This is what I get for admonishing the no backup warnings for Blue Ray servers. I figured we would be good boyscouts and buy a Blue Ray Changer instead.

http://www.sonystyle.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/img/718x407/HESV1000.png

I am here to document my nightmare with the SONY HES V1000 Blue Ray changer. This handsomely benign looking jukebox afaic sets the legal precedent to justify that BLUE RAY CHANGERS NOT be considered for Home Theaters due to their complex mechanical nature that can actually disappear content from the face of the map.

This reminds me of the 42 month Range Rover warranty, I once drove the car with no problems then when the 42nd month transpired all hell broke loose with the vehicle.

The same happened with this clunker, once the warranty expired the machine developed an appetite for Blue Rays, swallowing Star Trek the Wrath of Khan (my favorite Star Trek) along with several other DVD's.

The films would simply disappear from existence. Then the machine apparently choked by these movies in it's belly, decided to NOT recognize the grace note cover art for any new movies inserted in the machine. At this point my frustration reached it's zenith.

I said "it serves me right for following the government warning signs" (which I did when selecting between a changer and a hd based server)and decided to open up the sucker. A service call from a qualified SONY expert was not something to be reasonably expected. So I decided to perform surgery.

After removing 2,975 small screws and springs, I discovered the most stupid engineering for a changer I have ever encountered, there are 100 flimsy plastic sprocketed circular plastic trays that hold 2 discs each, the trays are flexible enough that they can slip out of their track into the upper or lower track.

http://miamibadc.com/Images/SONY-CHANGER-FIASCO-001.jpg

It took me 3 full days to recover some 120 discs out of the machine, with minor to moderate scratches and cuts all over my hands and arms. Khan was saved, but Wolverine which I had only seen halfway before falling asleep... Wolverine has disappeared from the face of the earth.

http://miamibadc.com/Images/SONY-CHANGER-FIASCO-002.jpg

I believe that this proves once and for all that media servers need to be hard drive or solid state and not changers, all in all a $2,975 2 year write off plus $25 for wolverine. Not to mention 3 days lost and aggravated that I could be contacting my new client base from CEDIA. ;)

I'm sorry but all i can say is....

hahahahahahahaha..... Wow. I always thought that sony was overpriced plastic, but i think you just confirmed it for me.

By the way, 1tb drives are under 70 bucks each nowdays. ;)

a bunch of us just bought the new 400 disc changer and are hoping we have better luck

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1171332

By the way, 1tb drives are under 70 bucks each nowdays. ;)

Hell just I found one as the secret surprise in a Costco 'value sized' box of Cracker Jack. First it was AOL CDs and now 1TB drives will the madness never end? :D

Dave

ok... i get it. for a few mins i was sitting here thinking... "holy crap! i didnt know that cracker jack did that at costco!"

ok... i get it. for a few mins i was sitting here thinking... "holy crap! i didnt know that cracker jack did that at costco!"

Well I guess it's their way of making up for cheating us out of a proper portion of carmel covered peanuts for all those years. All I can vividly remember about cracker jack is how the box never had enough of them for my taste.

Dave

Plastic gears are the norm at this point, and have been for years. About 12 years ago, when camcorders were still $800-1200 CDN or so, I was buddies with a Sony service tech that had his own shop. He specialized in camcorders, and had all the light boxes, etc.

At the time I was looking for a new camcorder, but didn't want to drop the $1K on a unit, so he offered me one for $400 with new heads and he'd replaced all the plastic gears with metal ones, which were the Sony replacements as they'd had nothing but problems with the stock plastic ones. Nice to see that 12 years later, Sony is consistent.

After the fiasco of the Sony G90 having zero parts available for it for the last 2 years, I personally will never buy a Sony product again. Ironically, my own Sony products have worked fine over the years, but I simply will not support a company that doesn't back the stuff they make.

The Funeral Services were held this morning....

http://www.miamibadc.com/Images/trash-changer-028.jpg
http://www.miamibadc.com/Images/trash-changer-032.jpg

Why not box it up, send it collect to Sony and demand warranty service? :)

his warranty was up as stated in the first post.

his warranty was up as stated in the first post.

NO I'd do this...

Find the most 'posh' Sony Style retail store (saw one in SF when I was at a trade show) and haul in the monstrosity including the rolling dumpster for ALL to see! :)

I'm betting they'd throw you something in the way of a handout just to get you leave... :D

Too late now.;) But I can write SONY BLU RAY CHANGER PROBLEMS here and hopefully through the magic of Google ... unsuspecting potential victims may learn something from my misfortune.

I am more shocked by the white wall carpetless combo room...

What combo room? This is an office and training/testing room.

The screen compensates for the white wall.

I like Black rooms more than anyone but this is the way this room stays.