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any laserdisc titles still worth owning? (1 Viewer)

MarcoBiscotti

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But the recent R2 DVD would stil prove cheaper and better value quality-wise.

A highly recommended disc. Why bother waiting for R1, everyone who loves movies and is a DVD collector should be all-region equipped anyway!
 

Mattias_ka

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I agree. Movies release legit on other region ARE on DVD and then I don't think they are needed on this list, unlease it have better image/sound or extras.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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You're in Toronto, right? Drop by and bring something interesting and we can do a temporary trade. Back when Beauty and the Beast: Work in Progress had just been released and was impossible to find, I bought a copy of B&tB:WIP for $49 CDN at my local LD shop. An animation freak friend of mine desperately wanted it and could not find a copy anywhere, and offered me his Criterion CAV Akira for it. I made the trade. Then, I must confess, I went back to the same store that I had bought B&tB:WIP at and bought the other copy they had on the shelf, for $49 again.

For a long time, that Akira disc was the very best looking LD that I had ever seen.

The picture quality of the Japanese LD issue of The Kingdom TV series is light years ahead of the domestic LD issue of season one and any of the DVDs of season two that I've seen (which have all been of questionable legality -- can you get season two with english subs legally anywhere?). Of course, the bad news is that the Japanese discs are Dutch with Japanese subtitles. But if you like The Kingdom, they're worth getting, especially if you can find them cheap-ish.
 

Mattias_ka

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This is really intresting. I love this serie and it's not dutch but danish, so I do understand rather good (I'm swedish). Have you check it the box don't have any CC or maybe LD-G, that can be in english.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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Sorry about that -- you're right, it's Danish. I'm not so clear on my national divisions once I get that far from my house.

There were no closed captions that I'm aware of. I don't have an LD-G capable player.

The difference in quality is like night and day. It's also very slightly letterboxed and has none of the smeariness of the english season 1 LD. A friend of mine in Japan found a dozen copies of each season, but that was a few years ago. He sent me season 2 as kind of a practical joke for my birthday -- we bought season 1 in english together and watched it together and were horrified by the ending and wanted to see what happened next. He thought it was funny to send me it in two languages that I didn't understand.
 

Keith Paynter

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I just thought of another underrated gem.

Although it has been given an R2 release, there has been no domestic release of We're Back! A Dinsosaur's Story, featuring the voice talents of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Martin Short, Rhea Perlman, Yeardley Smith, Kenneth Mars and Walter Cronkite(!)
 

Gary Seven

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Some ones I would have mentioned have been already... so let me add a few.

The Criterion CAVs of the first three James Bond Films - correctly released with their aspect ratios in addition to the audio commentaries.

The Russ Meyer Vixen collection with audio commentaries.

The Box sets of Golden Age of Looney tunes as someone mentioned but let me add the other LDs of Looney Tunes released as well.

I would also add the Star Wars discs (original trilogy) as it appears the sound at least is vastly superior to what was just released.

I have a rather large LD collection I still get enjoyment from.
 

Matt Hough

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I just put in the Criterion KING KONG laserdisc today just to listen to Ron Haver's commentary. I love his commentaries on various Criterion titles.
 

Saburo

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"Tootsie" Criterion Collection edition for extras and commentary by director Sydney Pollack.
 

MielR

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I like the 1984 Giorgio Moroder restoration of "Metropolis" which will probably never see the light of day on DVD.

The Star Wars Trilogy Definitive Collection is worth owning for the extras that aren't on the DVDs (if you can find a set without laser-rot, that is).

Was the theatrical version of "close encounters" ever released on LD (widescreen)? It hasn't made it to DVD yet.
I own a 703 and it's an excellent player. I think I paid $300 for it on eBay about 3 years ago.
 

Lyle_JP

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The correct answer would be: Almost. The Criterion Collection released the "1977" version on both CAV and CLV laser, but it's not the true 1977 version. Two scenes were very lightly trimmed and one shot was replaced by a special effects shot from the 1980 SE.

-Lyle J.P.
 

frank manrique

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El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire...'till they're properly restored, mastered, and transferred to DVD...and even better...Hi-Def...

-THTS
 

Gary Seven

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The closest thing released was by Criterion, which had both theatrical and special edition. Unfortunately for me, THAT suffered badly fom laser rot and I had to get rid of it.
 

Keith Paynter

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Another LD to check out is Men In Black. The DVD was delayed (and ultimately revamped), but the laserdisc had a solo commentary by director Barry Sonnenfeld. I remember his comments about the little alien in the head, and how he said he would (for a fee) have it perform "Happy Birthday" for you...
 

Lyle_JP

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Well, my Criterion CEOT3K did not rot, and they were all (to my knowledge) pressed at Pioneer USA, which had a very low rot rate. I would say it's safe to try and track one down.

-Lyle J.P.
 

Chris Dugger

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Sitting on over 900 laserdiscs today....

Some of the non-dvd releases are:

Dr No - Criterion (w/commentaries)
From Russia With Love - Criterion (w/commentaries)
Twice Upon A Time
Let It Be
Electric Dreams
Twin Peaks Pilot
Indiana Jones Box Set from Japan (w stunt discs)
Star Wars - making of Empire/Jedi/Hope
Alien - with original 70mm soundtrack
Blade Runner - original theatrical release never released on dvd
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind - Criterion - original cut

I could go one.... with my video scaler and laserdisc player, these still give excellent presentations....

Dugger
 

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