Philips CDI 220/00 Mini MMC 60Hz Modification and Timekeeper Replacement

Recently I found a CDI 220/00 with Mini MMC mainboard. It’s a heavy and bulky unit that contains lot of PCBs, wires, screws and metal parts. It’s one of the first consumer CD-i players. Later models have all components on one single mainboard (Mono).

CDI220/00 inside
CDI220/00 inside

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NEC PC-FX Laser Pickup HOP-E1

I’ve been struggling with a weak PC-FX laser for quite some time now. What kept me from replacing the laser pickup (also known as the optical block or laser sledge) was the supposedly significant effort involved. Taking apart and reassembling the PC-FX was long considered something you wouldn’t wish even on your worst enemy (a full teardown can be found here). However, it’s surprisingly easy to get to the drive unit if you simply follow these instructions.

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