RCA ATC221 DVD Player Stand-alone?

[Speedy Jim]

(FWIW, I got into the repair biz 55 yrs ago, haven't done it in a while.
My hat's off to today's guys who have to handle these incredibly complex
machines!)

Anyway, recently got a (new) RCA DVD player chassis-only for the ATC221.
It powers up and all voltages seem to be there.

Question is can the player be operated as a stand-alone device
or are there problems such as the keypress scancode source being
off-chassis? Any jumpers needed?

Any hints appeciated.

Jim M.
Speedy Jim
http://www.nls.net/mp/volks/

 

[Art]

Good Question Jim: I've been tempted to put one of these drives into a pc to
see if it is compatible or if they have encoded proprietary information into
it's EPROM. Physically the IDE and Power connections seem generic enough to
attempt this. However, I've not taken the time to inspect either the
training manual or the service manual regarding the interface. Give it a go
and post your findings, may be rather interesting and actually prove to be a
diagnostic tool in the future.
BTW first tele I worked on was a Stromberg Carlson 21" way back in ancient
history, still playing with these infernal items!!

 

[Speedy Jim]

Good Question Jim: I've been tempted to put one of these drives into a pc to
see if it is compatible or if they have encoded proprietary information into
it's EPROM. Physically the IDE and Power connections seem generic enough to
attempt this. However, I've not taken the time to inspect either the
training manual or the service manual regarding the interface. Give it a go
and post your findings, may be rather interesting and actually prove to be a
diagnostic tool in the future.
BTW first tele I worked on was a Stromberg Carlson 21" way back in ancient
history, still playing with these infernal items!!

Thanks for the encouragement, Art.
I should clarify a bit.

This is the complete DVD Player chassis. It has the SMPS and the logic
board
for the DVD reader, all interconnected. Front panel has the usual
buttons.
But it was meant to be connected with the home entertainment TV and I
can't
figure whether the chassis will function by itself. Pressing the front
panel
buttons doesn't seem to do anything.

The P/N on the rear is 211 9899AWV DVD MODUL

Thanks again,
Jim

 

[Jason D.]

Thanks for the encouragement, Art.
I should clarify a bit.

This is the complete DVD Player chassis. It has the SMPS and the logic
board
for the DVD reader, all interconnected. Front panel has the usual
buttons.
But it was meant to be connected with the home entertainment TV and I
can't
figure whether the chassis will function by itself. Pressing the front
panel
buttons doesn't seem to do anything.

The P/N on the rear is 211 9899AWV DVD MODUL

Thanks again,
Jim

Jim,

Good thing you asked,

It's "useless" without chassis. This is monitored by the micro and it
sends commands to the DVD player because the LED in the power button
flickered when front DVD's buttons are pressed. Also I suspected has
to do with the DMCA security that locks out scooping or tapping into
video stream between dvd player and chassis.

I'll check the schematic.

Cheers,

Wizard

 

[Speedy Jim]

Jason D. wrote:

Jim,

Good thing you asked,

It's "useless" without chassis. This is monitored by the micro and it
sends commands to the DVD player because the LED in the power button
flickered when front DVD's buttons are pressed. Also I suspected has
to do with the DMCA security that locks out scooping or tapping into
video stream between dvd player and chassis.

I'll check the schematic.

Cheers,

Wizard

Wow! They really piled complexity upon this one!
Any info you could dig up would be greatly appreciated.
Jim

 

[KB7IQ]

Any luck on this? I've got one also and would like to use it. It's new but
I don't even have a power cord for the small 10-pin socket. Anyone know
connections for that?

 

[Art]

Only need to get the appropiate Thomson interface, power supply, and MPU
support to interfact with the DVD Assembly. Sorry but these are not
"Generic" DVD players as one would hook up to a PC.