In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 23 Nov 2024 11:58:11 -0500, Clare Snyder
<clare@snyder.on.ca> wrote:

>On Sat, 23 Nov 2024 10:31:38 -0500, Retirednoguilt
><HapilyRetired@fakeaddress.com> wrote:
>
>>On 11/22/2024 8:57 PM, micky wrote:
>>> My Philips DVDR3575H just stopped working. It's a DVDR with an over the
>>> air tuner and a HDD. I figured the HDD would fail and soon after I
>>> bought it I found on a video forum instructions for installing a new
>>> one.
>>>
>>> But instead, the whole thing went dead. Worked yesterday and two or 3
>>> short power failures today. Now nothing displays. I had found the DVD
>>> tray open (because I run it from another roomy and don't know when I
>>> press the wrong button) but it went in fine when I pushed it. Doesn't it
>>> have to be working a little for tray to go in? Maybe it's the display
>>> that has broken? I checked the outlet and a lamp plugged into he same
>>> place works fine. The owners manual says nothing about a fuse. Any
>>> chance ther is one anyhow, and somehow the power failure blew it?
>>>
>>> It's all wired in and hard to disconnect, especially the little red bug
>>> that's stuck to the IR input. And if there is no chance of fixing this,
>>> I'll just buy something else and tranfeer the wires, instead of
>>> disconnecting them and confusing myself.
>>>
>>> This is 15 years old and I recorded 2 or 3 hours of video a day every
>>> day for most of its life, then played the 2 or 3 hours, plus I left it
>>> on when watching tv live, and often when I was't even using it. You can
>>> see why I thought the HDD would fail. Yet I don't think that could be
>>> the problem today.
>>>
>>
>>I was able to find and download the service manual for this item at:
>>
>>https://elektrotanya.com/philips_dvdr3570h_dvdr3590h_ver.1.4.pdf/download.html#dl
>>
>>Your browser/pdf reader of choice may be able to translate the text into
>>English. The schematics and block diagrams are located fair far down in
>>the manual. It appears that there are separate analog and digital power
>>supplies. That might explain why the tray still opens/closes (analog
>>power supply working) but nothing else (they probably are powered by the
>>digital power supply). I didn't see any fuses but the circuity is
>>extensive, lots of pin connectors separating the connections, and I may
>>have missed something.
>>
>>Your decision of course how much it's worth in time, effort and $$ to
>>disconnect the device, open the case, and look for a fuse. This appears
>>to be a very complicated conglomeration of multiple circuit boards using
>>many ICs etc. Well beyond my experience and knowledge to suggest
>>anything additional. Personally, it sounds like an appropriate activity
>>for a fully retired person. Nothing to lose. You can't break it! It's
>>already not functioning. You can prossibly find a replacement on ebay.
>
> On that vintage machine from Philips I would be highly suspicious of
>failed power filter capacitors.There was a lot of
>"counterfeit"electrolyte circulating amung capacitor manufacturers
>back then. Look for swelled caps. The tops should be concave. You will
>likely find several convex. There are scribed marks in the end of the
>caps (usually) which allow them to swell without bursting.
>Replacing the caps may not totally solve the problem as resistors
>connected to them may have overloaded and burned out as well. Also
>sometimes diods or transistors are overloaded and fail but USUALLY
>re-capping solves the problem. Get low ESR caps if possible.

I found a webpage question from someone with that very model who says he
replaced the fuse, by accident with 1amp instead of 2, and it quickly
blew. But the specs that Retired sent show no fuse! Figure that out.

Removing it from it's book shelf was indeed difficult. First I foudn
some white tape to label the wires with and I unlike electrical tape, a
regular pen worked, didn't need indelible. But it turned out the tape
was not white but clear. Still it should be good enough.

Then I twisted pretty hard but couldn't remove the

Then the rubber feet were stuck hard to the receiver below it.

Finally got it out and in another room saw that indeed thhe panel light
went on, though dimly. And it appeared to play, and the foot meter
advanced when it did. And the DVD drawer opened and shut with the
remote. Ugh, I hope I didn't drag it out of the shelf for nothing.
Connected a TV, and no picture. Ah, but that's becauze I connected it
to Signal In, not Out. Still no picture. Ah, that's because no antenna
Pound a twist tie about a foot long, stipped off a half inch to the wire
underneath, still no picture. So it's broken, just like I thought.

Except now, I wonder. a 12 inch wire would have been plenty for analog
tv. Is digital on a lower frequency, longer wave length that would not
work? Or must signal strenghth be higher?

On 11/24/2024 11:29 AM, micky wrote:
> In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 23 Nov 2024 11:58:11 -0500, Clare Snyder
>
> Finally got it out and in another room saw that indeed thhe panel light
> went on, though dimly. And it appeared to play, and the foot meter
> advanced when it did. And the DVD drawer opened and shut with the
> remote. Ugh, I hope I didn't drag it out of the shelf for nothing.
> Connected a TV, and no picture. Ah, but that's becauze I connected it
> to Signal In, not Out. Still no picture. Ah, that's because no antenna
> Pound a twist tie about a foot long, stipped off a half inch to the wire
> underneath, still no picture. So it's broken, just like I thought.
>
> Except now, I wonder. a 12 inch wire would have been plenty for analog
> tv. Is digital on a lower frequency, longer wave length that would not
> work? Or must signal strenghth be higher?

Micky, as I recall, that device had an old NTSC (analog TV signal) tuner
in it. You many need to find an old digital to analog converter box and
put that between the antenna and the antenna input of the Phillips
device. I'm not surprised that you couldn't tune in an TV station on a
TV tuner that only receives analog TV signals. You must not have used
that DVDR since before the implementation of digital TV broadcasting.