Anyone Else Rockin' Outdated Video Formats?

Still watch both VHS and LD regularly, mostly for stuff on VHS that isn't on a better format or for the LDs that I never upgraded. Both can look pretty good on a HD set if they are well mastered. I watched an EP VHS tape last night that was just awful.

 

Half Price Books still takes Laserdiscs for resale, and occasionally a decent collection will come in with some nice titles; Criterion, music, and classic B&W are what I watch for. Still, I see a lot of the same old stuff, mostly 90s movies long since upgraded to DVD or even Blu-ray.

 

Recently found a MIB Pioneer DVL-700 LD/DVD combo player. Works like a charm and hardly ever used. The picture is a little soft when compared to my rugged and problematic D702, but now I've got a player that works perfectly and even has the rf-ac3 out.
Now if I can just find a rf demodulator that isn't crazy expensive...

 

You might be able to buy some kind of old pre with one built in, Marantz AV9000, perhaps, or a late 90's-early 00's Elite for cheap. How crazy are the prices of RF units. I have two. One has never been used, the other 20 hours or less. I know I paid about $200-$250, each....back around the turn of the century. I thought I might need 'em. The one I've used is a Sony. The other one is a Nakamichi. I opened it's box to confirm that it appeared undamaged but never used it or even took it out.

In my big system, all LD is either PCM or DTS....unless it's one of my oldest LD's with CX Sound. Most of the LD's I still watch are old movies, 50's and before. Audio isn't much of an issue. I doubt I'll fool with AC-3 again on the big system.

PM me if need be....

 

I picked up my RF unit at about the same time. It hasn't been used much though I do occasionally dig out one of the few AC-3 LDs I still have and make sure it still works. I was a much bigger fan of the DTS format and still have all of my discs from the big LD fire-sale around 1999-2000, when the format was tanking.

I can still remember how excited we were when the first major studio DVD with BOTH Dolby Digital and DTS audio tracks appeared - I think it was The Red Violin.

 

Yup, still have a few DVDs laying around and even a Pioneer DV-578A to play them on.

 

I have about 15 of the DTS LD's and they do sound consistently good but some of the AC-3 LD's are right there. I'm not so sure that Phantom Menace, AC-3, isn't the single, best sounding LD that I've heard. I've been think about watching Titanic on DTS LD. The LD player hasn't been on for double-digits weeks. It needs the dust blown out. Same for the LD.

I have D-Theater tapes and the DTS is about the same as LD but the Doldy is 640. My impression is that high-bit Dolby is as good or better than DTS, after the D-tape experience. I suppose it's all moot now, with True and Master ruling the universe....

 

I owned the RCA VCR and Videodisc player seen in these commercials. I still have the 1979 model VCR, I bought it at a yard sale for $5 in 1993 and it still works perfectly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp7LQ5z4AIc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vJTxjMo5lg&feature=related

 

And yet nobody here admits to having a D-VHS deck?

 

I just did a couple of posts ago. I still use it for an occasional recording or to play D-Theater tapes.

 

Anybody who does, laserdisc owners will come over and do this to them:

 

Wow, 14 hours of blank tape was $100 in 1979. That's just short of $300 in today's money !

 

I have a portable TV that I used to be able to plug into my trucks cigarette lighter and watch local stations, now after the digital conversion, it doesn't work.

 

Same here, I play all three.

 

In fact I watched both a LaserDisc and a VHS tape today.

The LaserDisc was HIGH NOON (since news about the future BluRay appeared) and I wanted to listen to Howard Suber's excellent commentary track. It's so good you should get college credits for listening to it.

The VHS was a movie that's never been available on a region 1 DVD, MURDER IN MIND, spurred on by the Mary Louise Parker thread.

Harry

 

I only have a few ac3 LDs as of now, so the demodulator is more of a curiosity than a definite need. Usually they're around $75-200 but I always seem to miss the ones that sell for $20.
Though limited to just 384 kbp/s, the Dolby 5.1 mixes are usually the theatrical mixes without added compression/tweaking. This makes them more palatable and enjoyable listens. I've heard a transfer of the Japanese LD Dolby 5.1 EX for The Phantom Menace and agree-it sounds phenomenal.
DTS LD is incredible. I found The Shadow in a dollar bin and it gave my room a workout! The DTS ones made for Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies are high on my wish list.

All that being said, I've really been enjoying the Dolby Surround mixes on the LD's Digital tracks. Though it's sometimes a little muddy and not as defined as a discrete 5.1 mix, in the late 80's through mid 90's there's some really great surround usage. Recently I was stunned by the sound on these older mixes of Goldeneye and Batman Forever, the latter having great natural bass in every channel which is nowhere to be found on the DVD's DTS mix.

 

My original SL-7200 Betamax from March of 1976 -- almost exactly 36 years ago -- was $1295 for the deck, and $14.95 per hour of tape, a K60 videocassette. Sometimes, you could find it discounted to maybe $12.95 per hour. And that was back in the day when I was making about $90 a week.



"Let's see... do I eat, or do I record this movie? Eat, or movie?" Many difficult decisions in those days.

 

I have two old TVs with dvd and vcr players installed.
I also have about 230 prerecorded VHS tapes with a few concerts that I recorded off of the TV.

 

I'm still rockin' multiple VHS VCRs and analog cable. I'm not a luddite; I just want to get my time shifting done reliably. However, even my analog video days are numbered; the cable system next to my territory has gone with digital tuning adapters, and it's only a matter of time before mine does, too.

 

What am I supposed to do, stand in front of a mirror and humiliate my reflection...I have both formats. It was S-T-R-A-N-G-E using D-VHS after Laserdisc.

 

How'd you feel after Blu-ray?

 

My RCA SGT-250 is still rockin' 30 years later. Photo from CED Magic

 

I was full and all on the value menu...

The first 6 months of Blur-ray were so poor, I wondered if HD-DVD should win.

 

I use a Pioneer Laserdisc player for CDs...so if I find Laserdiscs in a thrift store cheap

I can get things I wouldn't normally buy like "A Few Good Men"..and that Chaplin movie

 

Still have a working Laserdisc-player and about 140 LD-titles (~97% of which are NTSC-titles).