Panasonic DVD-LS50 7-Inch Portable DVD Player
HO3 code warrior
I am here to tell all you disheartened individuals not to throw out this piece of junk just yet. I have an LS55 (virtually the same schematic as LS50) for 11 months and got the dreaded code. Thing probably has 20 hours of easy use on it but I did not want to send this in for service after reading the horror stories herein, and from my past experience with a broken camcorder that never came back from warranty service due to their ridiculously high cost of service (JVC by the way.) I followed both HO3 Jedi I's and HO3 jedi II's instructions and have DVD's playing again! Honestly I actually like this DVD player as long as it plays but the transport is obviously a piece of junk.  The plastic case makes it light but not very durable.  Panasonic should be ashamed that they are doing nothing about this obvious recall or refund candidate here.  Its a bunch of BS!!!!!    <br /> <br />NOTE: I do not claim that any of the following will work for you. It will definitely void your warranty.  Use my comments at your own risk. My comments are worth about what you paid for them ;)) <br /> <br />Tools used: Jewelers phillips and flat head screwdriver, torx-6 screwdriver, compressed air, curiosity <br /> <br />Anyway, I followed HO3 Jedi I's instructions for cracking this puppy open and got busy. Dislodged the transport, and I actually also opened the gear box, like Jedi II did.  I moved the gears, and moved the laser pickup to both ends of its track, no problems.  I went so far as completely removing the transport by undoing the ribbon contacts on either end of the transport. If you are used to working with computers, this is not a big deal but if you have never done it, just be sure to use soft but firm, and consistent force.  Never use any flicking or prying leverage.  The little clamps on the ribbons usually just pop open given the right amount of consistently leveraged pressure. It is just easier to work on without the ribbons attached. I then opened the spindle housing to takea look (needed a torx -6 screwdriver.) Nothing out of the ordinary there.  Unless you really suspect a spindle problem, then dont do this as it is not very easy.  I will gladly give you instructions if desired. <br /> <br />Then I looked at the actual housing of the laser mechanism, and on the underside of the laser mechanism housing, a piece of flimsy metal was clearly bent. I bent it back into place.  It is a piece of very thin molded sheet metal that sits next to the tracking arm that is opposite from the gear side tracking arm. I have no idea how it got bent.   <br /> <br />I then moved the laser all the way to the outer end, away from the spindle by rotating the gears manually, and reconnected everything - again just putting the ribbons carefully in place and then gently putting the clamps back on - with a gentle increase of pressure they easily closed.   <br /> <br />Once I had the transport situated, I did what Jedi I suggested and put a DVD on the spindle, powered up, pushed the two buttons to fool the player into thinking the lid was closed and lo and behold, that sucker started spinning and the laser jumped to life.   Up came the movie....yeah!  My four and two year old will be thrilled.  Plus they think pops is pretty cool for fixing things. <br /> <br />One set back is that when I put on a cd, the laser seems to not be able to lock in, it wanders around and never seems to recognize the disc.  A message eventually comes up that says \\"This type of disc cannot be played. Please insert a different disc.\\" Darn.  I was really thinking I was cool.  Any thoughts?  I know that cds and dvds use different laser depths/widths for reading. I must have screwed something up.  I dont care a whole lot because we mostly use this for DVDs anyway.  I will let everyone know what happens when I go back at this thing.... <br /> <br />Never say die!!! May the force be with you.....