Laser Disc Player Hookup FAQ? (1 Viewer)

[Matt Stone]

Finally took the plunge and have an LD Player and Star Wars on the way...just need to know how to hook it up to get best results. The one coming is a Pioneer CLD-505...

thx for the info...

 

[Matt Stone]

I see you guys are jumping at the chance to answer my question...
Anyway, I did find an old faq on this board, after searching for a while...so it's all good, but I do have one question...
For audio hookups...so I need to connect both the analog L/R channels and the Digital Optical?

 

[Phil A]

The digital output should be for digital sound that is not Dolby Digital 5.1 such as DTS (into a DTS decoder) or sound that is recorded in digital which many LDs are but some of the old ones may not be and you will need to use the analog jacks.

 

[Matt Stone]

Okay...as I may have mentioned before, for the time being I will only have Star Wars: The Definitive Collection...this has digital sound...therefore I'd only need the toslink connected for the time being, correct?

I understand the whole RF/Dolby Digital thing...I'm more concerned with SW: Definitive Collection.

 

[Jin E]

Yes, hook up both Analog and digital outputs. Some LD's use the Analog tracks for commentary tracks, etc. Some older LD's don't have digital sound, and are analog only. Just remember, just because your LD player has a S-video out does not mean that the Svideo output is of higher quality then the regular composite video out. VIdeo quality on the Svideo portion dpends on the quality of the comb filter used in th LD player. Sometimes, it can be a cheap notch filter. It's not until you hit the high end LD player do you get the ones with adaptive 3d-y/c digital comb filters. My RCA and my Pioneer both use a cheaper analog comb filter, and I get much better results out of the comb filter in the TV. I go so far as having both Svideo and composite hooked up to my TV. Sometimes I'm lazy and don't feel like cycling through the inputs on my TV to get to the composite input (my LD is the only thing hooked up composite).

 

[Michael Reuben]

Okay...as I may have mentioned before, for the time being I will only have Star Wars: The Definitive Collection...this has digital sound...therefore I'd only need the toslink connected for the time being, correct?

You will get the film soundtrack through the toslink connection, but not the commentaries. Those require an analog connection.

M.

 

[Matt Stone]

Okay...that makes sense. Can you just cycle though the different audio tracks via a button on the remote then?

 

[Michael Reuben]

Can you just cycle though the different audio tracks via a button on the remote then?

Yes, but only if you're using an analog connection. The digital output will get you what's on the digital tracks, but not what's on the analog. An AC-3 output will get you what's on the right analog track, but the signal will be garbage unless the disc is AC-3 encoded.
The thing to remember about LD is that it's essentially an analog medium. Everything that's digital was a later add-on, including PCM, DD and DTS. So access is a lot clumsier than with a purely digital format.
To cycle through ALL of the soundtracks on any given LD using the analog connections, you'll use two buttons on the remote. One button will select the digital or analog tracks; another will select left, right or both. Many LDs just have the film's soundtrack on both digital and analog, but others devote the analog tracks to commentaries (sometimes separate commentaries on left and right), music-only tracks or AC-3 data (which will sound like static through the analog connection).
I have great affection for LDs, but they were a clumsy format.
M.

 

[Matt Stone]

Yah...definitely sounds clumsy.

I think I understand what you are saying though. Will the LD specify which track is located where. For example...will the Star Wars Definitive Collection specify where the PCM track is located? ...or do I just cylce though until I find what I believe to be the correct track?

 

[Michael Reuben]

For example...will the Star Wars Definitive Collection specify where the PCM track is located?

Since PCM is a digital format, there's only one place it can be: the digital track. Your 505 will default to digital sound; if you want analog, you'll have to select it manually. There should be an on-screen display when you switch between the two.

M.

 

[Matt Stone]

Yah...In hindsight, that is a stupid question
Thanks so much for all the help!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Does the 505 even have a digital output? You'll want to hook up the digital audio and analog audio. For the audio commentaries, you'll have to switch your receiver to analog input and switch the audio track on the LD player by hitting the "A/D" or "AUDIO" button on the remote. Believe it or not the way it switches tracks is at least as easy as DVD probably easier. No menus, the same four tracks are always available (though often one of them is muted as the AC-3 RF encoded analog channel). Have fun with the slo-mo and pause special effects on those definitive collection discs. Particularly the space battle at the end of Jedi which is awesome. The prologic sound on those discs is pretty fantastic also.

If you can find them I highly recommend buying the CLV THX movie only versions as well. They should be easy to find and cheap, and the fewer side/disc breaks make them easily worth it.

Enjoy!

 

[Grant B]

I got the Japanese remastered box (star wars is now called a new hope) and TPM.

They look and sound pretty incredible.

You can not turn off the japanese subtitles on the discs and they become annoying

Buy a big sheet of cardboard and cover them up. A great $2 solution.

I do hope they release the others in laserdisc to complete the set...but I doubt it

 

[Matt Stone]

Phillip...Yes, the 505 has optical out...of course I haven't actually looked at this unit myself, but I've read multiple places that optical out is a feature.