A Technically Sophisticated Repair

Terry Cox

Terry Cox

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Dec 25, 2000
5,942
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
I installed on our boat an Apex brand DVD/CD player/remote several years ago and it has played well. Lately, however, I noticed some picture distortion appearing and ruled out the TV set. I wanted to stay with the same brand/model so found a used unit, without a remote, on Amazon for $30. It arrived and earlier this week, hooked it up and found a very nice stable picture pattern; even the old remote worked.

So, I placed a DVD in the slot and it began loading, and loading, and loading. After a couple of minutes it displayed, "No Disk". Tried another DVD with the same result. Then a CD, and again the same result. Sheesh! The thought of having to go back to Amazon and the rigamarole for a refund was a frustrating thought. Okay, I'll try one more technically sophisticated adjustment; pulled the unit out of its cubby and with my fist banged on the top, then the bottom and finally both sides.

Well, what do you know. Placed it back in its cubby and inserted a DVD and this time it loaded and played just fine. Don't ya just love those technically sophisticated adjustments? Sometimes they really do work and other times, well...
 
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T

Tater

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Oct 26, 2021
198
Hunter 170 Lake Logan Martin AL
Have you seen "No Time For Sergeants", with Andy Griffith? He used a similar repair for a radio.

The player may need cleaning. There is a special disk for that.
 
jssailem

jssailem

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Oct 22, 2014
23,352
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
When servicing Naval Planes with tube based electronics, that was standard first adjustment technique for a fickle radio. You either "jostled" the tube out of it's lethargy or you burned it up. Thus giving you a easily identifiable failure and item to repair.

The engine mechanics preferred the use of a hammer. The pilots and crew - a swift kick with their boot.
 
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kappykaplan

kappykaplan

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May 1, 2011
5,075
Pearson 37 Lusby MD
Terry Cox said:
Okay, I'll try one more technically sophisticated adjustment; pulled the unit out of its cubby and with my fist banged on the top, then the bottom and finally both sides.
Click to expand
We told @Kermit to do that a few years ago so he could get a new stereo! :beer:
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
7,622
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
At this point I have LP's, I had 8 track, cassettes, DVD's, iTunes downloads, satellite radio play lists, Amazon Prime on on ad naseum. All of pretty much the same music. I've paid for a lot of it at least three times. And yet iTunes won't let me access music I've paid for. The playing media just kept changing. They will have to pry the LP's out of my cold dead hands. At least with those I can play the music I want to hear at the time I want to hear it. I don't have to wade through iTunes trending music, which believe me isn't trending with me. Or the picked for me. Really? Do they have a dinosaur algorithm?
 
JamesG161

JamesG161

SBO Weather and Forecasting Forum Jim & John
Feb 14, 2014
7,810
Hunter 430 Waveland, MS
shemandr said:
And yet iTunes won't let me access music I've paid for.
Click to expand
It depends on how you Access iTunes.
I even uploaded some of my CD's and they appear in the iTunes cloud.
Jim...

PS: You are limited to 5 copies if family sharing.
PSS: I even burned a new CD copy of those lost in Katrina.
 
Terry Cox

Terry Cox

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Dec 25, 2000
5,942
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
My son got me an iPod a few years ago. Amazing little device a bit larger than a book of matches. So I went about gathering a long list of my favorite tunes and loaded them onto this little device. Rather than spend money buying music I used a YouTube MP3 converter to strip out the music from a load of videos on their site. Rather than playing CDs, now I can listen to hundreds of my favorites at the push of a button. I plug the iPod into our boat's amplifier so that I listen to music anywhere in the boat. Even with all the tunes and pictures I have on this little device, it still has over two thirds available space. Incredible!
 
DArcy

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
Terry Cox said:
My son got me an iPod a few years ago. Amazing little device a bit larger than a book of matches. So I went about gathering a long list of my favorite tunes and loaded them onto this little device. Rather than spend money buying music I used a YouTube MP3 converter to strip out the music from a load of videos on their site. Rather than playing CDs, now I can listen to hundreds of my favorites at the push of a button. I plug the iPod into our boat's amplifier so that I listen to music anywhere in the boat. Even with all the tunes and pictures I have on this little device, it still has over two thirds available space. Incredible!
Click to expand
I have about 8 hours of music on my phone but mostly I just listen to Spotify now. I use a Bluetooth speaker on the boat but would like to replace the stereo with one that has Bluetooth. I can control the music from my watch from anywhere on the boat.
 
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dLj

dLj

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Mar 23, 2017
4,438
Belliure 41 Back in the Chesapeake
DArcy said:
I have about 8 hours of music on my phone but mostly I just listen to Spotify now. I use a Bluetooth speaker on the boat but would like to replace the stereo with one that has Bluetooth. I can control the music from my watch from anywhere on the boat.
Click to expand
Just a bit of a note - going off-shore this system doesn't work.

In fact, I've found that when you have a lot of downloaded media and end up in an area with truly 0 internet access, the media will not play. That's if it comes from a licensed source. It seems that somewhere it's looking for a kernel of code saying the device you are using is OK to play this media. Of course, anybody staying within at least minimal reach of cell coverage need not worry....

dj
 
DArcy

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
That's interesting. I download my playlists and don't have any problems playing but am generally within cell range. My daughter does not have data on her phone and still can play downloaded playlists on Spotify without WiFi
 
Scott B

Scott B

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Sep 20, 2006
2,952
Hunter 33 Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada
DArcy said:
I have about 8 hours of music on my phone but mostly I just listen to Spotify now. I use a Bluetooth speaker on the boat but would like to replace the stereo with one that has Bluetooth. I can control the music from my watch from anywhere on the boat.
Click to expand

 
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DArcy

DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,770
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
Dick Tracy was way ahead of his time.

And then there was this
 
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