Are laserdiscs worth getting or am I better off with DVDs?

I couldn't afford one. I wanted one so bad! I was tempted to trade-in my car on one...

 

Curious as to whether the LD diehards here are using an outboard video scaler or relying on the internal scaling built into modern digital TVs.

I'm running my LD-S2 into an Onkyo TX-NR818 receiver, which has a dual-core video processor with separate processing for analog and digital sources. Analog video sources are upscaled to 1080p by the Vida VHD1900, and 1080p sources are upscaled to 4K via Marvell Qdeo (irrelevant to me as I don't have a 4K TV). The NR-818 has been discontinued, and I believe the replacement model unfortunately did away with the Vida processing.

The key feature of this receiver as far as LD is concerned is its ability to zoom a 4:3 LBX LD to 16:9 anamorphic without an apparent loss of resolution. Instead of a small LBX image displayed within a 4:3 pillarbox in the center of my 51" plasma, I get an image using the full width of the screen, as if I were watching an anamorphic DVD. No, it's not Blu-ray, but accepting the limits of the format and the video processing, it's quite watchable and looks better than I'd have imagined LD could look on a modern digital set.

The only drawback to the Onkyo is that the HDMI handshaking can be flaky, and I occasionally have to power-cycle it before it properly detects a video or audio signal. I haven't gotten around to checking to see if they've issued any firmware updates to address this.

 

As my friend Brett sez, "Pioneer sells 'em by the pound".

 

I've started running my LD into my Onkyo TX-NR828 and playing around with scaling. I haven't watched a movie all of the way through, but the results are decent. The only one I've tried it on is The Matrix, which didn't have a very good transfer to begin with. I need to find one with a known better image and try it out again.

 

People are often fascinated by dead and obsolete junk, especially on the internet.

 

That is the clincher. However I recently picked up one of the older Panasonic DVD recorders and it has one hell of a comb filter. If you run the composite in it will separate the chroma back out over component and when fed into a CRT the difference is staggering. At times it can compare to the earlier DVD ports.

I like collecting these for cheap, but the prices for some are ridiculous. The big draw are the lossless soundtracks and sometimes theatrical mixes being ported-especially in the dawn of digital surround in the 90's. You lose all the dynamic range compression and this can be a big help even on mono titles. (Was just spinning through Casino Royale and the score is drastically improved. You can now even hear the tiny bits of noise on the top end which roughly matches my mono LP.)
It's also a treat to see older prints being used with no fuss, like the VHS etc. I grew up with. My biggest draw into it was the Bond series and Star Wars; for I just wanted to see the films in their original state as I did in childhood-but with the original audio mixes. Of course it doesn't help that the artwork is typically gorgeous.

The OT release may happen, but to date I have not seen a single video issue best the Japanese Special Collection or the US Technidisc reissue. They each have the very slightly modified 1985 Dolby Stereo remix and are amazing on a CRT-particularly the latter.

People may look at me as if I'm crazy, but I can then blow their socks off with a $2 disc. In short, just have fun with it.

 

I guess thinking about it they did have a considerable pron section, but I was just renting mainstream stuff myself. I do remember renting Japanese disks like "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" where everyone's naughty bits were airbrushed out, though.

 

The appeal to me at least was that for much of the last fifteen years I could finally get all of those titles that I couldn't afford back in the 90s. I've thinned the collection several times already, even simply tossing them out if they're not collectible. It certainly isn't worthwhile hauling them to someplace like Half Priced Books where they look at you like you are crazy.

I'd like to get it back down to maybe 100 of my favorites.

There were two local stores that made a lot of noise in the last five years about stocking Laserdiscs due to their collectability and uncompressed sound. Both of them have since stopped selling them.

 

I just rely on the scaler on my Panasonic Plasma set; it does a respectable job. Allow me to recommend True Lies. I always thought that the transfer was very well done, and it looks respectable even on the 60" plasma. On a smaller CRT it would look gorgeous. Also, I always felt that The Wizard of Oz was particularly well done, mine's the 50th Anniversary edition.

 

Oh, I just so happen to have the DTS True Lies and it's been years since I watched it. Thanks for the tip!

 

Or, maybe there are more people out there than you realize that are still passionate fans of a still worthwhile technology that is still worth owning for a myriad of reasons.

 

There are plenty, it's just most of them are more realistic about the format's drawbacks than you are.

 

And what drawbacks about laserdisc don't I know about Mr Wizard?

 

! I have hundreds upon hundreds of Academy Ratio films that are purr-fect for LD....and the concert LD's. Besides, if I wanna throw the lot away, I'd need one of those construction dumpsters in my driveway....

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC

 

Now, don't you think that Laserdisc is on the good for us, bad for them, side of the NTSC format divide! Beyond that, the suggestion is a poop.

 

I think it's only worth owning for the handful of titles still not available. For that, it's worth keeping the machines for however long it takes to extract the material to a digital file... because the machines are not going to last, and new parts are no longer available. In fact, Pioneer is in the process of exiting the consumer electronics business, selling all of their small part of the business to Onkyo as of six months ago:

http://www.whathifi.com/news/pioneer-to-sell-av-business-to-onkyo

 

Nope, but here in LA we had the one and only... Laser Blazer !

 

LMFAO. Are you claiming that I didn't know laserdiscs display in the NTSC format? Seriously? You are, of course, wrong. Let me know when you come up with something.....anything, that makes sense.

 

No, I am saying you are willfully denying that it is a drawback.

 

Dave's Video on Ventura Blvd. near Laurel Canyon was a fantastic store for its time. I know Dave was very bitter when they lost a lot of ground to established media stores like Tower Video when DVD took over the business and it became commoditized. This story on Ain't It Cool News is a good rundown of how Dave's Video (aka "The Laser Place") operated and how Dave Lukas was as a person:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/14101

I really loved laserdiscs during the 1980s and early 1990s, despite its many flaws. But I also saw very quickly when digital took over the post business by 1994 that the end was near, and realize that there's a natural ebb and flow to life, and death eventually comes to everything... especially video formats. I think it's useless to pretend that laserdisc is a viable format in 2015, and to me it's not interesting as anything except as an interesting footnote to the world of 20 years ago. It's not quite in the same category as an LP, because those are still being produced in small quantities and new turntables will be available for many years in the future. But laserdisc... not so much. Dead and buried, gone, geshtunkata. To paraphrase the great John Cleese:

Laserdisc has passed on! This format is no more! It has ceased to be! LD has expired and gone to meet its maker! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! This disc spins no more! If you hadn't nailed the disc to the table, it'd be pushing up the daisies! Laserdisc has kicked the bucket, shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! It's f***in' snuffed it!..... THIS IS AN EX-FORMAT!!

 

there is more than a handful of titles not available on BR or DVD. Once again, in some twisted effort to prove you're right, you fudge the truth. Second, you keep conveniently ignoring that laserdiscs carried uncompressed digital PCM stereo soundtracks, which are far superior to the Dolby Digital crapola that most DVDs have. This is especially important for concert laserdiscs, that is, if you value good audio sound. What don't you get about that? Laserdiscs SOUND better than DVD, and always will. Many laserdiscs LOOK better than many DVDs which are plagued with terrible digital compression artifacts. There are thousands and thousands of people that do understand this, which is why they still keep laserdisc players around. Which is why concert titles are much sought after. On top of that, due to rights issues, there are hundreds and hundreds of music and concert laserdiscs which will NEVER be released on DVD or Blu Ray. In addition, the laserdisc format is macrovision free, enabling people to copy discs to computer or DVD recorder. In addition, there are many movies released which carried specific commentary tracks which were NOT reproduced on DVD or BR, as well as some other features. There were a number of Criterion laserdiscs never released on DVD by that label. We laserdisc owners all understand that eventually the machines aren't going to last. In the meantime, I have been enjoying the format for an additional 17 years after people like you proclaimed it was dead.

What I don't get is your seething hostility because some people have hung onto their laserdisc players and still enjoy the format, for the myriad reasons mentioned in this thread. Why do you care that some of us still have working laserdisc players and incorporate them into our home theater systems? Seriously, I don't get it. You act like you're pissed that there are valid reasons to play laserdiscs. Do you think we don't also own DVD players and Blu Ray players? Do you think we are ONLY playing laserdiscs? Why the need to denigrate the laserdisc format and point out its limitations, which we all have long understood? Why ignore the positive reasons to enjoy the LD format? I think the rantings here of some of you anti-LD format are bordering on psychosis. Seriously, chillax and let people enjoy what they want to enjoy.

 

Not surprising, but still a sad ending for a company that was once a mighty force in consumer electronics.

 

where did I deny that the NTSC system is a drawback, and in what context?

 

I'm ignoring your question. Re-read your responses. Every single post you made reeks of the "seething hostility" you just accused Vidiot of.

I like laserdiscs. But not enough to refuse to concede the they are a dead and obsolete format today.