This: "Pioneer's cost-cutting inside the LaserDisc player caused other parts to break:"

Far far back in time when I did hi-fi repairs and similar work, Pioneer stood out with a nice look from outside, and cost-cutting low quality work inside. Not something I liked working on.

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fatnoah 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

The very first DVD player I ever purchased was a Pioneer model with all the possible outputs, from composite to component video, 5.1 discrete audio channels, and coax + optical digital audio outs.

I purchased it somewhere in the 1996 to 1998 timeframe. When I graduated to Blu-Ray, I gave it to my mother who used it once or twice a week up until she passed away this year.

Obviously that's purely anecdotal, but that one unit was a workhorse.

	▲	nullhole 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		I have a Pioneer DVD player of the same vintage, and it's still working to this day. The remote is sturdy, too. Currently lives in a summer house but gets regular use.

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jonhohle 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Pioneer provided fixes to some things, but for such a niche system there is virtually no way to get them now.

A few years ago I made a support to avoid board sag - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5993459

These are actually a pleasure to work on, but their rarity makes everything a bit more stressful.

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ilamont 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Pioneer stood out with a nice look from outside, and cost-cutting low quality work inside.

That seems to be the standard among many appliance manufacturers these days. Slick as hell on the outside, junk/buggy electronics on the inside that may not be repairable 10 years from now, either because the part is no longer made/supported, or the expertise doesn't exist. We had an LG refrigerator that failed under warranty, and the designated local repair specialist never answered the phone.

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jorvi 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

What I really can't stand is inefficient cost-cutting.

Nvidia, Apple, Sony and Microsoft have all at one point (or maybe still do) use ridiculously cheap solder. This only saves them fractions of a cent on $300 devices. Every few years this leads to a device that will have it's solder crack from heat stress. This usually happens well outside the warranty window, and the manufacturer will swiftly give their customers the finger. Microsoft was the exception with the Red Ring of Death getting fixed outside of warranty. PS3 with the Yellow Light of Death? Sony gives you the finger. Nvidia card cooked or MacBook borked? Here's where you can buy our new model.

Another one is the proximity sensor on phones. On midrange models, these have been replaced by a "virtual proximity sensor". Saves Samsung or whoever maybe a couple of cents, seriously degrades your user experience.

There's hundreds of these things across all industries. Its a pretty clear symptom of the fact that businesses are no longer primarily interested in their customers, but rather their shareholders.

	▲	userbinator 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Blame the environmental plague of RoHS regulations for the bad solder. There's a reason military/aerospace still uses leaded solder.

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wildzzz 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's super cheap to copy the look of higher end equipment, materials might cost more (metal vs plastic) but that's baked into the unit cost. Actually making the thing work well requires paying for good engineers to do the upfront design work. If you can just buy a design for cheap from some Chinese whitebox firm, your initial investment in the product is very low.

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realo 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Your 10 years is quite generous, methink...

Try updating a 10 year old smart phone with latest version of the os as provided by its manufacturer , up to date with latest CVE patches... :)