Replacement parts?

[root]

I have a Panasonice DMR-EZ28 recorder whose
optical drive failed. You can buy one
new for about $225. I called Panasonic to
check on the price for the drive: $135+$15
shipping=$150. So I went online to find
an alternate source: I found two places.
Parts something or other had one at $340
and MCM had one at $450. I used to buy
from MCM when VCRs were worth repairing.
Now?

 

[circuit]

Pretty common problem...manufacturers leave stuff on the shelf and never
reduce costs of spare parts even if you can purchase a new unit with more
features for less cost of the spare part. The only company I ever saw who
did differently was SONY on a 27 Inch trinitron CRT (Circa 1982) - which
they reduced the cost down to $40.00 Retail plus shipping. I dont know if
that was an experiment they discontinued, or if they knew those CRT's were
problematic with a short lifespan. If you have a part number, post it here.
You can also try www.parts-link.com , posting it as a wanted part.



"root" <NoEMail@home.org> wrote in message
news:hue8il$dth$1@news.albasani.net...

I have a Panasonice DMR-EZ28 recorder whose
optical drive failed. You can buy one
new for about $225. I called Panasonic to
check on the price for the drive: $135+$15
shipping=$150. So I went online to find
an alternate source: I found two places.
Parts something or other had one at $340
and MCM had one at $450. I used to buy
from MCM when VCRs were worth repairing.
Now?

 

[Franc Zabkar]

On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 19:29:25 +0000 (UTC), root <NoEMail@home.org> put
finger to keyboard and composed:

I have a Panasonice DMR-EZ28 recorder whose
optical drive failed. You can buy one
new for about $225. I called Panasonic to
check on the price for the drive: $135+$15
shipping=$150. So I went online to find
an alternate source: I found two places.
Parts something or other had one at $340
and MCM had one at $450. I used to buy
from MCM when VCRs were worth repairing.
Now?

Some manufacturers will do evil things to prevent you from replacing
your HD or optical drive with a generic unit. I believe Panasonic may
be one of these.

FWIW, I've replaced the optical drive in an LG recorder with a PC IDE
type. The replacement was also an LG, though. I don't know if non-LG
drives would have worked because I didn't have any other brands to
experiment with.

One hiccup for LG drives may be the interface. Some designs use a
mini-flex version of the standard 40-pin IDE. In this case you can use
a small adapter PCB (supplied with some LG drives) to handle the
connector conversion.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

 

[root]

circuit <circuit@123456.tv> wrote:

Pretty common problem...manufacturers leave stuff on the shelf and never
reduce costs of spare parts even if you can purchase a new unit with more
features for less cost of the spare part. The only company I ever saw who
did differently was SONY on a 27 Inch trinitron CRT (Circa 1982) - which
they reduced the cost down to $40.00 Retail plus shipping. I dont know if
that was an experiment they discontinued, or if they knew those CRT's were
problematic with a short lifespan. If you have a part number, post it here.
You can also try www.parts-link.com , posting it as a wanted part.

The optical drive is Panasonic VXY2010.

 

[root]

Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:

One hiccup for LG drives may be the interface. Some designs use a
mini-flex version of the standard 40-pin IDE. In this case you can use
a small adapter PCB (supplied with some LG drives) to handle the
connector conversion.

- Franc Zabkar

The Panasonic drive is connected with a flex cable.
It never occurred to me that the cable may simply
be a version of the standard ide interface. How
can I tell?

 

[Franc Zabkar]

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010 02:24:55 +0000 (UTC), root <NoEMail@home.org> put
finger to keyboard and composed:

Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:

One hiccup for LG drives may be the interface. Some designs use a
mini-flex version of the standard 40-pin IDE. In this case you can use
a small adapter PCB (supplied with some LG drives) to handle the
connector conversion.

- Franc Zabkar

The Panasonic drive is connected with a flex cable.
It never occurred to me that the cable may simply
be a version of the standard ide interface. How
can I tell?

I believe that if the unit has an IDE hard drive, then the optical
drive will most likely be an IDE type as well.

Otherwise I'd look for a pinout in the service manual. The datasheet
for the decoder IC may also specify the interface type.

You say that your drive is connected with *a* flex cable. However, the
drive in the following exploded view appears to have 4 cables:

http://www.prime-electronics.com.au/PANASONIC/DVD_VCR/DMREZ48VGN/CASING%20AND%20MECHANISM.jpg

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

 

[root]

Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:

Otherwise I'd look for a pinout in the service manual. The datasheet
for the decoder IC may also specify the interface type.

You say that your drive is connected with *a* flex cable. However, the
drive in the following exploded view appears to have 4 cables:

http://www.prime-electronics.com.au/PANASONIC/DVD_VCR/DMREZ48VGN/CASING%20AND%20MECHANISM.jpg

- Franc Zabkar

Damn, you may be right. It has been a few weeks
since I opened the case. I am pretty sure there
was no standard IDE type power plug on the unit.