The DVD drive in my Sony RDR-HX900 looks faulty, it reads, but any attempt to burn something causes one or two messages that the disk is dirty (even for brand new disks with no chance of any dirt. And I've cleaned the drive with a cleaning DVD repeatedly.) and then the recorder restarts.

I opened the case and tried to replace the DVD drive with a brand new SONY DVD/CD RW DRU-190A, but no matter how I switch it, the recorder seems rather confused :-(

It says "WELCOME" for quite some time, then "CLOSE" for very long, then "WELCOME" again and that's about it.

Is there anything special one has to do with the drive or the recorder? Or do I have to find somewhere the very same DVD drive? The original in Sony DW-015A.

You pretty much need to bring it in for Sony service, and it won't be cheap: figure $200-350 easy. Only you can decide whether the recorder is worth repairing, new machines with similar functionality can be had from Pioneer, Phillips and even Sony themselves (in Canada) for about what it would cost to repair the burner in your old unit. Of course, some people are very attached to the earlier Sonys because they feel the PQ beats newer models: tough choices.

The reason your replacement attempt failed is that all the brand-name recorders like Sony. Panasonic, Pioneer, Toshiba, etc use a proprietary burner model made just for recorders which has an extra firmware chip not present on the generic burners you can buy from a store. A few (very few) recorders, like some of the older Pioneers, used a burner that was exactly the same as the generic models of that mfr except for the extra chip, and these can often be repaired cheaply by buying the equivalent vintage PC burner and just swapping the controller boards (after you do this, the recorder assumes the burner was not replaced at all so functions normally). I have not had to repair any of the older Sonys, so I can't tell you if this "swap the board" trick would work for you- perhaps someone else here who specializes in Sony could tell you if a cheap generic Sony burner can be cannibalized. Older burners in good condition often sell on eBay or at clearance sites for $20-40. If this idea is not doable, your only choices are an expensive official Sony repair or buying a new recorder. Good luck!

It sounds like you're quite handy. You said you tried a cleaning CD but they do nothing to the spindle of the drive. If you can get the cover off the DVD drive you might want to try and clean the spindle(the part that holds the DVD in place as it spins around. On Panasonic DVDRs anyway cleaning the spindle on a old non functioning drive does wonders. Iso alcohol or even tape head cleaner used on the rubber spindle does the trick.

A good test for a dirty spindle(on Pannys anyway) is to lightly moisten your finger with saliva and then rub your finger around the bottom clear inner part of a DVD. Immediately put the disc in your machine and try recording. If this works then a spindle cleaning is needed. Only a film of saliva is needed, you don't want it flying off inside your machine. I believe this procedure gives the rubber spindle just enough grip to hold the DVD from slipping. Good luck and let us know the results.

I tried to remove the cover and clean the spindle ... no difference. And it looks like it's spinning just fine.

Still if I try to burn something it looks like it's gonna work, then reports "Disk is dirty", changes the estimated time from eg. 9 minutes to 35, chugs on for half a minute, reports "Disk is dirty" again and restarts the recorder.

I guess it's a new recorder for me then. Something with DVB-T.

Do you know if there's a chance to save the videos I have on the harddrive?

Probably your only choice would be playing them realtime and then recording on another DVDR using line output/inputs. It will mean reencoding everything which will entail picture loss but it's about your only option at this point.

My HX900 shows that message whenever it won't record on certain disks, and it's usually consistent across the same batches. It's very picky about the discs it will record on.

Doesn't happen with every disc, though.

JendaPerl,

Rammitinski brings up a good point which I didn't go into because I somehow thought you had already mentioned it: the original crop of premium-quality Sony DVD recorders were known for being extremely picky with media. Extremely! Before bringing it in for service, you should try to obtain media that is known to work in even the pickiest machines: Taiyo Yuden (TY) Premium Silver Lacquer 8x DVD-R. This is not usually sold in stores, you need to buy it from an internet media seller who ships to your country. TY discs are still made in Japan to strict standards using a dye layer that was designed about the same time as your recorder. If these discs fail to burn, then you'll know for sure your laser is worn out and you need a new burner or recorder. Most of the 16x media sold in stores today is of compromised quality and not stable enough for the older Sonys to get a "lock" on when they attempt to burn or finalize: it may be that the brand you are using was good until recently changing to a new formula. This is a common problem with recorders more than two years old: new blank media is very different from old blank media.

IIRC, I don't think I've ever been very successful using 16x on the Sony. The manual only says up to 8x anyway.

The DVD drive in my Sony RDR-HX900 looks faulty, it reads, but any attempt to burn something causes one or two messages that the disk is dirty (even for brand new disks with no chance of any dirt. And I've cleaned the drive with a cleaning DVD repeatedly.) and then the recorder restarts.

Sorry for the late response ...

One of my RDR-HX900s has a similar behavior. I learned that burning just after having the machine off for at least two hours was reliably successful. I may be the only one, but I would be interested to hear from anyone one else with this issue, whether this works for you as well.

Earlier Sonys have built-in service mode that requires no tools to access. If your HX900 hard drive is full of hard-to-replace videos, and you can afford the option, you might try looking for a compatible HX715 or 725 model with a functional burner. These should accept a "transplant" of your HX900 HDD after activating the service system, at least according to service bulletins I've seen. You could burn DVDs of all the data on your HX900 drive, and keep the extra drive as a spare. Not an ideal solution, but a possibility if your HX900 data is unique and MUST be retrieved. If all thats on there are TV shows or movies, it isn't worth it: you may as well junk the HX900 and replace it with a new better-burning non-Sony machine. Wait for reruns of those programs, or buy the commercial DVDs.

HI all, a little late on this but my drive just started giving me probs on my HX900. The HDD is fine, it will read CD but will not read or write any DVD media, including commercial DVDs. I've tried cleaning it, resetting the recorder but to no avail.

When I checked Sony's support site, it said there's a flat rate to repair it at $114. I do like this recorder and I'm thinking that at $114, might be worth repairing. Otherwise, I've got a pseudo TIVO that plays Cds. :D

Mike T

Burners in recorders of that vintage have a typical lifespan of two-three years max, regardless of how many discs you actually burned. A $114 flat rate is extremely reasonable, Panasonic charges $130 and Pioneer or Toshiba will nail you for $300 on a burner swap. If you love the recorder, fix it. There's no remotely comparable recorder on the current retail market.

Burners in recorders of that vintage have a typical lifespan of two-three years max, regardless of how many discs you actually burned. A $114 flat rate is extremely reasonable, Panasonic charges $130 and Pioneer or Toshiba will nail you for $300 on a burner swap. If you love the recorder, fix it. There's no remotely comparable recorder on the current retail market.

Yeah, funny you said that about how many disks burned. I really didn't burn that many, usually ended up recording to HDD then dubbing whatever I really wanted to keep.

You are right, there are no comparable recorders available currently and I do like this unit. I'm leaning toward getting the repair, thanks for your input.

Mike T

The DVD drive in my Sony RDR-HX900 looks faulty, it reads, but any attempt to burn something causes one or two messages that the disk is dirty (even for brand new disks with no chance of any dirt. And I've cleaned the drive with a cleaning DVD repeatedly.) and then the recorder restarts.

I opened the case and tried to replace the DVD drive with a brand new SONY DVD/CD RW DRU-190A, but no matter how I switch it, the recorder seems rather confused :-(

It says "WELCOME" for quite some time, then "CLOSE" for very long, then "WELCOME" again and that's about it.

Is there anything special one has to do with the drive or the recorder? Or do I have to find somewhere the very same DVD drive? The original in Sony DW-015A.

That is how my drive started to fail. Sometimes it would record but most times it would give me a disk error. I've pretty much used the same brand of disks since I had the recorder but it just started to get finicky.

It would still read everything but eventually, it also stopped reading DVD (commercial or otherwise) and now I'm left with it just reading CDs.

If the flat price to repair the unit is in fact $114, I've decided that I'm going to have Sony repair it.

Mike T

Mike,

If you haven't sent your Sony out for repair yet, don't bother. I have a DVD burning issue with my HX-900 and sent it in last week for the flat rate repair.
I got a call from Sony this afternoon saying the problem is the DVD drive and the part is no longer available. Looks like if the board swap on a new DVD burner doesn't work, then we're screwed.

That stinks:( DVD recorder mfgs. use proprietary drives and then they just stop making them:rolleyes:
Maybe I'm thinking about something else (cars?) but I thought mfgs. were required by law to supply parts for things they sold for at least 10 years? Of course that means nothing if they go out of business, but I don't think Sonys going out of business anytime soon.

t I don't think Sonys going out of business anytime soon.
Sony... first annual loss in 14 years... $3B... stay tuned!?

I asked the Sony service rep about stocking major repair parts for more than four years and got some story about the units weren't in production that long so they didn't make a lot of spares blah, blah, blah. I'm pretty pissed because I spent close to $800 for mine when they first came out, and now less than four and a half years later it's 50% unusable. I plan to write to the head of Sony customer service, but don't expect much of a response.

I really have a love hate relationship with Sony. I love "some" of there hardware but loath there CP paranoia and some of there business practices.
Speaking of losses what about Toyota, I think there first loss in even more years than Sony. Tough times for all:(

Mike,

If you haven't sent your Sony out for repair yet, don't bother. I have a DVD burning issue with my HX-900 and sent it in last week for the flat rate repair.
I got a call from Sony this afternoon saying the problem is the DVD drive and the part is no longer available. Looks like if the board swap on a new DVD burner doesn't work, then we're screwed.

Wow! Thanks rtagg, for saving me the hassle of shipping, only to find out it couldn't be repaired. :( I guess that's why I couldn't find anything on this drive when I googled it. Figured if I found it, I'd put it in myself.

If I remember correctly, Sony's website said your product could be repaired as long as it was not older than 7 yrs.....not sure, but I thought that's what I read??? Like you, I'm a little pissed also, bought it as an open box from BB for around $500. I have gotten some pretty good use from it, of course, discounting the crappy TV Guide function, which I could never get to work. :p Also, par for the course, my 4 yr BB protection plan ran out last year, so no recourse there either.

At least the HDD still works, which is good for me to do quick recordings. Since I used to do a lot of dubbing from HDD to DVD, I'm wondering if I'd be able to just line copy from the 900 to one of the newer(and much less expensive) DVD recorders on the market. Would there be any copy protection issues?

Funny, like jjeff, I also have always had a love/hate relationship with Sony, but for some reason, I just keep buying their stuff. :D Oddly enough, this is my first Sony product of many, over the last 10-15 yrs or so to fail. Everything else is still in great working order, so I guess I can't complain too much. :cool:

Thanks again for the heads-up, rtagg.

Mike T

You're welcome Mike, glad I could save you the hassle. I've got a friend who is a Sony dealer and is making some calls and checking to see why Sony isn't standing behind their equipment in this case. If I find anything out, I'll let you all know.

Randy

I'm wondering if I'd be able to just line copy from the 900 to one of the newer(and much less expensive) DVD recorders on the market. Would there be any copy protection issues?

Funny, like jjeff, I also have always had a love/hate relationship with Sony, but for some reason, I just keep buying their stuff.

Yes if you can play it off the HDD you should be able to use the line outputs (S-video would be better) to feed any other DVDR, even a tunerless one would work.

I too have many Sony products: My 46" LCD, most all my DVD players, my 5.1 amp, not to mention all my older Sony: Receivers, cassette decks, couple Betamaxes:D etc. I've never considered myself a Sony fanboy, but I guess it seems like I've bought a lot of Sony products. Case in point my Sony LCD. I didn't go out seeking Sony(thought they were overpriced and not that much better), in fact I was happy with my smaller Panasonic LCD, it's just Panasonic didn't make a larger LCD. I even tried a Panny Plasma but it had issues that made it not work for me. I ended up with my Sony LCD and I love it. My last Sony TV was a KV-2680R, $1050 in '83(beautiful walnut counsel with MTS stereo). It lasted until '06 when I got my little Panny. Personally I wouldn't touch a newer Sony DVDR though, tried one a few years ago and wasn't impressed and with all the reported CP problems now, no thanks. I'll stick stick to Pannys for DVDRs.
BTW the Sony LCDs talk very nicely with Panasonic DVDRs via HDMI. Automatic input switching works quite well:cool:

You're welcome Mike, glad I could save you the hassle. I've got a friend who is a Sony dealer and is making some calls and checking to see why Sony isn't standing behind their equipment in this case. If I find anything out, I'll let you all know.

Randy

That's great! If you find out anything positive, let us know.

Mike T

Yes if you can play it off the HDD you should be able to use the line outputs (S-video would be better) to feed any other DVDR, even a tunerless one would work.

I too have many Sony products: My 46" LCD, most all my DVD players, my 5.1 amp, not to mention all my older Sony: Receivers, cassette decks, couple Betamaxes:D etc. I've never considered myself a Sony fanboy, but I guess it seems like I've bought a lot of Sony products. Case in point my Sony LCD. I didn't go out seeking Sony(thought they were overpriced and not that much better), in fact I was happy with my smaller Panasonic LCD, it's just Panasonic didn't make a larger LCD. I even tried a Panny Plasma but it had issues that made it not work for me. I ended up with my Sony LCD and I love it. My last Sony TV was a KV-2680R, $1050 in '83(beautiful walnut counsel with MTS stereo). It lasted until '06 when I got my little Panny. Personally I wouldn't touch a newer Sony DVDR though, tried one a few years ago and wasn't impressed and with all the reported CP problems now, no thanks. I'll stick stick to Pannys for DVDRs.
BTW the Sony LCDs talk very nicely with Panasonic DVDRs via HDMI. Automatic input switching works quite well:cool:

I never considered myself a Sony fanboy either, but with all the Sony products I've bought, one has to wonder. :p My first progressive DVD player was a Sony, as well as my first 32" CRT HDTV ($1800....whew). Also, a 32" SDTV. My son now uses the 32" SDTV and the DVD player as a spare in his bedroom. I sold the 32" HDTV to a friend about 5 yrs ago and all of the above are still working great. Of course, I've had a few Playstations too.

I now have a Sony 46" LCD, receiver and a 350 Blu-ray player, I love them all. All work very harmoniously together. :D

As for the new Sony DVDRs, I too have heard of the CP horror show, which is why I was questioning whether I'd have any issues copying from the 900. I will take a look at the Panasonic recorders and see if it will "fit in" with all that Sony equipment. :) I guess if a Sony 350 BR player can co-exist with a Toshiba HD-DVD player, the Panny should feel comfortable. ;)

Btw, never got a Betamax, was going through my anti-Sony fanboy stage at that time. :cool:

Mike T

Since I used to do a lot of dubbing from HDD to DVD, I'm wondering if I'd be able to just line copy from the 900 to one of the newer(and much less expensive) DVD recorders on the market. Would there be any copy protection issues?

I have two HX-900s connected by component video and audio and routinely dub to the second HX-900 to work around the lack of a split function as on the HX-915. I have found that the while I will occasionally get the grayed out copy protection behavior from the second unit, any pause, rewind, or other movement operation on the source deck will "work around" this issue. Transfer quality has been excellent. There are still HX-900s on eBay. I picked up two that were NIB about a year ago. No regrets.

Recently I picked up a "vintage" Sony DVP-S7000 luxo DVD player on eBay for about $50, mint with box and papers. This was the first Sony DVD player, costing $1200 circa 1997, and its a lulu: beautifully made, with a hedonistic remote-controlled flip down display panel hiding the disc tray. Even now it can play many discs better than current machines, because it has no typically-flawed progressive scan circuit to mangle the image. With a well matched display, its nearly BD quality. It remains one of the top DVD players ever produced, unfortunately it became less practical as new developments outdated it (the 7000 can't play burned DVDs because they didn't exist in 1997, it has some trouble with a handful of new studio releases that employ the hairbrained "defective disc structure" form of CP, and it has no HDMI out or progressive scan for displays that require it).

Whats really hard to believe is that this model shipped with internal slide switches that can turn off region codes and copy protection decoding! This from Sony, who now sells DVD recorders that can't record anything because they assume everything is "protected". Amazing. When they make the effort, Sony produces some wondrous technology, but their ratio of good to bad ideas went over a cliff in 2000 and never recovered. Maybe they suffered a company-wide Y2K bug?;)

I will take a look at the Panasonic recorders and see if it will "fit in" with all that Sony equipment.

Btw, never got a Betamax, was going through my anti-Sony fanboy stage at that time. :cool:

Mike T

I might suggest the Panasonic EA-18 if you don't need the tuner. Tuners seem to add to the flakiness of DVDRs, especially with Pannys.
I was actually a VHS guy from the beginning although I was almost a Beta guy until a friend pointed out most of the rental shops were VHS only and he had a nice selection of early HBO on VHS which I could borrow anytime. Years later I saw my original Beta dream machine, a Sony SL-5800. For $150 I figured I couldn't go wrong. Then a few years later I bought another one for $50:eek: to keep my other one company. A couple years later someone gave me a stripped down version SL-5600. None have seen action for a decade or more, they just keep each other company on a shelf in the basement:D
All those Betamaxes have the advantage of, if you put them in between a VHS VCR and a DVDR they will strip the CP off of commercial tapes, I find it very ironic that something made by Sony can do this:D The Sony recorders of yesterday were definitely different than today.

Ah, the Sony Betamax SL-5800! To this day, of any recording device of any format ever made, none can approach the the near-sensual operating feel of its damped solenoid piano-key transport buttons. You know you need (I need?) to get in line behind comic book guy on "The Simpsons" if the thrill of touching a Sony SL-5800 matches the thrill of seeing Jeri Ryan in her Borg catsuit.:D

To contribute something more on-topic, I believe owners of the HX-900 should not spend huge amounts of money trying to repair it. Like it or not, digital technology has a half-life measured in months rather the years we got with analog: even if you could get its burner replaced, you'd still have an optical drive incapable of handling the mostly-junk media sold in stores today. The HX-900 can't handle cheesy 16x media, it needs 8x Japanese-grade media like TY. I understand the desire to keep an HX-900 fully functional, because you can't get this level of image quality in newer recorders, but like the much-beloved vintage Toshibas theres a point of diminishing returns where repair cost or practicality just becomes ridiculous and we have to accept the performance hit involved with newer, more reliable models. If the HX-900 hard drive still works, buy a tunerless Panny EZ-18 to copy its contents to DVD and you'll get nearly as sharp a result as with the HX-900 internal burner. Or if you can afford it, use the HX-900 in tandem with a Canadian Pioneer or Phillips/Magnavox with their own hard drives to achieve ultimate flexibility.

Thanks for all the suggestions re: a new recorder. I'm going to scout some models at BB and maybe even the closing CC stores, see if I can pick up a bargain. :)

The only thing I'm pretty sure of, is that I won't be buying a CP crazy Sony.

BTW: Citibear still LMAO about Jeri Ryan, although when I think of catsuit, Halle Berry keeps popping up. :D

Mike T

I opened the case and tried to replace the DVD drive with a brand new SONY DVD/CD RW DRU-190A, but no matter how I switch it, the recorder seems rather confused :-(

It says "WELCOME" for quite some time, then "CLOSE" for very long, then "WELCOME" again and that's about it.
If it's any consolation I tried to do the same with a Sony DRU-800A DVD drive. The HX900 did the 'Welcome' thing over and over. You'd have thought it would be an off the shelf unit, but obviously no. I have no spare cash to buy a replacement DVR right now, so I will try other replacement drives as I get my hands on them.

I'm not sure if the HX-900 owners here are understanding this point clearly enough: THERE IS NO "off the shelf" replacement drive for Sony DVD recorders: None. Never was, never will be.

It is a waste of time, effort, money and hope to cycle thru one burner after another pointlessly: don't bother. The burner in 90% of brand-name recorders is a one-off custom version with specialized firmware chips that control the copy protection bullsh*t and other nonsense. A burner without these chips will trigger a fault in the recorder and it won't cooperate. The only big-name recorders on which you could fudge this were the pre-2006 Pioneers (the x10, x20, x30 series): they used off-the-shelf burners with modified controller boards, so if you recycled the board from the recorder burner it would accept the new burner as if nothing had changed:). Unfortunately current Pioneers have joined the ranks of Panasonic, Sony etc and now have bizarro-world burners that can only be obtained via warranty service:(. Some people here have had limited success transplanting ordinary burners into failed Toshibas, but its a stopgap measure at best: these too need factory replacement.

Here and there you will find random third-tier brands that can use just about any generic hard drive or burner, such as older Polaroids and RCAs. The catch there is those recorders are really not any good except for timeshifting and most of them self-destruct in other ways- not the best risk. Other than Panasonic's unusually fair $130 flat-fee post-warranty repair service, the replacement cost for a worn burner exceeds the cost of an entire new recorder (at least $250), if the mfr even bothers to stock the part (Sony apparently does not). The best strategy, if you can afford it, is to simply stockpile as many backup recorders of your favorite model that you can find. Such is life now that consumer electronics, even at $400, are considered "disposable" and no longer seriously engineered with any thought toward future repairability:(.

Point taken, Citibear. I guess it's time to pack it in.

I'm not sure if the HX-900 owners here are understanding this point clearly enough: THERE IS NO "off the shelf" replacement drive for Sony DVD recorders: None. Never was, never will be.

It is a waste of time, effort, money and hope to cycle thru one burner after another pointlessly: don't bother . . .

The best strategy, if you can afford it, is to simply stockpile as many backup recorders of your favorite model that you can find. Such is life now that consumer electronics, even at $400, are considered "disposable" and no longer seriously engineered with any thought toward future repairability:(.

That's it, exactly. The answer:

can-ni-bal-ize tr.v. 1. To remove serviceable parts from (damaged airplanes, tanks, or other machinery) for use in the repair of other equipment . . . --can'ni-bal-i-za'tion n.

--The American Heritage Dictionary Of The English Language (1969)

Hello again. Well, it looks like it's the end of the line for my 900. :( I was able to find a mint open box Toshiba DVR610 recorder at BB for $70 as a workaround for my dead burner on my 900 and it was working great with line copying.

However, the last 2 programs I recorded on the 900's HDD were freezing up in random spots during playback and just today, I got the dreaded HDD Error on the display. I tried a power recycle, as well as a HDD button format but the format failed. I even left it unplugged overnight, but to no avail.

All I get now is Welcome.....Loading.....after that, it either locks up displaying HDD Error, or powers off. I think it's time to just move on, as it's not worth the hassle of replacing the HDD and still not having a burner in the unit.

Although I got around 5 yrs use, I'm disappointed. But I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised by the Toshiba. Although no HDD or tuner, it is very easy to use, transfers my old VHS stuff internally and has pretty decent PQ.

Mike T

Hi, coming very late to this but the DVD-RW drive on my unit looks like it's on the way out too, again after ~5 years' admittedly rather heavy use. Funnily enough, the first thing to go on mine was CD playback, and since it's become increasingly picky about DVDs it will read. I've tried most of the usual things except replacing the drive because I didn't have a spare lying around. After reading the contributions here I'm glad I didn't go out & buy one.

I know we're living in a disposable age of consumer electronics but it still rankles to throw anything away after only 5 years, let alone an originally pricey box like this. Does anyone have any recommendations for a replacement unit? Another option is maybe going for a separate DVR with CI slot and DVDR (either standalone or my desktop PC). As long as the DVR is supported by my local cable provider the EPG ought to work.

mike-tee

Sorry to hear about your RDR-HX900.

You are aware that there's a process by which you can replace the
hard drive with a standard drive, aren't you? It's a bit of a hassle, but it
supposedly works, acc. to a number of people who report success.

I have the same unit, and the DVD just died. I've burned maybe 3 discs on it, and played maybe 5. Impressive.


Shplad



Hello again. Well, it looks like it's the end of the line for my 900. :( I was able to find a mint open box Toshiba DVR610 recorder at BB for $70 as a workaround for my dead burner on my 900 and it was working great with line copying.

However, the last 2 programs I recorded on the 900's HDD were freezing up in random spots during playback and just today, I got the dreaded HDD Error on the display. I tried a power recycle, as well as a HDD button format but the format failed. I even left it unplugged overnight, but to no avail.

All I get now is Welcome.....Loading.....after that, it either locks up displaying HDD Error, or powers off. I think it's time to just move on, as it's not worth the hassle of replacing the HDD and still not having a burner in the unit.

Although I got around 5 yrs use, I'm disappointed. But I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised by the Toshiba. Although no HDD or tuner, it is very easy to use, transfers my old VHS stuff internally and has pretty decent PQ.

Mike T