Should I Get Laserdisc? (1 Viewer)

[Christ Reynolds]

i have a crappy old sony player, but i love laserdisc. too bad ebay is the only place i can find any lds anymore. but if you are a fan of boogie nights, then you MUST get a copy of it on criterion ld, the john holmes documentary 'exhausted' (not the full documentary) and pt anderson's commentary are worth the price paid. i also have the same demodulator as brent mentioned, but i havent had the chance to use it yet, hopefully my tax return will allow me to snag a cld-d704 or cld-59 from ebay for the ac-3 rf out. here is a link to the manual on denon's website. and a search on ebay will show that you can get one for about $100-150. although the only one thats up there now is selling for 180 i believe.

CJ

 

[Mark_Wilson]

Isn't that commentary on Boogie Night's SE?

You can get the entire 'Exhausted' documentary on dvd for $10.

 

[Damin J Toell]

Isn't that commentary on Boogie Night's SE?

Almost. Anderson updated it with some further comments from Luis Guzman and another cast member who slips my mind at the moment. Guzman responds to all of the accusations made about him by the rest of the cast.

DJ

 

[ChrisJefferys]

He might be referring to Anderson's separate commentary track on Exhausted.

Just got a LD player a couple of years ago and am having lots of fun with it. Wish I picked one up years ago. I would like to upgrade it someday so it can do AC-3, but I guess I should hurry before all the necessary equipment becomes impossible to find.

 

[Jeff_HR]

Eric did you ever buy a Laserdisc player? If so, what is your experience with it & finding discs to play? Thanks.

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I'm considering picking up a player just for the Happy Harmonies box-set and Walt Disney animated short compilations (Kids Is Kids, etc) and holiday-themed specials.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

He might be referring to Anderson's separate commentary track on Exhausted

i was. over 2 years ago shortly after my post, i bought a pioneer cld-d704 and denon demodulator. i dont use the player as much as i used to, but i'm still glad i bought it.

CJ

 

[Jeff D Han]

I have had my laserdisc player for years (Pioneer DVL-909),
and I rarely use it because of my growing DVD collection.
I'm also glad I still have it in working order for some
of my lasers that won't make it to DVD (Criterions with
commentary tracks, and the original Star Wars).

 

[ElevSkyMovie]

What is all this talk about AC3? I thought LD had pcm tracks on it?

 

[Steve Tannehill]

AC3 came out on laserdisc in the 90's to support Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. It was encoded in one of the analog channels. DTS came out about the same time, but it hijacked the PCM digital tracks. Thus, AC3 laserdisc was reverse-compatible with playback on all digital players. DTS required a new decoder.

Ah, those were the days--seeing the "True Lies" demo at Incredible Universe--over and over and over and over again.

- Steve

 

[John Sparks]

I still have 350 LD's and still use my DVL-700.

There are so many I have not been able to see yet, it's not funny.

Many animated and box sets such as Gable, Harlow, Crawford, West, etc.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

I am very happy with my ~100 Japanese Animation LDs [I am always buying more] and 2 working LD players. The AC-3 out from the 704, processed by a Yamaha DDP-1 outboard unit I bought for $25, sounds good but I only have 2 AC-3 titles anyway. Much of this stuff was made to be released on NTSC video, and mastering practices mean it probably would not look any better on DVD; and with animation, who can resist using the "special playback functions" on the numerous CAV discs? I have not yet had any reason to buy any DVDs or DVD players; when a High Definition disc format [other than the unsupported HiVision LD standard] is released I may buy in to that, but for what I want there has been no incentive to go DVD.

 

[Dick]

As long as companies like Universal continue making insane, bone-headed decisions to release 2.35:1 films such as ICEMAN and COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT in pan-and-scan on DVD, laser disc is a requirement. The 12" format seems to be experiencing a renaissance of sorts among those who finally realize DVD isn't necessarily coughing up the definitive versions of many titles. Aside from the obvious supplementary materials, Criterion has yet to release ANY DVD edition of many of their laser titles - foreign films such as FORBIDDEN GAMES; FIRES ON THE PLAIN; UGETSU, etc. A huge number of MGM and Warner Bros catalog titles on laser remain unreleased on DVD. Plus, there is simply that gorgeous 12 x 12" cover art, and liner notes and inserts that DVD's are going away from. I am constantly scouring eBay for used copies of laser discs (mostly cheap) that I would like to have. It's by no means a dead format.

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

For those looking for an AC-3 solution for their LDs, there was a nice preamp from Sony, the E-800, that had an onboard demodulator. I bought one a couple of years back from a fellow HTFer.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I am constantly scouring eBay for used copies of laser discs (mostly cheap) that I would like to have. It's by no means a dead format

I get a real laugh when so called "experts" declare the LD dead. I too have won many LDs off of eBay that are not on DVD or are better versions than DVD releases, including the WS version of "COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT". I believe it will be a very, very, very LONG time before I am without a LD player.