Our previous DVR-420H started destroying DVDs, leaving a circular smeared discolouration as if the recording surface had been cooked in places. The cost of repair might have been prohibitive so we just got another one

Now the replacement has started doing the same. While the first disc which shows the marks can be still be played, I expect that it will get worse until all recordings fail, as before

May I ask if the problem could be dust and dirt which might be cured by cleaning? and, once the box has been opened up, how to get access to the lens etc. and is it difficult?

i can help you with access to the lens as i took mine apart,mine is the pioneer 433,but the drives will be similar,the lens is positioned at the bottom of the drive.
To access the lens focus on taking the top part of the dvd drive shell off and leave all of the bottom of the drive intact.
Once you have taken the top lid off,unscrew the face plate directly below,which is held on with 2 screws,remove that and now you can see the lens.
There is some excellent pictures of inside a pioneer drive here
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Revi...rticleId=12802
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Arti...aser_large.jpg
Last edited by beintot : 10-02-2008 at 11:32

Thanks very much beintot

Will now have more confidence to have a go, and will report findings

ok,i doubt you will find much dust in the drive itself,it is an unusual problem you are describing.

Unfortunately there is no top plate on the drive itself and it looks as if the whole thing needs to be taken out to open it up, and leads need to be moved to do this. Also it would probably need to be unplugged and I previously read that it would then need re-programming to work again (via an "engineer code disc"), as when fitting a new drive

Interesting that it is an unusual problem I am describing, since it is so similar to that on the previous machine. When I explained it before to a service engineer he did not come up with any diagnosis but just said it would need investigating and possibly a new drive (and I presumed also the code disc which I understand is not readily available)

hi chris,the drive will be a typical dvd rewriter and the top will come off the drive,it's held in place with a couple of screws,
Naturally you have to unplug the data and power cable attached to the drive to do this.

My advice is get small can of compressed air and 'blast' the inside of the dvd drive. I did this and stuff got blown out that I couldn't believe. Don't know how it got in there but worked well ever since.

Thanks imagineers. Just wondering where it would get blown 'to' because when the tray slides out it there is not much access: can the tray be removed altogether?

yes,forgot about that,eject the tray before you begin dismantling the dvd recorder and take the dvd recorder front panel off from the edge of the tray,it clips off.
Press to close drive tray once you've done that.
i also would wonder where the dust might get blown to,seems to hit and miss when you are trying to clean a lens,which as you can see by the picture is very small.
Last edited by beintot : 11-02-2008 at 18:59

I directed the jet down the side and with subtle sideways movements created pressure at the back which blew the 'dust' out of the front of the drive. Those cans make a good strong blast of air. Not saying it will work for you, but worked for me. I was amazed that stuff was in there. Since then hardly any trouble. If a disk wont burn properly then I give it a quick blast and that sorts it.

Of course if the lens is dirty then this solution may not work but worth a try maybe.

That makes sense, and liked the 'subtle sideways movements'

I will look out for a compressed air cylinder, certainly worth a try. Who uses such a thing and might be able to supply?

If that fails then will go for a dissassembly - the replies have been very helpful, and I cannot just throw it away without trying something

Beintot can you give more on your last instructions, how does the front of the player come off and how does the tray clip off (or does it 'slip' off), and have you any info on the warnings about the code disc requirement?

it's the front plastic lip on the tray that comes off,this is a cosmetic fixture,mine clips off and on easily.
You will find canned air at maplin.
Personally i'd try to work out how your dvds are getting into such a condition in the first place,i've been through a lot of dvd rewiters in 8 years,nearly all of them pioneer drives,and never had the problem you are describing.
My own drive on my pioneer recorder i only replaced as the laser had worn out,i didn't use a service remote or codes when i replaced the rewriter.

What happened last time is that a bluish yellowish smear appeared concentrically on the DVDs, which I only noticed after apparently successful recordings had been made, but which turned out to be unplayable. This happened more and more obviously and frequently over only 5 or 6 recordings. This time I only noticed it on the last very short recording which plays ok, and I guess that the mark just happens not to correspond with the recorded part of the disc

I guessed that the marks were due to heat, perhaps from friction if the discs are revolving fast, even from some light pressure - and perhaps a random collection of debris has built up to do this. Yes we are smokers and maybe this helps to glue the dust together, but there is not much showing on the fan blades so why should the disc drive be so vulnerable?

The discs themselves are kept in boxes and I check they are clean when being putting them into the tray. Incidentally my PC DVD/CD player is about 10 years old and works ok, although it only writes CDs

Thanks for the reassurance about codes

Are pioneer using standard dvd size dvd writer as in PC ? I plan to by the LX60. The reason I asked because it is easier to replace the writer when the lazer dies.

I have problem with my Sony 910. the dvd writer does not do high speed writing but it can write in real time speed. Can the lazer be replaced as the drive is not standard.

the drives they use in their recorders are barely any different from their pcs drives,the model number will be slightly different,the power and data connections may be different to.
But if you are used to diy projects you can adapt the pc drive to work in the recorder,it 's the same size,and will function the same way as the dvd recorder drive.
The drive used in the 433 for example is a pioneer A09 ,the model number in the recorder is R09.I even flashed the firmwmare just to make sure the recorder would think the A09 was an R09.
I believe the firmware chip is on the green circuit board at the base of the drive,i changed the circuit board from the R09 over to the A09.
It may not have been neccesary for me to update the firmware,but i did so anyway.And if i was doing it again i'd miss out the firmware update and see what happens as the drive was working fine anyway without updating the firmware.
Replacing a laser is a very difficult job in response to the question above,there are guides on the net.

Bientot, I think the code disc thing was to do with HDD not DVD burner, and irrelevant after all

Do you happen to know what model No. disc drive the DVR-420H has, or where I might get one? I guess I will have a go but would like to see whether it would be worth taking things apart, and possibly have one on hand when I do it

i think the code was also relevant for replacement dvd drives. I doubt i could put in any old pioneer drive,some one may be able to correct me on that but if i put a pioneer A04,A05,A06/A07/A10 drive in i wouldn't expect it to work,and i wouldn't expect the same recording features as the drive that was already in it if it did work.
I had a 2 year old A09 drive i had used a couple of thousand times in my pc,so i thought there is nothing to lose here,i checked both drives carefully,looked closely at the circuit boards and could see the differences are very small between the R09 and the A09 , i knew all the recording features were the same on both drives.
I checked the web and couldn't read of anyone who had tried this before so i gave it a try myself thinking there was a very good chance of it working,logic to me says a drive has firmware,circuit boards and cabling.
If the circuit board contains the drive identification,and the dvd recorder looks for an R09 drive it should still find one.
So anyway i did all this more than a month ago and my dvd recorder is still working with the pc drive installed,the seek time on a copied disc seems to be slower than what it was,20 seconds instead of 10 or less,seek time on an original disc is 2 to 3 seconds which is very fast.
All my recording options still work perfectly.
The first thing you will see if you take the lid off the dvd recorder is the drive model number displayed on a sticker,i could only guess what drive you have.
I only replaced my drive because i had to,i was considering throwing it in the bin,but it cost me over £300 when i bought it so it seemed a shame to throw it out,if you can fix yours without replacing the drive that would be better.

Thanks for the info. Will post if I find out what is going on

Hi


When does the discoloration happen? Is it when you are playing back any disc, or just on re-writable discs?

It is quite normal to see a different shade/colour on an RW disc, for example you record half of it, then some more later this will often show a clean concentric circle with a different shade. This is simply the drive changing the recording strategy, i.e. different laser power at different times and is normal. If a drive goes faulty this may be more noticeable as it over compensates, but if it's working all ok then this is normal.


The newer models do not use standard writers, you can't replace them with a PC writer they are completely different now.

Avoid the Pioneer and get the new Sony model instead, it's made by Pioneer (same menu and GUI and the same internally) but cheaper!

Regards

Phil

Thanks, this was a different darker smear, but the problem seems to have gone away for now

What are the sony equivalent model numbers? sounds interesting because the GUI is so good on Pioneer

Hi

All the x70 series.

Regards

Phil