I've decided my player must have gotten jostled during my move in December, as with a number of CAV discs it starts to lock up and skip backward near the end of them. This is particularly frustrating because oftentimes the good parts are getting messed up.

I've heard the cheaper players weren't always adjustable, so is mine? And, if so, which ones do I tweak to try and correct the issue? I notice the service manual for this one isn't on here.

Sounds like the servo needs adjustment.

You can probably use the 604 instructions for most of it, since the 104's main board is very similar (the parts dealing with side B aren't stuffed, but you can see printing for where the adjustments are. Similar with S-Video type things)

The single-side LD mechanism is different, I don't know if there's a public PDF for it, but you can probably infer most of it as well.

http://www.lddb.com/_misc/manuals/LD_Pl ... l_Scan.pdf

The S270 is pretty much the same as the S104:

http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_librar ... s270.shtml

So which setting do I want to tweak? Tracking? Focus? Tilt?

Probably tilt and then tracking. For best results it's good to have an oscilloscope and a test disk, but those cost more than what a 104's worth, so if someone could pitch in with alternatives, that'd be great

One tip I could give is to take a picture of all the adjustments before tweaking anything, so in the case you make things worse you can adjust it the other way.

Since I picked up the 909 I've just put the 104 in storage until I get an oscilloscope, so I can do it right.

Sounds good. Once you've got the kit needed, the 104's probably the easiest player to work on.

Definitely a lot less parts inside! I pulled the top off the 909 and went..."oh..."

I've got a non-functional 909 with the DVD laser in an odd spot (I'll start my own thread whenever I get a DVL service remote clone). There's definitely a lot more in there!

I have a 100 MHz DSO on my bench that I use for digital logic stuff. If you could explain the adjustment procedure to me, I could probably do it for you. Might be interesting once.