DVD Player with extended tray?

Jamie<>N · 10-07-2005, 09:10 AM

Hi everyone,

I've searched around quite a few places including here and can't find what I'm looking for. I'm in search of a DVD player that has a tray that would come out further than normal. Maybe I'm searching using the wrong terms - I've been looking for extended tray DVD players.
The reason I want this is I'm moving my equipment to my closet which shares a wall with the wall that I'm going to have TV...so I thought it would be pretty slick if instead of having to go around into the closet to put in and remove DVDs from the DVD player, I could have the tray come out through the wall by the T.V.
Has anyone ever heard of this before?

thanks a million,
Jamie

Dan Driscoll · 10-07-2005, 09:25 AM

There are a number of mechanical issues that would make changers with trays that extended out as far as you want a problem. One is just support, the tray is cantilevered already, extending it that far would put a lot of stress on the support mechanism that holds the tray and moves it in and out.

A better idea, IMO, would be to put the player on a shelf that can slide in and out.

Jamie<>N · 10-07-2005, 09:31 AM

Hmmm. I see. I was worried there was going to be mechanical issues with that. Well thank you for the alternative idea...I will look into that.

ChristopherDAC · 10-07-2005, 09:31 AM

You could buy a Pioneer DVL -- since the trays on those are designed to hold LaserDiscs they extend over ten inches. Of course the DVD slot is right in the middle so it doesn't come out quite as far, but off-hand it's the only thing I can think of which would do what you want. They aren't cheap, though, especially new [you can still buy an new Elite model], and they are a good 16+ inches square and about 6 inches high.

Jamie<>N · 10-07-2005, 09:36 AM

Well thank you for yet another possibility there Christopher. I appreciate that. Another thing I'll be looking into.

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ChristopherDAC · 10-07-2005, 06:21 PM

Of course 3- or 5-disc changers often have trays which come out quite a bit farther than usual, so you can access more than one disc at a time. You might prefer that to buying a machine such as I mentioned -- at least if you don't have any interest in LD (few do these days).

Jamie<>N · 10-08-2005, 08:33 AM

Ah yes, another good idea...thank you so much. You're right, I don't think I'd be interested too much in an LD player, so I'm liking this idea better.

Dan Driscoll · 10-08-2005, 02:14 PM

Christopher,

Make some measurements and see how far you need the tray to extend. A changer tray will extend more than the tray on a single disk player, but it will probably be only 3, maybe 4 more inches, depending on the model. From what you described in your OP, it sounds like you need quite a bit more than that.

Jesse Skeen · 10-09-2005, 12:55 AM

Well, EVERYBODY needs a laserdisc player

but it's not a good idea to open the full-size tray on the DVL's unless you're playing LDs or CDs- each time the big tray opens, it also switches the laser pickups, then if you put a DVD in it switches back to the DVD pickup, causing unnecessary wear on the mechanism. I'd just use the big tray if it didn't do this, since it's fun to put DVDs in an LD tray, but I'd rather have my machine last longer.

Still not sure what to do if I ever use it just for playing LDs, since it automatically puts the DVD pickup back in place when powering off.

ChristopherDAC · 10-09-2005, 12:51 PM

Since the DVD and LD portions of the DVL units are almost totally separate, physically and electronically [I understand they share almost nothing except the spindle motor and the output jacks], I wonder if you couldn't just yank the DVD section entirely, and hotwire the microcontroller into thinking it's a CLD model? I know Kurtis Bahr likes to say that it's basically two players [I don't recall the model numbers, maybe the Elite 79 is the LD part?] crammed into one package. Maybe he could pull that trick.

For the record, the original poster is Jamie<>N, not me.