Laserdisc Player - CLD-D704 or DVL-919? for STAR WARS TRILOGY ONLY (1 Viewer)

Tod · Aug 16, 2002

I just bought the Definitive Colletion of the Star Wars Trilogy off eBay and now I need a Laser Disc player to watch it...

I have a decision to make. Purchase a new Pioneer DVL-919 DVD/Laserdisc player for about $700....
OR
Purcahse a used Pioneer CLD-D704 Laserdisc player (apparently in very good condition with original box and all) for $500.

My understanding is that the CLD-D704 is a better laser disc player than the new DVL-919. What do you think? I appreciate anyone's advice on this.

Thanks!
Todd

Christ Reynolds · Aug 16, 2002

i have read the cld-d704 is the best non-elite ld player pioneer made. dont know about the 919 though, but i'm sure the resident ld gurus will chime in here, and tell you go for the 704. best of luck

CJ

KeithH · Aug 16, 2002

Christ said:

i'm sure the resident ld gurus will chime in here, and tell you go for the 704

I'm waiting for Rachael to chime in.
Tod,
Is the '704 available locally or on eBay or a related website? If it is available locally and you can inspect it thoroughly before forking over money and it proves to be a solid specimen, I might go for it. Otherwise, I would suggest you go with a new '919. As Christ said, the '704 is often regarded as the best non-Elite laserdisc player Pioneer ever made, but I'm sure the '919 would serve you well. If it were I in this position, I would probably go for a new '919. I prefer buying new components, and I think the '919 would be a suitable performer.

Click to expand...

Conroy Tesa · Aug 16, 2002

I have both (704 broke down)
The 704 walks all over the 919 LD wise.
It kicked major butt for non elite

KeithH · Aug 16, 2002

Conroy, did your '704 see heavy use? I seem to recall reading about a number of '704 units that have died in the past couple of years. I know it is a quality laserdisc player, but has there been a reliability issue with it?

Philip Hamm · Aug 16, 2002

Wow that's a lot of money per movie

!

(first time I ever used that smiley).
If I were in your shoes I'd hunt down a much more modest player. Do you need AC-3? The DPL tracks are very good on those releases.
I highly recommend the following:
* Get the "Faces" version of the ORIGINAL trilogy.
* Track down a CLD-S104, CLD-S304, or CLD-S201 and be happy.
But if you're absolutely intent on those models, the 704 is a better LD player, though the 919 is very good.

Sean Dayton · Aug 16, 2002

Five hundred dollarsd US for the 704 is a tad to high in price in my opinion. I got a brand new one for 400$ from a private internet sale last May. The word I gathered from the forums and from the Laserdisc newsgroup was that the DVL 919 build quality was inferior and video was about par with the middle end players like the Elite CLD 59 and CLD 604 players. I would go with the CLD 704. Its a good overall player that will meet your needs until the Nippon player bug bites you in the @ss.

Mattias_ka · Aug 16, 2002

Well, the CLD-704 is maybe the better player, BUT the DVL-919 is new so to think about the future that the 919 is more likely to work 10 years from now, and the 704 maybe not. Something to think about.

Tod · Aug 16, 2002

Phillip,
I know this has probably already been discussed ad nauseam... but why do you recommend the "Faces" trilogy over the Definitive Collection?
Here's a pic of the set I recently bought...
http://www.geocities.com/triple7100/sw3.html

Thanks,
Todd.

Philip Hamm · Aug 16, 2002

but why do you recommend the "Faces" trilogy over the Definitive Collection?

Sorry I misread your post! I thought you got the "Sepecial Editions". Still, the "faces" CLV movies are worth a purchase if you can get them at a low price. The Definitive Collection has far too many side breaks for my taste. As a casual fan of the movies and a certified LaserDisc Nut™ , I personally think that both the Definitive Collection and the Faces versions deserve to be in a Star Wars fan's collection. I personally own both. I sold off my Faces CLV movies when I got the Definitive Collection, then rebought them later because of the intrusive amount of side breaks. The extras on the Definitive Collection are neato, and worth the purchase. However,the side breaks make the movies difficult to watch as "movies".
They look amazing though. At least for LaserDisc.
That's a pretty big hefty box set, isn't it. Can you believe it originally retailed at $250?? :eek"!!!! I thought I got a huge bargain when I found it for $150.

Click to expand...

Tod · Aug 16, 2002

Phillip,

I've never actually seen SW on LD. I've never owned a player... hehe

Would you mind educating me on what "side breaks" are...

Thanks,
Todd.

KeithH · Aug 16, 2002

Tod, I'm not Philip, but I am guessing that he is commenting on how with laserdiscs, movies don't fit on one side of a disc like they usually do on DVDs. A movie like Star Wars might be on two discs and, therefore, all four sides. Newer laserdisc players like the 'D704 and '919 have what Pioneer called "Both-Side Play", meaning that you don't have to flip the disc over when it is time to change sides. However, you still have to change discs yourself, of course.

Philip Hamm · Aug 16, 2002

The Definitive Collection is in the LD format known as "CAV" which stands for "Constant Angular Velocity". It works like an LP record, the disc spins at one speed and the laser reads inside out. This results in the best picture quality and allows for super neato slo-mo and special effects and frame by frame play even on the cheapest players like the single sided players I mentioned above. CAV was used for uber-deluxe editions for the frame-by-frame and best picture quality.

Unfortunately CAV discs only hold a maximum of a half hour of material on each side which means when watching a movie like Star Wars you have a side break (automatic but about 10 seconds on most dual side players) every 25 minutes or so and a dic break (where you have to get up and put a new disc in) every 50-60 minutes.

CLV is "Constant Linear Velocity" where the disc slows down as it plays. This allows for 60 minutes per side but doesn't allow for neato special effects unless the player is specially equipped for this. Both the 919 and 704 have special effects on CLV discs. This is nice, but the resolution in slo-mo and freeze is half of what it is for CAV discs which are just incredible. (Thus the super special editions allowing for crystal clear frame-by-frame analysis on all players.)

The CLV "Faces" discs have one side break and one disc change per movie, while the CAV Definitive Colletion has two side breaks and two disc changes per movie. These breaks intrude on the enjoyment of a movie (and are one reason LD never took off - a lot of people were turned off by the need to change sides and switch discs).

Look it up on the forum there's lots of information.

Tod · Aug 16, 2002

Thanks for the explanation Phillip! I can understand why the "side breaks" would be very distracting. I think in my case, since I've seen these movies about 50 times (each) the whole experience is more for fun than for actually becoming immersed in the movie experience... I'll probably have friends over (who will also have seen these movies many times) and we'll just enjoy watching it and saying each line a few seconds before they're spoken in the film...
I think the CAV set will be fine for me. I'm also justifying it this way because I don't think I'll be able to afford to purchase the CLV trilogy too... :frowning:
Thanks again!
Todd.

Michael St. Clair · Aug 17, 2002

While I consider the ORIGINAL trilogy (no SE) to be a must-own, both the 'Faces' and 'Definitive' versions have been heavily processed with digital noise reduction, making them very lacking in detail when compared to dozens of much better-looking THX (and non-THX) discs.

The SE versions are much better looking, sadly.

Anyhow, the ORIGINAL discs aren't exactly terrible, but very far from reference quality for LD. This is much less noticeable on smaller or interlaced displays.

KeithH · Aug 17, 2002

When I had a laserdisc player a couple of years ago, I had both the SE and "Faces" version of the Star Wars Trilogy. The SE version definitely gave a better picture than the Faces version. My beef with the SE version is that it has the extra scenes. I much prefer the original versions of the three movies.

Rachael B · Aug 17, 2002

Tod, the 704 is the better player and I would prefer to have it. $500 is too much to pay for one though. $350 is proably a fair price. For $500 I'd expect more, like the Elite CLD-79 maybe. The 79 has the same pic quality as the 704 but has a better build quality and a face plate like the CLD-99. You ought to expand your search to other players too, possibly?
The better Panasonic players are going for substantially less than Pioneers. Panasonic does not suppourt it's products as well as Pioneer, particularly LD players. But, the Panny LX-900, which I think has a bit better pic than the 704/79, generally sells for 150-$200 on E-bay. It's safer, maybe, to buy Pioneer but the Panasonic could be a money saving performer. The Panasonic LX's 600 & 670 have a little less pic quality but are solid performers.
Phil's recomendations for the single side players is a solid recommendation except that you just bought the CAV set with all those side breaks. I've never bought too many CAV sets because I don't like all those side breaks. The Definitive Collection and the old CAV pan & scan editions are the only STAR WARZ discs I've never had.
If you're ready to spend 500-$700 for a player you could possibly get an Elite DVL-90 or CLD-95 or maybe even a CLD-99? I think you should be able to get a really decent player for less though. Once you have a player you might want to have a few bucks left to buy a few other discs perhaps? There are some nice music LD's and there are quite a alot of films stille not out on DVD.
I'd be patient about aqquiring a player. Read the several LD FAQ's in the Archives Forum including my own. Good luck on your quest!

Tod · Aug 17, 2002

Thanks Rachael,

I think I'm going to pass on the $500 CLD-D704. After reading everyone's posts it does seem a little steep. Since the DVL-919 is still being manufactured I've got time to look for a better deal on another 704 (or perhaps a non-Pioneer player) on eBay. If I can't find anything in the near future I'll probably just go for a new 919 and call it Done.

Thanks again,
Todd.

Patrick Sun · Aug 17, 2002

The DVL919 is not in production anymore AFAIK.
BTW, have you checked out the Hardware For Sale area and did a search for LD players?

Jim Douglas · Aug 17, 2002

Pat,
Is everything still going ok with your 704 you got?

Tod,
It's a good idea to check the hardware for sale section. Gregg Loewen had a 704 for sale there not to long ago.
Good luck
Jim

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