Purchased a CLD-HF9G from Japan and came in excellent condition mechanically. Usually i get a broken gear or the pickup mechanism is off the track but not this one.

I was quite surprised thinking i made out OK on this one, that is until i tried playing a LD. This is the picture i get. I've tried two sets of cables and two different TV's, still the same. I tried the 2ndary VGA out but no difference. I do not have the ability to test the S-Video out. Both sides do this, A and B. The mechanism has no issue when forwarding and no hesitation playing chapters on either sides. I did a preliminary check as i have another unit on the bench so i couldn't take it fully apart. No blown caps that i see on the power board. With what looks like cross talk/interference I'm thinking it's an alignment issue at first glance.

Do the experts have a different opinion?

I hope google share links are OK, if not i'll use something different.

Thanks
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5io1JEscS6wc3mWg8

Either that is a bad laserdisc or the RF signal out of the laser is weak.

Thanks,

Sounds like a weak RF signal is the culprit. I tried 3 different discs and all do this to varying degrees, the Die Hard disc was the worst of the bunch. You can see the last pic is a X-Files disc that is doing the same thing. I'll get the unit on the bench this weekend, hopefully get it into test mode and try the RF adjustment. I've read this unit is the same as a CLD-99 so I'm hoping i can follow the service manual for that machine.

Another note, the wife likes the look of this unit better then the 95, i had to politely disagree.

Thought i would post an update. Finally got this back on the bench and found a replacement laser.

Replacement laser works but now it definitely needs adjusting as the cross talk is horrendous.

What i've done so far,
Step 1 of the service manual, entered test mode and got tilt offset between 6 and 7 and still plenty of cross talk happening when checking a disc. I tried all the way up to 8 doing micro adjustments and the best it looked was at 6 almost at the cusp of 7.
Step 7a, Put in a GGV test disc and got 114/115/116 perfect. Lines are black and straight, no jumping and no crosstalk. Put in a disc, still plenty of cross talk happening.

Next step is 7B, i made a jig to set the player on so i can reach underneath and adjust the bottom tan adjustment.
After that, the SM says to do step 6. Fine Centering adjustment with oscilloscope and two resistors hooked to pins 1+2 and pin 9.

I was going to try and adjust the top tan adjustment but the SM says to configure the bottom tan first.

Anyways, good news is that at least it's playing. Just need to fine tune which i know is the hardest part.
I'll update again once i start more testing and get further along.

PSU190