hi everyone! been lurking on the main site and this forum, especially after recently getting a DVL-919 locally.

a while back, i found a stack of laserdiscs someone threw out. didn't take all but i kept some, and since then i also got a few among a batch of vinyl records i ordered from Japan via eBay. always been keen on playing LDs—never owned a player but it always caught my attention whenever i saw them as a kid in the 1990s.

I've also been a lot more interested in the audio output of LDs considering the uncompressed nature of a lot of film and concert soundtracks. the video quality of it all is more an analog charm for me than a limitation, so i was not going into these with high expectations. i think what astounds me is the amount of concert films that have not been officially released on DVD/Blu-ray/digital, or they were (officially or not) and the resulting quality sucks.

at first I got a Pioneer CLD-2720K for about US$40 including my own transport (price not in US$ but converted with the assumption most users here are based in the US, i'm in southeast asia). its power is unreliable and i was only able to get it played once. since then it hasn't been able to power on, so there's currently one disc stuck inside thanks to me. i might just find a way to get it out manually. since then i've found a DVL-919. i bought that for about US$160 bundled with a Pioneer VSX-D638 receiver. talked to the owner and they've barely used it for years.

hooked it up with a HDMI converter and it's been playing great!! the audio output is only analog atm since i don't have a remote. i've ordered a universal remote that apparently works with pioneer DVD players, so waiting for that to arrive to see if that works with this machine as well.

i'm hoping i don't run into problems with this machine but i also know these are old (mine was manufactured in 1999, according to a sticker on its back) so problems will be inevitable. i'm just enjoying mine for now. it auto-plays sides and it's been doing that flawlessly.

the main thing i wanted to know is that i see a lot of talk about laser pickups "wearing out", and i wanted to know if it's similar to how a turntable cartridge wears out over time with use. at least for those, proper alignment and cleaning helps it last longer but there's still a shelf life.

will cleaning the pickup with alcohol/water sustain its life over time? or is it a "enjoy it while you can before it dies" type deal? if it's the former, what else can i do to make sure the pickup doesn't wear out sooner than later?

sorry if these questions seem a bit naive! i just intend to use it for as long as possible, and if there's any way to help that, i'm all ears. thanks!

Welcome to the forum, lazylistener!

Laser "pickup" assemblies -do not- wear out, in the sense that a record player stylus does. And, the part you can typically reach on a laser pickup is the lens, but you SHOULD NOT attempt to "clean it" or even touch it.

The laser mechanisms can have several different types of failures, and some of those can be fixed with proper realignment or other work, but it all takes careful, skilled attention to get it right.

What you can do regarding maintenance is to check and possibly clean/re-grease the gear(s) and toothed track(s) of the laser assembly's moving path. But a laser disc player, relative to a record player, is like going from a horse-and-buggy to a Ferrari, with all due respect to the hard-working turntable and buggy technicians out there. So, you should read -many- descriptions of work or procedures for your specific player before trying any actual repairs or other tasks. I wish you success!

thanks for the warm welcome! and to whoever moved this to the right sub-forum

i appreciate you spelling it out here. my question about cleaning the lens also comes from me understanding how cd player lens, or cassette tape decks, are recommended to be cleaned on occasion, so you get rid of any lingering detritus that might affect playback.

so, from what you're saying here, that's not needed for an LD player? or does it have to do with how a player like this is built? that attempting to reach to clean it will cause more problems? for now, i'm hoping the day me looking into repairing the player will come much later than sooner!

i'm also curious if it's healthier for the player to be used more regularly (like 1-2 times a week) rather than sparingly. i imagine its components will fare worse not being used at all, but i'm still very new to LD and its players. any thoughts on this? many thanks!

Tape decks are very different from optical-disc players because tapes directly rub across the heads and against the capstan and pinch rollers, so those parts need regular cleaning and potentially eventual replacement. Record players are comparable in that way, too, but you normally clean the records rather than the stylus.

I have heard the idea of "cleaning a CD player lens", but I have never done that. Unless a player is in a dirty location or specifically where a lot of indoor smoking is/has been done, I highly doubt that a laser disc or CD player lens would get dirty to the point of bad operation, or that if it did, that it could be "cleaned" to solve the problem. Perhaps dust could get inside the player in such a way that a -very light, gentle- dusting with a soft paint brush might remove dust from a player's lens.

Regarding player use, no, they do not need to be "exercised" regularly to keep them working well. After decades, the grease on the gears can go bad and should be cleaned and replaced as discussed before, but using a player only once every year or two is not going to make that any better, or any worse.

I disagree. If you don’t turn your player on for a decade it will probably be stuck. If you use it every month for a decade it probably won’t be. And of course the player will never get stuck if you wear it out first.

This depends on the exact player of course. If you haven’t learned this over the course of your own life you can pay attention to all the “one post, one broken player” accounts here and you can see the trend. “Turned it on for the first time in seven years, heard a snapping sound, now drawer doesn’t open.”

It’s not just LD players or even electronics or even inorganic matter. If a person sits around too much they seize up. So does you car. Even a Stradivarius needs to be played or it sorta freezes up. Everything is subject to entropy, so chose your particular flavor.

Cleaning a laser tends fixes nothing %99.99999999999999 of the time. They can see through a mild layer of dust much better than any scratch so don’t bother. Also the wind in an LD player is terrific so it’s basically being cleaned continuously as the LD plays. If the player has sat unused for 20 years in the home of a heavy smoker then maybe you’d have a case but by that point the player will break four parts just turning itself on so it hardly matters. It was dead already and didn’t know it.

Lasers do “wear out” after a certain number of hours. It takes a lot of hours though…most players will have mechanical issues first.

There are also theories that the life of electrolytic capacitors can be extended by periodically energising them.

I would say if your player is working perfectly, then don't attempt any 'maintenance' - greasing, lubrication, cleaning - only do this if problems begin to manifest themselves.

There are an enormous number of things that can (and will) go wrong with a player, even if it's treated well and never moved from its shelf, including, in no particular order:

• Laser failure
• Electrolytic capacitor failure
• Other electronic component failure
• Ribbon cable failure
• Belt failure
• Plastic cracking failure
• Motor bearing wear
• Solder joints failure
• Lubricants solidifying
• VFD display dimming
• EEPROM corruption

At least some of these will be part of the future of all LD player enthusiasts!