This is irritating and wasteful

[SAISAY]

The DVD player on my Panasonic Viera home theatre system has stopped working and it keeps shutting itself off.
I cannot just buy a new box, I have to buy the complete system which leaves me with 5 perfectly good speakers that I have no use for

[eisbaer]

Surely you can buy a standalone DVD player, and a small amp for the speakers.

I suspect the DVD player you have which has failed merely incorporated both of those things in one unit. Maybe post some pics of the back of the player and someone with more av knowledge than me can point you in the right direction.

[BobL]

We last bought a sound system in 1996 and before that in 1978.
In 1996 we bought a decent system from a friend of ours who told us that anything mechanical in AV systems is the most likely thing to fail first which is why we went with a component system and if the mechanics lasts the lasers in CD/DVD player are the next most likely to fail.
The 5 disc CD changer lasted about 3 years and failed mechanically. Since then have gone thru two DVD/CD players and both have died because of laser failure.
Then we bought a TV receiver HD recorder with a DVD built in at that DVD has also died.
The Amplifier and speakers are both still fine.
I hardly ever watch DVDs so I blame SWMBO for watching too many movies

[SAISAY]

Surely you can buy a standalone DVD player, and a small amp for the speakers.

I suspect the DVD player you have which has failed merely incorporated both of those things in one unit. Maybe post some pics of the back of the player and someone with more av knowledge than me can point you in the right direction.

Of course I can buy a standalone cheap player but I am talking about a dedicated system that works together with the TV using only one remote.
It is annoying that I have to spend several hundred dollars on a complete system and throw away perfectly good speakers, just to have the same convenience of running the TV through the sound system.
Brickbats to Panasonic

[_fly_]

A lot of those dvd players just use PC ones, same interfaces.
They just don't have the nice box case around them.
Open it up and have a look at the connecting cables.
If its a PC one just buy another for 20 bucks and replace it.
If it seems to be the laser skipping etc, then its usually dust.
Always worth taking to shed and blowing out the dust with compressor before replacing especially if it horizontal mounted.
I first try one of those camera dust blowers (big rubber bulb thing)

[Sir Stinkalot]

Of course I can buy a standalone cheap player but I am talking about a dedicated system that works together with the TV using only one remote.
It is annoying that I have to spend several hundred dollars on a complete system and throw away perfectly good speakers, just to have the same convenience of running the TV through the sound system.
Brickbats to Panasonic

Unfortunately that is the problem with the all in one systems. It is a great idea keeping everything compact and being able to use one remote, but they are obviously difficult to upgrade and repair if needed. We too learnt our lesson early with a Sony pro-logic stereo system (3cd, tape etc) that hooked up to the tv and was great until the CD laser stopped working, and we no longer used cassettes, so now it is just a big radio in the garage.

Having worked in a store that sold these all in one products when they first came out I tried to advise people of the future issues but the price and convenience won out most times. Like BobL we went the component system and this has worked well as we have been able to swap out DVD players that didn't play the right format, or died, as well as hook up various other components which have come and gone. Now we are down to the amplifier, a dvd player and an Ipod. The dvd player will go soon as we will just have everything in digital format.

Obviously not the news that you want to hear unfortunately. If the one remote is important it may be worth considering a component system and a new universal remote. I think most of them are now learning so you can teach it what functions you want. Otherwise they typically can do the basic everyday functions out of the box and you can just hold onto the original remotes should you ever need to adjust anything.