This one has always been a bit persnickety, rejecting disks that other
players including my other Sony handle but now it is rejecting everything
including DVD's and CD's. The display says NO DISK.

I'm guessing that the laser has gotten weak.

Is there any point in trying to fix it or getting it fixed?

My interest in this player is two-fold:

It has built in 5.1/7.1 decoding which is useful in my situation.
It can suppress on-screen symbols which is also useful in my situation.

Drives for this model can be had for $110. I might be willing to take the
chance if the odds are in my favor that it would fix it. I realize no one
is going to know for sure but one thing I hope someone may know is this:
If you replace the drive, is there any sort of electronic alignment that is
needed to make the new drive work? Something that I cannot do. Or is it
just pull one out and put in the other, plug in the cables and away you go?