Hey all,

First, if there are already answers on here about the CLD-D704 and the issue I'm having, please link them. Tried watching Star Wars last night and couldn't get anything going.

To explain:
(my player always takes time before it will take in a disc--it'll spin, and then eject. Takes a couple of efforts for it to finally startup. I know this is a common problem, but forgot the fix.)

I first had issue with the player in early March. When it was time for the auto-reverse for side B, nothing happened. If memory serves, the laser module moved to play the second side, no picture showed, I believe the spinning platter stopped. Then, when I tried to eject, nothing happened. The disc was stuck.

It wasn't until months later when I had time that I opened up the case and took out the disc. In that time, I looked around to see how the whole thing operated. Cool stuff. I put it all back together, despite cracking a piece of plastic on the, what I'm calling, intake mechanism.

When I played a disc, I got this weird banding thing going on. You know, where there's like a small band going down the screen and starting up top again. It reminded me of old VHS, when the tracking wasn't right or the tape itself was too loose. At first, it would do this for the first 5-10 minutes of the disc and then disappear afterwards. BUT---it would not play side B. It would turnover, as you could hear it, but it would not play the second side--you know when you hear the laser fire up.

Later, the banding got worse. It would be more prominent but the whole image would skew, again, akin to the VHS of yesteryear. In fact, it would make a "crunchy" sound, that I just discovered is the laser trying to find the spot. Each time I would try to jog shuttle, it was a mess. Rewinding would move it forward, and fast forward would make it repeat the same several seconds.

This week was the worst. I had it on a still frame pause. When I played it, it started from the beginning of the disc. I got to see my movie, but last night, nothing happens. I get the crunchy sound of the laser module (which I checked out today since I thought the spinner part wasn't tight enough--it was) and upon investigation, I tried the auto-reverse and saw the laser trying to find it's spot, but, when it didn't, the spinner would go the other way and spin waaaay faster than it should. Scary fast.

I can play audio CD's just fine, but when playing the laserdisc, it will crunch-crunch-crunch and sometimes you'll see the time marker (0:00:00), but more often than not, it doesn't get that far.

Any ideas or suggestions? I'd hate to see this thing go. I bought it for the AC3-RF output, but I have another Pioneer LD that I could rig to play AC3, but if I can fix my D704, I'll do it.

Any advice is much appreciated!

A capacitor in the video path or the power supply

Seems like capacitors and power supplies are common for players this age.

Would a complete replacement of the power supply be the first move, or should replacing the video capacitors be a better move?

Last time it played anything, the video was mega skipping. It'd look out of phase, staccato like, with blinking in between as the movie played.

I had similar issue and krbahr suggested recapping the power supply, it solved my problem....