VCR/DVD player help

[Octoberbride03]

we had new flooring installed a couple of weeks ago and had to move all our furniture out. So we moved our tv, cable box and the player out of the room until the floor was done 3 days later. reconnected the tv abd cable in a spare room but not the player because it was a small room and we wouldn't be watching any dvds anyhow.

Well now everything is back in the living room and we cannot get the player to work. Tried disconnecting the wires and reconnecting. Put the wires on just the dvd side of the player and nothing we do works. The center readout acknowledges the dvd but never actually starts playing it, AND the tv screen never turns to blue like it should when we switch over to watch the dvd.

If anybody can please, please help me out I would be soooo grateful. I need to get back on my exercise program and get stretched out ASAP. My shoulder is soo desperate for a good stretch.

Its a Broksnokic player if that helps. Going on 6yrs old. We only have the 1 player and the 1 tv so trying it out on a a different tv is not an option.


TIA

 

[bicker]

The first thing to deterimine is whether or not the problem is that the DVD is not playing, or that it is playing and you cannot see it playing on the television. You've indicated that the problem is the former, but to be sure: Is there some indicator on the DVD player that you remember showing the DVD was playing (often you'll see a counter running) that is now not showing that the DVD is playing? Or alternatively, are you able to see DVD menus on your television?

If the DVD really is not playing, can you remove it and try another DVD? Not being able to remove the DVD is a good sign that the DVD itself is corrupted. DVDs don't last for ever, and aren't even all perfect from the factory, and sometimes these errors can actually lock-up the DVD player, requiring mechanical measures to remove the DVD.

Okay, what else could go wrong?

When you have a DVD in the carriage, or when you press Play with a DVD in the carriage, do you hear anything spinning inside the DVD player? Do you hear any skipping? If you hear nothing, then chances are the motor is dead. Unless you paid more than $400 for the DVD player, that kind of failure would not be worth repairing. If you hear skipping, then there might be some alignment problem, which might be worth takign for repair. If you hear the DVD spin up, then chances are the problem is with your connections, not with the DVD.

In that case, what are the actual labels on the connections you're using? (For example, "yellow wire connects port labeled 'video' on DVD player to 'the yellow aux in' port on the television". That kind of info.)

 

[Octoberbride03]

Well fortunately, the player was a shower gift. But I'm pretty sure it didn't cost 400 bucks at the the time.

The player is connected to our cable box, which is how it was connected b4 we put the floors down. Both the box and the player have the connections colored coded with the red/yellow/ white scheme. So we know we didn't do it backwards. We just matched the color scheme like b4.

The counter in the center display never starts to move. It always picks up the disk and gives 4 zeros but never moves beyond that. The player was always super quiet so we never heard the motor running to begin with. I don't see how that could affect the blue screen we used to get when we switched over to the player.

I have tried different disks in it and its always the same thing. For some odd reason when my workout disk didn't play i stuck my DCL disk in the player which I know works(the disk) and has been played maybe 5 times.

I did hit the company website and submitted a query about this but they haven't emailed me back yet. I'm unexpectedly off today or i might have come home from work with a brand new dvd player. That may very well be the case tomorrow.

I work at Target and I know I can get a spanking brand new player for 40 bucks b4 my discount. So it really doesn't pay to repair this 1. I just can't see how it could have broke from a little move between rooms. We didn't drop it or lay it down hard at all.

Do they always just die all of a sudden?

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Do you have everything on the right channels?

This sounds like the exact problem I had when we finally connected to cable.

I hooked up the dvd/vcr player through the receiver to the tv. The player acted like it was fine, but my screen never changed. I finally figured out that the tv was on the wrong channel. It seems like a silly mistake, but it happens.
Oh. It's also not always 3 or 4. My living room tv has to be put on 3 for cable, but 91 for the dvd player.

 

[Octoberbride03]

I've tried fooling around with the channels. b4 the move it was always 3 for the tv and 4 for the player. Now i have no clue because that doesn't work anymore. I tried plugging in different numbers, and resetting the remote and nothing is changing anything. Still snow instead of blue screen and 4 zeros and no actual disk playing.

I don't really care much if it did die. Just have no clue as to how it might have happened. If I'd dropped it at least I'd have myself to blame.

 

[bicker]

If you're using the remote control to operate the DVD player, do you have any indication that the remote control is being recognized by the DVD player (i.e., being able to open/close the DVD carriage, or a light that blinks or a display that changes in response to buttons you press on the remote)?

If not, then it is possible that the problem is in your remote, is with the configuration of the remote, or (most likely given the scenario you described) with the IR receiver in the DVD player that used to receive signals from the remote. It is connected to the motherboard of the DVD player with a couple of wires, and of course they could become detached in a move. If this is a possibility, are there buttons on the DVD player itself that replicate all the functions of the remote?

If you do see the remote control being recognized by the DVD player, but only "Play" doesn't work, then I think we're back to a problem with the motor, either a rotary drive mechanism problem, or a problem getting power to the rotary drive motor. (I'm pretty sure that if the problem was alignment, you'd hear something unusual.)

 

[Octoberbride03]

the player recognizes the remote fine. No trouble using it open the carriage and lights blinking and all that. I just sat down in fornt of it and played with it some more. Even played with the vcr side of it. And I get nothing. the only sound i get is from the disk slipping in and the tape slipping and its top flipping up inside the machine. after that nada, complete silence.

So i guess we're just gonna buy a new 1. We've been fooling with it for over a week. and i don't see the sense in repairing it when a new 1 is cheap. Just don't know what we're gonna do with the 2 vcr tapes we kept LOL. My college graduation and a Richard Petty tape.

 

[yoopermom]

Can you call the cable company and throw yourself on their tech support mercy to double check that it's hooked up right? I have to do this with DISH periodically Our remote is a universal one from DISH, and so their tech support is angelic about helping me figure out what I screwed up.
Terri

 

[cteddiesgirl]

the player recognizes the remote fine. No trouble using it open the carriage and lights blinking and all that. I just sat down in fornt of it and played with it some more. Even played with the vcr side of it. And I get nothing. the only sound i get is from the disk slipping in and the tape slipping and its top flipping up inside the machine. after that nada, complete silence.

So i guess we're just gonna buy a new 1. We've been fooling with it for over a week. and i don't see the sense in repairing it when a new 1 is cheap. Just don't know what we're gonna do with the 2 vcr tapes we kept LOL. My college graduation and a Richard Petty tape.

There are still vcr/dvd combos available. If you can't find them in your local stores, try Amazon or other places online.

 

[Octoberbride03]

There are still vcr/dvd combos available. If you can't find them in your local stores, try Amazon or other places online.

Oh i can find 1 at Target for 80 bucks. The question is: is it really a good use of our money to buy a dual player considering we about never use the vcr side of the player. I have my college graduation tape because my mom insisted on having 1. Richard Petty is Dh's tape and his perogative to keep. I imagine down the road, should we wish it, it would be fairly easy to copy my grad tape to a new format. And I'm sure I can work out something for the King as well.

I even played with buying a blu-ray player while in the shower, but that's a lot of money and since i do exercise videos it doesn't seem like a good fit right now. But some browsing over collage will tell me just how many videos are in blu-ray format.

As for calling the cable company, it doesn't seem to be the cable box that is causing the problem. So i think I'll just leave them out of the mix.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Oh i can find 1 at Target for 80 bucks. The question is: is it really a good use of our money to buy a dual player considering we about never use the vcr side of the player. I have my college graduation tape because my mom insisted on having 1. Richard Petty is Dh's tape and his perogative to keep. I imagine down the road, should we wish it, it would be fairly easy to copy my grad tape to a new format. And I'm sure I can work out something for the King as well.

I even played with buying a blu-ray player while in the shower, but that's a lot of money and since i do exercise videos it doesn't seem like a good fit right now. But some browsing over collage will tell me just how many videos are in blu-ray format.

OK. Well, I know there are lots of places that no longer carry anything with a vcr in it. I won't buy a dvd player without one now. Or at least I have to have a vcr since I still have several hundred videos tapes as well as my dvd's.