• AnyStream is having some DRM issues currently, Netflix is not available in HD for the time being.
    Situations like this will always happen with AnyStream: streaming providers are continuously improving their countermeasures while we try to catch up, it's an ongoing cat-and-mouse game. Please be patient and don't flood our support or forum with requests, we are working on it 24/7 to get it resolved. Thank you.

Curious thing happened on my way to Jupiter Ascending

I'm not an expert on AnyDVDHD logfiles but your log files show the 3D version also is not a java menu version. I.E. no files the Java folder. And your 3D version does not have that common 120.mpls playlist file associated with the menu with other disks you are having problems with. So it is different in that respect.

All the other disks you are having problems with have the same 120.mpls playlist that starts the menu which is where you are seeing the failure. That memory thing with "start from last.." is due to that everything works up until this weird 120.mpls based menu loads.

It still looks like a marginal performance problem with your player with a marginally compliant disk format. Also, if you are having problem with the 3D version versus the 2D version presents a whole other possible source of problems besides just the disk.

Thanks for that Roycal. The only disc I noted a difference between the 3D and 2D versions was Jack the Giant Slayer - all other Warner discs failed to load the top menu regardless?????

In any case, all problems have disappeared now and Warner discs are working fine. I found while reading through the service manual that there is a "BD History" which is retained in the unit's memory. One needs to enter a service routine menu in order to clear that and I suspect it may have contributed to the problem (will have to wait until the problem happens again, if ever, to try the service routine for clearing the disc history).

In any case, a really strange issue and now that it's gone, we may never know what caused it. I will be on guard for it again and note what conditions lead up to it.

I received the $25 "for parts" BDT100 that I ordered through eBay. It had a "locked tray" and I was expecting a jelly sandwich or something in the tray, but it was just one of the hidden menus which locks the tray and a bit of punch and peck on the remote restored full functions, so I'll keep it as a spare. I have no idea why Panasonic would put a tray lock in the hidden menu or what it would be used for, but someone found it and activated it. A sticker on the top looked like a school issue so that says a lot for how someone could have gotten into the hidden menu and locked the tray to begin with.:)
 
I received the $25 "for parts" BDT100 that I ordered through eBay. It had a "locked tray" and I was expecting a jelly sandwich or something in the tray, but it was just one of the hidden menus which locks the tray and a bit of punch and peck on the remote restored full functions, so I'll keep it as a spare. I have no idea why Panasonic would put a tray lock in the hidden menu or what it would be used for, but someone found it and activated it. A sticker on the top looked like a school issue so that says a lot for how someone could have gotten into the hidden menu and locked the tray to begin with.:)

Clearing the memory may well have solved your problem. Surprised the Panasonic guy didn't mention that. You should ask for your money back for that phone call.

Nice find on Ebay. Instead of spare parts, you have a fully working spare. Sounds like you lucked out :).
BTW, have you tried to source just the optical drive? That's usually what fails.
 
Last edited:
Clearing the memory may well have solved your problem. Surprised the Panasonic guy didn't mention that. You should ask for your money back for that phone call.

Nice find on Ebay. Instead of spare parts, you have a fully working spare. Sounds like you lucked out :).
BTW, have you tried to source just the optical drive? That's usually what fails.

After one e-mail response from India, one chat session with Dwayne, two VOIP conversations with "techs", and a chat with the Panasonic "repair" depot, it's worth the $7 NOT to have to talk to them again.

I tried sourcing the drive early on and US suppliers offer it for $250 and up (some requiring return of the bad drive in exchange). I did, however find a listing through Aliexpress (China) for $52US which I might go after just to have a spare drive. That's where the machine was built so if it's the actual drive as advertised (a VXY2094 - looks like it from the photos), that's not bad. I'll write a follow-up if I get that drive.

This was a good learning experience on my player and reading through the service manual is enlightening. Basically, most faults lie with the drive, the power supply, or the logic board (in that order), and if it's any of those, it's replace, repair, or buy a new machine. Although there are fault codes, they are hard to interpret, and it comes down to swapping out those three items (one at a time) to find a given problem (include the display board if the display is involved). The power supply board is the only one which can actually see electronic repair since it has common components. The disc unit is totally repairable mechanically (motors, belts and gears are available), however a circuit board or laser assembly failure would require deck replacement. Although replaceable, I haven't found any source for the laser assembly, and chances are that replacement would require alignment beyond the scope of a simple drop-in repair.

The contact I had with Panasonic wasn't the worst, but their "technicians" read from a play manual, and if the manual steps don't lead to a solution, they appear to be at a loss for real experience (the mode for many tech centers nowadays). I too, would have expected a tech to suggest clearing the BD history, but the tech at hand probably was unaware it existed if it wasn't listed in his manual. Relative to the background I came from, that's sad, but it's pretty much what happens when products become very complex and change design every year or two (and that's true of a lot of electronic products). There are very few "experts" in that kind of environment.
 
Often the Chinese knock offs are just as good but may have patent problems :).
$250 for the drive from the OEM is ridiculous when a new player costs that much. Obviously they don't want to sell the spare parts.

It sounds like you know what you're doing though and would be great if you decided to make some YouTube videos :).
 
Often the Chinese knock offs are just as good but may have patent problems :).
$250 for the drive from the OEM is ridiculous when a new player costs that much. Obviously they don't want to sell the spare parts.

It sounds like you know what you're doing though and would be great if you decided to make some YouTube videos :).

I think those high prices are due in part to the law of supply and demand. You often see it on Amazon, where a BD player or TV goes out of production. A couple of years later, you can still get them on Amazon but the prices are astronomical. Same with parts that may be in short supply. I think most of these (BD player parts we've been discussing) originally came from China and they may well still be in production there, so the Chinese prices are more reasonable. I agree though that $250 for the deck is ridiculous and I would never pay that unless I was quite desperate (kind of like restoring an antique car).

A new development. In the Aliexpress ad for the BD deck, they mentioned it comes with the SF-BD413P laser diode ....blah blah blah. I thought that worth checking and found that Aliexpress (and others) offer that item which actually is the laser block for the drive unit. The laser head and electronics are already mounted on the sled which goes on the positioning rails. In fact, I looked at the drive in my player and there was the SF-BD413P number right there on the laser block. That price comes in at $20-$30US with shipping so it almost a toss-up as to get it or the complete drive unit for $52 with shipping included. A bit of an install job, but not too bad and it looks like you'd get around any alignment issues. I might get both and then if a deck fails, the new deck could be popped in and the bad deck repaired (assuming it's the laser that goes bad). Will report.
 
I said I wasn’t totally surprised, because while I was playing the CD, I vaguely remembered a long time ago, some kind of problem (not exactly what it was), and playing a CD fixed it. I discounted that until tonight but apparently either that or Ex Machina cleared the problem. I’ll test a few more Warner titles tomorrow, but if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know I’m one happy camper and my Cinavia free player is working like a champ again.

Wow, that is strange. I never would of guessed that playing a CD would fix it. Glad to see you got it sorted :D
 
A new development. In the Aliexpress ad for the BD deck, they mentioned it comes with the SF-BD413P laser diode ....blah blah blah. I thought that worth checking and found that Aliexpress (and others) offer that item which actually is the laser block for the drive unit. The laser head and electronics are already mounted on the sled which goes on the positioning rails. In fact, I looked at the drive in my player and there was the SF-BD413P number right there on the laser block. That price comes in at $20-$30US with shipping so it almost a toss-up as to get it or the complete drive unit for $52 with shipping included. A bit of an install job, but not too bad and it looks like you'd get around any alignment issues. I might get both and then if a deck fails, the new deck could be popped in and the bad deck repaired (assuming it's the laser that goes bad). Will report.

That's interesting but are you sure these replacement laser blocks are a drop in replacement for your unit? Is SF-BD413P the part number for the whole module or just the laser diode?
That's good information as in my experience it's always the Blu-ray laser diode that quits first. I have 2 bd standalone players that work fine with DVDs but won't work with blu rays. The 3rd player is starting to fail with BD's but no problem with DVDs. Similar experience with PC blu ray drives, the blu laser always fails first. I bought an HTPC though and won't buy another standalone but it would be nice to possibly fix the ones I have (all pre-Cinavia).
 
That's interesting but are you sure these replacement laser blocks are a drop in replacement for your unit? Is SF-BD413P the part number for the whole module or just the laser diode?
That's good information as in my experience it's always the Blu-ray laser diode that quits first. I have 2 bd standalone players that work fine with DVDs but won't work with blu rays. The 3rd player is starting to fail with BD's but no problem with DVDs. Similar experience with PC blu ray drives, the blu laser always fails first. I bought an HTPC though and won't buy another standalone but it would be nice to possibly fix the ones I have (all pre-Cinavia).

That's the part number for what they call the laser block or sled assembly. The part number is printed on the printed circuit board which is part of that assembly, both in the photo for the replacement unit, and on my existing one (I think you can just read it in the photo attached to my earlier post - just to the left and below the laser heads themselves). It mentions that this is the replacement part for several makes of BD players so it's quite possible many laser assemblies come from a single Chinese manufacture who specializes in making them and are used in machines of different manufacture.

The blue laser goes first, probably because it's used more (if you're like me, you watch more Blu-Ray media than DVDs or CDs), and also because they have a shorter life span because of their operation and construction. Blue (solid state) laser technology is less mature than that of the red and IR lasers used for DVDs and CDs, and to get the necessary output power from a blue laser diode, some compromises are made which affect its lifespan.

I did order one of the assemblies last night so I'll let you know what I get when it arrives, and I might try some experimental surgery to see if I can drop it in and get it to work. The latter might take a bit longer before I make the attempt. We'll see.
 

Attachments

  • SF BD314P.jpg
    SF BD314P.jpg
    32 KB · Views: 4
Last edited:
That makes sense that a single Chinese manufacturer is a common source for these parts but a little surprising that spares would be available on the open market. Usually OEM's want proprietary protections for their main parts.

I have 2 failed "standalone" players right now, A Samsung and an LG both first generation 3D blu ray players. Blu Ray fails to load but DVD's work fine. Will have to open them up soon and take a look :).

One thing I've seen with PC Blu Ray drives is that sometimes single layer BD's will work fine and 2 layer BD's will fail first. Any ideas on why that would happen? It is a optics problem with the drive and not a disk problem but is sometimes the first symptom of a failing BD drive.
 
Last edited:
..................I have 2 failed "standalone" players right now, A Samsung and an LG both first generation 3D blu ray players. Blu Ray fails to load but DVD's work fine. Will have to open them up soon and take a look :).

One thing I've seen with PC Blu Ray drives is that sometimes single layer BD's will work fine and 2 layer BD's will fail first. Any ideas on why that would happen? It is a optics problem with the drive and not a disk problem but is sometimes the first symptom of a failing BD drive.

That would be worth a try. If there's a number on the laser block, Google it and see what comes up. It's a little involved to remove the sled from the rails, and you'll have to use ESD precautions since the lasers are fairly sensitive to any static electricity but if you're mechanically inclined, it's not too difficult to change out. The head itself connects to the main board with a thin flexible ribbon cable which may have a zero insertion plug (that has a little trip mechanism which releases the end of the ribbon cable). Remove that from the socket first and connect it last when making the changeout.

Dual layer discs fail first because it takes higher laser power to read them (the laser has to shoot through a layer and the layers aren't as reflective as in a single layer disc - also recordable discs are considerably less reflective than ROM discs so you may see the problem with burnable discs first) and what is happening in many cases, is that the laser power is dropping with time and use. When it gets to a certain point, the data being recovered starts having a lot of errors and disc becomes unreadable. Sometimes it happens after the unit has been on for a while and the laser warms up (which drops its output power) pushing it past that point where it won't function good enough for reliable data.
 
Dual layer discs fail first because it takes higher laser power to read them (the laser has to shoot through a layer and the layers aren't as reflective as in a single layer disc - also recordable discs are considerably less reflective than ROM discs so you may see the problem with burnable discs first)

That was my theory too but just wanted to see if you also agreed without any suggestion first. The blue laser dies first and slowly in general. The infraRed DVD laser lasts forever in most cases :)
 
Last edited:
Back
Top