Unplanned obsolescence
Dec. 29th, 2010 11:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwendolyngraceThis Christmas was a holiday of hand-me-down electronics. I got a GPS from Joel that had been his mother's, and then from my mother I brought back her old DVD player. It was the better of her two - I kept asking her if she'd rather we hook up that one to her bedroom TV and I'd take the lesser model - but she kept saying it made no sense.
Last night when I got home from Rochester and opened the back to unload, the DVD player slid straight out and fell on the pavement. On its face, of course. Which meant that the faceplate cracked in about five places.
At first I didn't even realize it was cracked. (Hey, it was dark outside.) But when I did realize it, I plugged it in anyway to check on it, and it turned on and the tray would open and close, but I wasn't ready to test it with a DVD because it didn't make sense to do that until I had it plugged in to a TV.
Well, this morning I got it hooked up to the TV and got it wired through the VCR... and the little "standby" light came on. But it won't stay powered up. When I click the remote power button, it comes on for a moment, displays "Sony DVD" and then shuts itself back off.
ARGH.
I feel really dumb for not making sure the thing was well secured (or for not opening the glass to get it out), or for just putting it on the back seat. It was 5-6 years old, but it was pristine, basically. And now it's toast.
It's old enough that I'm sure Sony wouldn't do anything about fixing it - and I'm sure it would cost just as much to replace the front as it would to just buy a new machine. Well. I've lived without a player back there this long so there's no rush to do that. It's just very disappointing to have broken the damn thing in the first place.
Unless anyone has suggestions for another way to fix it? I don't know what happened between last night and this morning that it suddenly won't run.
Gah.
ETA: First off, the whole faceplate has basically come off now. And second - a little research online shows that it would cost a minimum of $120 to get it fixed ($137 to exchange it through Sony). And used identical models on Amazon start at $25.99 (plus shipping)... And of course there are about 14 newer models for under $75.
The point being that I won't be doing anything about it for the time being, but when I do feel like it there are cheaper alternatives to getting it fixed.
Last night when I got home from Rochester and opened the back to unload, the DVD player slid straight out and fell on the pavement. On its face, of course. Which meant that the faceplate cracked in about five places.
At first I didn't even realize it was cracked. (Hey, it was dark outside.) But when I did realize it, I plugged it in anyway to check on it, and it turned on and the tray would open and close, but I wasn't ready to test it with a DVD because it didn't make sense to do that until I had it plugged in to a TV.
Well, this morning I got it hooked up to the TV and got it wired through the VCR... and the little "standby" light came on. But it won't stay powered up. When I click the remote power button, it comes on for a moment, displays "Sony DVD" and then shuts itself back off.
ARGH.
I feel really dumb for not making sure the thing was well secured (or for not opening the glass to get it out), or for just putting it on the back seat. It was 5-6 years old, but it was pristine, basically. And now it's toast.
It's old enough that I'm sure Sony wouldn't do anything about fixing it - and I'm sure it would cost just as much to replace the front as it would to just buy a new machine. Well. I've lived without a player back there this long so there's no rush to do that. It's just very disappointing to have broken the damn thing in the first place.
Unless anyone has suggestions for another way to fix it? I don't know what happened between last night and this morning that it suddenly won't run.
Gah.
ETA: First off, the whole faceplate has basically come off now. And second - a little research online shows that it would cost a minimum of $120 to get it fixed ($137 to exchange it through Sony). And used identical models on Amazon start at $25.99 (plus shipping)... And of course there are about 14 newer models for under $75.
The point being that I won't be doing anything about it for the time being, but when I do feel like it there are cheaper alternatives to getting it fixed.
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 05:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-29 06:19 pm (UTC)I just went to fiddle with it more and now the entire faceplate has come off.
My guess is that there's a safety mechanism somewhere that tells the machine not to operate if it's damaged.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-30 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 03:46 am (UTC)Here comes the unsolicited advice part of the response. Those crappy little DVD players that Walmart sells for about $30? Yeah, Diamond or some other obscure brand? They're actually pretty good if all you want to do is play DVDs. I can kill a DVD player in less than a year just through regular use. It's a hazard of watching all the new releases before they come out. :)
Seriosuly, I watch between 350-450 movies a year. Those cheap-ass Walmart players outlast any other ones we've ever bought.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-03 11:53 pm (UTC)But since Target is now just as evil (in its way) as Walmart, I don't feel bad about shopping there when it suits my purposes, either.