Hi, recently purchased two laserdisc players (both Philips VLP 700) from Ebay quite cheaply to keep myself busy as a repair project, the problem is cables, back in the early 80's i thought everyone would've used a basic areial lead from the back of the TV to the player, but it looks like i need a different type, but don't know what!

The first player seems ok, i wired it up to my analogue TV as my Digital one just kept looking for Freeview, it turned on ok, but no audio channel lights came on, and the index button appears to be stuck. Can't hear any obvious nasty noises and it seems to whirr normally when i put a disc in, but no picture.

I've sorted out the audio leads (left and right channel leads), but what about the video leads, is it just an normal areial lead i need? I shall see what the other player is like when it arrives (forgot how huge they are, litrally the size of a small country!)

I can't seem to find a decent pic of the back. Can you take a picture?

I think he's talking about BNC.

That is what I couldn't tell since I couldn't find a good picture. I'm glad you posted that since I wasn't sure.

Or the Scart plug?

But that is an odd thing.
Hopefully he can search those and figure it out from there

I think he’s confused by the yellow composite lead, which in the 80s was less common in the U.K. I don’t think this player has BNC or SCART but I’ve never seen one.

EDIT: I found a really blurry pic and I can’t tell what’s on the back but it may be a coaxial RF input.

Original poster: is it threaded?

These are the only connecters for it, no scart lead socket.

Yeah, that's a BNC on the Video Out. You can get BNC to RCA adapters for next to nothing.

I notice the VLP-700 looks a lot like the first Magnavision player. I wonder if it's as much of a piece of junk too?

I think it's slightly better, and some people in Europe used to be able to fix them. I wouldn't expect much from one though.

Yeah, you just need a BNC to RCA adaptor. That’s an odd choice of connections on the back, more like what they do with the industrial stuff.

Not really. My Betamax deck from '84 is like that too. RCA for audio, BNC for video, in addition to the usual RF aerial leads.

Guess it was the go-to high end connection of choice in Europe before SCART was introduced.

I think Magnavox had the idea in 1975, and the overall shape of the machine is how the Philips version ended up. Ordered a BNC to RCA cable from Ebay, apparently not many of these beasts work now, but it starts up when turned on, will let you know in a few days if it works.

Did this come out then Philips and Magnavox merge then possibly it could be the same build quality.

Not only that, but VLP/Laserdisc is actually why Philips bought Magnavox... to ensure US distribution.

If it’s spinning that’s a very good sign. Just plug the audio into something and see if it’s playing sound.

Hi,

please get back when you get round to getting (hopefully!!) the unit working.

I wish you all the very best with it, a couple passed through my hands years ago but I had no success with them.

If it helps the original lube/grease had gone almost glue like in both units I had & it may help if that can be checked/removed/replaced as it did appear to be a very common issue when I was trying to get one to play over 10 years ago so will perhaps be worse now given another 10 years on.

Good luck.

This is the sitation so far...

Correct cables from player to analogue TV bought, sadly no picture or sound (the audio channel lights don't come on), the machine runs up to speed with the disc and slows down to stop when the eject button is used.

The actual laser appears to move up and down, and is in the correct position to scan the disc.

I'm going to open it up next weekend to get a first look, the first thing i want to do is unstick the 'index' button as that may be the reason it's not doing anything.

On a plus note, i managed to get the orginal Star Wars laserdisc from 1982 for £8 from ebay!

Good luck .

Cheers

Yes indeed, good luck!

Although I don't want to be a wet blanket, but I've heard the VLP 600/700 (& 720) are pretty much irreparable these days - as I understand it, the glue holding the various laser mirrors in place has lost all its stickiness and so everything has gone out of adjustment, and it's impossible for the amateur (or indeed even a professional, without specialist equipment) to get them all realigned...

At least the other frequent problem - the drive belt for the laser carriage - doesn't seem to have failed in yours, if the laser still moves, although if the belt is ageing it may be on the way out. In my VLP 700 it had broken and I made a new one from a bicycle tyre inner tube, which worked. But I never got round the laser problem.

Sorry to be so negative!

It was probably impossible back then too, that's why they junked the unsold stock as soon as a new model came out, rather than try selling them at a discount.