I have a Pioneer CLD-99 Laserdisc player I bought about a year ago and have been watching movies with it since I received it. However, I went to turn it on recently and it didn't turn on. The standby light is no longer lit before I press the power button and when I do press it nothing happens now. Nothing on the player screen. Nothing on my TV screen. No sounds.

It has not had really any issues up to this point. There was a power outage a few weeks ago, but I do have the player on a good surge protector.

I am hoping Kurtis Bahr can service the player and find what the problem is and while you are at it give it a full service to make sure it is good shape for the future. I have emailed him and hope to hear back soon.

Has anybody sent a player to him before?

I had that exact issue on my 99. It would come and go, and by that I mean if I left it unplugged for three months it would magically work again and play for a year and a half before deciding to again not turn on anymore. It would experience a massive urge to either be alive or dead and stay in that mood for months.

I delivered it to a local user/repair guy who is highly regarded here but it’s been years at this point so I’ve written it off and also any 99s or any other player with the same crappy spindle since that 99 ate three of them in its life. The CLD-99 will be the first USDM ‘Elite’ model to dry up completely because of the spindle issue. The safer (less RISK!) money is on 97, 95.

I've written him in an Email. There is a 1uf capacitor on the primary side that kick starts the switching power supply to startup the supply when plugged in. It can commonly fail over the years and you get no standby lite. If that is not it it is either the return loop between the primary and secondary side or another part in the primary side.

Kurt, as always, you are a valuable asset to the laser disc community. I hope that matthewlawson3 can either do that repair and tests, or can find a local technician who is able to do so.

I hope you weren’t the person on Craigslist who recently lowballed me for my Pioneer CLD-99. I’ve had two people show interest in it recently, and the first person seemed genuinely interested. Looking back, I probably should have sold it to him.

He was willing to pay $700, but I hesitated because I kept thinking about how little I’d actually be making after factoring in what I paid. The player cost me $505, and I spent around another $50 on the remote years ago, so in my mind I was only really making about $145 profit.

The truth is, I haven’t really watched many LaserDiscs lately. It’s a cool hobby, but I feel like I’ve gotten a little bored with it. I think part of the reason is that I don’t really have anyone to watch movies with, which takes some of the fun out of it.

Make new friends.
Why don't you invite your next door neighbour to watch a movie together
Beer and snack is always welcome

The CLD-99 is a gorgeous-looking player, and I'm also a big fan of the way my CLD-3080 looks. If I had to rank them purely on appearance, it'd probably be:

CLD-99 > CLD-3080 > LX-900

That said, none of them are ugly. On another day, I could just as easily argue:

CLD-3080 > CLD-99 > LX-900

They're all beautiful LaserDisc players in their own way. My LX-900 probably looks better than the average one because it still has the original retail red label attached, and cosmetically it's in like-new condition.

I've also been hesitant to sell my CLD-3080 because I really like it. Even if I made some money on the sale, there's always the risk of dealing with buyers who expect 34-year-old LaserDisc players to perform like brand-new electronics.

A lot of people don't seem to understand that these players aren't perfect. They can have minor quirks, like occasionally having trouble reading Side B. In many cases, that can be something as simple as a belt that needs replacing. Sometimes even ejecting the tray, unplugging the player for a bit, and plugging it back in can reset things and get it working again.

The reality is that this is vintage technology, yet some people expect flawless performance every single time. Personally, I'd consider an occasional Side B reading issue to be a relatively minor problem, especially since it's often repairable.

People have asked why I haven't replaced the belt, and the answer is simple: I don't know for certain that's what's causing it. Every Pioneer player I've purchased was advertised as already having a new belt installed, so it could be something else entirely.

Overall, I think every player I own works quite well. They may have the occasional quirk, but they're still fully functional vintage machines. Compared to players that won't read discs at all or have major failures, I'd consider mine to be in pretty solid shape.

Yes, it was me Grasshopper that has the 99 of his! It has a issue on main board somewhere! It was up and running then started the adjustments and spindle got all crazy. Completely torn down. Waiting to get some compatible boards. Sold him my nicest Cld-95 Elite!!

Duane, MI

The 95 is still going strong and was used to play Enya for my kid just three days ago. We’ve also watched a lot of Bullwinkle Moose on it this year.