Panasonic SC-HT1500

[Ramsman]

The hard drive appears to be suffering from drop-outs. The picture freezes frequently with blocks of pixels showing differently. No problems playing CDs or DVDs.

What's the HDD on this model and can it be swapped?

I haven't dismantled it yet because it's awkward to disconnect and remove from the cabinet.

[John Rumm]

Open it up and have a look. You can obviously swap it like for like, don't know if you can upgrade to a larger size though.

Once you do, check the voltages at the drive power connector and anywhere else you can check the supply against a known reference. Its not uncommon for much of this type of kit to suffer power supply voltage drift (frequently due to cheap capacitors in the power supply) - and that can cause a number of problems.

[Lee]

I've seen numerous bits of Panasonic kit with dodgy caps and this one is unlikely to be any different :( After a quick search. it seems the three caps on the board under the hdd cause problems...

Lee

[Ramsman]

As I said below, it's a bit of a job disconnecting and removing it, so I wanted to know about the drive in advance, if possible. Not bothered about a larger size, as there's not a huge amount recorded on it at any time.

One problem is that I can't find a technical manual anywhere. User manuals are available on line, but I've already got the original paper one.

[Ramsman]

Thanks Lee, I'll have a look once I've got it out and apart.

[John Rumm]

You frequently find that a range of drives will be used in these things depending on whatever the best deal the manufacturer could get at the time. Generally, unless you can find somewhere with a definitive spec of what drives were used, the only option is to look and see, then select something that requires the same or less current to run. Some of the modern "green" low power drives work well in these applications.

Yup that can be difficult. Some are obvious - the hard drive will have a

5V and 12V supply (easy to test at the drive if its a standard molex connector - a tad harder if its the modern SATA style power connector), so if these are out of spec then its a fair indication that PSU may need to be "re-capped".

You may find there is some information silk screened onto the PCB giving an idea of what to expect. e.g. with the Topfield PVR you find:

even this is not definitive since as in that example, the line marked 22V, is actually supposed to be 24V!)

[Ramsman]

Thanks for the input John.