Had my Z1 (updated to Z3) since the day they came out - has been in 2 cars already. Bypass is fine.

When I play copied movies - sometimes it will get 1/2way through and start freezing up or give a read error - other times it will not read a DVD-R at all. Happens with both single layer and dual layer DVD-R's that otherwise play in every other player and computer in the house.

Is there a (safe) way to clean the drive in the unit? Can I order JUST the drive assy from Pioneer and replace it myself (I'm a computer/electronics tech), or does Pioneer do a flat-rate non-warranty fix for units that are OOW?

I'd rather just swap the drive assy out myself - rather than driving around with no NAV and a gaping hole in my dash for the week or two it takes Pioneer to turn the unit around - PLUS - they'll probably put my hard drive back to Z1 standard and I'll have to unlock it and put the Z3 updates and 2 wire bypass back in...

Anyone have expereinces with this?

Rick

i cant play dvd's in my unit at all ... dont know why that is. bought it from CC in 2006 and it did play dvd's at one time but then just suddenly stopped. if your unit is out of the 1yr warranty, pioneer told me that it would be $200 to send it to them. i would love to swap mine out with the same model but not sure if that will work real well.

I've never been able to play DVD-R movies in my player. I never spent too much time trying to figure out a way if some burn settings were changed if that would help.

My player will only play originals.

I always wondered if I was the only person having issues playing DVD-Rs (as far as movies go).

at least you can play original dvd's... i cant play any dvd's ...

if you still have a warranty on your unit, assuming u didnt get it at CC, then you could send it in for repair ..but not sure how much luck you'll have repairing it ..

My Z2 will play all DVD recordable media flawlessly. I found it necessary to burn at slowest possible speed, 2x if possible, although some of my discs have a 4x minimum, I hate those because although they don't have problems in my Z2, they cause problems in my other players.

Anyhow, yes, you can buy just the DVD drive mechanism. Unfortunately, I'm sure the parts cost is going to be more than the flat rate. Someone had posted the service manual awhile back, if you can find it, it has all the p/n's in it and you can check prices at parts.pioneerelectronics.com.

Probably the only effective way to clean it is to take the top cover off it and gently clean the lens with a Q-tip moistened with isopropyl alcohol. If you're a smoker, it's very possible this might fix it. I've cleaned CD/DVD players that came from smoker's houses, and it's amazing the amount of crud that gets caked on the lens.