I have a mint condition, high end, LD player which could use a service call for an alignment, but I am concerned about the risks of shipping it. The stories here about players being dropped in transit, and no longer working upon arrival, and the fragile nature of these players creates a problem when they need service. Will my player be safe if I double box it and use something like egg crate foam between the outer box and its original box? I bought this player from ebay, and I feel lucky that it arrrived working and in one piece, and I would like to have it aligned, so maybe my concerns are unfounded if I pack it well enough.

well, you should contact the repair people and see what they say.
they will tell you how to pack etc.

You are rolling the dice. Honestly, ask what their idea is and go from there. You can pack it well and minimalize issues but they will never go away.
Chris

I have been thinking about buying a test disc, service manual, and a used Tektronix oscilloscope and doing the work myself, starting with a V8000 for practice before potentially messing up a $500+ unit. I am no tech myself, but I've played around with electronics my entire life and feel pretty comfortable delving into the innards of things. Still, I feel like this is a sort of black art which is not easily acquired...

did you contact kabar or laserdisc service?
only thing that i can think of that would go wrong in shipping is:
player will be out of alignment
OR ? but no matter they can fix it, since they have parts, they can order etc.

if you know electronics then go for it, but you may end up spending double or triple on getting all the gear to
do the repairs yourself.

if players are going to be that much trouble then i guess we should fold our hands and call it a day.
we had a good run but it's done now if we can't even trust ourself to pack and ship a player to get repaired.

lets all think here people, these machines came from Japan to American in one piece.

Yeah, but I have a growing collection of players and this skill could thus be useful. My players are all in good working order, so I'm thinking alignment is just a matter of adjusting some pots and looking at some scope waveforms with the test disc playing?


Call me paranoid, but the thought of delivery workers dropping and abusing an expensive player does not sit right with me. Double boxing should be enough to isolate a player from rough handling, so these are just my thoughts. I find the arcane nature of analog electronics fascinating in this digital era, so I see this more as a challenge then simply giving up. I still want to have my best player professionally adjusted for peak performance, and its good to support the techs with the rare skill to work on these beasts, so I'll probably send it out once I have the right packing materials.

they may be trim pots or something else inside, i haven't opened my player since i received it broken.

when i shipped it for repairs i used a large box and plenty of bubblewrap.
but this was back when people at the post office etc knew what they were doing, now you have idiots who
just work for 6 months or 1 year and they are gone, and they don't really care.

my UPS guy was only on the job for about 8 months, just when he started to know who i was etc.
now i have an idiot and i'm sure he will be my UPS guy for the next 10 years.

but for the past year i have been sending large items, not LD players but other electronics etc.
i use fedex, which so far i have had no issues, but i have heard HORROR stories about them, and
figure that it will happen but 1 out of 300 won't be bad?

i also tend to put 8x11 print outs of what i do and don't want done to my package.
i just sent something to italy and put in english AND Italian DO NOT BEND.
gotta love googl translater.

they were probably shipped on a boat with many other valuable electronics packed well and strapped to pallets. And they were brand new going to retail so the shippers would probably have actually given a s**t, just saying..

yes, true, and even if damaged they would just send it back to the company, it would be covered
by insurance etc. etc.

O.K. there are bad issues with shipping but really, if you are that worried then you shouldn't collect anything of any value. if it has to be shipped it may get damged or lost.

all have to just take the chance, that's why there is insurance in shipping, but it only counts when
the outer box is damaged by the shipper.

if there is no damage to the outer box then it was YOUR fault not the shippers.

it's like anything, even when you get into a car you take a chance, you don't rock back and forth
in your sofa at home saying "i can't get into the car"
and if you do i hope are getting help with it.

Wait until you have to ship a high end player like an HLD-X9 or X0 and then you will know what sleepless nights are about.

Those machines are so heavy even without padding. I spent 3 weeks offering advice to a seller on how to pack an HLD-X9 and it was only coming from mainland UK to Northern Ireland. It did arrive in perfect condition but I have to admit I was VERY nervous about the whole transaction. The parcel was so large and heavy that when it arrived I could only lift it about 3 feet into my house and just had to set it down immediately - that gives you some idea of the bulk of these machines. The X0 is truly monstrous in comparison so I know I would not even be able to lift the parcel at all in that case!......really it is a miracle these things arrive in one piece given their weight.

thankfully the guy selling an X0 here in ct says he's only gonna send it on a pallet through freight. That's probably the only safe way to ship an LD player

BUT, there is a better chance of a super heavy item ariving with no damage.
they can't toss it around like a tennis ball.

it's the large light ones that can get damaged, the gorillas think.
oh, it's light there must be a really small thing inside.

Interesting point - you could be right. Although the heavier you are the harder you fall!

the other thing i find funny is when i ship they always ask if the package is fragile.
when you drive your truck over my package it is!!!!!

I once received a Pioneer Ld-S2 off of ebay, and the chassis of the S2 is pretty much that of the X0, with massive cast metal base, etc. The packed S2 was heavy to the point that I felt the danger of back injury when lifting it! Unfortunately, the seller packed the remote right next to the back side of the player, so the remote was shattered plastic upon arrival and there was a big dent in the rear of the player. I almost had a mint S2, if not for this shipping mistake which was luckily refunded. I could not imagine waiting for an X0 to arrive, and hoping against such a poor outcome, with thousands at stake.

Perhaps the most shocking thing of all is how flimsy the original Pioneer box was that the HLD-X9 came in. The inner foam inserts were shattered - they had been stuck back together because the weight of the player had snapped them and the original box was one of lightest I have ever seen used for shipping such fragile electronics. Of course it was double boxed but really the original box was not much better than wrapping the player in newspaper! It would not have lasted 5 minutes in transit without other protection.

Check out the HLD-X0 box. You know its heavy when there are hand holes and the top of the box lifts off:



I think one of these military transit cases would be the best way to ship an X0. Waterproof, heavy foam padding, rock solid, and probably bomb proof! I'd like to see a shipping company worker try something with one of these cases, because the case would win.

That is very interesting to see the original X0 box which is vastly superior to the original box the X9 came in. I've seen better boxes on £25 DVD players from Tesco!
I was genuinely amazed Pioneer would put an X9 which is probably the second most expensive player ever made in such a pathetic box. What were they thinking of.

The seller I bought the X9 from used industrial grade cardboard to construct an outer box himself which was then filled with thick sheets of foam - several inches top, bottom and sides to absorb any rough treatment or shocks during transit. That did the job as it arrived in pristine condition but I would still have reservations about shipping this over a very long distance no matter what sort of protection was being used.

I've had several LD parcels where spikes were stuck right the packaging which was even double boxed. Really nothing can protect against that if someone is going to stick a spike through the middle of your parcel.

back to the original question, or my original question.
harlock, or as the foreigns call you herlock

did you ever contact the repair guys for packing info etc.
or are you going to try your hand at repairs it yourself.

I think I'll have my best player gone over, and its just a matter of finding a large enough outer box and isolating the inner box: after all, this player made it to me in one piece shipped only in the original box. I would still like to get a decent scope, service manuals and test disc and crack open a lesser player for practice, but it may take some further planning and study to bring it all together.