Hi, my CLD-97 has developed a terrible problem where the image is covered in noise and the audio is almost complete static. At first this happened intermittently when changing sides, but the problem is constant now. The OSD is unaffected. Interestingly, the noise still moves and static persists when on a still frame. I tried cleaning the laser but it didn't help. I embedded an image and video of the problem. If anyone can help me figure out what the problem is I will be very grateful.

Could the video cable be defective? That's probably too easy but you don't know until you've tried other cables (which I assume you've done).

Yep, I've tried multiple cables and both video outputs; still no luck.

Okay. Some capacitators may be dead. If so, the sooner it's recapped the better and I don't think it's too late.

+1 Maybe some caps in the power board have started to leak. If your not comfortable doing the work, you could always send it a service center.

hifiengine has the 3080 service manual, that should apply to most of the 97. I would look at tracking and RF levels (which indicates the health of the laser pickup) in addition to buldging/gooping capacitors.

Depending on your skills I would consider sending it to a skilled tech - this player's a bit more complex than the later ones, and it's worth the expense IMO.

yeah, check up with grasshopper or others to see what's up.
very helpful, and that's a good player so I wouldn't tinker too much unless you know what or how to do it.

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the rein-o official signature:

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll open her up later today and check for bad caps. I'm hoping there's nothing wrong with the tracking, but that would explain why the problem initially only occurred after side flips.

JEEZ, were ALL the major Japanese A/V firms producing video gear full of sub-standard capacitors in the early 90's?!?

i mean, this is beginning to remind me of SONY and their infamous early 90's VHS VCRs crammed with leaky orange caps.

i don't know if there is a single factory condition example of ANY of those several years worth of models around
in anything approximating an operational state of condition. the 1990 SLV-R5UC S-VHS is probably the best known
among these infamous VCRs; a damn fine, fantastic looker of an S-VHS model, completely undercut by an ass-load of self-destructing caps.

perfectly fixable, mind you, if you can get to them before they leak too much and destroy traces...

back in my arcade repair days I don't think I've ever seen a leaking cap destroy the traces, batteries yes but caps no.
now the cap will bulge and won't work, then you need to replace and sometimes replace all in that line.

with the monitors I used to do you would have to replace all of the main power ones not just the bad ones, also caps are so cheap
its easier to replace all.

but on something like an LD player etc its harder since you have to remove a bunch of stuff and then need to do an alignment to get it back and running.

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the rein-o official signature:

It depends on the type of caps, some SMT ones are worse - the Mac SE/30 and Sony MDP-605 lose boards to bad caps.

Classic look for low video RF received. Something in the video stream is going bad or I hate to say that the frame memory could be going bad. But the video looks like weak RF. I have seen pickups doing this during playback when going bad but the side change issue puzzles me unless it was there during playback but only noticeable during a still screen.

Well, I opened up the 97 and none of the caps look bad. Does anyone know where I could get it repaired in Southern California? Also I could have sworn the noise moved on a still image, but when I tested it out again today the noise stood still when I paused the disc.

I dunno who's good and in so cal, alas. rixrex is probably the best one I can think of, but I don't know if he's done pickup replacements - and even so he's probabaly still too injured. If you've got good packing material I'd consider sending it to Kurtis, actually.

You might be able to buy a little time by adjusting the RF level up.

If you pause on a CLV disk, it will use a fixed digital memory of half the frame taken when you pause it, because it isn't possible to replay an image exactly.

But if you use a CAV disk, you will probably see the noise move again.

You were right happycube, this is exactly what happened!

Unfortunately, as much as I love my CLD-97 I don't think I can justify the cost of shipping + repair (I'm assuming it would be at least $300+ to have it shipped and repaired).

I dont like being "that guy" but if you decide to part with it, I may be interested in purchasing it from you.

*nods* That is a bit much, but it's definitely worth it to someone (looks up ) What other players do you have? There are quite a few players in LA and Orange County. (Not so much in SB/Ventura... the only CL listing in SB for weeks has been a $140 Sony and a $50 analog-sound-only Pioneer...)

You can contact me at kbahr@comcast.net if you want. If you have the remote if be willing to trade it for a working CLD-D703 with remote.

Just gotta ask, is it always visible if the caps have to be replaced? I once had a Sega Mega CD (model 1) that needed to be recapped yet there were no signs of oxiding or any other defectives on the boards. I had it on my shelf for three years until I sold it to a technican who repaired it in less than two hours.

Nope. Well made old caps will just dry out without going all goopy or poofy.