Official Panasonic DMP-BD35/55 Owners Thread - Page 497

No problem. It was a fun read.



I have considered it, but my tv is about 10 years old and it's already showing signs (I already fixed it myself 2 years ago when it gave me the "blinking green light of death") of old age (convergence need adjustment more often, one of the CRTs already shows signs of aging).

Anyway, both my PS3 and this Blu-Ray player has outlived all my first, second, and third DVD players combine.






Danny

Forget the Panasonic and treat yourself to an Oppo.

^I'd agree with HofstraJet, the OP's more pressing problem is that modern, replacement BD players lack component HD video out. Since AV receivers and prepro's never convert HDMI into component out (regardless of price) a new(or used) one of those won't help out either. Short of buying a new TV, the HD Fury (or a similar box, some of which are still sold in the US on Amazon for under $100) would make sense.

We've given the OP a number of options to explore including cleaning his current player to see if that addresses his playback issues or a number of other player models he can look for that have the features he wants in order to continue using his non-hdmi equipment.

I've never taken my Blu-Ray apart for any type of cleaning since I never had any playback problems, before.
But, wouldn't a dirty lens affect the play ability of all disc, not just a selective few?



Danny

A dirty lens can, at times, alter the playback of some discs yet not others.

A quick blast of compressed air, being careful not to tilt the can downward and accidentally expelling liquid, can often work wonders.

Well, I tried this last night and there was no difference. I'l probably take it apart and clean the lens directly when I get the chance.



Danny

I have been able to clean laser lens assemblies of players with long handled q-tips and denatured alcohol. I've used the compressed air can to blow out loose dust, clean the laser assembly very gently with the q-tip dipped in denatured alcohol, followed by the compressed air again to make sure any remaining alcohol inside evaporates. If the issue is dirt on the assembly, this should help. If the issue is an out of adjustment or failing laser assembly, then cleaning won't matter.

I have a Panasonic DMP-BD55 that makes a grinding noise when loading up a blu-ray, and when stopping it afterwards. It doesn't seem to happen with DVDs, but happens far too often with blu-rays.
I saw a number of posts in here discussing this type problem, but did not see any resolution. Has anyone found a fix? Did the drives in your players eventually give up the ghost? How did folks take care of this?
btw - this player remains cinavia free with its most recent firmware (2.4) in case someone cares about that.
Edited by Rich86 - 3/13/13 at 4:45pm

So - has anyone ever opened up the drive module that sits inside this player? It looks like 4 screws on the top will permit access to the guts for cleaning, checking, etc?

Update: Well, I took the player cover off and opened the sealed internal drive assembly (4 screws on top and gently release tab in rear and lift top cover off). I cleaned the laser lens assembly (both lasers) with a q-tip using denatured alcohol and removed a bunch of stuff/crud from inside the drive unit (dust/dirt balls on the rails the laser assembly rides on towards the end of the rails, hair, etc.). I was careful not to disturb or contaminate the lubricating grease on the rails. I also cleaned the small round platter the center of the disc rides on (there was crud all over the rubberized portion of it). Put it back together and been using it since. So far, so good - plays fine and no grinding noises. We'll see if this is just a tease, or the problem is actually fixed.
Edited by Rich86 - 4/15/13 at 11:39pm

I too was having a similar grindy noise with my BD35 player. It had gotten noisy in the last month or so, and tonight it started getting sound gaps and video artifacts. The video was freezing etc. too. So, opened it up and things were actually pretty clean. But, I noticed the rail was pretty much shiny and unlubricated, with the grease lined up on the sides. So I cut off the end of a Q-Tip and gently redistributed the grease onto the shiny dry parts of the rail until it was somewhat uniformly coated. Back together, same disc with the issue, same spot - and viola! During the loading there was no more grinding and things are playing great. I think the dry rail was causing the head to bind. Not sure what kind of grease would be good to add, I'm hoping just putting it back on the rail will do the trick for another 5 years.

Hope this helps someone else - appreciate the post above which helped get me going!

^ good work!

Glad your 35 is working better. My 55 seems to be doing fine also. The head assembly rides across a pair of rails. In my case, 1 of the rails had lubricant distributed across the rail, and the other looked shiny, but I could see lubricant sitting on both ends of the head assembly part that rides on the rails - so I left it alone.
I read elsewhere that the condition of the center rubber hub assembly that the center of the disc rides on is also an issue frequently in these players. It gets dirty and the disc no longer stays secure, causing slippage, noises and read errors. So cleaning it is also something to consider if it starts acting up again.

hmm, interesting. my Bd335 is working just fine, most of the time. TAKEN 2 froze up the machine at about 15mins into the movie, nothing fixed it. the next movies since, worked just fine. idk. i have been thinking it was the disc's.