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Review 3 of 40
Price Paid:
$350.00
from Video Only Summary:
Same problems as others with "insert disk" errors and disk loading. Based on my experience and the reviews I've read, I think this player was released for production before the operating software was debugged and before any significant reliability testing was performed. There is no point in buying products from a company that operates in this mode. Unless someone can point to some remedy offered by Toshiba, this device will be my last Toshiba purchase.
DETAILS: Bought the unit new, based on reports that it was a good machine with many features. We left it in the box for over a year until we had finished shuffling stuff around the house. Early on, we discovered that the machine was not smart enough to lock out an attempted load of a 6th disk (closing the changer drawer with 5 disks loaded when there is still a disk in the reader). I had to partially disassemble the machine twice to retrieve loose disks. After about 15 months of light use (<20 DVDs, 100-150 hrs of CDs), the "insert disk" error appeared. I disassembled the player again and discovered that a CD or DVD would spin up in the player mechanism, but apparently the player could not read the data. -- The disks were quickly rejected. I removed all the circuit cards to be able to clean the player optics with lens paper. When reinstalling the circuit cards, I took care to clean and carefully reinsert the many tiny ribbon cables into their connectors. The player immediately was healed -- for about 15 more hours. "Insert disk" then reappeared and I have yet to try another repair. I suspect that the ribbon cable connection to the player mechanism has an open conductor: Many of the ribbon cables in my unit have very sharp right-angle bends, which would weaken and likely break some of the conductors. Strengths:
Picture and sound quality have been good. The player output quality exceeds the capability of our other equipment. Weaknesses:
I feel like the human interface wasn't carefully thought out; it seems a little rough at times. The reliability of the player is not excusable. The player mechanism is little different than ones made 10 years ago for CDs. The changer mechanism is not really that complicated. Flex cables like the ones in the unit can be very reliable in commercial equipment, but the sharp bends I saw inside my player are NOT the way to treat these cables. Similar Products Used:
Previously had a mutli-disk CD player that played for 5-6 years with moderate use and no problems.
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