DVD Player: Explaining Parts and What Is Worth Salvaging

Today we'll take a look at this old DVD player. It was not working properly so I decided to open it and see whats inside. The problem was that it was constantly opening and closing and it didn't want to read from the disc. I will explain the basics of the working principle of this DVD player and what is worth salvaging from it.

WARNING: The power supply is connected to mains; it contains capacitor which can stay charged even after you disconnect it from mains; I'm not responsible for any damage you make.

I used a multimeter for testing and set of screwdrivers to open and disassemble it and a soldering iron and vacuum pump to desolder salvaged parts.

Before doing anything be sure that the player is disconnected from the mains. The screws are placed on the sides and back of the DVD player. Remove them. Then remove the mask from the top.
Now we can see what is inside this DVD player, we can see the SMPS (Switch Mode Power Supply), the disc reader, the main control board under the reader, connected SCART connector and the PCB on the front with LED display and IR sensor.
The first thing that we will focus on is the power supply.

This SMPS is relatively good and definitely worth salvaging. It can be used to power many modern appliances because it has +/-12V, 5V and ground so you can combine them and than you have 5V, 7V, 12V and 24V difference in potentials. I don't know what power can it deliver but it is good anyway. I checked it with my multimeter and it shows 11 and -11 volts for +/-12V but it can probably be fixed very easily. I have reverse engineered it and drew the schematic of it as you can see. I only don't know what are the windings of the transformer and inductance of the inductor on secondary side. The design is not bad and the distance between primary and secondary side is very good.

This SMPS then powers the main control board.

About the SMPS

The front board contains many parts that are definitely worth salvaging. There are LED display, IR sensor, push button switches and the USB port. The LED display can be used in many projects because it contains 4 digits, colon and special characters like DVD, CD, Pause, Play, MP3, MP4.

This parts can be used in all kind of projects.

This 21-pin connector is widely used for connecting audio-visual (AV) equipment. You can save it and maybe use it if for example SCART conector of your TV is broken, but it's not that worth salvaging.

About the SCART connector

The first what you are going to see that is worth salvaging are the DC brush motors. In this player there are 3 of them. Two of them have mechanism for reducing the RPM and converting rotating motion into linear motion. It can be modified for a hand cranked charger for example and is worth salvaging. There is also some switch that stops the motor when the DVD player is opened at its maximum.

The mechanical and optical system is mounted on a peace of metal. There is motor that spins the disc and one motor that moves optics. There is also а switch that stops the motor when optics are at the furthermost position. That is worth salvaging.

Now the optics: there is a red class 1 laser diode that is worth salvaging but you can not connect it directly to a power source, you must by or make the current limiter. There is many simple schematics of them on the Internet. There is also the IR (infra red) filter glass that is interesting to play with but I don't know for what it can be useful.

I plan to make hand hand cranked generator out of mechanism for optics moving.

WARNING: Never look directly into laser, it can damage your eyes and make you blind. Never point it at any living being. It can cause burns.

This is the brain of the DVD player. It processes all informations and sends and receives signals. It is directly connected with audio and video output. But sadly, it doesn't contain the parts that are worth salvaging except connectors if you need them. There is some chip placed into socket but I didn't managed to find datasheet for it.

The interesting thing is that underneath all connectors there are markings that explain all pins (+12V, +5V, GND, R, G, B, VCC, CLK...)

It the simplest remote I've ever seen. There is chip under black thing, one capacitor and nothing else. I only saved the IR LED from it. There is really nothing that can be salvaged from it except IR LED.

Never forget to save the screws, they can save your life! Okay maybe not, but I very frequently use screws that I salvaged from some device.

The casing of the DVD player can be used for some future project casing, so you don't need to buy it

That's it, no more parts. I hope you like it and you learnt something new today.

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