What I miss about LD's. (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

I was just packing up and storing some laserdiscs and had remembered one of the things that I enjoyed about laserdiscs. When you cut the shrink wrap open and pull the disc out, the smell from the packaging or the disc itself was distinctive and I always enjoyed that. I don't get that sense from DVD's.

Just thought I'd post this. Nelson

 

[Dave Anderson]

DVDs are a dime a dozen. You couldn't walk into your local CVS and buy a laserdisc. We were a small group of home theater buffs (yes, a fact we're proud of and it makes us 'strange' ... I've heard it all) that had hardly a worry about the masses and their P&S crap.

DVD is here, yes, but the magic LD provided is gone!

 

[LarryH]

I always found the aroma of a new laser disk appealing, too, but then the question of what sort of hydrocarbon aromatics I might be inhaling would raise its ugly head.

 

[StephenA]

I miss laserdiscs too. Haven't had any in a long time. Makes me mad that my stepfather sold the player and discs. If I still had the player, I could at least own the Indiana Jones trilogy and the Star Wars trilogy and SEs on a disc format. Maybe someday. I don't have a credit card, so I can't go hunting them down on places like E-Bay and such.

 

[Richard Waller]

I remember the days of renting laserdiscs at Blockbuster and being the only person in that section. I felt kind of special while I was there.

 

[CarlP]

The other nice thing about ld, you put a disc in and hit play and you are set to go. No commercials, endless menus, and various warnings. A simpler time...
Maybe I'm a snob, I did like the exclusivity of ld!

 

[StephenA]

I remember one time when my mom, cousin, and were returning some laserdiscs we rented back to a store, and my cousin dropped one. The thing broke right in half, and my mom had to pay for a new one. Boy was she mad. Of course I laughed at my cousin for being careles and clumsy.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I don't miss the PRICES though!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I'm currently in the process of selling the last remnants of my LaserDisc collection. There's probably twenty titles I'm keeping due to the lack of a DVD product, but the rest are Ebay fodder. My player is showing signs of problems - problems I am unwilling to spend serious money on to get repaired, so I am systematically replacing the titles I wish to keep with DVD versions. Some are being replaced in this way, many are not. I sit there looking at some of the LDs I paid £40 for and think "You got played once and now I can't even get £10 for you on Ebay". Very sad.

The prices for LDs now are terrible, unless you're selling something a bit special. My DTS copy of Schindler's List recently sold for £75. However my DTS Strange Days closed the other evening for £11. Awful. I'm down to about the last twenty titles and I can't even get £5 for them. Some of these discs have never been played.

Going through my collection revealed around ten titles which have succumbed to rot - titles that were fine a year ago. That is something I definitely wont miss about LDs (thanks Sony, Warner). However the linear - but still random - access is something I much prefer. I can't be doing with menus and all that crap. Much too fussy. I like the Dolby and DTS logos. I like that when you saw the THX badge on an LD, you knew you were getting a good transfer. I liked that you could hold an LD in your hand and feel that you had something special. I don't get any of that with DVD. The mass-market, low-priced product - whilst offering wonderful quality - just isn't the same. I doubt there will ever be a home movie format again that makes you feel a certain pride, and dare I say it - superiority - in what you chose to watch your films on.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I don't miss the PRICES though!

I paid those high prices because LDs were BETTER than VHS in quality. I read an article recently which was speaking about extras & two disc sets & DVD prices. By reading between the lines I get the sense that the Studios want to charge more for DVDs. Two disk sets & DVDs packed with extras are the avenue to that higher price. I believe if the desire of the consumer for ever lower prices continues, then all we see is bare bones releases with the Studios claiming that they cannot not afford the more elaborate sets. Only time will tell.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

its kinda cool you have to take care of them a more carefully than dvds, you cant just leave them lying around like dvds and cds, you have to be careful. it makes me appreciate them a little more.

CJ

 

[Dave Anderson]

I sit there looking at some of the LDs I paid £40 for and think "You got played once and now I can't even get £10 for you on Ebay". Very sad.

Well, Rob, I reckon you'll be doing the same thing with your DVDs someday. Obviously the financial loss won't be as big, but it'll still be a loss.
Makes me wonder why more people don't invest in Netflix instead of wasting their money on owning so many dvds that will eventually become obsolete. Netflix is great - $13/month for the Lite package, which lets you have 2 dvds out at a time. Sure, buy the titles you love on DVD. I'm not saying people shouldn't. But I think if most people go through their collections and pick out the ones they really love, or the ones they watch more than once a year (that's my criteria for owning a dvd), I bet it's a VERY small percentage.
Now the argument can be made that DVD is vastly superior over VHS and laserdisc, which is why people are building up large collections. I wouldn't argue that point at all. Well, I would the laserdisc but that's another story. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that everyone here knows high definition formats are coming. Whether it be HD-DVD or D-VHS, they are coming sometime in the next decade. And I think it's reasonable to say they'll be, at a minimum, twice the quality of 480p DVD (whereas DVD is only a small improvement over a well mastered LD played on a high end player). All these people that have built up a collection of several hundred DVDs are going to be flooding ebay once again come the arrival of HD-DVD.
I'm not trying to tell people what to do with their money. I just think a lot of people are buying into DVD thinking this is the be all and end all of formats. It is those people are going to be in for a rude awakening.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I'm not trying to tell people what to do with their money. I just think a lot of people are buying into DVD thinking this is the be all and end all of formats. It is those people are going to be in for a rude awakening

There is always going to be a better format just down the road. If you hold off buying waiting for that next better format you'll never buy anything. Buy & ENJOY!:wink: 1/2

 

[Joel Fontenot]

I think the second biggest complaint of LD's were the size (the price being the first). Or maybe it was having to do the flip at the end of the side...

I actually like the 12" size of those puppies. I can't really say I miss it because I still have all my LD's. But, the size just made for nicer covers (and, heftier boxed sets)

Just like the size and artistry of LP jackets over these tiny CD covers today.

Joel

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

Geez, you guys are all missing the very best thing about LDs:
They all had PCM audio!*
No compression, gorgeous full rich yummy PCM digital audio. Two channel source material sounds like so much poo in comparison on DVD.
Though I remember the smell, too.
*after 1988 or so, they all had PCM audio, anyways.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Well, Rob, I reckon you'll be doing the same thing with your DVDs someday. Obviously the financial loss won't be as big, but it'll still be a loss.

No doubt. The used market for DVDs is already lower than it was a year ago.

However with no plans for a HD system in this country, the odds of me upgrading to a higher resolution format within the next five years are non-existant.

And I must stress, the bulk of the LDs are being sold due to problems with the player. I just don't want to spend hundreds of £££s getting it repaired.

 

[michael deakin]

I still have quite a few of my laserdisc collection including "terminator 2 box set , star wars trilogy SE and snow white box set". They just feel and look like you have something special , Instead of these tiny cd look alike discs. mike

 

[Josh Dial]

What I really liked about LD was the huge cases they came in. It showcased some of the great cover art, and even looks kind good "on display". Big, shiny, pictures. That's what gets me going
cheers!
Josh

 

[Michael Harris]

The last time I rented a laserdisc was in 1997. I went to the video rental store on the US Naval Base in Rota, Spain. The girl working behind the counter rang up the order and said "These are just so cool". Never heard that about DVDs.

 

[Geoff_D]

Laserdisc rocks, basically. And thanks to eBay I've picked up some cracking discs for ridiculous prices - Silence of the Lambs CAV Criterion version for a fiver? I'll take two please!! And I have some Ac3 LDs that (to me) sound better than their 5.1 dvd counterparts, aswell as some SEs that still haven't made it to DVD.

And apologies to Rob - I'm one of those blood-sucking eBay laserdisc parasites. I would've bid (and more than £11) for that dts Strange Days if my frickin' player had an optical output. Damn.