Philips 963SA Remote Sensor Modification

Do you have a Philips 963SA DVD player? Frustrated with its bad remote control? Need to walk up to it and shove the remote in its face?

NOT ANY MORE! Buy a Pronto! (well, Philips have to make more money some how :-))

No, no, no, only joking!

The reason this DVD player has pathetic remote control range/sensitivity is because the sensor that picks up the remote control signal is about 1cm away from a 1.5cm round hole in the front facia, so its only able to see the remote signal if you're basically parallel to the machine, slightly off to one side and the remotes signal is blocked and not picked up. This is the hole the signal has to come though

Poor design, but I'm here to help!

This mod is actually three mods

Improve the sensitivity of the remote sensor
Dim the blinding white/blue "Standby" light

and for those with good electronics soldering experience:-

Improve the sensitivity of the remote sensor even more!

To do the first two you just need patience, a Torx driver for all the screws, a steady hand and COMMON SENSE!

Modifying the IR sensor and Standby light

Right, first step is to assemble the parts required to do the first two mods.

A Torx screwdriver of the right size, a normal screwdriver, and in my case a willing assistant, a cuppa and a phone in case of emergency :)

First plug the unit in and eject the DVD tray. Unplug the player, turn it upside down and look at the front of the tray from the back, you'll see the silver bit at the front has two eeny weeny clips (indicated)

Standing in front of the player gently pull these towards you and you can then slide the silver bit down and off the black tray.

To remove the top of case you need to remove 7 screws as indicated here

Now the top of the unit should slide back about 5mm~1cm and lift up and backwards.

Note it might be very stiff to get it moving at first so using the normal screwdriver to lever the lid from the back (very carefully - don't want to mark anything) might be needed.

Next you need to unplug the cable indicated here

Be gentle unplugging it, ease it out, don't just grab hold and yank.

Now you need to remove the two screws indicated, one on either side, that hold the front on.

Once you've done that there are two clips on the bottom of the player, one at either side, and two more small ones on the top.

All these clips just need lifting up at the back of them about 1mm - no more or you'll break them! I use a screwdriver so:-

Do the bottom and the nearest side ones together, then the other bottom and its side clip, that should allow the bottom of the front to pull out a few mm, then the top two clips and you should be able to ease the front off altogether:-

There! First bit done. Have a cuppa like this lot

Now the front has two PCBs. One held in by two screws and two little clips the other held in by another 8 screws:-

Undo all the screws, ease the little PCB off its clips and ease the larger PCB out of the facia.

Now look at it:-

See this bit here? :-

That's the remote control sensor. Thats the bit we're going to move.

As it is now, its supported by a little plastic bracket. The sensor has three wires coming out of it at the side which bend through 90 degrees and then head down to the PCB. Here's a little diagram of how it looks before:-

and this is how we want it to look after:-

Gently prise it out of the plastic clip and lift it up a couple of mm (NOT cm BUT mm, a very small way!!) Now get a pair of needle nose pliers and straighten the wires where they bend through 90 degrees. You should have it looking like this now:-

Now VERY CAREFULLY hold onto the wires with the pliers a couple of mm away from where they come out of the sensor and bend the sensor so its looking forwards again. Bend it with your fingers, and do it slowly and gently. Make sure the jaws of the pliers aren't getting trapped in the bend. Do not bend it too far, you only want it bent 90 degrees.

Ok, it should now look like this:-

Cool! Thats the hard bit done!

Now to dim the 100W standby light what I did was get some transparent red plastic, cut it into a thin strip, fold it up like so:-

Then stuff it into the hole for the LED here:-

Thats it for the first two parts! Go to "Reassembly instructions".

Modifying the IR sensor more using a soldering iron

If you know what you are doing with a soldering iron and can solder WELL (and I mean very well, without leaving blobs of solder everywhere or heating everything up too hot, then you can also do this bit.

Get your soldering iron and solder

Unsolder the IR sensor.

The supporting bracket will drop off now, so store it in a little baggy and tape this to the inside of the lid so you don't loose it.

Now solder the IR sensor back in but only put its pins back through the PCB the shortest distance you think you can get away with and still get a good connection.

This is how far the pins on mine were though before:-

And after:-

And this is how far it now protrudes beyond the display

Reassembly Instructions

Put the PCBs back into the facia and put all the screws back in. Don't forget the little brass clip:-

The remote sensor should now be nice and close to the hole

Get the main unit (OY! TEDDY! NOOO!!!)

Put the front panel back on (note where the bottom clips go back in)

Put the two black screws back in that hold the front panel

Reconnect the cable

Put the top cover back on

Power the unit up, test the remote, eject the drawer, unplug the player, put the front drawer facia panel back on.

Finished!

NOTE : If ANY OF THESE STEPS worry you, or they sounds too complicated, do not do it! Get someone who is experienced at breaking things (and fixing them again!:) to do it for you. I accept no responsibility if you break your player or damage it in any way, or electrocute yourself or any assistants.