.

The CLD-2950 has its optional "HQ Circuit", which I've seen several people saying *not* to use because it reduces horizontal resolution and high frequency detail, but it certainly does appear to reduce the noise in the picture. I'm wondering if maybe the CLD-1750 actually has a similar, though older, version of this noise reduction circuit, except that it is not an optional feature that can be disabled if desired.

I think for my sanity's sake I need to get an NTSC-only player and compare.

Hi, can I just ask if the 2950s disappointing PQ is only when playing NTSC LDs or does it apply to PAL playback also?

Honestly, I'm not certain because I don't think I've ever even played any of my PAL LDs yet; I have quite a few but they're rarely of interest to me at the moment.

FWIW, it's not that it looks terrible or anything! In fact it looks rather good overall, especially on a half decent CRT, but if you really pick it apart side by side with another player there is noticeably more noise with the "HQ Circuit" switched off, and with it switched on I'm not entirely convinced either. But I've only compared NTSC discs on my players so far. And the CLD-2950 has never really failed to play anything I've tasked it with thus far, but the CLD-1750 has struggled with a couple of discs (showing a little more visible artefacting from what I assume must be minor disc rot, as well as outright failing to play beyond a certain point on one disc where it instead loops one short section over and over) that the CLD-2950 plays just fine.

Overall impression: CLD-1750 playback quality is a little better, but CLD-2950 will play anything, including discs the CLD-1750 screws up completely on. But this may have little to do with differences in the models and more to do with the individual condition (wear & tear / age) of my specific players.

Well I've recently re-acquainted myself with the 2950 (have acquired a extensively refurbished and re-calibrated specimen) after nearly 20 years, this was the first LD player I owned from new but I replaced it with a 925 in the early 2000s. I had a big shock when I compared it recently to my 925s as the PQ is far superior to at least my eyes, especially in terms of the 2950s much reduced chroma noise. It delivers a much smoother yet equally as detailed image as the 925 and with film based material it really does produce a very filmic image. An example on video is Pink Floyd Pulse, the chroma noise at times on this disc can be quite distracting (the DVD isn't much better either) when spun on a 925, switch to the 2950 and it's virtually non-existent! this is with the HQ Circuit switched out which btw is a lot less severe than the one fitted to the 925 which totally impares the PQ although I'd never advocate using either tbh. I won't go into the audio performance for now but let's just say that once again the 2950 takes the crown here too!

Anyway the only reason I purchased this 2950 is that I still own a significant sized PAL LD collection all my NTSC discs are handled by an X9 and previously an R7G but I recently decided to make a back to back NTSC comparison 2950 v X9; the thing is there was just no need to do so really for as soon as the 2950 spun up and displayed an image it was a total disappointment, what is actually a fine PAL machine doesn't even equate to average where NTSC playback is concerned - the 925 is perhaps a tad better here but not by much so really if it's high quality NTSC only playback you require non of these machines are going to deliver for you sadly. Then again if your 2950 is looking noisy on PAL playback it really sounds as though it's underperforming. If I were you I'd start looking for a nice CLD-R7G, using its S-video out I'd guarantee the PQ will put a big smile on your face once you've set the comb filter and other NR adjustments to your own personal taste

This is exactly what I've been wondering, yep.

I know that I can't really afford something as fancy as a CLD-R7G or X-anything right now, but I am interested to see if even a more conservative (older) NTSC-only Pioneer might still be an improvement for NTSC discs. I currently have offers from two different sellers for what appear to me to be extremely similar players, so I have a decision to make, and it's honestly not that easy. One is a slightly more recent player and a little bit cheaper, but not by a massive amount, and the seller seems inexperienced/unaware of the kinds of issues that may crop up with LD players, so I'm not really sure if they're necessarily in a good position to declare the machine "fully working" or not. The other is pricier, slightly older (as in, months / a year max), and appears to be basically the exact same player apart from lacking a dedicated CD drawer and possibly having a slightly older DAC (which doesn't concern me massively since I'll be using TOSLINK for digital audio anyway and analogue audio presumably doesn't involve the DAC in the first place)... and the seller seems like they *might* be at least a little bit more sure of themselves, but I might be wrong there.

Tricky!