Toshiba SD390 Noisy Mechanism

[JDK]

Hi,

I've just bought a Toshiba SD390 for the bedroom. The mechanical seek noise when it's changing between titles and chapters is really noisy. It sounds like my old cordless screwdriver whirring away and you can hear it from the other side of the room.

It's reasonably quiet when its actually settled down to playing the film, but just getting from loading the disk through the menus to playing the film results in about 10 lots of tinny whirring up and down.

Can anyone comment on whether their SD390 is the same? I am considering returning it.

Thanks

[maldonian]

I've just bought an SD390 and it's noisy, just as you describe.

I have a more fundamental issue that needs resolving (the HDMI output seems to be incompatible with the HDMI inputs on my Sharp LCD TV), but when I tried to phone the Toshiba helpline number earlier today I just got a buzzing noise.

I'm not keen on the loading tray. I can't remove a disc by simply gripping opposite edges between finger and thumb, I have to push the disc up first by pushing on the underside of it's hub.

[worz]

I too have just bought one, the noise isnt too bad on mine, but using HDMI I get a blue screen when most dvd's are inserted(not all), loading screen and sound are fine?

It will have to go back

[JDK]

Originally Posted by maldonian

I have a more fundamental issue that needs resolving (the HDMI output seems to be incompatible with the HDMI inputs on my Sharp LCD TV), but when I tried to phone the Toshiba helpline number earlier today I just got a buzzing noise.

Sorry to hear about the HDMI problem. Have you checked the settings on the Setup / Video menu?

I called them on Thursday about 7:30pm using the phone number on the leaflet in the box. I got through after about 3 minutes wait.

Originally Posted by maldonian

I'm not keen on the loading tray. I can't remove a disc by simply gripping opposite edges between finger and thumb, I have to push the disc up first by pushing on the underside of it's hub.

Both of my DVD players are like this. I put a finger through the hole in the DVD from above and lift it up enough to get my thumb onto the edge and grip it properly.

[JDK]

The noisy mechanism seems to depend on what disk it is playing.

I tried two classic Disney disks, Peter Pan and Beauty and the Beast. These caused the most noise. Something about these disks makes the read head track back and forth lots of times while working through the intros. The Peter Pan DVD did 18 noisy seeks in 2 minutes before I got to the film itself.

Other DVDs such as Harry Potter (2) and James Bond (Goldeneye) caused almost no noise at all.

I tried the Peter Pan DVD in two other players. I could hear lots of head movement again, but each time the sound was a short and unobtrusive, unlike the SD390.

I have attached a short clip of the SD390 head motor in action while starting up Peter Pan.

[mrbenn]

i have one - it is a little noisy when finding first chapters etc, but during playback no problems - if its not right take it back and get it changed - think you might just have a bad one

(PS:to make this player multi region:
1. Power On
2. Open Tray
3. Press 9879 0 (0 = Multiregion, 1 = Region 1 etc etc)

if your looking for something different - this would seem the most obvious choice:

PHILIPS DVP3360 at Richer Sounds - HI-FI Separates, Home Cinema, Speakers, MP3 DVD Portables, Plasma LCD, etc.

[maldonian]

Originally Posted by worz

but using HDMI I get a blue screen when most dvd's are inserted(not all), loading screen and sound are fine

That's interesting, that's the incompatibility I was referring to. What TV are you using?

I get a blue screen on my Sharp 32 inch TV when I play encrypted DVDs (commercial films) via HDMI. The SD390's welcome and setup screens are displayed ok and non encrypted DVDs are displayed ok. So I guess HDCP is kicking in and producing the blue screen when encrypted material is played over the HDMI connection.

However the SD390 HDMI output works ok with two small screen LCD TVs I've got, and the Sharp HDMI inputs work ok with my Panasonic and Sony DVD recorders. I only get the blue screen when the SD390 is connected to the Sharp. And in my case there's no sound when the SD390 is connected to the Sharp (by HDMI).

So there seems to be some (but not complete) HDMI incompatibility between the Tosh and the Sharp. The Sharp is a current model (LC32DH57E).

Changing the HDMI cable makes no difference (I've got 3 different cables). Changing the HDMI resolution makes no difference.

[maldonian]

Originally Posted by JDK

Have you checked the settings on the Setup / Video menu?

I don't think it's a setting problem (but I'd be delighted if it is). Apart from the aspect ratio and resolution I think I've left everything else is as it was out of the box. The sound is set to PCM, which is what the manual says is needed for sound over HDMI.

I called them on Thursday about 7:30pm using the phone number on the leaflet in the box. I got through after about 3 minutes wait.

Thanks. That rules out the possibility that it's an old number on the leaflet.

Both of my DVD players are like this. I put a finger through the hole in the DVD from above and lift it up enough to get my thumb onto the edge and grip it properly.

It's the first example I've come across. I've got lots of tray loading mechanisms in various computers and DVD recorders and they are all designed to allow you to lift a normal size CD or DVD out of the tray by opposite edges. The disc recess on the tray is slightly narrower than the disc across the width of the tray, so the edge of the disc protrudes slightly on each side of the tray.

The drive grips the centre of the disc so I would have thought that any possibility of getting grease onto this part of the disc is best avoided.

I tried the Peter Pan DVD in two other players. I could hear lots of head movement again, but each time the sound was a short and unobtrusive, unlike the SD390.

The first disc I tried in it was The Bourne Ultimatum. There is a pronounced pause between the intial Universal section of the intro and the following section about piracy, during which it sounds as though the laser steps from one end of its movement range to the other, then back again, then pauses briefly, then goes to the other end of the range again. It's a bit like the seek noise you get from a floppy drive when it can't read a sector. It adds about 3 seconds to the gap between the first two sections of the intro. Playing the same disc in a Panasonic EX75 just produces a very brief noise and only a short pause, and in a Sony 890 there's very little noise and only a short pause. They must be doing a lot less laser movement or moving it much more quickly.