Do I need to find a specialized shop to repair my older (1990) Panasonic
LX-200U LaserDisc player? It's an auto-reverse unit, so I'd love to salvage
it. (No flipping discs!) AND, it also has an optical output, which is quite
rare for an older unit. But it seems something is going flakey or heat
sensitive. Cold, the unit plays a disc after much searching and hunting for
the TOC, and even then the video has slight noise in it that is not normal.
The picture just gradually gets filled with more and more noise until the
unit starts to skip and just lock up.

I ask if I need a special shop because I took the unit to a TV/VCR shop in
town and they laughed at me for wanting to "repair that junk" and said they
can't do it. Junk? This deck in good working order will sell for $200 on
eBay. Not to mention the 53 LaserDiscs I have!

Is it worthwhile to repair, or should I just give up and buy a newer deck?
Shouldn't a shop that can handle DVD/CD repair be able to handl an LD
player?

Thanks,
-Steve