Panasonic DVD-LS50 7" Portable DVD Player

Manufacturer:	Panasonic
List price:	~~$399.95~~
Our price:	that is 100% off!

Panasonic DVD-LS50 7" Portable DVD Player

Average rating: Stars

I managed to fix Code H03

We bought this portable half a year ago for our toddler, and it made travelling, being in waiting areas, visiting restaurants, friends, etc, much, much more bearable. My wife and I really love this little machine, we owe a lot of peace of mind to it.

Then came the dreadful Code H03 situation one evening. Via Google, it was quickly clear that we would have to spend around 100 $ to fix it, as the warranty time was over - so we decided to buy a new one, and were ready to throw the panasonic into the garbage. But before doing so, I decided to take it apart myself, as there was nothing to lose. The good news is that it is working again. I can't precisely tell what the problem was, but I can describe what I did.

Please feel free to give it a try yourself before throwing away the player. I give no warranty at all that what I tried out works in your case. Also, I refuse any liability if you try out what I describe below.

First, remove the power plug and the battery.

There are 12 screws, all at the bottom, four of them only reachable when the battery is removed. Make sure there is no DVD inside the machine, and open the monitor screen. Then, open the case along the front (where the red/orange light is). Put the monitor back down on the table so that you can see it. From the side, the open player looks like an upside down " T " now.

The DVD transport can be easily removed from the bottom part of the case. I cleaned it, and pushed the two connecting strip conductors more firmly into their contact sockets. Then, I placed the transport back, and attached a DVD to it (of course without first closing the upper part of the case).

At this point, reconnect the power plug (but not the battery !). There are three round copper contacts at the lower right corner, below the blue knob which says "enter". Push the one on the far right. This will turn on the machine.

There are three black plastic buttons at the 2 o'clock position relative to the DVD, arranged like the corners of a " V ", which I will refer to as the left upper, the lower, and the right upper button.

The right upper button interrupts playing a DVD when the monitor is closed during normal operation, and is useless for our purposes. Pushing the left upper, and the lower button simultaneously triggers the player to check if there is a DVD inside, and if so, to read it. Pushing any of them alone doesn't do anything.

WARNING: Don't push them if there is no DVD inside, because then, your eyes will be directly exposed to a pretty strong laser beam !!!

However, if there is a DVD fixed to the transport, pushing the left upper and the lower button simultaneously has in my case caused the player to correctly read the DVD.

Then, I removed the DVD, the power plug, closed the case, and put the screws back to where they belong, and everything has been operating normal so far.

One of the reports here said that sending the player to the service center in Texas has shown that only some cleaning needed to be done.

I suspect this is only a small mechanical problem. Either the strip conductors attached to the transport don't have good contact, or they prevent the laser lens from moving correctly. Pushing them more firmly into their sockets, and removing the transport, cleaning it, and putting it back again can fix this. Also, the three rubber parts on which the transport is based might displace if the player is heavily shaken, and H03 might mean that the transport is dislocated. Finally, it could be that the contacts at the corners of the " V " noted above don't have good contact, so that pushing them firmly reestablishes the latter.

Good luck, and as I said - no warranty that this is also going to work for you. Moreover, I refuse any liability if you decide to try it out.

Panasonic DVD-LS50 7" Portable DVD Player - Panasonic

great unit but apprehensive

I bought my LS50 a few months ago and all the reviews I read were excellent. Then all these horror stories about the dreaded HO3 code coming up making the player inoperable surfaced in the reviews. If I had waited until now to purchase this unit I wouldnt have based on the number of these recent reviews.

I purchased my unit in March. I can only hope the manufacturer has cleared up the problems that others were having, but I m not holding my breath. I love the LS50..its just the right size, it sounds great and I take it everywhere...BUT..everytime I play it I wonder if I will be hit with the dreaded HO3. I did take out the two year warranty plan when I purchased it, so I assume Panasonic will replace it if this happens.

Panasonic is such a well known quality name. Why does that HO3 come up and for no apparent reason? This would have been a five star review, but I shouldn t have to worry about the player ceasing to operate everytime I use it. Wonder If I was better off going with Initial or Toshiba,etc? I figure I'd pay a little more for the Panaonic name, but why is this HO3 thing happening to so many people?

Panasonic - Panasonic DVD-LS50 7" Portable DVD Player

Not reliable

We bought this unit for long distance travel in the car and have used it approximatly 5x. Initially, very pleased with performance. However, after 1 year of very low usage, the motor completely died. The kids were using it for several hours for about three times on two consectutive days. Then it just stopped running. Very disappointed with Panasonic, esp. since we stayed away from lesser known brands and were hoping for better quality product. This will now have us buying product from another manufacturer in the future.

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