Laserdisc is my new god (1 Viewer)

[Chris Brown]

DTS does go inplace of the PCM track on DTS laserdiscs, but with Dolby Digital Laserdiscs, the Dolby Digital information is encoded in modulated form in one of the analog audio channels. This is why with laserdiscs, you need an RF Demodulator in order to use Dolby Digital because it has to fish it out of the analog track.

 

[Frank Morris]

I would like to ask a brief question concerning laserdisc. I have a Pioneer DVL-700, it has never skipped a beat since I bought new many years ago. I am now in the midst of a electronic upgrade. New receiver, progressive scan DVD, and new HDTV widescreen. I was told that to view my laserdiscs in widescreen I must use the zoom, or use the 4:3 mode with gray bars on the side and black bars top and bottom, reducing the actual viewing screen to about the same as a 30" TV. Is this correct?
Thanks

 

[greg_t]

When watching LD on a 16x9 tv, you must use one of the sets stretch modes to view the image in it's proper aspect ratio. Pioneer sets have the following modes: Natural Wide mode(streches 1.33 aspect ratio material to full screen, used for sources such as regular television), Cinema Wide mode and Zoom mode(both used for non 4x3 material such as LD and non anamaphoric dvd's) and Full (used for anamaphoric DVd and HD sources)and a 4x3 mode. Usually 4x3 mode is only used for material with a 1.33 aspect ratio that you do not want stretched. An example is a LD such as Citizen Kane. The movie has an aspect ratio of 1.33, so you can use the 4x3 mode on the set to see it in the correct proportions. This will result in either grey or black bars on the sides depending on the set. You can also use a zoom mode that will stretch out the 1.33 image to fill the whole screen, in which case you won't get any bars. On the pioneer's, this would be Natural mode. If you are watching LD with 1.85 or higher aspect ratio's, or non-anamaphoric dvd, you would use either cinema wide or zoom modes, which will properly display the image with black bars on the top and bottom. All 16x9 tv's have stretch modes, I quoted the Pioneer because their's are considered by many to be the best. Toshiba also has good stretch modes, and theirs are called Theater Wide 1, Theater wide 2, etc.

The important question is what HDTV you are going to get. You want to make sure you get one with a quality line doubler and good stretch modes. If the set doesn't have quality doublers and stretch modes, laserdisc sources may not look very good. When I was looking for a 16x9 set, I considered LD sources. I found that I liked Pioneer best, then Mitsubishi, then Tosiba. Didn't like the stretch modes on the Hitachi and didn't view Sony or Pansonic. Ended up going with a Pioneer Elite 530. Hope this helps you out some and answers your question.

 

[Frank Morris]

Thanks for the reply. I am getting the Samsung HCL473W. It will be delivered Monday. I guess if push comes to shove, I can move the DVL-700 to the bedroom and witch on the old Tosh 30". I did want to see the Star Wars Special Edition on the new set. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens with the Samsung.