We had a client bring in a Cyberhome DVD recorder model CH-DVR 500. Problem was it would not "boot up" the system and stayed on the startup screen. We found there was a bad cap in the power supply that was bulging and hot. It is a G. Luxon 3300 mfd 6.3 volt in the middle of the board. We installed a terminal strip on the main chassis with a new 3300 mfd 10 volt cap and sure enough this fixed it.
This unit was only one year old so if you have one or have a client bring one in for repair beware of those caps.

Was reading a website I think its www.badcaps.com about bad new caps on computer mother boards so that is what also led me to suspect bad caps in this case.

Here are pictures of the repair:

Yes,those Luxon caps are bad news.
We see alot of then go bad on PC
motherboards at work.They usually
have a green plastic wrapper with
gold or white writing.This is the first
time I ever saw them used in a DVD
player/recorder.
Regards,
Swanson

I've seen bad PSU caps in a few cheapie units like the Cyberhome and Koss. The bad cap is so obvious its painfull.

I fixed a 5 year old PC that had bad caps on the Motherboard. They were ALL bulging!
It operated an Alignment Rack in an open air shop so it worked in weather conditions from the mid 30's to over 100 degrees at times.

I recently had to rebuild the PS board on a one year old $1200 Eden amplifier due to bad cap quality. Replaced everything with Nichicon Hi-Temp caps. I think my GE Superadio 3 has nothing but Luxon caps in it. I guess I'll toss the damn thing in the trash when they go. :(

I secretly love it when manufacturers get bitten by cheap/defective parts. Sure its a PITA if you paid list for the gear new but if you nab it off the broken pile for pennies on the $$$ then its usually a cheap fix (at least for parts).

Labor is an entirely different matter when you have to replace a dozen SMT caps. <barf>

It seems to me that in most of the newer things that I've worked on in recent years, the culprits in their failure has almost always been shitty cap quality. You'd think the manufacturers would wise up and just buy better caps. Given the mass quantities they use, I'm sure they wouldn't pay signifigantly more for Nichicon or Rubycon caps over the kee-rap they're using. Even so, the slightly higher price points would be worth it for the consumer and save the manufacturers much grief in warranty repairs.

It seems to me that in most of the newer things that I've worked on in recent years, the culprits in their failure has almost always been shitty cap quality. You'd think the manufacturers would wise up and just buy better caps. Given the mass quantities they use, I'm sure they wouldn't pay signifigantly more for Nichicon or Rubycon caps over the kee-rap they're using. Even so, the slightly higher price points would be worth it for the consumer and save the manufacturers much grief in warranty repairs.

Are you sure it's not by the design of the bean counters? Many electronics carry a 90 day warrantys or maybe even a year, so why would they buy more costly reliable parts with long lives? Especially lesser brands in today's disposable market where you pitch it and buy a new one.

Think about it; How many of use have ever paid or had warranty work done on a VCR, DVD player or motherboard? Labor costs exceed the value of the replacement piece!

I'm not saying this is the case, but I sure wouldn't be surprised if it were part of the equation.

How many of use have ever paid or had warranty work done on a VCR, DVD player or motherboard? Labor costs exceed the value of the replacement piece!

I'm not saying this is the case, but I sure wouldn't be surprised if it were part of the equation.

That is EXACTLY why I was wondering why there was a "Cyberhome" DVD player in for a repair!

Are you sure it's not by the design of the bean counters? Many electronics carry a 90 day warrantys or maybe even a year, so why would they buy more costly reliable parts with long lives? Especially lesser brands in today's disposable market where you pitch it and buy a new one.

Think about it; How many of use have ever paid or had warranty work done on a VCR, DVD player or motherboard? Labor costs exceed the value of the replacement piece!

I'm not saying this is the case, but I sure wouldn't be surprised if it were part of the equation.
Very true. I've know people to actually throw away gear that was IN WARRANTY rather than go thru the hassle of trying to get it serviced. In the case of the aforementioned Eden amp, which I own, at some point I will go back into it and replace the dozens of crappy Chinese caps that are left in it. That particular piece really pisses me off because of it's price point and the fact that Eden is an American company (whatever that means). Given their reputation, I expected better out of them.

That is EXACTLY why I was wondering why there was a "Cyberhome" DVD player in for a repair!

We charge $27.50/hr plus parts...total charge was $22.19 to the client and he was very appreciative. The client wanted it repaired! and we were able to do it for a fair charge. I don't see what is unusual about it...it was broke and he wanted it fixed!

Hey Chad, for your sake I am GLAD it came into your shop! But my statement was based purely on cost. Why the owner wouldn't buy a BRAND NEW Cyberhome CH-DVD500 (slightly different model) for $29 is beyond me! For another $7 you would get a new DVD player WITH warrantee (and it's progressive scan).

$27.50/hr?????? Up here try $60.00 or so last time I looked. One hour minimum too.
I don't think labor rates have been $27.50/hr in Detroit since Nixon was in office.

. Why the owner wouldn't buy a BRAND NEW Cyberhome CH-DVD500 (slightly different model) for $29 is beyond me! For another $7 you would get a new DVD player WITH warrantee (and it's progressive scan).

Ahh but that's just a DVD Player, this is a recorder and considerably more expensive: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=62055&dept=3944&product_id=2408717&path=0%3A3944%3A62055%3A105664

I have a couple of the CH DVD 300 players and they work well for what they are. They will play PAL discs and display them in NTSC too!

Eric

i am kc8adu on badcaps and do a lot of repairs.
folks with high quality motherboards that overclock well dont want to toss them for bad caps.and high end server boards are always worth the effort.at 35.00+1.00/cap i keep busy.
i get consumer grade stuff in that folks have gotten attached to even though a replacement is cheaper.
feel free to join us and post the stuff you get in.
http://www.badcaps.net/forum

I have a Cyberhome DVD player that's almost a year old. Still works very well. But when it goes I'll get another of a different make--one that will operate with a universal remote. Mine will work only with its own remote, which bothers me as I'd like to be able to use my All-for-One universal with it. Is there some reason why Cyberhome designed its DVD players to operate only with their own small remotes? The company's website even says in its FAQ section (in answer to the remote question) that there are NO universal remote control codes available for their DVD players. :dunno: Doesn't make sense to me.

I bought a Thomson digital set top box/hdd recorder for $15 from a guy who collects junk of the streets for a living. Less than a year old, but it was still thrown out. All it needed was a few caps in the power supply. Works perfectly now, but without the remote I can't use most of the functions so I'll probably end up pulling the 40GB hdd and putting it in a PC.

It is interesting to see just how low end some of these units go. What are the retail outlets for companies like Cyberhome. Wal-Mart?

My DVD player, a Pioneer DV-353 that I bought from Crutchfield for $120 brand new, was the low-end model that year, but it is probably miles beyond Cyberhome and other deep-discount brands. Nothing fancy at all, but the thing is a workhorse and has never caused me any problems. I've had the thing for several years already! It plays Thomas The Tank Engine for hours on end, day after day after day...

Judging by the DVD players I find at the junk markets here the difference between the cheap no name players and the brand name players is the kind of faults.

Many of the cheaper players I find have jammed trays, bad caps, etc. Many of the Pioneers, Toshibas, etc have dead lasers.

I bought a cyberhome 1600 DVD recorder. What a headache. Sorting through 21 pages of chat on this thing, I finally got it right.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=544417&page=1&pp=30

Firmware updates and a bad production model. All for $99. If you have one that is acting up, go to page 6 of the thread and you will find instructions on how to update it.

Now I have to worry about caps?

Dave A

My Philips remote works with a Cyberhome DVD player. At least it works with the CHDVD300 I got for free because of bad caps. My player seems to be an early version because it won't play DVD+RWs at all, but my friend's plays them perfectly. Both are fine for DVD+/-R.

I've found that the biggest problem with these cheap DVD players is the internal software. Every no-name DVD player or recorder I've used has had lots of annoying bugs. The more expensive brands usually have bugs too, but not as many and not as serious. On the other hand, my Philips DVD-R1000 first generation DVD recorder has the most bugs of any device I've ever used. The timer is almost useless because of the software problems.

Bugs? I thought these things were sorta like calculators (and CDP's?) in that A+B=C when it comes to the functions. Inform me!

This royally discusts me how crappy electreonics have gotten. The no name DVD players are usually made of of a power supply, a main motherboard, and a drive. The motherboard and drive come from China as a set. Manufacturers combine this set with a power supply and case and you are good to go. I got a progressive scan memorex player from my local drugstore for $40. It plays well, reads DVDRs and CDRs well, has decent video quality, but is region locked and has no possibility for VGA output. I've wanted a cheap progressive scan player that I can get VGA output from adding a few components. I really wanted it to be with this memorex player, but it doesn't output VGA at all, just component video and I don't want to use a converter.

Jonathan