Problem with Pioneer DVL-919 (1 Viewer)

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I've got a Pioneer DVL-919 LD/DVD combo. It has for more than five years performed very well most of the time. Lately I've had one small problem, though.

I’m having troubles playing some rather minor extra features on two Warner DVDs. On “Little Caesar” (67215) a piece of text called “Re-release forward” won’t play properly and there seems to be the same problem with “Buy savings bonds – a patriotic drama” on “To Be Or Not To Be” (31976).

This happens during (attempted) playback: At one point the picture starts “pixelating” and it won’t play any further. The laser unit (the “thing” that moves across the disc while reading it) seems to get “lost” and unable to figure out what to do/where to go. I can’t get back to the menu – I must press the stop button.

The DVDs in question don’t seem to have scratches and I’m not able to skip past the point where the problem occurs by selecting a later time on the remote.

When I first experienced this problem with “Little Caesar” I opened up and looked inside the player and selected the problem piece on the menu to see if I could figure anything out. Based on what I saw I suspect that the “Re-release forward” piece has been recorded on the edge of the disc and that my player has a problem reaching that far out on the edge. Does this sound likely? Does it make sense?

I’ve tried another copy of “Little Caesar” and the same thing happened. I didn’t look inside the player when playing “To Be Or Not To Be”, but the problem seemed to be similar, as far as I can tell.

Has anyone experienced these problems with these titles? I suspect that there is a mechanical problem - can something be done?

I posted this problem in the software section a few days ago. There was no reply.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

The laser has to go all the way to the back of the player to switch itself out with the 2nd laser for LDs and CDs, so I don't think there's a mechanical problem there if it can still do that. The DVD laser pickup might be out of alignment or have to be replaced, or this might just be an authoring problem with those discs.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Yes, of course, I guess you're right. But no one reported a similar problem with those two DVDs. And I've had this problem only with those ~1 minute pieces on those two DVDs. Guess I can live with it...

 

[Rachael B]

Lars, if you stille actually use the 919 for LD playback anymore, maybe you should only use it for that? If so, why put wear on it spinning little discs when DVD players are so cheap?

 

[Jesse Skeen]

My 909 is still my main player because it's Macrovision-disabled- I still have a 4x3 TV adjusted for as little overscan as possible, and when Muckrovision is on the top of the screen darkens and bends a little. The 909 is also the only player that shows the complete bottom of the frame on my TV- every other player I've used on it has a little bit of black on the bottom, again this is only noticable because of how I have the overscan adjusted. The Playstation 2 actually covers up picture information with the small black bar, and another cheap player I have seems to shift the entire picture upwards (I bought this player to play PAL discs, which the Pioneer can't do without a converter.) I'm also used to how it operates, and like how I can tell which audio track and subtitle it's displaying (some players won't show this if the buttons are locked) and it's also easy to see the disc's "title" layout which can help in finding hidden material. Even though it's 7 years old, it's handled all the new titles I've played on it just fine. I can count on one hand the number of discs I had to use one of my other players for instead, and that includes home-recorded ones!

Hopefully it can hold out until I finally upgrade to a 16x9, though right now I don't want to replace anything until the next-generation formats are finally out. For those who use these just for playing LDs though, do you always power them off when not in use? When you turn the power off, it always puts the DVD laser pickup back into place, then swaps it with the other one if you open the large drawer for LDs. Seems like it would put some unnecessary wear on it to keep switching lasers if you weren't even playing DVDs on it.

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Rachael, that is a thought. I probably will buy a new, good DVD player long before this one is worn out - although I've got two spare LD players already.

All in all, I am quite happy with my DVL-919. I appreciate the fact that it's Macrovision-disabled, even if I'm not sure of what it would be like if it weren't.

Well, since we're at it - next problem:

(Sounds a bit weird after I said how happy I am...)

Sometimes when I play CDs (or LDs, I think) the sound just disappears. Utter silence. It has never happened with a DVD, as far as I can remember. The solution is the switch off the power - and start over again. This does not happen frequently, but it's been a few times over the years. Any idea? Some small component that should be replaced...?

 

[Rachael B]

Lars, unless it gets persitant, I wouldn't worry about it. Microprocesserors do stuff like that sometimes. I have an outboard D/A converter that does that once every couple of months. Every so often I have to unplug my Marantz pre for 5 minutes to let the chip that does the tuner section reset so it'll work. Come to think of it, I have a CD player that does that too and the ole off-on works for it too.

Having your Muckrovision disabled must improve pic quality a few percent atleast. I wouldn't know how to quantify it??? Ask Jessie, it sounds like it spoils the colour a bit. That's my impression from my limited experience with VHS where Mucked-vision was sometimes really obvious. I can't tell on DVD, I don't think...?

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

I just got around to playing Warner's excellent "Controversial Classics" collection. However, once again I'm experiencing problems that seem to be the same as what I described in the initial post. I suspect that I have problems with material that's recorded far towards the outer edge of the disc.

On "A Face In The Crowd" there is trouble at the end of the trailer - on "Advice And Consent" at the end of the movie itself, about 20-30 seconds before the end.