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LaserDisc
- Thread starter Jaeger
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Mortimer Brewster
Member
My wife has been trying to get me to sell/ get rid of my LDs for a long time now.
But she will never get me to let go of my blood red special edition Evil Dead 2 LD.
From my Cold Dead Hands!
You have the original printing version. Super jealous. I have the non red disc version.
Really depends on the film. A lot of films never got a DVD or Blu-Ray release, and some specific versions of films like directors cuts or original theatrical cuts never made the jump to digital either (Song of the South, the Star Wars trilogy, Scream Directors Cut, etc). Some director commentaries and other extras for certain film are also still to this day exclusive to LD.
And some people just enjoy the ritual of picking out a movie, admiring the beautiful box/sleeve art, and switching discs.
Two reasons:
1. The novelty (or nostalgia) of it. It's just a different way to watch movies. It's actually not that different from the appeal of listening to records. Sure, it's not as good as the technology that replaced it, but there's still a lot of fun to be had in the ritual of playing it.
2. Like Snaku said, some movies/shows/features released were different than later versions on DVD/BD/4K. The soundtracks can also be different as well. I talked more in depth about the technical reasons in a post, on the last page.
Been really selective about what LDs to add to the collection lately. Not just due to the space requirements, but because of how heavy they are. I can only imagine how big of a pain it'll be to move these things whenever I eventually relocate to a new city. But when I came across the only two American releases of Evangelion on LD, I had to have them.
CartridgeBlower
Member
Been collecting laserdiscs for about a year now, getting them for a dollar here and there. Recently at a thrift store I even found The Matrix, which I had heard was kind of a collector's item. Didn't know it was worth triple digits though until I came back. Cool that it supposedly has a different color pallet than most of the subsequent versions of the movie on DVD and bluray, before they implemented that greenish tint after the sequels.
Another cool reason to own some LDs, the picture is literally different.
Another cool reason to own some LDs, the picture is literally different.
Fox Mulder
Member
It's nice to stumble on a random LD out thrifting. Ive never even seen the movie, but the artwork is crazy.
Holy crap, after a month and a half of waiting a giant box finally showed up from Japan and its full of giant robots, giant demons, and giant swords! Oh, and giant LD box sets. Got the two Gundam Wing box sets containing the entire series, all four volumes of its OVA sequel Endless Waltz, and seven volumes of one of my personal favorite series, Berserk! Got a killer deal on these and they're all minty. I really couldn't be happier. Now I just need to get the remaining volumes of Berserk, and decide just what the hell I'm gonna spin tonight.
Niiice.
George Oscar Bluth II
Banned
Kinda related to LaserDisc: Disney have started selling "Big Sleeve Edition" Blu-Rays in the UK. Thought they may appeal to those who like LD packaging.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_s...aps&field-keywords=big+sleeve+edition+blu+ray
StarCreator
Member
It looks way better on an old CRT, somehow. The digital conversion and scaling in modern TVs ruin it.Popped in the non special edition star wars laserdisc at my parents house last weekend. The blurry grain was too much. Childhood LD nostalgia has been ruined by HDMI and modern TVs.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Depends on the TV and the player, really. But its not the sort of thing you can easily test at the store or look up readily, either.
https://mobile.twitter.com/i/web/status/812552106997465092
That's the SE on my 8 year old 42" Panasonic LCD. It looks better than that in person (the moire effect is a phone camera artifact)
It takes a little tweaking. And some TVs are better at it than others. And some players are just better than others.
You can mitigate this somewhat with a good video processor. I have one in my AVR that does a good job deinterlacing and scaling. Along with it's 3D comb filter, it can actually make LDs look better on my HDTV than on a CRT at times.
That said, it can't work miracles. Due to the larger size and high resolution, it's very revealing of bad transfers--and the pre-SE versions of Star Wars on LD are a bit lacking (SE looks far better PQ-wise). Old consumer grade CRTs were pretty low resolution and had a tendency to blur the image a bit. This isn't so bad with a poor source, but a good SD source actually lost a bit of resolution. Modern TVs don't usually have these same resolution issues, so some material can look sharper and clearer. That's why, if you can get the right combination of good source material and good equipment, LaserDiscs can still look quite decent on modern TVs.
damn thread making me go read about laserdisc all day.
(oops, wrong thread. Meant this one http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1335589)
(oops, wrong thread. Meant this one http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1335589)
canoli2006
Member
I work in a record store and was listing lots of sealed laserdisc movies on eBay like Titanic, Scarface, The Crow, and Enter the Dragon.
New arrivals! Had no idea The Big-O was released on LD, it wasn't even listed on lddb until a month back. One of the last LD releases in Japan, and due to its unpopularity there at the time, very few copies sold. This is probably going to be the rarest disc in my collection, especially since it's still factory sealed, other than the Hong Kong Dragon Ball GT rental disc I got last year.
I love when I discover something new in this hobby.
Mortimer Brewster
Member
After always seeing these in used shops here in Japan I finally gave in. Bought them mostly for the art to someday frame like I've seen some people do. But after looking at them I really kind of want to get a player and try watching them.
Local used shop has hundreds of discs all for 100 Yen (90 cents about) each. Just grabbed a few I liked. They have a row of players all about 5000 yen each. Don't know which machines would be good.
These are the ones I grabbed:
Local used shop has hundreds of discs all for 100 Yen (90 cents about) each. Just grabbed a few I liked. They have a row of players all about 5000 yen each. Don't know which machines would be good.
These are the ones I grabbed:
StarCreator
Member
I'm partial to Pioneer players if you can find one. Definitely go for one that has auto flip if you can.
Just won an auction for Dragon Ball Z movie 8 for 11 yen! If I wasn't in this hobby purely for collecting I'd be making a killing on eBay.
Damn that's an awesome haul! As for players you can't go wrong with a Pioneer, best quality and most reliable. It's a really enjoyable hobby, especially if you grew up watching movies and anime made before 2000, ton of nostalgia.
Damn that's an awesome haul! As for players you can't go wrong with a Pioneer, best quality and most reliable. It's a really enjoyable hobby, especially if you grew up watching movies and anime made before 2000, ton of nostalgia.
Yes, I have that one. It is the Ghost in the Shell Premium Box Laserdisc, even has the English voice track as well as the Japanese.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if any of the ones they had were Pioneer. Will they say auto flip on front? haha
I think a number of the discs they had used to be part of box sets. I wonder if they just chucked the boxes to sell them loose. Probably could get the whole set of Ghost in the Shell if I went back and looked more. The Macross movie and star wars special editions must have been a box set I think.
The Macross one is definitely part of a box set (I have one). It also came with a large booklet.
I've never seen that GITS set before. Unfortunately, I'm going to have find a one now. It's too nice not to.
StarCreator
Member
Check for an "A > B" button on the front or the remote. I think that's what Pioneer usually labels the feature as. Mine has that, and an analog wheel for seeking.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
There's a list here somewhere that I put together of the player models you should keep an eye out for, lemme dig it up.
edit: Yeah, here you go. It was one page back
Thanks!
I'm at the shop now. They have a CLD-99s which may be the best they have I wonder. Comes with remote as well.
Edit: I guess this is the CLD-3030 in the states and not the same as the CLD-99. Think I'll keep looking.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Got a bunch of laserdiscs from a garage sale last weekend. Got home and pulled out my player, and it's dead. Feels bad. Been about a year since I used it, and it worked absolutely fine then. It's a Pioneer CLD-3080, so a pretty good player, too.
It's a pretty weird thing. It functions fine until I put a disc in. It closes and I'll hear it spin for just a second, then it locks up and none of the buttons do anything. I have to turn it off, then back on and quickly hammer the open button to get the disc out. If you're too slow with the open button, it will try to read the disc and lock up again.
Also, looking around ebay, I saw this:
I don't know what the fuck it is. But, it is intriguing.
It's a pretty weird thing. It functions fine until I put a disc in. It closes and I'll hear it spin for just a second, then it locks up and none of the buttons do anything. I have to turn it off, then back on and quickly hammer the open button to get the disc out. If you're too slow with the open button, it will try to read the disc and lock up again.
Also, looking around ebay, I saw this:
I don't know what the fuck it is. But, it is intriguing.
That's Vol. 6 of Robocop: the Series. It looks like they released several volumes in Asia on LaserDisc, but only one in the US (with this particular volume being exclusive to Taiwan).
Your player probably needs a new belt.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
This something that will be obvious if I crack it open, like a belt driven record player?
I believe so. Crack it open and watch for what's going wrong when you try to play a disc.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Not seeing anything obvious. No loose, or broken belt or anything.
Here's a YouTube video of it. Enjoy the Unsolved Mysteries audio in the background. You can see I'm able to open and close it no problem at the start. I can do it over and over. But, once the disc is in, it stops responding to any button presses.
Here's a YouTube video of it. Enjoy the Unsolved Mysteries audio in the background. You can see I'm able to open and close it no problem at the start. I can do it over and over. But, once the disc is in, it stops responding to any button presses.
That's odd. My best suggestion would be to join the Laserdisc Forever group on Facebook, and upload the video there. Lots of very knowledgeable people there can help you out.
Yes, I have that one. It is the Ghost in the Shell Premium Box Laserdisc, even has the English voice track as well as the Japanese.
I have that too. Great package. Unfortunately the English subtitles are just closed captioning of the English Dub. A Dubtitle. But the fact that they have English at all is pretty rare. My Tenchi Muyo in Love Box Set also has the English dub.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
I brought my CLD-3080 back to life! It seems the door flap isn't closing all the way when I put in a new disc. I have to give it a little extra push, and boom, it comes to life. I was ready to give up as I couldn't see anything wrong inside. Pretty happy surprise.
So, here's the haul I got last weekend that got me to pull it out:
I have my player hooked up to my Sony Trinitron CRT at the moment. I'm curious if I can put it through my XRGB Mini that I use to play my old RGB modded consoles on my HDTV, and have it look okay.
So, here's the haul I got last weekend that got me to pull it out:
$1 each. Seemed like a pretty good deal. I went out to multiple pawn shops and goodwills the last couple of days and found a copy of Get Shorty for $1, and nothing else. All the pawn shops said they hadn't seen this stuff in years. Find that hard to believe since I've seen them a few times in my year and a half working at Goodwill. But, who knows.
I have my player hooked up to my Sony Trinitron CRT at the moment. I'm curious if I can put it through my XRGB Mini that I use to play my old RGB modded consoles on my HDTV, and have it look okay.
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