DTS Laserdisc Player... (1 Viewer)

[Bruce_S]

Hi,
I know, DVD's are taking over but does anyone know where I can get one?
thanks,
bruce

 

[Phil A]

You need a player with a digital output into a DTS decoder (or receiver or preamp with one built in). For DD you will need a player that has both a regular digital output and an AC-3 output that can be mated to an an RF demodulator. Some demodulators take the inputs from both the regular digital output of the player and the AC-3 out and then automatically switch before sending its output to the preamp or receiver. That way you just need one digital input on the preamp or receiver.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I was under the impression that Laserdiscs were an analog format only. No Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack encoding. Just plain old Dolby Pro Logic encoded into a 2 track, stereo feed.
Yeah, the soundtrack signal can be transferred to a receiver/pre-pro digitally, but no DD or DTS signal, just linear PCM.
??
------------------

 

[RyanDinan]

Kevin,
Most laserdiscs do contain digital tracks. DD and DTS tracks replace the right analog track, IIRC.
Any laserdisc player that has a digital out (toslink in most cases) can output the DTS bitstream to an external decoder. DD requires that the player have an AC3-RF output to an RF demodulator. Not many receivers have these...
-Ryan Dinan
------------------
Link Removed

 

[Scott Stevens]

The DTS laserdisc of Jurassic Park kicks some serious butt! Much more so than the dvd. Frighteners is also very good.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I was under the impression that Laserdiscs were an analog format only.

Only with respect to video. As for audio, LDs were the very first consumer format in which DD and DTS were made available.
M.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I did not know that. (Analog for video only, but does carry digital sound.) Thanks!
------------------

 

[Dan Hitchman]

DTS on LD is placed in the space of the PCM stereo digital track, just like DTS on a CD. You need an LD player with coaxial or Toslink optical PCM audio output. Hook the input into a DTS decoder. Do not switch over to the analog outputs during playback!!
Dolby Digital AC-3 is placed on one of the analog tracks in an RF modulated form. The player needs a separate AC-3 RF output jack. You then hook that output to an AC-3 RF demodulator and then from the demodulator into your Dolby Digital decoder.
Dan
------------------
Stop HDCP and 5C-- Your rights are at risk!

 

[Patrick Sun]

For additional info on LD players, here's the Laserdisc FAQ .
------------------
PatCave; HT Pix; Gear; DIY Mains; DIY CC; Sunosub I + II + III; DVDs; Link Removed

 

[Rachael B]

Bruce, if you don't want to fool with AC-3 playback, here are some good models to look for that I bet you could get a good deal on,
Pioneer CLD's 95, 97, 703, 53, 503, LD-S2, Panasonic 900, Denon 3500 (a Panny clone). The Panasonics are good players but, there's proably not much sevice availability for them, as compared to Pioneer's broad commitment to the format that lingers to this day. The players I'm suggesting are a year or two, too old to, to, to, to, ...excuse me, have an AC-3 ouput and will sell cheaper.
If you want AC-3 too, my suggested list are Pioneer CLD's 99, 79, D704, 59 and DVL's 91 & 919. You'll pay more for these because they're newer and come with an AC-3 output. Note, some older players you'll see for sale will be retro-fitted with AC-3 outputs. I'd watch e-bay and check 4-sale boards, like the one here. Best wishes!
------------------
Rachael, the big disc cat! "...Mandrake, have you ever seen a commie drink water..."
AFI Film Challenge, hey I've only got 1 to go!

 

[donovan_chin]

I really don't understand what you guys mean when you say that LDs carry analogue video. How can you carry analogue video on a digital disc? There must be some conversion inside, right?

 

[Michael Reuben]

quote: I really don't understand what you guys mean when you say that LDs carry analogue video. How can you carry analogue video on a digital disc? [/quote] What makes you conclude that it's a "digital disc"? In fact, the first LDs appeared in the 70s, long before there were established digital formats for either sound or video. The first LDs were limited to analog video and analog audio.
In the 80s, after the CD standard was establishedd for digital sound, the LD design was "retrofitted" to include PCM digital tracks. The video remained analog.
In the 90s, with the appearance of multi-channel digital sound, there was yet another "retrofit". DTS data was disguised as a PCM track so that it could be incorporated on LDs (the same approach is used for DTS CDs). DD date was modulated into an analog signal and included in the right analog LD channel.
Just because something comes on a silver disc doesn't make it digital.
M.
[Edited last by Michael Reuben on September 14, 2001 at 11:58 AM]

 

[donovan_chin]

Pardon my ignorance on the subject but I assumed that LDs stored information on the discs the same way CDs do i.e. having a optical lense read off the reflections from the mirror surface of either and intepreting it as either a 1 or a 0. Maybe you can help enlighten me on the actual way it stores data on the disc. I had assumed that with analogue we mean wave data and and with digital we mean discrete data. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeff Hipps]

Years ago I was lucky enough to have dinner with Richard Heyser, the JPL researcher who revolutionized speaker testing, at an AES chapter meeting in LA.
During the meal he said that he wished people would stop using the words digital and analog to describe storage and playback schemes.
As I was trying to be smarter than usual, I asked him what description he thought we should use. His response: Continuous and discontinuous.
So, what we call analog, Dick would have called a continuous signal. Obviously, digital is discontinuous.
If it helps, the video signal on a laser disc is continuous. The video signal on DVD is discontinuous.
Jeff Hipps
Sherwood America

 

[Philip Hamm]

Jeff,
I think the "continuous" / "discontinuous" comparison is brilliant for audio, but I'm not sure that it applies in this particular case. Video by it's very nature whether the delivery medium is analog or digital, is discontinuous, there are individual frames which are selected.
Donovan,
Here's another angle: The analog signal you can receive over a cable TV selection is a radio frequency (RF) waveform, which can be converted to a picture in the analog realm (on an older TV). The signal on a LasaerDisc is an RF signal just like a cable TV or broadcast signal, just stored in an optical format.
In some ways it's similar to the way an audio waveform is stored as grooves ona record. This is where Jeff's analogy is more apt. On an LP record there is one continuous waveform. On a CD there are 44.1K little discontinuous audio blips that are thrown together to be like a continuous waveform.
However, video is not continuous. It's frame by frame. A Laserdiscs pits aren't 1s and 0s (except the Digital Audio track when there is one), they are many different values that represent an RF voltage. Instead of 1s and 0s there are pits that are the infinte varieties of values between 0 and 1. Put them all together and you end up with an RF signal.
My explanation had been pretty inadequate. Hopefully Rachael or one of the other Laserheads will link to a FAQ or something.
------------------
Philip Hamm
Pat's the best!™
AIM: PhilBiker
click on the little green house to see the evolution of my home theater!

 

[Chris PC]

I think as far as which LD player to get, you should determine how much money you want to spend. Also, be sure to be more careful than I when buying LD's. I have bought a few that have been less than spectacular for video. Not a big deal, just bought a few LD's hastily and excitedly to use with my player.
I recommend the CLD-79 because I have one. It has every nearly every feature you could possibly need and was the middle player in the last run of the US/CANADA top-end ELITE line. They can be found not too old (Mine was made in May 1998). The picture quality is great. It is good enough to fool un-initiated friends that they are watching DVD (helps if the Laserdisc is exceptionally good.) Also, it is good enough that if you hooked it up to a wide screen TV, even through a line-doubler, the performance will be quite good and you should be satisfied. Of course, I have no idea how picky you are.
I recommend getting a LD player if you are interested in searching for people who are dumping the LD format. Otherwise, LD's aren't made anymore, so don't expect new releases. Its fun to search the stores though. I have found more than a few mint copies of very good movies.
Have fun.
[Edited last by Chris PC on September 14, 2001 at 04:16 PM]