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 Post subject: [MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 19 Nov 2017, 05:13 
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This thread is for the non-Sony bashers here. :)

I have an MDP-600 I bought new back in 1996. It's has been my one and only player for the last 21 years and thus far has been extremely reliable. I have never had an issue with it. Until now.

The machine sat unused for the last several years. It's been in my equipment cabinet idle until a few weeks ago when I started watching movies on LD again.

The first movie I watched (Goldeneye) was doing fine until the end of Side A - about 44 minutes in. The picture started to degrade and the player was having trouble tracking and started skipping.

It eventually gave up and went in to something the service manual calls an "emergency shutdown" where player switches off to avoid damage. Once that happened, pressing the power button turned the machine one or two seconds, flashed "Open" on the display and then turned off.

I was able to clear the emergency condition and got the laser sled to home. I gently brushed off the lens because I realized the disc tray had a good layer of dust on it from sitting idle and I figured the lens was probably coated as as well.

I replayed the GoldenEye disc and it tracked properly past the point on Side A where it failed. Then it got to the end of Side B and did the same thing.

I rummaged around on Google Groups and found posts from owners of the MDP-600 from the old alt.video.laserdisc netnews group who said their player had this same shutdown issue when it reached the end of Side B. I have watched hundreds of movies on my player and never had this problem until now.

Has anyone else with an MDP-600 had this problem and if so, did you were you able to correct it?

Randy
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 19 Nov 2017, 05:26 
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Sony basher here :P

It could be something like the capacitors are leaking or are bad and need to be replaced, also could be old grease??? Would have to be cleaned off and re lubed.
Good luck.
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 19 Nov 2017, 07:04 
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Try another movie it seems like your golden eye disc has warped.
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 20 Nov 2017, 00:22 
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primetarget wrote:
Try another movie it seems like your golden eye disc has warped.
I though about this, but if the GoldenEye disc were warped I would expect the player to fail to read it every time -- it after dusting the lens it played through just fine.
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 20 Nov 2017, 00:29 
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rein-o wrote:
Sony basher here :P
Repsect that. :thumbup:

Quote:
It could be something like the capacitors are leaking or are bad and need to be replaced, also could be old grease??? Would have to be cleaned off and re lubed.
The sled travels the C-track without any obvious problem. I had the same thought about leaky caps since Sony seemed to have an issue with them back in that era of manufacturing.

I didn't see any caps with obvious bulges or leaks when I had the player apart but I am also not an expert and didn't do a through inspection. There's a local guy who still does hi-fi repair and actually worked on LD players (mostly Pioneers, he says -- hmmmm... jk ) so I may pay him a couple bucks to give mine a once-over.

Thanks for the reply!
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 20 Nov 2017, 01:16 
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(It's the MDP-605 which has awful capacitor issues)
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 20 Nov 2017, 19:40 
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happycube wrote:
(It's the MDP-605 which has awful capacitor issues)


That is good to know as I have an MDP-600 that still works (the last time I tried, anyway).
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 22 Nov 2017, 22:18 
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Well, in all honesty I can't bash any working player.
Its really that there are no parts for SONY and they were not in production for as long as Pioneer so it make them more of an off brand for LD.

But do keep us posted on what you get fixed and how you got it fixed for others who are possibly in the same situation.
Keeping LDs playing is the most important.
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 23 Nov 2017, 07:15 
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Thanks everyone. It is odd an odd problem.

I have watched two and a half movies on successive nights since the last lock up and have had no issues.

The player locked up at the end of Side B of the first disc of Andromeda Strain. I unplugged it, let it sit overnight and the next morning it started up fine.

That evening I finished watching Side 3 of Andromeda Strain and then watched The Blues Brothers (3 sides). No problems at all. The next night I watched Quiz Show start to finish (also 3 sides) with no issue. I am really not sure what triggers the problem or if it's truly just kind of random hardware glitch like I read about on the old a.v.l. threads.

As I said, I never had a problem with this player from the time it was new until just recently. Aside from age (which very well could be a contributing factor) I can't think of anything that would have triggered it.

If I come up with anything, I'll post it here. For now, I have a lot of discs to watch and will see if I can figure out what causes the issue.
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 Post subject: Re: Sony MDP-600 Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 23 Nov 2017, 20:04 
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I know you said cleaning the lens fixed the issue but you should still check for warp on a flat surface. Near the end of the disc (player reads discs from the inside out) is where the laser has to work hard to maintain that lock.
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 Post subject: Re: [Sony MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 17 Dec 2020, 09:35 
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I have had the same problem with this model and found a way to "reset" it. This is unscientific but I've had at least 5 discs gets stuck in the Sony MDP-600 and found this unorthodox way to fix it. To prevent it in the future, don't let the laserdisc roll to the end of the credits, that's what has caused the error for me every time. When the movie is over you can watch some of the credits, but make sure to press Open/eject while the credits are still rolling to avoid getting a stuck disc. Pressing stop at the end of the film is another thing that seemed to cause the disc to stick.

1) When the disc gets stuck, unplug everything, then all of the buttons on the face and switch thetoggle back and forth on the back of the player
2) carefully place the player on each side, upside down and carefully place it on the back.
3) Set the player upright again and press all of the buttons a few times.
4) Plug it back in and hopefully the player will open and you can watch LDs again.
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 Post subject: Re: [Sony MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 18 Dec 2020, 00:44 
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So that means @ around the halfway point of a movie toward the end of Side A, we would also be forced to miss the last few minutes before the side change for the sake of avoiding a lock-up? Yeah.... I probably would want to find a better solution to that :( .

I'm not sure why a Sony player would have this issue as I would have to experience it for myself to determine that. However, judging how erratic this issue appears, I would lean toward bad capacitors in the power supply as a place I would look first. Worth a shot if one really wants to keep the player working.
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 Post subject: Re: [Sony MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 18 Dec 2020, 04:09 
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ldfan wrote:
I would lean toward bad capacitors in the power supply as a place I would look first.

Yeah it really seems like these units have a severe issue with capacitors. There is a group of them on the main board as well that need to be checked out.
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 Post subject: Re: [MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 22 Mar 2022, 22:33 
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Well…. I just got my hands on a free MDP-600 that literally included everything including the original box. It has the bad caps issue (just turns on and off really quickly).

I guess I have a new fun project to work on again (if I can find the time between taking care of my new kid and work in general :? )
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 Post subject: Re: [MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 22 Mar 2022, 23:19 
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ldfan wrote:
It has the bad caps issue (just turns on and off really quickly).

I'm debugging one of these off an on with the same issue. I've swapped out the power supply with a known good one and replaced the capacitors in the "cage" on the main board. Capacitors on front board tested good. Relay still clicks on and back off. :think:

Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it because these actually look quite bad when functioning. :lol:
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 Post subject: Re: [MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 23 Mar 2022, 02:16 
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cplusplus wrote:
Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it because these actually look quite bad when functioning. :lol:


Yeah.... I don't know why I bother. Just a slave to the format I suppose. :lol: Also, I haven’t done an AC3 mod on a Sony in over 20 years and would like the challenge. :thumbup:
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 Post subject: Re: [MDP-600] Tracking Issue
PostPosted: 23 Mar 2022, 15:21 
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Same here. If I can fix it, I fix it no matter the value or quality of player. It is really nice that it has the box. Keep us updated as you make progress.
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