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How does the analog track on LD compare to hifi vhs? (1 Viewer)

JustinBr

Auditioning
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Sep 17, 2001
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7
Hi,
I got an LD player off eBay around a year ago. I did not know that some LD players could not read the digital tracks. Mine can only read the analog tracks. I have it hooked up my receiver thru the white and red connections, is this sound an improvement over vhs and how much of an improvement is the pcm sound hooked up the same way(white and red) over the analog tracks?
 

Tom Rags

Supporting Actor
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Apr 4, 2001
Messages
577
It is possible that in fact your LD player does read digital sound, but in fact contains a Digital to Analog converter (DAC) inside of the player. When you connect the LD player via the L/R red and white audio connections, it is actually giving you the "digital" sound. However, instead of being converted to analog in your receiver via a digital connection (i.e. an optical output from your LD), it is being converted to analog in your LD player and output through the L/R connections.

If this is what is happening in your LD player (which it should be if it was any of the "newer" LD players from the late eighties on), then YES it is better than Hi-Fi stereo tracks from a VCR. It is PCM audio converted to analog in the player itself, and in most cases, it sounds fantastic.

I am sure some of the better LD junkies out there maybe able to explain in a bit more detail.
 

DeanWalsh

Second Unit
Joined
Apr 17, 1999
Messages
390
I would say the analog sounds very similar to hi-fi vhs. The major drawback if you can only use the analog soundtracks you won't always get stereo sound depending on the discs content. For example if there are any alternate audio tracks such as an audio commentary, isolated music, or even an ac3 track you will lose at least 1 (sometimes both depending on the number of extras) of the analog channels.
If you can track down a player with the ability to play the digital tracks it's well worth it because the difference in sound (even through the rca outputs) is quite dramatic.
 

Philip Hamm

Senior HTF Member
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Jan 23, 1999
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The sound of analog CX encoded LD is probably going to better VHS Hi-Fi 9 times out of 10. It actually sounds very good!
 

JustinBr

Auditioning
Joined
Sep 17, 2001
Messages
7
Is their any chance an analog track can sound better then a dvd like a pcm track does? I was thinking about getting T2 on ld and seeing if it sounds better then the dvd.
 

Philip Hamm

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Jan 23, 1999
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6,874
There is a chance, but it is extremely remote. I'm sure the T2 LD sounds awesome!!!!!! My PCM version was reference DPL for a long time but I have to admit I never listened to the analog tracks.
 

Jesse Skeen

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Apr 24, 1999
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I watch all my LDs one time with the analog tracks (and closed-captions, just to see what they look like) and the analog tracks usually sound very good- in fact, some times I've had to double-check that I wasn't playing the PCM track! Analog tracks can sound awful though, but mostly on older and/or rotted discs.
 

GregK

Screenwriter
Joined
Nov 22, 2000
Messages
1,056
Analog tracks can sound awful though, but mostly on older and/or rotted discs.
Yuck.... Jesse, I almost forgot about laser rot! I remember watching an old LD version of Logan's Run years ago, (Before letterboxing on LD was even in vogue.) and the audio sounded like there was a helicopter running in the background. And with no digital track on that version to fall back on, I just had to deal with it. (In some light cases of "LD rot", one set of tracks, digital or CX analog, were sometimes unaffected.)

But "laser rot" aside, the FM CX encoded analog tracks could be top notch, and certainly better sounding than the beta and VHS hi-fi versions of the day. In fact some of the anti-digital audiophiles continued to choose the analog tracks even after digital tracks became the norm on LD.
 

ChristopherDAC

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Feb 18, 2004
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To put it plainly, the FM audio tracks on a LaserDisc are extremely-high fidelity. In frequency response and dynamic range, they put VHS so-called "Hi-Fi" to shame, and they also do not have all the noise problems of VHS FM audio. The frequency deviation is exceptionally wide, and the signal-to-noise ratio is exceptionally good, with the result that the reproduced audio can be excellent [I'll leave it to the vinyl junkies to argue whether it can be "better than digital"].
 

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