Got a sweet deal on an "as-is" "non-functional unit" VHD player. Victor HD-8900. Not top of the range and missing the remote, but for $120, I'll take it.
The seller stated that the power light turns on but there is no sign of life whatsoever. Mechanisms all stay idle. Cannot insert and play a videodisc.
Seeing the condition of the player from the pics he provided (almost a mint looking unit) I took a gamble that the issues might not be hardware related.
What it was, is this here:
It took me a while to figure it out but lower down in the front left corner of the unit, a tiny drive belt that, unless you have a flashlight, you can't easily see.
I took a blunt thin object and pressed down gently on the belt onto the cog (belt is quite loose) and the player then started to take in the videodisc and spun it, as it should. The movie played fine. Cartridge stylus seems to be in good shape.