Dvd Home theatre sytems gone wonky

funky-footprints

our 5 year old panasonic home threatre system has gone all temperamental on us, not on all dvds just some, the picture stalls, turns into hundreds of little boxes, but still plays the film etc, distorted sound in parts etc, our cheapie £25.00 dvd player, in the other room plays all the dvds fine, so we know it isnt a disk problem. I know its 5 years old , but it cost a wedge back then, and we want to know it is worth being repaired ? or shall we just replace it ? ?
thanks for reading

faz7875_2

What model is it? Is it an all-in one?

funky-footprints

its the SA-HT80 .
there are 2 on ebay tonight going for peanuts !!

faz7875_2

funky-footprints wrote:

its the SA-HT80 .
there are 2 on ebay tonight going for peanuts !!

Yeah, it's an all in one (was it about £800 when you bought it?). the problem with all in ones is that they don't gather status like Hi-fi seperates and are not really worth keeping once they die as technology moves on (prob won't be able to get the laser replaced now).
Would recommend that u get a current one, spend about £400 and it should floor ur old one (in terms of quality) due to technology advances.

funky-footprints

our current budget cannot afford a replacement, as the SA-HT80 has an amplifier we did think we could buy a cheapie and plug it through, so we can still use the surround sound ? does that sound ok ? ?

funky-footprints

sorry, £800 !!! mmm someone didnt tell me it was that much, but i am not at all suprised, no wonder he went quiet when he realised it was dying !!!!

faz7875_2

Shouldn't be a problem, if u want true Digital surround, check that the amplifier has a digital optical or digital co-axial IN socket, otherwise you will only be able to listen in dolby prologic (analogue surround dsound) via 2 phono cables.

faz7875_2

funky-footprints wrote:

sorry, £800 !!! mmm someone didnt tell me it was that much, but i am not at all suprised, no wonder he went quiet when he realised it was dying !!!!

Originally it was about that much brand new i think... it's a 6 yr old spec now and that was the entry price for them then. You can get entry systems from richer sounds for about £150 now.;)

faz7875_2

If there is someone that u know who is competent with electronics, then maybe this THREAD can help u as there is a known problem that might be similar to yours. Is it a case of the dvd doesn't work with newer discs or does it not work with old discs but will with brand new ones?

Russ66

My ever so expensive Pioneer system (Pre MSE Days!!) had the same type of problem, so I logged on to:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41

where I was told to take the lid off and clean the laser lens with a cotton bud, it's worked fine since.

Hope this helps.

Don't forget to unplug it first !!

faz7875_2

faz7875 wrote:

Shouldn't be a problem, if u want true Digital surround, check that the amplifier has a digital optical or digital co-axial IN socket, otherwise you will only be able to listen in dolby prologic (analogue surround dsound) via 2 phono cables.

Just looked at an image and it does seem to have these sockets (they may be OUTS but cannot tell) but still check as this was of an american version (may be different). You are looking for one of two sockets (if it has both they're usually together - they were on the pic i saw) one is a square recess (usually with a black plug in it) (optical) the other is circular with a central pin - looks like uhf ariel socket (co-axial). Make sure that they say IN and not OUT.

You will need a matching OUT on your DVD player also (nearly forgot that part)

If u have both, co-axial is better but optical is cheaper (in terms of the cable).
HTH