I just got one these where the seller disclosed the same issue - powers itself off shortly after turning it on. I figured there were bad caps, because it's _always_ the caps, so I bit on it, and then proceeded to just go ahead and replace every single electrolytic cap on the PSU and main board (around 90 in total.) None had so obviously failed, but a couple on the PSU did smell a bit when desoldering. Whatever. Problem solved for another few decades. I did _not,_ however, catch that there were more caps under the metal shielding on the main board. Luckily, it wasn't too late! I still had the thing in pieces waiting for a replacement laser -- the plastic clip with the guide pins on it had broken off, and it was just bouncing around inside the unit during shipping. yikes... That was NOT disclosed, and I didn't find the broken piece inside the chassis, so it was probably already like that before it went to the United Parcel Soccer League. Luckily I found a spare for sale - hopefully that gets this guy back up and running. I also watched your other MDP-600 video, and based on that, decided to go ahead and lube the cam gear and all while I'm at it. Glad to be tipped off on that one, though I don't think it's a problem on mine -- yet. May as well, right? Regarding your commentary on Nichicon -- Nichicon caps are supposed to be good, and that's what I use for replacements -- 105C rated though. I'm not sure if it's just "to be expected" that 30-year-old caps leak, or if there was an issue with bad electrolyte even as far back as the early-mid 90s. I have no way of determining whether Rubycon or Panasonic are inherently better, but I'm generally able to find what I need from Nichicon, and of course they have a good rep, so I guess we'll see. Here's hoping. I can say that Sony seemed to use the smallest (diameter and/or height) possible caps in this model. I had to order quite a few where new caps from my inventory were just too big to fit comfortably, and in a couple cases, it was kind of tricky to find ones small enough. If they were pushing the limits of the form factor at the time, I wonder if that contributed to the problem?
Hi luvradios, thanks so much for your vid, I am so happy because I now know what is next to look at on my Sony MDP-850. It did not power up, and once I got that sorted, it was showing the exact same behavior as the one in your video. So, next up, checking all caps... And it has a lot of them!
Thanks for sharing this video. I have sony LD player too (working at the moment) I never seen the problem on the system. All i heard on the net is sony laser pick up die frequently.
Working on one of these now, just about EVERY capacitor is bad, it's amazing. Replaced all but the 3 biggest caps in the power supply (none on-hand), and the ones on the main board in the POWER section: It will not play a CD or Side A, but Side B plays. The audio works for a minute if the unit is cold before it goes to static and out completely, and the picture is super noisy.
@@luvradios Did, in fact mine didn't have the shielding yours did, and it looks like it never did? no signs it had been removed. I wonder how many revisions of that board they went through?
@@rwdplz1 When you were changing those caps on the main board were any of them leaking?, any dark spots around any of the traces , the leakage may have caused a break in continuity? the fact that it will play side B but not A is weird, is the laser sitting normally, moving without any issues?
@@luvradios There was some leakage, but after I cleaned it off, the board looked fine. Laser moves all along the track just fine. When it tried to play a CD, you can see the laser move back and the up and down trying to read it, but apparently not working.
thanks for the video partner...i have never really repaired anything like this..but i have the same unit as you do and the same problem...i am now getting ready to close the unit back up...i will be ordering some stuff to fix this unit hopefully as it is a very nice player....thank you for your time in showing what you did and what to look for. i do have some questions for ya...what brand capacitors do you recommend? and what tools do i need to do the testing?
Thanks for watching the video! I like Panasonic capacitors but also Nichicon makes a good one, for testing about all you really need is a tv with composite video inputs and a disc, as for the capacitors to truly confirm those you would need an ESR meter but if they are leaking they will need replaced, if you have the same model as the one in the video just change the ones I did and you will be fine, make sure whatever ones you buy are the same size or they won’t fit in the tight shielded area.
Hi, I have the exact same symptoms on my Sony MDP 600 as well. An evaluation based on your great video here had the same Cap failures on the same boards that you show. Could I send you the two boards so you could replace the faulted caps instead of sending you the entire unit.. Everything else checks out. Is this possible? Please let me know what you charge ASAP… thank you!
Peter, honestly I wasn't even paying attention to that part of the circuit but I checked the service manual and a M65831FP is listed as the echo amp. Thanks for watching!
Yeap! The bad part was that accidentaly when I tryed to take a look with the smartphone light, it slept into the LD while the tray closed. Bottom line: the otpical unit was put out of its place. I will need to send it again to the Sony Tech Assistence, that spent 4 months with it with no results. The guy is a friend of mine, there is no hurry, but is sad to waste a great piece of machinery.
Great work. I have this model and sometimes it does not release the cd. The CD is caught by the mechanism that rotates the disc and is lifted with it. I have to remove the cover to get the CD out. Any suggestions or tips? Grateful in advance.
The rubber pad attached to the disc stabilizer can become sticky over time so after the disc sits in the player for a while it will stay stuck to the stabilizer when the tray is opened, touch the rubber part and see if it feels sticky, if so try and clean it and see if it helps. This is the only thing that comes to mind about the problem you are describing.
@@luvradios Exactly! Fixed it! Thank you. When I put the stabilizer again "no disc" message on the display both for LD and CD. Is there any kind of calibration or so for this issue? Thank you in advance
@@mariolaranjeiras3667 , if the unit played a disc prior to you taking the stabilizer apart recheck that you have it put back together correctly, make sure the disc spins freely once the stabilizer lowers and clamps in place.
I have this very same model of laserdisc player (an MDP-600); that is having the exact same problem you encountered. Would you be interested in doing the same repairs for me on commission?
The mechanism in this player was slick. Too bad the picture quality is too grainy. It wasn't Sony's best effort, to be sure, but there was worse. The Sony MDP-605 is among those examples of the worst players Sony made, and it's a shame. When it works, the picture and sound are actually quite good, and the transport is real slick. Unfortunately, the LV-20 board (contains some of the video circuits, some of the pickup servo circuits, analog audio circuit, and the system control circuit) always goes bad; the board is loaded with SMD-type electrolytic caps and almost all of them leak. Without that board, the player is a boat anchor.
I keep hearing that Sony LD players are not worth bothering with. And sometimes someone says as much as "the picture quality sucks" and that's about it. "Grainy" is the most descriptive explanation I've ever seen as to what the "problem" really is. I'm fixing up an MDP-600 because it's just such a cool player, and honestly... I'm really not that fussed about PQ on an analog standard-definition 4:3 video appliance. If I want the highest quality, I've got no shortage of options. If I want to sling around a comically large disc at a borderline irresponsible RPM, may as well use a player that looks cool doing it. :-D
@@nickwallette6201 It's true, at least about models like the MDP-600 and MDP-500; the picture is very grainy. I've dealt with those models, having even owned a 600 a few years ago. I grew rather discontented with the picture quality, having experienced better even with other Sony models like the MDP-1000, so I sold it and moved on. For the money, you are better off with a Pioneer if you want a decent picture and a machine with superior serviceability; there are a ton more Pioneer-made machines out there, so there are a better source of spare parts to keep one going. As for the disc being comically large, it's funny that nobody says that about vinyl records, even though they don't hold as much information as a CD ... or an LD for that matter. As for borderline irresponsible RPM, try a CD spinning up over 50x the standard speed in a contemporary optical drive.
@@Watcher3223 Well who knows. I may decide it's not good enough, but I don't really expect to be dazzled anyway. :-) I just want to enjoy the LD experience - have since I was a kid. I've never been a fan of Pioneer's design aesthetic, and I have Sony and Kenwood HiFi stacks, so I went with that. It's just not that important to have "the best LD player" because it's never going to be great anyway. I'll settle for good enough and have some fun. I hear what you're saying about vinyl records. It's just what we're used to. You see CDs and DVDs every day for most of your life, and then someone wraps their bear-hands around a Laserdisc and it looks comical. Kinda like when Apple first launched the iPad and it looked like an embiggened iPhone. haha I'll get used to it and it won't seem strange anymore. Maybe. About CDs and modern optical drives -- sure. But keep in mind, a 50x CD-ROM doesn't actually spin the disc at 50x. It's using CLV (no drive is still doing CAV beyond about 8x), and you'll only reach those speeds at the outer edge of the disc, where the 1x speed is ~200 RPM. So let's say the spindle speed is more like 24x, which is still a ridiculous 12,000 RPM. The outer edge of a 12cm CD is moving at a linear velocity of about 7,500 cm/sec. That's definitely intense. But, a Laserdisc, at 30cm diameter and 1,800RPM is moving at 2,800 cm/sec. Not quite half the speed, but with a much larger, more massive disc. That's just insane! I've never really cared for 50-something speed drives for this reason. I was happy when they got to 32x, and would've preferred they never pushed it past 40x. It seemed those hot-shot drives that tried to compete on numbers were just a recipe for spontaneous fragmentation of what used to be a CD. ;-)
@@nickwallette6201 For me, it's less about the design aesthetic and more about the fact that Pioneer players tend to be better than Sony on where it counts: picture and reliability. But the point is that you don't have to buy the best player available to get decent results out of LaserVision. The MDP-500 and MDP-600 were such a low bar for picture that even low end single-side play machines from Sony themselves, such as the MDP-333, could produce a better picture those two models. They were THAT awful. As for what you've talked about with CD-ROM drives, that's minutiae and all beside my point that CDs are being physically spun up at a rate far greater than 1800 RPM to try and achieve bitrates far higher than realtime speed with Compact Disc. In that context, the 1800 RPM that a LD spins up to isn't so insane, especially as rotational velocity is related to signal bandwidth and S/N for that format.
@@Watcher3223 I'm not even sure what to say. It kinda feels like you're trying to win an argument that I'm not even participating in. You do you, with the Pioneers. Everyone who so much as Googles "Laserdisc" is going to be told that Pioneer players are all that matters, and no Sony is even worth standing on to reach a Pioneer on a top shelf. OK. Good for all of you. Enjoy it your way. I'm not going to hold the LD picture quality up to Blu-ray, or DVD, or even VHS. I'm going to sit back in awe of the fact that this machine is spinning an enormous platter of death at _insane_ speeds, and a blurry, grainy, nearly-square-aspect version of a movie I haven't seen since before I knew about e-mail is playing on a display that has less resolution, color accuracy, sharpness, and refresh rate than the screen on my smart phone where I check my email, wirelessly. None of its flaws matter. Technical superiority isn't even remotely the point. It's just cool. Partway through, I'll wait for the machine to flip the laser to the other side and start playing backwards. Then later I might take that disc out and put in another to finish that film. Inconveniences that have no place in the modern world. And that is exactly the whole point of pursuing it. If it wasn't, why would _anyone_ waste their time with a format so inferior on so many counts? What's the point of chasing perfection in obsolescence? Nah. Keep your Pioneers.
have just picked up a MDP-V9K with the same problem, will try your fix on it. thanks for taking the time to make and post this - legend!
I just got one these where the seller disclosed the same issue - powers itself off shortly after turning it on. I figured there were bad caps, because it's _always_ the caps, so I bit on it, and then proceeded to just go ahead and replace every single electrolytic cap on the PSU and main board (around 90 in total.) None had so obviously failed, but a couple on the PSU did smell a bit when desoldering. Whatever. Problem solved for another few decades.
I did _not,_ however, catch that there were more caps under the metal shielding on the main board. Luckily, it wasn't too late! I still had the thing in pieces waiting for a replacement laser -- the plastic clip with the guide pins on it had broken off, and it was just bouncing around inside the unit during shipping. yikes... That was NOT disclosed, and I didn't find the broken piece inside the chassis, so it was probably already like that before it went to the United Parcel Soccer League. Luckily I found a spare for sale - hopefully that gets this guy back up and running.
I also watched your other MDP-600 video, and based on that, decided to go ahead and lube the cam gear and all while I'm at it. Glad to be tipped off on that one, though I don't think it's a problem on mine -- yet. May as well, right?
Regarding your commentary on Nichicon -- Nichicon caps are supposed to be good, and that's what I use for replacements -- 105C rated though. I'm not sure if it's just "to be expected" that 30-year-old caps leak, or if there was an issue with bad electrolyte even as far back as the early-mid 90s. I have no way of determining whether Rubycon or Panasonic are inherently better, but I'm generally able to find what I need from Nichicon, and of course they have a good rep, so I guess we'll see. Here's hoping.
I can say that Sony seemed to use the smallest (diameter and/or height) possible caps in this model. I had to order quite a few where new caps from my inventory were just too big to fit comfortably, and in a couple cases, it was kind of tricky to find ones small enough. If they were pushing the limits of the form factor at the time, I wonder if that contributed to the problem?
You are correct! The size was a big factor (IMO) and Sony found even smaller caps to use in their 8MM camcorders lol.
Hi luvradios, thanks so much for your vid, I am so happy because I now know what is next to look at on my Sony MDP-850. It did not power up, and once I got that sorted, it was showing the exact same behavior as the one in your video. So, next up, checking all caps... And it has a lot of them!
Nice local find, awesome movie. Good quick fix. 👍🏻
Thanks for sharing this video. I have sony LD player too (working at the moment) I never seen the problem on the system. All i heard on the net is sony laser pick up die frequently.
Working on one of these now, just about EVERY capacitor is bad, it's amazing. Replaced all but the 3 biggest caps in the power supply (none on-hand), and the ones on the main board in the POWER section: It will not play a CD or Side A, but Side B plays. The audio works for a minute if the unit is cold before it goes to static and out completely, and the picture is super noisy.
You did or did not replace the ones on the main board in the power section?
@@luvradios Did, in fact mine didn't have the shielding yours did, and it looks like it never did? no signs it had been removed. I wonder how many revisions of that board they went through?
@@rwdplz1 When you were changing those caps on the main board were any of them leaking?, any dark spots around any of the traces , the leakage may have caused a break in continuity? the fact that it will play side B but not A is weird, is the laser sitting normally, moving without any issues?
@@luvradios There was some leakage, but after I cleaned it off, the board looked fine. Laser moves all along the track just fine. When it tried to play a CD, you can see the laser move back and the up and down trying to read it, but apparently not working.
thanks for the video partner...i have never really repaired anything like this..but i have the same unit as you do and the same problem...i am now getting ready to close the unit back up...i will be ordering some stuff to fix this unit hopefully as it is a very nice player....thank you for your time in showing what you did and what to look for. i do have some questions for ya...what brand capacitors do you recommend? and what tools do i need to do the testing?
Thanks for watching the video! I like Panasonic capacitors but also Nichicon makes a good one, for testing about all you really need is a tv with composite video inputs and a disc, as for the capacitors to truly confirm those you would need an ESR meter but if they are leaking they will need replaced, if you have the same model as the one in the video just change the ones I did and you will be fine, make sure whatever ones you buy are the same size or they won’t fit in the tight shielded area.
Hi, I have the exact same symptoms on my Sony MDP 600 as well. An evaluation based on your great video here had the same Cap failures on the same boards that you show. Could I send you the two boards so you could replace the faulted caps instead of sending you the entire unit.. Everything else checks out. Is this possible? Please let me know what you charge ASAP… thank you!
Hi, send me an email about this, the address is on the "about" tab of the channel page.
Nice repair just wondering how they got that Reverb did you notice any Bucket Brigade chips in there like an mn3007 or similar?
Peter, honestly I wasn't even paying attention to that part of the circuit but I checked the service manual and a M65831FP is listed as the echo amp. Thanks for watching!
Good stuff. Im glad I found your channel.
Mine shows "no Disc" both for cd and Ld. It was working normaly an instant before. I thank you in advance for any tip about what to check
did you take the top cover off and see if its trying to spin, is there anything that looks out of place?
Yeap! The bad part was that accidentaly when I tryed to take a look with the smartphone light, it slept into the LD while the tray closed. Bottom line: the otpical unit was put out of its place. I will need to send it again to the Sony Tech Assistence, that spent 4 months with it with no results. The guy is a friend of mine, there is no hurry, but is sad to waste a great piece of machinery.
Could you show how to fit in the optical unit on its track curve white rail? Thank you in advance.
Unfortunately I no longer have that unit.
Great work. I have this model and sometimes it does not release the cd.
The CD is caught by the mechanism that rotates the disc and is lifted with it. I have to remove the cover to get the CD out. Any suggestions or tips? Grateful in advance.
The rubber pad attached to the disc stabilizer can become sticky over time so after the disc sits in the player for a while it will stay stuck to the stabilizer when the tray is opened, touch the rubber part and see if it feels sticky, if so try and clean it and see if it helps. This is the only thing that comes to mind about the problem you are describing.
@@luvradios Exactly! Fixed it! Thank you. When I put the stabilizer again "no disc" message on the display both for LD and CD. Is there any kind of calibration or so for this issue? Thank you in advance
@@mariolaranjeiras3667 , if the unit played a disc prior to you taking the stabilizer apart recheck that you have it put back together correctly, make sure the disc spins freely once the stabilizer lowers and clamps in place.
I have the exact model, good picture but no audio or very low during playback. Board or bad caps? Sent over my info.
Bad caps in the audio circuit on the top board. There's one or two of them, if I recall correctly.
Great repair. Where are you located?
Quad Cities area, IA/IL border
Mi laser Sony tiene el mismo problema.
I have this very same model of laserdisc player (an MDP-600); that is having the exact same problem you encountered. Would you be interested in doing the same repairs for me on commission?
Steve, my email address is in the About tab of my channel page, send me an email with your ph# and I’ll give you a call about it .
@@luvradios ok an email was sent yesterday. If it doesn't show up, please check your spam folder. Let me know, thanks.
The mechanism in this player was slick. Too bad the picture quality is too grainy. It wasn't Sony's best effort, to be sure, but there was worse.
The Sony MDP-605 is among those examples of the worst players Sony made, and it's a shame. When it works, the picture and sound are actually quite good, and the transport is real slick. Unfortunately, the LV-20 board (contains some of the video circuits, some of the pickup servo circuits, analog audio circuit, and the system control circuit) always goes bad; the board is loaded with SMD-type electrolytic caps and almost all of them leak. Without that board, the player is a boat anchor.
I keep hearing that Sony LD players are not worth bothering with. And sometimes someone says as much as "the picture quality sucks" and that's about it. "Grainy" is the most descriptive explanation I've ever seen as to what the "problem" really is.
I'm fixing up an MDP-600 because it's just such a cool player, and honestly... I'm really not that fussed about PQ on an analog standard-definition 4:3 video appliance. If I want the highest quality, I've got no shortage of options. If I want to sling around a comically large disc at a borderline irresponsible RPM, may as well use a player that looks cool doing it. :-D
@@nickwallette6201 It's true, at least about models like the MDP-600 and MDP-500; the picture is very grainy. I've dealt with those models, having even owned a 600 a few years ago. I grew rather discontented with the picture quality, having experienced better even with other Sony models like the MDP-1000, so I sold it and moved on.
For the money, you are better off with a Pioneer if you want a decent picture and a machine with superior serviceability; there are a ton more Pioneer-made machines out there, so there are a better source of spare parts to keep one going.
As for the disc being comically large, it's funny that nobody says that about vinyl records, even though they don't hold as much information as a CD ... or an LD for that matter.
As for borderline irresponsible RPM, try a CD spinning up over 50x the standard speed in a contemporary optical drive.
@@Watcher3223 Well who knows. I may decide it's not good enough, but I don't really expect to be dazzled anyway. :-) I just want to enjoy the LD experience - have since I was a kid. I've never been a fan of Pioneer's design aesthetic, and I have Sony and Kenwood HiFi stacks, so I went with that. It's just not that important to have "the best LD player" because it's never going to be great anyway. I'll settle for good enough and have some fun.
I hear what you're saying about vinyl records. It's just what we're used to. You see CDs and DVDs every day for most of your life, and then someone wraps their bear-hands around a Laserdisc and it looks comical. Kinda like when Apple first launched the iPad and it looked like an embiggened iPhone. haha I'll get used to it and it won't seem strange anymore. Maybe.
About CDs and modern optical drives -- sure. But keep in mind, a 50x CD-ROM doesn't actually spin the disc at 50x. It's using CLV (no drive is still doing CAV beyond about 8x), and you'll only reach those speeds at the outer edge of the disc, where the 1x speed is ~200 RPM. So let's say the spindle speed is more like 24x, which is still a ridiculous 12,000 RPM. The outer edge of a 12cm CD is moving at a linear velocity of about 7,500 cm/sec. That's definitely intense. But, a Laserdisc, at 30cm diameter and 1,800RPM is moving at 2,800 cm/sec. Not quite half the speed, but with a much larger, more massive disc. That's just insane!
I've never really cared for 50-something speed drives for this reason. I was happy when they got to 32x, and would've preferred they never pushed it past 40x. It seemed those hot-shot drives that tried to compete on numbers were just a recipe for spontaneous fragmentation of what used to be a CD. ;-)
@@nickwallette6201 For me, it's less about the design aesthetic and more about the fact that Pioneer players tend to be better than Sony on where it counts: picture and reliability.
But the point is that you don't have to buy the best player available to get decent results out of LaserVision.
The MDP-500 and MDP-600 were such a low bar for picture that even low end single-side play machines from Sony themselves, such as the MDP-333, could produce a better picture those two models. They were THAT awful.
As for what you've talked about with CD-ROM drives, that's minutiae and all beside my point that CDs are being physically spun up at a rate far greater than 1800 RPM to try and achieve bitrates far higher than realtime speed with Compact Disc. In that context, the 1800 RPM that a LD spins up to isn't so insane, especially as rotational velocity is related to signal bandwidth and S/N for that format.
@@Watcher3223 I'm not even sure what to say. It kinda feels like you're trying to win an argument that I'm not even participating in.
You do you, with the Pioneers. Everyone who so much as Googles "Laserdisc" is going to be told that Pioneer players are all that matters, and no Sony is even worth standing on to reach a Pioneer on a top shelf. OK. Good for all of you. Enjoy it your way.
I'm not going to hold the LD picture quality up to Blu-ray, or DVD, or even VHS. I'm going to sit back in awe of the fact that this machine is spinning an enormous platter of death at _insane_ speeds, and a blurry, grainy, nearly-square-aspect version of a movie I haven't seen since before I knew about e-mail is playing on a display that has less resolution, color accuracy, sharpness, and refresh rate than the screen on my smart phone where I check my email, wirelessly. None of its flaws matter. Technical superiority isn't even remotely the point. It's just cool.
Partway through, I'll wait for the machine to flip the laser to the other side and start playing backwards. Then later I might take that disc out and put in another to finish that film. Inconveniences that have no place in the modern world. And that is exactly the whole point of pursuing it. If it wasn't, why would _anyone_ waste their time with a format so inferior on so many counts? What's the point of chasing perfection in obsolescence?
Nah. Keep your Pioneers.