Laser disc - did you sell them or keep them? (1 Viewer)

[ChristopherDAC]

Not to hijack this into an LDDB thread, but...
Good to see you on the HTF, M. Wilk. Yes, "publius" is everpresent . I'm currently on hiatus from buying LDs, until I finish watching what I've already bought, but since my next scheduled purchasses are Japanese I'll think of you. I hope you get my emails; if not, HTF has my alternate address.
Mr. Kwong, can you give me some advice on taking cover pictures? I haven't done too well so far, as you'll know by looking at the AnimEigo Kimagure Orange Road movie cover.
And yes, I consider LDDB a matter of common interest to those on this thread.

 

[greg_t]

Thanks for the input on the X9 Julien. If you do come across any over in Tokoyo, I would appreciate it if you would drop me a PM here. I monitor ebay but haven't seen one in a little while. I would like to buy one of the new ones from Nicholas, but the price is just too high for a format that isn't produced anymore. Thanks!

 

[Paul Shackleton]

Many thanks to David Norman for his explanation of the Star Wars discs. Thanks also for putting me onto the LDDB. Although laserdiscs never really took off in the UK like DVD has there is always someone on Ebay selling them that is willing to ship 'over the pond'.

 

[David Norman]

Jay, are you certain on the US CAV P/S editions from the mid 80's. My copies are listed at 118 and 120 minutes which is the exact same timings as the CLV releases. The video quality on these early editions are atrocious and make newer VHS look like HDTV.

Maybe I did mean same film elements for those first widescreen releases, but the same glitches and film scratches are apparent. The splice lines at the upper and lower black bars are quite noticable (white flashes) which would be edited out of the P/S releases or covered by the TV overscan. The CLV P/S rereleases from the early 90's came out at the same time as those "Special Widescreen Editions" and still have SW and ESB on single discs and time compressed. The 1990 CLV were almost the same transfers as those earlier releases though I think they fixed some of the color problems with the earlier releases which has a nice warm tone instead of the cooler color temp that most of SW and ESB seemed more appropriate. A lot of the start Black/White contrast seemed a bit more mellow with some of those warmer temps.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Yup, I'm certain on the P&S CAVs. Still have them. Three sides, each frame progressive, unique & corresponding to a film frame--no interacing and other funkiness brought about by time compressing (which I did analyse as well, in the form of the CLV ESB.)

Whether other CAVs exist out there that ARE time compressed, I dunno. But mine aren't. I can get you hub stamp numbers and whatnot if you like.

 

[David Norman]

I checked Blaine Young's site and it looks like he has reported your findings as well. His timings on the discs are significantly different than the CLV releases though it looks like the jackets were never corrected. His text on the SW and ESB CAV pressing mention that the movies were initially supposed to be on 4 sides, but they couldn't get the 3:2 pulldown correct due to the frame to frame transfer so they had to go back and press it across 5 sides. I do appreciate the correction because I had always gone by the jacket listings rather than manually timing the discs. Even after this length of time some things still surprise you.

Blam1 Star Wars LD

 

[Julien WILK]

Ouch... so you notice everything?

Basically I spent 2 week-ends visiting Japan and 2 weeks in Bangkok for the new year festival this month, so -> not many new things.

And when I came back more than 200 updates were waiting for me!

The shop development is still on going (I'm not happy with everything) and after spending so much money on my LD purchases, I need to get some cash back to buy even more LDs. About 20 auctions up now with some rares titles like late Pioneer Japan pressings, music titles released only in Japan, etc.

Will hopefully find some time soon to get back to heavy LDDB.com development

Rgds,
Julien

 

[Jay Pennington]

Whoops, correct, 5 sides, not 3.

 

[Gary Seven]

This is true. I bought this set when it came out and had to send out the faulty disc to get it replaced with the correctly editted disc.

Last time I checked this set ( a few months ago ), no rotting. Guess I got lucky.

 

[Clinton McClure]

My laserdisc collection was never that big but the only titles I have yet to replace are the Star Wars OT. Of the films I have replaced with DVD counterparts, I still have The Lion King, Toy Story DTS, Jurassic Park & The Lost World DTS, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (Japanese import) and Saving Private Ryan. Most likely I'll end up dumping my player and the few remaining discs I have this fall.

 

[Matt Stone]

I had some rotting on one of my ESB DC discs, but thanks to David Norman, I have a replacement disc.

 

[Tim Glover]

David Norman is definetely the "go to" laserdisc man on the internet. Knowledgeable, kind, and eager to assist.

 

[Dave Simkiss]

I notice a lot of people have kept their Japanese Phantom Menace LD's

Why? Is it the theatrical cut? And if so was Japan the only country to get the theatrical cut in a LD/DVD format?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[CraigL]

It IS the theatrical cut. and supposedly has absolutely PHENOMENAL sound...which LD is known for.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Yes, TPM on LD is the theatrical cut of the film. TPM on DVD is a little bit different with little bits of added scenes. To me, watching the Pod Race on DVD is distracting because I've demo's the Pod Race on LD so many times that I knew it by heart, and on DVD, the Pod Race just has a different feel and pace to it. Plus the DVD version doesn't sound as good as the LD in the insane bass department.

 

[Tim Glover]

I think the dvd of TPM has great sound, but Patrick is right, the sound on the LD is superior. Not just in bass, but in overall ambience and presence. The soundfield seems larger. A stronger mix. But despite the dvd's edge ehancement issues, the picture quality is better on the dvd. I like the pacing better on the theatrical cut too.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

You know, one of the reasons why I lke LD better than DVD is that my eyes are less sensitive to the gain in static resolution than they are to the MPEG artefacts. I can see the latter just fine, and they bug me a whole lot, so I prefer the margianlly more blurry picture. Of course, I watch a great deal of anime, and those broad areas of flat colour are precisely what MPEG compression is not designed to handle.

 

[RonOlszewski]

My old boss gave me his old Star Wars LDs when he upgraded his copies. I didn't own a LD player and still don't, but I took them in case the original Star Wars cuts never came to DVD. As it looks like they might not come out on DVD for a very long time, I'm thinking of picking up an LD player and am looking for a recommendation.

I'd like to pick one up cheap on Ebay. I'd like to have a model that doesn't require me to flip the discs. I'm not too picky about picture (I'm using a $40 Apex DVD player right now ) nor sound. Price is a very big consideration.

Can anyone give me a few suggestins what to look for on Ebay?

 

[Tim Glover]

Pioneer CLD-704D is probably the best player for the money. I haven't checked ebay on this but I would estimate about $300 for this????

The Pioneer 5 series is also pretty good but displays a noisier picture.

The Panasonic 900? I think was also highly regarded.

Other's can chime in here too. You may not want to shell out much just to have the SW movies though.

Good Luck. Let us know what you do.

 

[Mattias_ka]

I'm also one of those that came in LD after DVD. I have had LD before during the 90's but sold everything I had (70-80 discs). But 99-00 I got back in LD and now I have over 800+ LD's and getting more everytime. The reason is rather simple:

*Movies not on DVD. There are still soooo much movies not on DVD that are out on LD

*Cooler artwork. Just compare the sign edition of Day the earth stood still with the DVD

*Better picture quality. Yes, you read right. In many cases I find the LD having better PQ than the DVD. This is more commen when I got my Barco CRT PJ. Beacuse the bigger picture, I can see the bad MPEG decoding much easier and I talk a little softer picture ANYDAY than a movie that looks like a computer game. And some LD's are also much sharper too.

*Sound. In most cases, I like the PCM track over DD anyday.

*Version that are not on DVD.

So now I have TWO Pioneer HLD-X9 and one Pioneer HLD-X0! These players give a SUPERB picture and if one can get them, DO IT. I would try Hong kong for those players.
I'm thinking about getting one one HLD-X0 that are totally made like new inside and tweaked for optimal performance, will look into this after the summer.