I just was given a 1993 laserdisc (DV5500) player thats appears to be in near mint condition. I initially had my doubts but I plugged it in and it seemed to work fine.
Its a combi-player doing cd's, ld's, & cdv's. So I tested it for 5 minutes and it went fine. I then put it my home theater rack and powered it up. It then refused to start spinning. I can't believe my luck. It seems to have a flashing play arrow next to the cd icon (not ld icon) on the display.

Can anyone out there recommend what I should do.
Even just to confirm its too expensive to attempt repairs.
I had over 300 lasers back then & any chance to play some again would be great.

Any help would be appreciated.
thanks,
tom
NYC

You need to remove the top and watch it. If the mechanism comes to the full load position and you don't hear a belt slipping (If you do open the tray and look for the loading belt to clean). If it loads fine then the best thing to do is turn it off. By hand turn the pickup movement motor on the laser assy to move it toward the back and try again. After the mechanism has the LD or CD in play position the pickup should move first to the LD start position, the pickup lense will move up and down to see if it can focus on a disc surface. If it is a CD it will then move closer to the spindle motor and search again for a reflection.

It is true they are not worth fixing at a shop unless it is one of the good players.

Kurtis

Just wanted to thank you for the tip. It turns out some plastic trim along the railing of the laser assembly was blocking the laser from to the end of the track. With some gorilla glue and a clamp it seems to be working. I am now able to enjoy my 300+ old laserdiscs.Thank You Kurtis.