Help! DMR-E85H reads “Please Wait”

By 2005, TIVO was all the rave. I was reluctant to pay the subscription fees since we watch so little TV anyway. Out of curiousity, I researched to learn that I can get the same functionality through the purchase of a particular Panasonic DVD recorder. The basic idea is that you are recording a show to the hard drive for later playback. The addition of the TVGuide feature “reads” the programming guide from your cable company which can be used to schedule your recordings.

The model we found on eBay was the Panasonic DMR-E85H with a 120GB hard drive (~20 hours of recording time), TVGuide functionality (to schedule recordings), and a combination VHS player (great for transferring over VHS to DVD). So, we justified the purchase because of the many uses it offered.

Over the next 3 years, this gadget helped us to efficiently watch TV, allowing us to skip through commercials, enabling us to view exactly what we wanted and when we wanted, and build a library of quality shows for our kids that they could watch as we allowed them. Notably, we enjoyed the 2006 Torino Olympics on our time zone, selected Noggin music library, Signing Times library (a sign language show that is no longer on PBS), and transferring of VHS memories to DVD.

About a year ago, we decided to transfer my childhood BETA (predecessor to VHS) tapes that we wanted to distribute via DVD to the family. One day I powered it on to find it just froze in a “Please Wait” state. Repeated attempts were the same result. We learned that the fix would cost $130 from Panasonic Support. After delaying, I finally Googled “DMR-E85H Please Wait” to find a forum where others experienced the same symptoms. One user, RandyChev provides steps and photos on how to fix it!Here are my photos after learning from the forum:
This is the circuit board revealed after removing the hard drive.

I identified the leaking and bulging capacitors C1270 and c1271

I removed the circuit board (for better handling) by separating the power from the hard drive, removing the screw from the AC socket, and unplugging the silver zig-zag cable.

I used the soldering tool to melt the existing joints at the back of the circuit board. I suppose the proper way would have been to use a wire to wick away the melted joint, but hey, this was my first time. I wiggled the burnt capacitors out although doing this might have damaged the board. I replaced the 2 capacitors, keeping in mind the short end was Negative. And Tada! Here are the 2 new capacitors (1000uF vs. the original 680 uF) on their sides.

I plugged in the machine and “Voila”! It was working again. As the commercial goes… Soldering Kit $8, 2 Capacitors $3, Repairing a Broken DVR to Save $120… Priceless