No, no it's not. My father had (and still has) the Sony unit. The Sony unit was a pain in the ass because you had to rotate the carousel around to load it or find the disc you want to remove. It was slow and awkward to work with, and if you bumped the wrong button when trying to advance the carousel the tray just closed on you. The Pioneer unit, that ejects the whole tray, is FAR superior from a usability standpoint. You can load all the discs at once. Also, the remote that came with the Sony had AWFUL range compared to other products of its era. I think the usable range was something like 10 feet.
@@WardenWolf Yes but I imagine mechanical longevity on the Pioneer had to be horrid. With all the things that can go wrong with a full robot arm mechanism, I'd bet the Sony would, on average because the Sony probably isn't perfect, last far longer.
My neighbor had one of those Pioneers. Being that he was an engineer, he replaced the casing with an UV glass box and altered the crane frame for more visibility. It was pretty spiffy.
sounds like a real spiffy idea, I got a cld-m460 from ebay but it arrived broken so I was able to hunt down a broken cld-m450 to use as parts but I could experiment with the parts unit and try the same thing your neighbor did with minimizing the frame and making a neat display case someday. Would definitely be a neat display piece for when guests come over lol!
This video is a remake of one of my earliest. I had explored this machine long ago, but that video hasn't aged well. With my Laserdisc series now almost completely complete (one video left to come out at some point) I thought it would be a good time to revisit the CLD-M301. Hope you enjoy!
I like your calm and soothing voice and I also like your videos. Could you make a video about Blu-ray and HD DVD war and why Blu-ray won it instead of HD DVD? I remember when I was a kid I even read about this from a magazine how HD DVD was in all ways superior to Blu-ray, so why Blu-ray won?
That magazine was wrong, because blu-ray is in all ways superior to HD-DVD (save for the slightly higher expense to upgrade an existing DVD manufacturing factory to blu-ray over HD-DVD).
I liked it more the fist version of this video when you build up a tension to guess how the hell this CD player change the discs without a rotating tray. You spoiled the answer with this version.
I was gonna say, didn't I just see a video about these recently? For what it's worth, I loved the "Whoa!" moment that I got from the delayed reveal of the Pioneer's changer in the old version, but it's nice that you've included more technical information about its inner workings this time.
I must say, you have EXCELLENT comedic timing. The "a bit late, are we?" line cracked me up beyond belief. Also, it was fun to see Weird Al being spun by his mouth.
2:33 The first CD changer ever made was the Technics SL-P15 from 1983. It was an absolute monster, built like a tank and able to accept 50+1 CDs on a tray. In addition, you could pair it with a control unit that supported three more (!) players-for a total of 204 CDs. Unfortunately, this unit is rarer than a hen's teeth; not many were ever made. There also was a professional version (SL-P16P) that was lockable with a key.
I have owned a single disc technics and Panasonic both from 1995 cd player separate shelf system add on setups, and the mid 2001 I think audiovox home stereo hifi type system with the 20cd carousel and the extra loud motor and cooling fan setup but both still working fine but the rarely used but fairly low use dual tape player decks just up and quit, and the cooling fan is significantly louder than it was when new but I have it I guess... still functional cd changer... and the Aiwa cx naj54 cd player changer and cooling fan again are creaky and loud and the dual tape decks although working fine in this mini high fi shelf system from around 1999 I got used are very clean inside the carriers they have also stopped working I'm guessing it's belts deteriorating on both systems but both are kind of complicated to disassemble to get to the carrier motor pulleys and replace the belts?!
No mater how elegant, more moving parts equals more possible points of failure. Sometimes the boring simple solution is the better engineering even if the “smarter” engineering is, well, smarter.
Locut0s I agree with you, but I think the advantage when these machines were new was that the consumer could save a significant sum of money by going with the combo Pioneer player rather than two separate machines. In 2018 though I'd much rather have, and do in fact actually have, two separate machines. I have both a Pioneer laserdisc player, and a Sony 5-disc changer. I could not afford these back in the early 90's, but used machines are plentiful, and cheap today.
I agree too but this still doesn't explain why the wankle engine never caught on as it is better in almost very way to the conventional piston engine as it has 2 moving parts it is way more efficient and has a large power to weight ratio and it was only used in several types of Masadas.
Firenado Having worked in the auto industry I can tell you that Mazda had a lot of problems with those rotary engines. They never quite perfected them to the same extent as a standard engine.
I was worried about that too when I bough this same model player in the 90’s. It still works flawlessly today, so I guess Pioneer knew what they were doing.
All my fellow techs would run the other way when they saw one of those Pioneer LD players come in the door for service.I remember working on a few that were nightmares because the customer just had to remove their disks themselves before bringing it in for service. Congrats on 100K.
Can you rough guess how long a 13:44 video takes to make? Planning, lighting, voiceover, changes, editing, checking, smoothing. I'm greatly impressed, you should've been a science teacher.
I haven't really ever kept track, but for this video, It probably took around 25 to 30 hours all told to make. 4-5 hours writing and proofreading. A half hour for recording the voice-over Another half hour for editing the voice-over 1 hour or so for planning B-roll (requires listening to the voice over and stopping to make notes) Shooting B-roll typically takes 3 to 5 hours depending on the video. Then I spend the next 5 to 10 hours on the edit, where I discover that I need more B-roll, so I spend another few hours tying loose ends. After the edit is done, there's about an hour of management time for finishing captions, the end screen, cards, and description. Those number are admittedly guesses, but I usually spend all day over two days shooting and editing the video.
9:43 "All this nonsense" What are you calling nonsense?! *That's better music than you'll ever hear on a CD!* I have to find one of those Pioneer players. That thing is beautiful! Thanks for another fun video!
I exaggerated my excitement about the Pioneer unit a bit. I build robots as a hobby and I thought the CD changer mechanism was really cool. I'm really glad Technology Connections showed us the mechanism. I hope it was clear I was exaggerating about how much I liked the sound of the mechanism. I realize one can read some pretty extreme opinions in the UA-cam comment section so it can be hard to tell when people are joking. (I have no reason to think either of you thought I was serious.) Of course the mechanism doesn't sound better than all CDs. There may be one of two CDs which sound better than the mechanism ;) I will likely keep an eye out for a used Pioneer machine. As I said, I really like the CD changer mechanism.
Synthematix "the sound quality wont hold a candle to a sony." HOGWASH! That overly complicated drive mechanism had much better sound quality the overly practical Sony mechanism. PS See Maxx Fordham!'s comment (you might want to check my other earlier reply too). Tongue is still firmly in cheek.
I just found this channel, and I'm so happy I did. I love the robot arm in the pioneer, and yet I'm confronted with evidence that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Why did your video make me want one of these now so bad I cannot stand it? It's 2019, it's got to be over 20 years old and I still want it! Your channel is terrific! Keep up the great work.
The Pioneers mechanism is impressive to look at but also more complicated then Sony’s. The Pioneer would be a nightmare to service if something goes wrong with it. Sony’s design seems more effective and “saner” designed.
I have a sony GRX-80 made in 1998, 20 years later, the disc changer in it is still working like a charm, I have problems with the cassette reader randomly switching sides or sticking when one side is finished, apart from that, the thing is working flawlessly.
If I had to choose between the two, of course I would choose the Pioneer. I love how complicated the mechanics are, really reminds me of a jukebox. Super cool!
Pioneer is impressive it made some of the best CD players on the market and laserdisc players too. I still own a pioneer CD player which is over 27 years old and still runs like new and still got one on the best DAC inside. Not ever today’s DAC are as good as the ones from back then. That’s why pioneer are pioneers.
My dad still has that Sony changer. It serves him well. One of the best features about it is the "fader" button. It does a 2-second volume fade to zero and pauses playback. Push it again and it resumes with a 2-second fade up from zero. It's a super slick way to pause music at a dinner party or whatnot, I don't know why no one else seems to have this feature.
Thank you sir! Always a great start to my day. I have to disagree with you about your laser disk series. That series was fantastic, informative and anything but exhausting (at least for us viewers).
This remake of this video is vastly superior to the original. I love the section about the rack and pinion system in the robot. That truly is some genius engineering. I feel like complex mechanical solutions like that just aren't found in modern engineering. (Maybe that's for the best, as they tend to be more fragile.)
Yeah, I see all those parts - motors, rubber belts, sensors, wire looms - and I think of my old pal Ian Malcolm: "you spent so much time thinking about whether you could that you never stopped to consider whether you should."
Thank you! This video brings back the memories of my 1st job as an electrical design engineer at Sony where I personally involved in design verification for the 5-CD changer model. Subscribed!!
I wish they made that Pioneer transparent so we can enjoy watching the robot doing its thing, by the way I have a *Pioneer 25-Disc Player* that can play and change CDs in simple and smart way, I made a video and will be uploaded to my channel soon
My 4 and half year old kiddo is going to really enjoy watching your videos in a couple years from now. He's become obsessed with robots and machinery (like many little boys perhaps), and since he has a programmer dad his exposure to computers and technology is only being amplified. :D Anyhow, I look forward to showing his curious little mind your videos in a bit more time. I'm amazed at how little I knew about the technology I've used all my life until discovering your channel.
My parents have, I believe, this exact Pioneer model that's been running flawlessly for, what, 20+ years? I will forever recognize the sound of that CD changer. I even remember watching some Laserdiscs on it, back in the day. On the other hand, they also own a Sony 5 disc changer similar to this model, but a more recent version. I had to open it up yesterday to see if I could figure out why it wasn't operating correctly. I removed the tray and reset it, and it seems to be working better, but not perfectly 100% of the time. Ah, anyway, pretty cool to see the technology behind the case for these two. I'm especially amazed at how that Pioneer keeps trucking along.
I love my CLD-M403 - which Sears had to give me new, for free, when they’d managed to destroy my Pioneer Karaoke LD player that was in for service. Being a giant fan of automation, I was immediately enamored to the wonderful robotic sounds it made which to me added another layer of the experience when listening to my CDs in it. Granted, putting it in random mode with 5 CDs generates a lot of wonderful mechanical music between each song but it certainly as an incredible amount of wear and tear on the device at the same time. The 10 second or so pause between random songs isn’t a detriment at all to me. Needless to say, the cover was removed on day 1 and I was in hog heaven. My CLD-M403 has been a part of my AV system since the early 90s and has enjoyed continued use. It doesn’t appear you have the remote for yours. I somehow have two for mine. Having the remote allows you to explore some additional functions and features that aren’t on the control panel of the device; in CD mode, there are several informative if not fun pages you can toggle thru which contain different displays such as an on-screen VU meter, disc display icons, time remaining, elapsed, etc. If you’d like my 2nd one, you’re welcome to it. Send me a PM and I’ll dig it out and send to you.
You should consider doing a video on the CD changers that used external cartridges. My family had a nice Pioneer one that used proprietary cartridge: it was about as thick as a VHS tape, but the other dimensions were just big enough to hold the CDs. It had 6 trays that swung out, and you loaded the CDs in label-side-down. Then you inserted the cartridge into the player, and from there it was standard: select your disc, song, all that. Even had fade in and fade out, for some bizarre reason. I believe Sony had a similar cartridge, though they were incompatible. Use of these machines in the home declined when the carousel machines got cheaper and cheaper: carousel changers could only handle 5 discs compared to a cartridge's 6, but the carousel was easier to load, and you didn't need the external component (cartridge) to play any discs. I believe the cartridge models survived longer in the car audio segment, and trunk-mounted changers with remotes and head units got popular for a while.
Yeah, that was a selling point my dad liked--keep the discs in the cartridges, group them together by theme, etc. I think the only real negative here was that the discs had to be loaded label-down (and thus playing-surface-up), which meant that in most cases, you couldn't just open the cartridge to verify which disc was in which slot. You had to hold it up and look from beneath, or lift the disc. A minor gripe, but I remember being annoyed by it. I did love that you could move the cartridges from home to car. And, if memory serves, they changed discs very quickly. I hated that the carousel players ended up winning that battle.
I grew up with the pioneer. It saw a lot of play as both cd changer and laser disc and never gave a problem. It also has a cool "program" feature that made for recording awesome mix tapes...
Too be honest; the noise the Pioneer takes me back when we used a VCR, that's how they sounded because of the internal mechanics.. still fascinates me.
The most complicated 6 CD magazine I saw it on a Volvo XC90 (2004). That was a stunning japan engineering. This unit has 3 wires only (+, -, data) and 2 optic fiber, one for dashboard display and one for the music amplifier.
CD+G was a great idea that never really went anywhere. Its most famous traits include being rarely used, largely unsupported, and almost entirely unknown to consumers.
You have made me fall in love with these Pioneer machines. The amount of over-engineering in these Rube Goldberg machines is fantastic. I would custom build acryclic covers just so I can watch it do its thing. LOL
You should do one on teh Philips matchline home cinema system. We had one of those when I was a kid and it was amazing in 1989. One of those pioneer players would have made huge sense there.
It’s honestly amazing that these things were engineered and manufactured but still were affordable to everyday people. This damn thing looks like something that would be on a mars rover, it’s jaw dropping that this is a consumer good.
Watching this reminds me of when we had the Sony VGP-XL1B2 DVD changer. 200 DVDs at your remote controlled fingertips, without needing to manually catalog them. It hooked up to your HTPC through a Firewire connection, and using the metadata on the DVD, would auto look up the DVD on the internet and catalog it for you. Imagine being able (back then) to watch any of your DVDs on command, without having to catalog or rip each one. It was insane...and sounded like a jet engine every time it spooled up to switch out a DVD. The actual playback mechanism was surprisingly simple...basically a DVD drive mounted vertically in the middle of the 'ring' of DVDs.
Bero1707 I just wish that was a thing... as well as added DVD and Blu-ray functionality (even if it limited to only playing one DVD or Blu-ray individually)
@@williamreid6255 there is at least 1 model of machine that can play both laserdiscs and DVDs (sadly there isn't a machine that can play laserdiscs and blu-rays though) oh, and it plays CDs, DVDs, Video CDs, AND both sides of a laserdisc
Wow, this was such a great watch. I never had these changers when I grew up because I was born in the wrong generation. I did have a VCR and eventually my parents got a DVD changer like the CD changer in this video but it was made by Samsung. We had it for a little while until it started to overheat and it stopped working. I wish it hadn't too, it had 7.1 surround sound and it was kickass!
No chance, the pioneer is way over complicated and a certified nightmare to repair, the pioneer is plastic, and nasty also the sony has much better sound quality. The pioneer 6 disc cartridge players were even worse, they scratched the crap out of your cds and got stuck in the mechanism.
thing is the sony is still out there working exactly the same as it was on day one, Even came with a spare drive band. The amount of pioneers i saw growing up as a kid was crazy, I remember at one stage stacking them up in a giant pile to climb up to a shelf, thats how many repairs wee got for them hahaha. But both great machines.
"The pioneer 6 disc cartridge players were even worse, they scratched the crap out of your cds and got stuck in the mechanism." -- I have a PD-M70 and that NEVER happened to me. It still works, although I transferred all my CDs to my server many years ago. The remotes are the weak spot -- they get dirty, suffer abuse, and fail (like most remotes).
I grew up with the Sony model as well. As a kid I always thought it was magic. It was pretty quiet with nothing more than a few whispers and muted beeps. Really cool to see how it works, subbed to your channel after this video after lurking on a few others!
You have no idea! When these things broke... THEY REALLY BROKE! Devices like these were the absolute end of DIY at home electronic repair, and often times not even the manufacturer could repair such devices.
I liked very much your look at the mechanic of the robot that transports the CDs to and from the center of the player, like when Techmoan was inspecting the mechanism of the cassette changer. These mechanisms are so magic to look at, all these tiny pieces of plastic working like a mechanical ancient clock. I never found somebody that has taken a look at the mechanism of a VCR recorder of the 80s-90s era, I remember I had a 90s VCR recorder which had a very complicated mechanism for managing the play and reverse using that monodirectional motor, based on gears and a magnetic thing to switch between the various behavior modes to pull up the required heads and direction. I completely destroyed that VCR when I was young, tough, thinking that all that mechanisms were so crazy and rudimental.
No, the album shown in the changer carousel was Poodle Hat" which came out in 2003. "Smells Like Nirvana" was from the Off the Deep End album from 1992.
Synthematix i have a 45 year old pioneer amp which is still working like the day it was made, compare that to a 22 year old sony amp which died few years ago 🤷🏼♂️
Great video. I actually had one of those Sony disc players. However, at home, I also had a JVC 10-disc player which had a cartridge that you preloaded with up to 10 CD's, each on a little grey tray which slid into the cartridge. These were then selected using the remote. The neat thing about it was, that the cartridges also fit my car CD changer which I put under the back seat and played through my dash stereo. It was pretty trick stuff for 1989.
Pioneer: What my overengineering-ass brain wants our team to make Sony: What my team decides to make As much as I love Pioneers design it's slow and has many moving parts.
Love the combination of mechanical technology and electronics. Phones today do amazing things, but it's all with software. These devices also used precision mechanical components which is cool. This is why I liked minidisc so much, the last great marriage of precision mechanics, miniaturization and advanced electronics.
Thank you for this interesting video. I found a disc changer in the house that last time we moved and I havent used a normal CD player since. I've always wondered how it actually works and now I finally know. Thanks.
Great video. Had Pioneer been able to get the price for one of these down around $200 or lower when they were new I might have bought one in the 90's. My favorite CD changer mechanism was the Pioneer used for their CD File changer that reminded me of a Seeberg jukebox.
Thanks for the warning. I wanted one so bad in the 90's but couldn't afford one. Then about 7 years ago I found a 25 disc Pioneer changer in nice shape at a thrift store for FIVE dollars. I dont use it as often now thanks to MP3's but it's still working fine. I also have a 5 disc Sony changer I bought 12 years. The only thing I noticed is it has to be placed perfectly flat for the CD's to load.
I am honestly a bit dissapointed that the guys at Pioneer didn't do the cd changer dual sided laserdisc combo thing... :P ... Maybe they could have the cd changer robot arm on its own rails so it could move out of the way to make room for the laserdisc reader carousell? Or.. if we think otside the box a bit more... Maybe... We could have the laserdisc portion mounted vertically in the front? With a cd jukebox behind it. In a giant cube... With the dual sidedness solved by having the whole disc flipping end over end? The possibilities just boggles the mind!!!
The Sony is more practical but that robot arm is so cool.
But Pioneer can play Laserdiscs
True but ROBOT ARM!!!!
lol
No, no it's not. My father had (and still has) the Sony unit. The Sony unit was a pain in the ass because you had to rotate the carousel around to load it or find the disc you want to remove. It was slow and awkward to work with, and if you bumped the wrong button when trying to advance the carousel the tray just closed on you. The Pioneer unit, that ejects the whole tray, is FAR superior from a usability standpoint. You can load all the discs at once. Also, the remote that came with the Sony had AWFUL range compared to other products of its era. I think the usable range was something like 10 feet.
@@WardenWolf Yes but I imagine mechanical longevity on the Pioneer had to be horrid. With all the things that can go wrong with a full robot arm mechanism, I'd bet the Sony would, on average because the Sony probably isn't perfect, last far longer.
Definitely.
3:27 That shot! Dude!
Phoenix I thought the same. Looks like he used a slider on the camera.
I was gonna say, that was downright cinematic
Sorry what shot where? I was distracted by all the 90s robo-hi-fi porn. Timecode please?
StandAloneAoi the timecode is in the comment...
I was going to say the same thing. This video was a cinematic experience!
My neighbor had one of those Pioneers. Being that he was an engineer, he replaced the casing with an UV glass box and altered the crane frame for more visibility. It was pretty spiffy.
Sounds really -cool- I mean *spiffy.*
I really like that mechanism.
Being an engineering student, I can relate. I really can relate and respect the engineers that came up with that mechanism
sounds like a real spiffy idea, I got a cld-m460 from ebay but it arrived broken so I was able to hunt down a broken cld-m450 to use as parts but I could experiment with the parts unit and try the same thing your neighbor did with minimizing the frame and making a neat display case someday. Would definitely be a neat display piece for when guests come over lol!
a* UV glass box. - *or* - an Ultraviolet* glass box.
Really??? Could you get us some pix of it? That's would be a cool sight to see.
This video is a remake of one of my earliest. I had explored this machine long ago, but that video hasn't aged well. With my Laserdisc series now almost completely complete (one video left to come out at some point) I thought it would be a good time to revisit the CLD-M301. Hope you enjoy!
Technology Connections Please, next time add it at the beginning of the video, I thought that there has been an error in the matrix xD
I like your calm and soothing voice and I also like your videos. Could you make a video about Blu-ray and HD DVD war and why Blu-ray won it instead of HD DVD? I remember when I was a kid I even read about this from a magazine how HD DVD was in all ways superior to Blu-ray, so why Blu-ray won?
That magazine was wrong, because blu-ray is in all ways superior to HD-DVD (save for the slightly higher expense to upgrade an existing DVD manufacturing factory to blu-ray over HD-DVD).
I liked it more the fist version of this video when you build up a tension to guess how the hell this CD player change the discs without a rotating tray. You spoiled the answer with this version.
I was gonna say, didn't I just see a video about these recently? For what it's worth, I loved the "Whoa!" moment that I got from the delayed reveal of the Pioneer's changer in the old version, but it's nice that you've included more technical information about its inner workings this time.
The pioneer one is clearly superior. It even plays you glitch/techno interlude between each CD
the "a little late there" joke was PERFECTLY TIMED. and I congratulate and tip my hat to you sir
I must say, you have EXCELLENT comedic timing. The "a bit late, are we?" line cracked me up beyond belief. Also, it was fun to see Weird Al being spun by his mouth.
I was fuckin opening it and had just clicked "open in new tab" when he said that and it freaked me the FUCK out lmao
Don't forget the "big butt" at 11:30.
"Grabby-clamper" and "plastic-hook-things." Such technical language. I love it.
Dude i love these old machine, so genious with amazing features for the time, even today they are really cool, i want one!
I didn't expect to see you here
ps. love your vids especially moti
2:33 The first CD changer ever made was the Technics SL-P15 from 1983. It was an absolute monster, built like a tank and able to accept 50+1 CDs on a tray. In addition, you could pair it with a control unit that supported three more (!) players-for a total of 204 CDs. Unfortunately, this unit is rarer than a hen's teeth; not many were ever made. There also was a professional version (SL-P16P) that was lockable with a key.
Link, please?
I thought "50" was a typo there. Nope, you're right, the machine really is that big! Crazy! Many thanks for that bit of info!
Absolute unit
@@performa9523 there were changers that held like 500 cds haha
I have owned a single disc technics and Panasonic both from 1995 cd player separate shelf system add on setups, and the mid 2001 I think audiovox home stereo hifi type system with the 20cd carousel and the extra loud motor and cooling fan setup but both still working fine but the rarely used but fairly low use dual tape player decks just up and quit, and the cooling fan is significantly louder than it was when new but I have it I guess... still functional cd changer... and the Aiwa cx naj54 cd player changer and cooling fan again are creaky and loud and the dual tape decks although working fine in this mini high fi shelf system from around 1999 I got used are very clean inside the carriers they have also stopped working I'm guessing it's belts deteriorating on both systems but both are kind of complicated to disassemble to get to the carrier motor pulleys and replace the belts?!
No mater how elegant, more moving parts equals more possible points of failure. Sometimes the boring simple solution is the better engineering even if the “smarter” engineering is, well, smarter.
Locut0s I agree with you, but I think the advantage when these machines were new was that the consumer could save a significant sum of money by going with the combo Pioneer player rather than two separate machines. In 2018 though I'd much rather have, and do in fact actually have, two separate machines. I have both a Pioneer laserdisc player, and a Sony 5-disc changer. I could not afford these back in the early 90's, but used machines are plentiful, and cheap today.
I agree too but this still doesn't explain why the wankle engine never caught on as it is better in almost very way to the conventional piston engine as it has 2 moving parts it is way more efficient and has a large power to weight ratio and it was only used in several types of Masadas.
Fewer mechanical parts equals less problems.
Firenado Having worked in the auto industry I can tell you that Mazda had a lot of problems with those rotary engines. They never quite perfected them to the same extent as a standard engine.
I was worried about that too when I bough this same model player in the 90’s. It still works flawlessly today, so I guess Pioneer knew what they were doing.
All my fellow techs would run the other way when they saw one of those Pioneer LD players come in the door for service.I remember working on a few that were nightmares because the customer just had to remove their disks themselves before bringing it in for service. Congrats on 100K.
I repair electronics until 2010 and i remember that Pioneer always had complicated mechanisms but they were very well thought out. Great video!
Holy mother of... My dad had that CD changer on the left and you just unlocked so many memories as a kid. I. Am. Tripping. Memories overloads
I love the sounds it makes. I've always been in love with machines that make cool distinctive robot sounds like this.
This machine was designed by Rube Goldberg for Panasonic. He didn't work for them again.
He designed the CD changer that Panasonic used in their (high end?) mini systems. Terrible nightmare to reassemble.
InsideOfMyOwnMind Of course, i stand corrected sir!
he still works in technology. Makeing sure that nothing is user serviceable
Pioneer is the clear winner: RoboCop noises!!! "Dead or alive, you're coming with me!" 😉
Good stuff.
Can you rough guess how long a 13:44 video takes to make? Planning, lighting, voiceover, changes, editing, checking, smoothing. I'm greatly impressed, you should've been a science teacher.
I haven't really ever kept track, but for this video, It probably took around 25 to 30 hours all told to make.
4-5 hours writing and proofreading.
A half hour for recording the voice-over
Another half hour for editing the voice-over
1 hour or so for planning B-roll (requires listening to the voice over and stopping to make notes)
Shooting B-roll typically takes 3 to 5 hours depending on the video.
Then I spend the next 5 to 10 hours on the edit, where I discover that I need more B-roll, so I spend another few hours tying loose ends. After the edit is done, there's about an hour of management time for finishing captions, the end screen, cards, and description.
Those number are admittedly guesses, but I usually spend all day over two days shooting and editing the video.
9:43 "All this nonsense" What are you calling nonsense?! *That's better music than you'll ever hear on a CD!*
I have to find one of those Pioneer players. That thing is beautiful!
Thanks for another fun video!
From 1991 it probably won`t play burned cd`s fyi
Agreed. He's comparing apples to oranges. One will also play Laserdisc and the other won't. That was relevant when this was made.
I exaggerated my excitement about the Pioneer unit a bit. I build robots as a hobby and I thought the CD changer mechanism was really cool. I'm really glad Technology Connections showed us the mechanism.
I hope it was clear I was exaggerating about how much I liked the sound of the mechanism. I realize one can read some pretty extreme opinions in the UA-cam comment section so it can be hard to tell when people are joking. (I have no reason to think either of you thought I was serious.) Of course the mechanism doesn't sound better than all CDs. There may be one of two CDs which sound better than the mechanism ;)
I will likely keep an eye out for a used Pioneer machine. As I said, I really like the CD changer mechanism.
Oh yea its beautiful, extensive use of cheap plastic parts, overly complicated drive mechanism and the sound quality wont hold a candle to a sony.
Synthematix
"the sound quality wont hold a candle to a sony."
HOGWASH!
That overly complicated drive mechanism had much better sound quality the overly practical Sony mechanism.
PS See Maxx Fordham!'s comment (you might want to check my other earlier reply too). Tongue is still firmly in cheek.
I love the technical jargon you use like “Grabby Clamper”! One of the reasons I enjoy your vids so much! Keep up the good work!!
It's got rack and peanut CD changing!
Needs a plexiglas case
Thought the same :)
No it needs throwing in the bin
Synthematix what up with you?
Яков sad bastard
1:37 - That got a giggle out of me. Well done.
Another great video. Congratulations on 100k, it's well deserved.
Actually, it's 1/10th of well deserved!
9 months later 260k subs
2 years later 700k
I don't understand why I like watching this channel... but I have no intention of stopping.
The Pioneer model would’ve been really successful if it had had a see-through case.
I just found this channel, and I'm so happy I did. I love the robot arm in the pioneer, and yet I'm confronted with evidence that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
I'm traveling down the rabbit hole of this channel. Excellent content!
Why did your video make me want one of these now so bad I cannot stand it? It's 2019, it's got to be over 20 years old and I still want it!
Your channel is terrific! Keep up the great work.
Nice inclusion of "Home improvement", love your extremely informative videos "Disc grabber 9000".
BFDG-9000!!!
The engineering on that plastic holding rack itself is really impressive.
The Pioneers mechanism is impressive to look at but also more complicated then Sony’s. The Pioneer would be a nightmare to service if something goes wrong with it. Sony’s design seems more effective and “saner” designed.
I serviced them back when they were relevant. Not too bad. There were a few tricks but quite serviceable.
I have a sony GRX-80 made in 1998, 20 years later, the disc changer in it is still working like a charm, I have problems with the cassette reader randomly switching sides or sticking when one side is finished, apart from that, the thing is working flawlessly.
machines with robot arms are always the winner.
If I had to choose between the two, of course I would choose the Pioneer. I love how complicated the mechanics are, really reminds me of a jukebox. Super cool!
We had that same Sony CD Charger when I was growing up. The subtle noises that were made whirs and shifts still are ASMR to me.
3:27 And the winner of the Oscar for Best Cinematography of 2018 is... Technology Connections!
Pioneer is impressive it made some of the best CD players on the market and laserdisc players too. I still own a pioneer CD player which is over 27 years old and still runs like new and still got one on the best DAC inside. Not ever today’s DAC are as good as the ones from back then. That’s why pioneer are pioneers.
4:13 Mmmmm optical disc sandwich
My dad still has that Sony changer. It serves him well.
One of the best features about it is the "fader" button. It does a 2-second volume fade to zero and pauses playback. Push it again and it resumes with a 2-second fade up from zero. It's a super slick way to pause music at a dinner party or whatnot, I don't know why no one else seems to have this feature.
I really enjoy engineering like this. It‘s mind boggling how people come up with this stuff. :D
andersdenkend
You ain't seen nothin...ua-cam.com/video/sKTck_Xbuyc/v-deo.html and there are worse.
I was always fascinated by the complex/simplicity of these machines, thank you
Thank you sir! Always a great start to my day. I have to disagree with you about your laser disk series. That series was fantastic, informative and anything but exhausting (at least for us viewers).
Brad Nimbus Exhaustive means it covers the topic completely, not that it exhausts the viewer.
My parents had the tape/CD version of the Sony! It was part of this huge radio, tape, cd thing. Very nostalgic!
This remake of this video is vastly superior to the original. I love the section about the rack and pinion system in the robot. That truly is some genius engineering. I feel like complex mechanical solutions like that just aren't found in modern engineering. (Maybe that's for the best, as they tend to be more fragile.)
Yeah, I see all those parts - motors, rubber belts, sensors, wire looms - and I think of my old pal Ian Malcolm: "you spent so much time thinking about whether you could that you never stopped to consider whether you should."
We had one-total junk. The nylon track chipped and whole mechanism jammed. Worst design ever from Pioneer
Thank you! This video brings back the memories of my 1st job as an electrical design engineer at Sony where I personally involved in design verification for the 5-CD changer model. Subscribed!!
Man your channel is blowing up! Good work keep it going!
I own and still use the DVD/CD version of that Sony disc changer. Great machine.
I wish they made that Pioneer transparent so we can enjoy watching the robot doing its thing, by the way I have a *Pioneer 25-Disc Player* that can play and change CDs in simple and smart way, I made a video and will be uploaded to my channel soon
My 4 and half year old kiddo is going to really enjoy watching your videos in a couple years from now. He's become obsessed with robots and machinery (like many little boys perhaps), and since he has a programmer dad his exposure to computers and technology is only being amplified. :D
Anyhow, I look forward to showing his curious little mind your videos in a bit more time. I'm amazed at how little I knew about the technology I've used all my life until discovering your channel.
"Their mission, should they choose to accept it [...]"
😂😂😂
My parents have, I believe, this exact Pioneer model that's been running flawlessly for, what, 20+ years? I will forever recognize the sound of that CD changer. I even remember watching some Laserdiscs on it, back in the day. On the other hand, they also own a Sony 5 disc changer similar to this model, but a more recent version. I had to open it up yesterday to see if I could figure out why it wasn't operating correctly. I removed the tray and reset it, and it seems to be working better, but not perfectly 100% of the time. Ah, anyway, pretty cool to see the technology behind the case for these two. I'm especially amazed at how that Pioneer keeps trucking along.
I’ve got a Sony DVP-C660 5 disc DVD carousel. Love it. Got it at the thrift store in working condition.
I think our family had one as well. But it got misaligned and we sent it over to D.I. (A local thrift store brand).
I love my CLD-M403 - which Sears had to give me new, for free, when they’d managed to destroy my Pioneer Karaoke LD player that was in for service. Being a giant fan of automation, I was immediately enamored to the wonderful robotic sounds it made which to me added another layer of the experience when listening to my CDs in it. Granted, putting it in random mode with 5 CDs generates a lot of wonderful mechanical music between each song but it certainly as an incredible amount of wear and tear on the device at the same time. The 10 second or so pause between random songs isn’t a detriment at all to me. Needless to say, the cover was removed on day 1 and I was in hog heaven. My CLD-M403 has been a part of my AV system since the early 90s and has enjoyed continued use.
It doesn’t appear you have the remote for yours. I somehow have two for mine. Having the remote allows you to explore some additional functions and features that aren’t on the control panel of the device; in CD mode, there are several informative if not fun pages you can toggle thru which contain different displays such as an on-screen VU meter, disc display icons, time remaining, elapsed, etc. If you’d like my 2nd one, you’re welcome to it. Send me a PM and I’ll dig it out and send to you.
You should consider doing a video on the CD changers that used external cartridges. My family had a nice Pioneer one that used proprietary cartridge: it was about as thick as a VHS tape, but the other dimensions were just big enough to hold the CDs. It had 6 trays that swung out, and you loaded the CDs in label-side-down. Then you inserted the cartridge into the player, and from there it was standard: select your disc, song, all that. Even had fade in and fade out, for some bizarre reason. I believe Sony had a similar cartridge, though they were incompatible. Use of these machines in the home declined when the carousel machines got cheaper and cheaper: carousel changers could only handle 5 discs compared to a cartridge's 6, but the carousel was easier to load, and you didn't need the external component (cartridge) to play any discs. I believe the cartridge models survived longer in the car audio segment, and trunk-mounted changers with remotes and head units got popular for a while.
Yeah, that was a selling point my dad liked--keep the discs in the cartridges, group them together by theme, etc. I think the only real negative here was that the discs had to be loaded label-down (and thus playing-surface-up), which meant that in most cases, you couldn't just open the cartridge to verify which disc was in which slot. You had to hold it up and look from beneath, or lift the disc. A minor gripe, but I remember being annoyed by it. I did love that you could move the cartridges from home to car. And, if memory serves, they changed discs very quickly. I hated that the carousel players ended up winning that battle.
I grew up with the pioneer. It saw a lot of play as both cd changer and laser disc and never gave a problem. It also has a cool "program" feature that made for recording awesome mix tapes...
1:38 That is too clever.
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THIS JOKE TO ME
@@handled4787 The information card shows up late.
Too be honest; the noise the Pioneer takes me back when we used a VCR, that's how they sounded because of the internal mechanics.. still fascinates me.
congratulations to 100k subscribers, and greetings from Germany.
The most complicated 6 CD magazine I saw it on a Volvo XC90 (2004). That was a stunning japan engineering. This unit has 3 wires only (+, -, data) and 2 optic fiber, one for dashboard display and one for the music amplifier.
Are you and Techmoan gunna collab or what?
Sannesthesia sounds more like alexonautos
actually I became a fan of him because he’s in the key of Techmoan.
CD+G was a great idea that never really went anywhere. Its most famous traits include being rarely used, largely unsupported, and almost entirely unknown to consumers.
You have made me fall in love with these Pioneer machines. The amount of over-engineering in these Rube Goldberg machines is fantastic. I would custom build acryclic covers just so I can watch it do its thing. LOL
You got 100k because your videos are amazing
Subscribed. Watching you for the first time. And now you are at 1.71 M. Hard work pays off.
You should do one on teh Philips matchline home cinema system. We had one of those when I was a kid and it was amazing in 1989. One of those pioneer players would have made huge sense there.
It’s honestly amazing that these things were engineered and manufactured but still were affordable to everyday people. This damn thing looks like something that would be on a mars rover, it’s jaw dropping that this is a consumer good.
Love your videos. One of my favorite channels. Keep up the good work!
Watching this reminds me of when we had the Sony VGP-XL1B2 DVD changer. 200 DVDs at your remote controlled fingertips, without needing to manually catalog them. It hooked up to your HTPC through a Firewire connection, and using the metadata on the DVD, would auto look up the DVD on the internet and catalog it for you. Imagine being able (back then) to watch any of your DVDs on command, without having to catalog or rip each one. It was insane...and sounded like a jet engine every time it spooled up to switch out a DVD. The actual playback mechanism was surprisingly simple...basically a DVD drive mounted vertically in the middle of the 'ring' of DVDs.
I'd rather get Laserdisc player that plays both sides and CDs without changer.
less moving parts = less things to break
Bero1707 I just wish that was a thing... as well as added DVD and Blu-ray functionality (even if it limited to only playing one DVD or Blu-ray individually)
@@williamreid6255 there is at least 1 model of machine that can play both laserdiscs and DVDs (sadly there isn't a machine that can play laserdiscs and blu-rays though)
oh, and it plays CDs, DVDs, Video CDs, AND both sides of a laserdisc
@@pineappleroad I knew of the DVL-700 and 900
Wow, this was such a great watch. I never had these changers when I grew up because I was born in the wrong generation. I did have a VCR and eventually my parents got a DVD changer like the CD changer in this video but it was made by Samsung. We had it for a little while until it started to overheat and it stopped working. I wish it hadn't too, it had 7.1 surround sound and it was kickass!
I'd still take the Pioneer over the Sony.
No chance, the pioneer is way over complicated and a certified nightmare to repair, the pioneer is plastic, and nasty also the sony has much better sound quality. The pioneer 6 disc cartridge players were even worse, they scratched the crap out of your cds and got stuck in the mechanism.
thing is the sony is still out there working exactly the same as it was on day one, Even came with a spare drive band. The amount of pioneers i saw growing up as a kid was crazy, I remember at one stage stacking them up in a giant pile to climb up to a shelf, thats how many repairs wee got for them hahaha. But both great machines.
buy 5 single disc players
"The pioneer 6 disc cartridge players were even worse, they scratched the crap out of your cds and got stuck in the mechanism." -- I have a PD-M70 and that NEVER happened to me. It still works, although I transferred all my CDs to my server many years ago. The remotes are the weak spot -- they get dirty, suffer abuse, and fail (like most remotes).
@dandanthetaximan I've never heard someone call a CD Player cringy lol
I grew up with the Sony model as well. As a kid I always thought it was magic. It was pretty quiet with nothing more than a few whispers and muted beeps. Really cool to see how it works, subbed to your channel after this video after lurking on a few others!
TMBG and Weird Al? My kind of guy!
100,000 subs just over two years ago, and now over 800,000. Damn, this channel has grown great and I hope it continues to.
I'd take the pioneer over the sony. To hell with what's better, give me the cooler one.
Great video! For some strange reason the clicking and buzzing sounds of the Pioneer changing disks was actually kind of soothing to me lol.
Great video. That thing was a mechanical nightmare.
A mechanical wet dream more like.
You have no idea! When these things broke... THEY REALLY BROKE!
Devices like these were the absolute end of DIY at home electronic repair, and often times not even the manufacturer could repair such devices.
I liked very much your look at the mechanic of the robot that transports the CDs to and from the center of the player, like when Techmoan was inspecting the mechanism of the cassette changer. These mechanisms are so magic to look at, all these tiny pieces of plastic working like a mechanical ancient clock.
I never found somebody that has taken a look at the mechanism of a VCR recorder of the 80s-90s era, I remember I had a 90s VCR recorder which had a very complicated mechanism for managing the play and reverse using that monodirectional motor, based on gears and a magnetic thing to switch between the various behavior modes to pull up the required heads and direction. I completely destroyed that VCR when I was young, tough, thinking that all that mechanisms were so crazy and rudimental.
I like that the CD in the first spot on the Sony was a Weird Al CD.
Does it have Smells Like Nirvana on it?
No, the album shown in the changer carousel was Poodle Hat" which came out in 2003. "Smells Like Nirvana" was from the Off the Deep End album from 1992.
That little snapping noise of the Pioneer tray moving would always give me the heebie-jeebies.
I'm beginning to think Pioneer over-engineered everything, or am I wrong?
They did from the 70's through to the early 90's. my whole system is Pioneer.
That’s just Japanese engineering in general, especially during the ‘70s and ‘80s. Their cars were the same way.
Yes they did but forgot the most important part, build quality.
Synthematix i have a 45 year old pioneer amp which is still working like the day it was made, compare that to a 22 year old sony amp which died few years ago 🤷🏼♂️
For diode laser player Pioneer LD player are mostly well made.
My CLD-1070 was made in 1990 and it still works today.
Great video. I actually had one of those Sony disc players. However, at home, I also had a JVC 10-disc player which had a cartridge that you preloaded with up to 10 CD's, each on a little grey tray which slid into the cartridge. These were then selected using the remote. The neat thing about it was, that the cartridges also fit my car CD changer which I put under the back seat and played through my dash stereo. It was pretty trick stuff for 1989.
Pioneer: What my overengineering-ass brain wants our team to make
Sony: What my team decides to make
As much as I love Pioneers design it's slow and has many moving parts.
The pioneers seem to keep working, so I suppose that must have been made well or just over engineered.
Love the combination of mechanical technology and electronics. Phones today do amazing things, but it's all with software. These devices also used precision mechanical components which is cool. This is why I liked minidisc so much, the last great marriage of precision mechanics, miniaturization and advanced electronics.
those are trully amazing videos!
Thank you for this interesting video. I found a disc changer in the house that last time we moved and I havent used a normal CD player since. I've always wondered how it actually works and now I finally know. Thanks.
11:30
"Butt! And it's a BIIIIG butt!"
But not butt idiot 😆🤣
a really beautiful creature, that Pioneer.
[heavy engineer breathing]
Great video. Had Pioneer been able to get the price for one of these down around $200 or lower when they were new I might have bought one in the 90's. My favorite CD changer mechanism was the Pioneer used for their CD File changer that reminded me of a Seeberg jukebox.
Thanks for the warning. I wanted one so bad in the 90's but couldn't afford one. Then about 7 years ago I found a 25 disc Pioneer changer in nice shape at a thrift store for FIVE dollars. I dont use it as often now thanks to MP3's but it's still working fine. I also have a 5 disc Sony changer I bought 12 years. The only thing I noticed is it has to be placed perfectly flat for the CD's to load.
i'm choosing a laserdisc player to buy
is pioneer the best option?
It’s pretty much the only option! They almost singlehandedly kept the format alive.
I should know this but I wonder if a modern AVR would even recognize an AC3 signal.
Brilliant overview of this interesting piece of audio gear !
I am honestly a bit dissapointed that the guys at Pioneer didn't do the cd changer dual sided laserdisc combo thing... :P ... Maybe they could have the cd changer robot arm on its own rails so it could move out of the way to make room for the laserdisc reader carousell?
Or.. if we think otside the box a bit more... Maybe... We could have the laserdisc portion mounted vertically in the front? With a cd jukebox behind it. In a giant cube... With the dual sidedness solved by having the whole disc flipping end over end?
The possibilities just boggles the mind!!!
This was well worth re-doing, there is so much more info in the new version. It was definitely worth another watch :)
i always loved to look at the inside of electronic at work 😍
And don't forget the Pioneer LD-W1 Laserdisc changer. Played both sides of two LDs. Great for the old CAV discs.
This video is a visual extravaganza. My mind is blown by these shots and extreme close-ups. 10/10 TC! Cheers to your very well-deserved 100k man!
I grew up with one of those. (I think it's still in my mom's family room) It's so cool to finally see how it works
All that awesomeness, and the hide it under the cover...
I had that same Sony changer, a very nice Christmas gift from my boss.
Exactly 8 months after you said you're at 100k subs you're at 231k so you must be doing pretty good, well done.
This was uploaded on my birthday! What a great surprise!