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Topic: Memorex DVD player won't open
Posted By: ginagary on 01/13/18 08:09am

We have a Memorex DVD player Model STS71E-R in our 2007 Winnebago Journey. The DVDs tray will not open when I push the eject button. I cannot find a manual eject hole to push either.
Any suggestions on how to get it to open or what to replace it with? It has all the wires for the speakers for the surround sound plugged into the back.
Thanks

Posted By: MountainAir05 on 01/13/18 08:58am

scribe or work a piece of dental floss around the tray, pull while someone pushes the eject button.

Posted By: STBRetired on 01/13/18 09:05am

If you remove the outer case, you should be able to push the drawer open with your finger. Is there a DVD in it? It might have gotten bounced partway outof the tray and has the drawer jammed.

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Posted By: ginagary on 01/13/18 09:48am

The dental floss did t work. Still won't open. There is no dvd in there. This problem has been happening off and on for a few months.

Posted By: ginagary on 01/13/18 09:51am

Can anyone suggest a replacement DVD player? All the wires for the audio and video are plugged into the back of this player.

Posted By: STBRetired on 01/13/18 10:03am

If drawer doesn't open, is going to be failure of one of 3 things. Drawer is binding physically, the motor is failing, or the control circuitry is failing. I doubt that you will be able to find parts for a 10+ year old discontinued unit. Might just be best to replace it.

Posted By: SAR Tracker on 01/13/18 10:05am

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Posted By: GordonThree on 01/13/18 10:13am

Replace with a Blu-ray player for $40 or $50.

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Posted By: ginagary on 01/13/18 10:15am

What about all the connections in the back? There are old style speaker connections.
I don't know how to attach a picture of it.

* This post was edited 01/13/18 10:25am by ginagary *

Posted By: GordonThree on 01/13/18 11:31am

Yeah that's a tough one. I don't think they make em that way anymore.

Posted By: GordonThree on 01/13/18 11:37am

Have to open it up and see what's what. Many times there's a motor driving a belt to a larger pulley that opens the tray. Otherwise it's a tiny motor with a worm gear on it, under the tray somewhere.

Lucky would be belt drive and you can replace the belt with a loose rubber band. Unlucky would be the worm gear is stripped out.

Posted By: DrewE on 01/13/18 12:38pm

Similar units are available but usually come as a packaged set with various surround speakers as well as a sort of home theater in a box.

It might be more advantageous (but also more expensive) to get a separate DVD or Blu-ray player and surround receiver. The overall quality of the amplifier/receiver part would likely be a step up, and you could easily hook up other sources.




Posted By: BrentB on 01/14/18 12:09pm

ginagary wrote:

What about all the connections in the back? There are old style speaker connections.
I don't know how to attach a picture of it.


Is this what it looks like?
photo

If you buy a new one with RCA jacks, you could use adapters like this: adapter

Posted By: DrewE on 01/14/18 01:16pm

BrentB wrote:

ginagary wrote:

What about all the connections in the back? There are old style speaker connections.
I don't know how to attach a picture of it.


Is this what it looks like?
photo

If you buy a new one with RCA jacks, you could use adapters like this: adapter


You could use an adapter like that if the new unit has amplifiers built in. Often a DVD player with RCA outs for audio would not have power amplifiers, but would instead be outputting a line level signal for an external amplifier. That would not work properly with speakers even with a physical connector adapter; it just isn't able to drive the low-impedance speaker.

Posted By: shastagary on 01/14/18 03:18pm

most of the rv dvd surround units have wiring diagram labels right on the unit itself. you can transfer the wiring to the new units wiring plug one wire at a time comparing wiring labels its really not that hard. take your time. i do not like any of the junk rv dvd units they provide. i would much rather install a quality car dvd head unit even if a face plate has to be made to adapt it to the old hole.

Posted By: BrentB on 01/14/18 04:28pm

I'm in the same boat as the OP. Radio/DVD player and speakers are ten years old. Everything works great except the player won't open. If we have to replace the player, how can we tell if the new unit is compatible with the speakers?

Posted By: BrentB on 01/14/18 04:30pm

shastagary wrote:

most of the rv dvd surround units have wiring diagram labels right on the unit itself. you can transfer the wiring to the new units wiring plug one wire at a time comparing wiring labels its really not that hard. take your time. i do not like any of the junk rv dvd units they provide. i would much rather install a quality car dvd head unit even if a face plate has to be made to adapt it to the old hole.


The car dvd units don't have 5.1 surround do they?

Posted By: shastagary on 01/14/18 06:39pm

Quote:


The car dvd units don't have 5.1 surround do they?
the dvd unit he has(the op)does not have 5.1 surround either just 4 speakers. some car dvd units do have 5.1 surround built in but they are the expensive ones. others had a add on option for 5.1 surround in a auxiliary decoder add on. they seem to be getting away from real surround units now though. but my 17 year old pioneer with real dolby digital and dts 5.1 is still going strong in my camper van.

Posted By: ginagary on 03/31/18 12:27pm

We ended up buying an inexpensive DVD player with RCA connections and plugged it into the back of the Memorex. The Memorex functions as the receiver and the new DVD player sits beside it.
Thanks for all the suggestions

Posted By: Brian in Michigan on 03/31/18 01:50pm

A little late to the party, First I would put my ear to the unit to see if you can hear the motor running when you hit the eject button. If so the belt that drives the carriage is broke or stretched. that is usually the problem.

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