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

But it is not a dead and obselete format. I, and many others here, have posted dozens and dozens of reasons in this thread why its not. I just summarized some of them in the last few posts. Just because you and a few others are on some kind of psychotic irrational mission to prove that you are right, which causes you to simply ignore (or not understand) the very valid reasons why people still play and enjoy the format does not mean you are correct, smarter, or more hip. It just makes you look petty and silly.

 

There hasn't been a movie released on laserdisc in 15 years... Isn't that pretty much the definition of obsolete?

We all like LDs here and we're well aware of virtues of being equipped to play one in this day and age, but we're also not making it out to be something it isn't. Some people like 8-tracks too, nothing wrong with that, but that's just not for me or 99% of people on the planet.


It seems to me that those who are regularly accusing others of hostility and twisting the truth in this thread are actually the same people who are consistently doing just that.

 

I think that Beethoven was a format, in his time.... I bet he had a Laserdisc player too...so he could watch the Spanish Inquisition!

 

I bought a player a few years ago (mainly to play the "Let It Be" LD) and latter bought a few discs. I have to say, while the technology was impressive for the time, I'd still take my BluRay player any day.

The quality of the video reminds me of early DVD. I'm guessing this is because early DVD used the same video masters as Laserdiscs did. The comparing sound to the same DVD releases, I will say that the audio is a lot more "dynamic" than the DVD versions. This may also down the mastering or early audio encoding rather than the medium itself (this is something BluRay has address anyway).

Laserdiscs didn't come to the Australian mass market until the early 1990's, so for me it's more a frill for my inner teenage self than being after a "supirior" AV format. As soon as I track down a RF AC3 converter, I'll start converting them to digital files and keep the discs I want as collectors pieces. But that said, opening the bulky tray and having CDs the size of records is still a cool talking point for guests.

 

....not exactly, it was a mini-series... best enjoyed in the comfy chair....

 

That is the sad truth. I don't deny that laserdiscs are nostalgic or interesting, and it's fine for a hobbyist to play with them today, just as people play with audio cassettes, VHS, Betamax, hell, play with Edison cylinders if you want. But Laserdisc really, truly is a dead format in that a) new software is no longer being released, b) no hardware is no longer being released, and c) the hardware that still survives is deteriorating and becoming harder and harder to maintain.

 

no one here that I know of has claimed that LD is superior to BR, or that people should not buy Blu Rays and invest in LD instead.

 

Its not dead as long as people have players, are using them, are buying used discs, and enjoying the format, as I have been been for about 30 years now. It may be dead to YOU, but you shouldn't speak for the experiences of others. Again, I don't get the incessant and repeated hostility. Why do you care that thousands and thousands of people still have myriad legitimate reasons to own and play laserdiscs? At this point, it seems you are just trolling with your repeated "dead format" posts.

 

I thought that many of the last lasers had video that was a step down for the format. Compare some of the releases from 1995-1999 and then in the final year and there is a definite decline in quality. The last two releases for the U.S. market, Sleepy Hollow and Bringing out the Dead look awful compared to the DVD and I wonder if that was intentional.

 

I didn't expect that!



Also, for those following along, read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

There's a lot of that going on. It always happens when you basically tell somebody, "everything you know is wrong."*

*©1974 Firesign Theater.

 

Wow. I guess when the mods join in with the trolling, its time to move on.

 

I bought a copy of Bringing Out The Dead and it really is P-poor!

 

Naw, I think Gary is pretty even-tempered and objective here.

 

the best thing about laserdiscs for me? that I didn't waste a fortune on them...so many got hosed on that deal.

 

before DVD & BR or recently?

 

I don't even see players in any thrift shops...it's dead. BUT, I'm sure some company still makes them?

 

Please do. This discussion was just fine until you insisted that everyone who said anything remotely negative about Laserdisc was "trolling".

 

Well, I bought mine when it came out in 1999 or 2000. Supposedly they only made around 500 of them. The decline of LD was wicked fast once DVD came on the scene in 1997.

 

yes, such a better system...light tears ahead of the archaic LD...BR still hasn't offed the DVD...

 

yes, Gary is great!

 

His picture scares me.

 

But I also said that I enjoy watching and playing Laserdiscs. Just because I recognise BluRay as a clearly superior format in terms of picture and quality (which is just stating fact), doesn't mean I can't collect movies or special features and commentaries I can't buy on BluRay or DVD or just enjoy concert films, that in some cases, have better SQ than their DVD counter parts (I agreed with you on that point - remember). I wasn't making it personal, I was just sharing my own experience.

I wonder if they even prepared a separate master for laserdisc? That's interesting because VHS started to look bad (ok worse) in the late 90's too. The quality control when out the door by the early 2000's.