Return of The Living LD: A Laserdisc appreciation thread (1 Viewer)

[JeremySt]

There are a few Laserdisc threads going, but I thought I would start a generalized one, where old pros and newbies could share their love or hate for the biggest format in Home Theater!
A mere 2 weeks ago, I read a thread on the HTF about the paranoia regarding the eventual DVD releases of the Original Star Wars Trilogy. A fell for the hype, gave in, and bought my first Laserdisc player.
I am only 23 years old, so Laserdisc was fading away as a cutting edge format as I found myself with disposable income. I was always blown away by Laserdisc, and had always wanted one, but its restrictive cost, had always kept me away. In 1998, I bought a DVD player and DAS BOOT and my thought was "I'll NEVER buy a laserdisc player."
A co-worker of mine had a collection of laserdiscs about 100 deep, and he was always spouting about how much better than DVD it was, but I just figured it was because he didn't want to cash out for DVD.
Flash forward to 2002, I am on my 5th DVD player, and I own 350 DVDs. Laserdisc was the farthest thing from my mind. But that darn HTF got me all worked up about Star Wars. I bought a Pioneer CLD-M301 for $55 bucks at a local pawn shop. After owning it for only 4 days, I decided I needed a better one. I work at an HT store, so started asking some of our customers if they had a Laserdisc player they wanted to get rid of. I only found two customers who owned players: 1 guy who would never sell his, and another who would. (the first guy is a huge SW freak) I bought a Marantz LV500 and a collection of about 40 discs for $75. Mostly crappy pan and scan titles.
I then asked my co-worker if he still had his Laserdiscs, and if he wanted to sell them. His player was defunct, and his discs collecting dust. Joy of all Joys, he GAVE them to me. the '89 Star Wars Trilogy, Episode IV THX, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Last Crusade, Blade Runner Criterion, Hearts of Darkness, THX wow, and a bunch of already-on-DVD titles.
I then purchased The Definitive Star Wars Collection online for $75 , King Kong (1933) Criterion, and Jaws Signature Collection. I love the look and feel of Laserdisc. The beautiful cover art, the wonderful presentation, and the simple pride of ownership. However, if all the titles I purchased came out on DVD with all the same features, I would sell the LDs! Its the content I want, not the format. Laserdisc is like the Cadillac of home theater. Big, luxerios, and beatiful. DVD is like Porche, fast, high performance, and small.

 

[Mike Friedrich]

It's time to bring back LD's as a HD disc format that is feasible today.

I would much prefer a 12" HD silver platter over D-VHS tape or having to wait 3 or more years for HD-Dvd.

 

[Mike Friedrich]

It's time to bring back LD's as a HD disc format that is feasible today.
I would much prefer a 12" HD silver platter over D-VHS tape or having to wait 3 or more years for HD-Dvd.
bodymov'n

 

[Mattias_ka]

It's time to bring back LD's as a HD disc format that is feasible today.
I would much prefer a 12" HD silver platter over D-VHS tape or having to wait 3 or more years for HD-Dvd.

Well, there ARE already a HD format on LD, it's called MUSE. It was the analog hi-vision format in japan and there was about 100 diffrent MUSE disc released. Many of them look better than the DVD version.

 

[Mike Friedrich]

Well where are they ? All I've heard anything remotely pertaining to a consumer based HD format here is the DVHS and sometime in the future a HD-Dvd.

Japan has always had newer formats ahead of us, so are you suggesting that we will be seeing the HD-Laserdiscs and players here in North America, if so I'm ready !


bodymov'n :cool

 

[Mattias_ka]

Mike Friedrich, You can search on MUSE here and on avsforum.com and you get the info you need.

 

[Mike Friedrich]

~ ok thanx Mattlas
bodymov'n

 

[Mike Friedrich]

Mattlas, what timing, I happen to be watching Insomnia[1997] right now, great flick !
bodymov'n

 

[Grant B]

I have managed to pick up 500 to 600 lds in the past couple of years, a good deal that have not been released on DVD.

But also some like the 3 twilight zone box sets which I picked up for $20 each...which is less than the price of 1 DVD
The DVDs hold 3 episodes and the LD boxs about 20!!!!

 

[Mattias_ka]

Grant B Your story is like mine. I have also gotten over 500 LD the past 1,5-2 years and most of the for VERY little money. And when I got my HLD-X9 player I got a superb picture from them.
I also got the TZ box-sets last week, around 20$ each for me too and in great shape with great PCM audio.
Thank god for DVD...Now I can get all the LD's I always wanted for far less

 

[Dave Anderson]

Laserdisc never died for most collectors. Some abandoned ship and sold off everything, anticipating eventual DVD releases (it still happens here - keep you eye on the for sale forums). Unfortunately, not every laserdisc is going to be ported to DVD. There's already been lists posted of hundred of laserdiscs that aren't on DVD, whether it be the movie itself or just the extras. Just look at Criterion. We'll never seen Bram Stoker's Dracula: CC, not to mention the dozens of others that have yet to see DVD. Looks at the Jaws: SE - missing 1 hour of the documentary.

For me, there's always going to be something on LD that isn't on DVD. Now, if a DVD comes out that's going to blow away the LD, then of course I'll get the DVD. Whether I sell the LD or not depends. Once a DVD is announced, the value of the LD plummets. If the LD is P&S and the DVD is 16x9 WS, then it's a no brainer. But if it's a WS LD with a good transfer, I probably won't bother with the DVD right now. Hey, I'm only 25. There's going to be other formats coming in my lifetime. Why update from LD to DVD to HD-DVD, etc, etc., when you don't have to. The titles in my collection get watched 2-3 times a year max. It makes no sense to upgrade from LD to DVD if it's not a vast improvement (WS LD to 16x9 WS DVD isn't a vast improvement to me).

Too many people think DVD is the be all and end all of formats. I think anyone who has 200+ DVDs in their collection is going to be spending a lot of time "trading up" to a better, HD format in the not-so-distant future. If that's what floats your boat then so be it. For me, I'm keeping what I consider "must own" titles, which doesn't come anywhere near 200.

 

[AllanN]

I just purchased a LD player. I know they made VE for laserdisc, but are there any other calibration LD's out there?

 

[Bob Black]

It's great to see threads about laserdiscs again. I still have a Yamaha player that is about 5 years old now, and it still works great. I recently built my dream theater in my new home, and the LD player has a spot in my component rack along with a Marantz DVD player, Dwin line doubler, and B&K Ref 20. My guests see nothing more thrilling than watching the Star Wars Trilogy remasters on LD in full Dolby Digital! The picture is excellent - not quite DVD quality - but pretty damn close! I had over 500 LD's at the height of my collecting, but I sold most after the dawn of DVD. I still have Star Wars, ET boxed set, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella box set, Sleeping Beauty box set, Lion King box set, etc. I agree that this format was the most beautiful in terms of packaging and presentation. I think it's worth having a player just for owning the Star Wars trilogy in widescreen with dolby digital!
http://avanticomputers.com/bob/theater.htm

 

[SHAWN SZILEZY]

I have to agree with Bob. It does my heart good to see posts of this nature again. LD's have always been reserved for the fanatics of the hobby (like me). Back in the day, you never saw a commercial for VHS and LD like you see now for VHS and DVD. I started out about 10 years ago with LD's. My first player was a Sony MDP-605, which I modded for AC-3, and I currently own a Pioneer Elite CLD-79 which still gets a lot of play. Whether it be from SW:SE, all my DTS titles, the Indiana Jones Trilogy, or the hundred or so other titles. When other HTF members come over for "Movie Nights", LD's still get demo calls. LD never died...they just became more affordable.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I just purchased a LD player. I know they made VE for laserdisc, but are there any other calibration LD's out there?

Yes, it is called "A Video Standard". It was the predecessor to "Video Essentials". No Dolby Digital.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

There are enough LD fans out there that prices are shooting up on titles like 'Star Wars', even though they pressed a ton.
Sounds to me like very few people sold out, they just quit talking about it online because of all the childish bashers of the format.

 

[Jay Sylvester]

I had always wanted a laserdisc player as a teenager (I'll be 26 in a few weeks), but couldn't swing the cost. I even refused to buy a VCR instead because of its inferior picture quality, much like I skipped over cassettes and went straight to CD.

I bought a CLD-79 back in January, and I just received my LD-S9 on Monday. I've been buying up LDs like crazy because of the superior sound quality, and now with the S9 the image quality is oh-so-close to DVD.

I used to think that DVD was the ultimate home theater experience available to consumers, but LD has taught me that sacrifices were made to make a smaller disc possible.

 

[Aaron Garman]

Hello all. Ah, the great laserdisc. I'm 20 now, but I have been a fan of this format since I was in the 7th grade. My first laserdisc experience was T2 and it was all over after that. Funny, I have several titles and still have not bought the T2 Box set because the DVD UE is so good. Am I missing anything by not having that box set? I also am in the group that thinks DVD is the best thing to happen to laserdisc: it made them cheaper! When one could get the Beatles Anthology Boxset for $30, that's a deal!

Aaron Garman

 

[Brett C]

The LD of the T2 boxset is great, it came out with three different colour face plates.The first one was silver second was gold and the final was a deep blue(I have the gold one).the only thing missing from the DVD that I can tell is the Guns and Roses music video which was excluded I think cause of the now very common tied up music rights issue.Other than that all the extras were ported over to the DVD.Ive kept all my LD's for their pcm soundtracks and the many extras and DTS soundtracks that are nowhere to be seen on DVD...And yes they have superior packaging and artwork on the LD covers and box sets compared to DVD.I think DVD is the better format,but its not the collectors format that Laserdisc was and still is...

 

[Rachael B]

I too like the idea of a 12" HD disc format but analog Muse isn't the answer. Muse LD's can look better than DVD counterparts but usually don't. Muse from film-based content was difficult to maintain proper black levels and for whatever reason (?), all Muse discs I have viewed have some degree of a green tint.
JURASSIC PARK looks amazing mostly on Muse LD but it has some scenes where greenish shadows mar the pic some, particularly on people's faces. Inbetween these several bad stretchs the disc absolutely destroys the DVD. STARGATE is stunning on Muse LD. It has none of the green shadow on faces problem but the entire film has a slight green tint. Muse never really got perfected and when it was starting to improve the studios killed it. They drew a 480i/p line in the sand!
The studios denied LD-G capability to the Muse format too. They all have "burned-in" Japanese subtitles. The usual paranoia...
If space is the problem, isn't it, I'm all for a bigger digital video disc! 8, 10, 12 inches all sound good to me. Petite size is no virtue a far as I'm concerned. Performance is the yardstick! I refuse to let D-VHS in my house because it has, as of yet not fully defined anti-consumer copy-guard features (read anti-utility), and it relies on the same myriad of deluxe plastic transport parts as VHS! I'm sure D-VHS will be tempting when seen in a showroom with a brand new tape. I don't want a crippled VCR and I do want optical media!
If you have one of the great LD players the format rivals DVD well enough except on 2.35 to 1 material for the most part. I keep right on buying LD's. THE GREAT McGINTY is my latest arrival. I do lub's 'dem big discus'es!