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

It doesn't take itself anywhere near as seriously as Valley of the Dolls does. For that reason alone, it's much more entertaining.

One of my favorite comments about BTVOTD is from an IMDb review:

 

It's on DVD, but Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is worth it for the Roger Ebert commentary, however I'm not sure I'd want to sit through Valley of the Dolls again.

 

[/QUOTE]
This guy is an idiot.

 

I absolutely understand why someone wouldn't want to start collecting laserdiscs now, but I don't get the eagerness to throw DVD under the bus that's often demonstrated here. The number of titles that have been released on Blu-ray are a fraction of what was released, and continues to be released, on DVD. There are a lot of exceptions in the DVD back catalog to "the junk that fills up landfills". And unlike laserdisc, you don't need to hunt for an expensive, used player that's probably 15 years old at this point and screw around with optimizing the picture for a display it was never designed to accommodate. You just need to get a decent, backwards-compatible Blu-ray player that upscales non-HD content, and a well-mastered DVD can look nicer than a laserdisc with no more effort than it takes to play a Blu-ray on the same player. And given the much larger number of players that have been manufactured, unlike laserdisc collectors DVD collectors are probably not going to have to worry about not being able to find a working player in their lifetimes.

 

I recently purchased two documentaries on DVD that are about VHS. It's all good.

 

Adjust Your Tracking and Rewind This?

 

Yep.

 

Here's a favorite laserdisc of mine: It's the roadshow version of "The Alamo" -- a version of the film that, sadly, will likely never make it to DVD or BluRay due to the elements having disintegrated since the production of this laserdisc and the corresponding VHS release.
The second photo shows the cover of the enclosed, 4-page booklet of liner notes and chapter stops.

 

I had a lot of fun with it when it came out setting up 6.1/7.1 to try AC-3 EX. Unlike newer formats, it and the VHS are the only way to see the original, theatrical version....and VHS don't count!

 

Here's another favorite laserdisc: "The Bee Gees Live: One To One Tour."

As with "The Alamo," I recently transferred this to DVD, but I had to buy three different sealed copies on ebay before I got one that play Side 1. (They all played Side 2 with no problem.)

I had trouble getting some sides of "The Alamo" to play, as well. Ultimately, I got these problematic sides to play for me by opening the drawer of the LD player and spraying pressurized air in there. Did I fix it by spraying some accumulated dust off the laser? Not sure. All I know is that after a lot of effort I was able to coax one more play out of these discs to get them onto DVD.

 

In tribute to the great man.

 

I have that on LD. It's quite rotted. However, side 1 played on my HLD-X9 last time I had it out. Side 2 which has a guide for dealers to sell LD players, well, it froze in 2 locations last time I played it

 

thanks for this...

 

that sucks shoulda copied it.

 

great post!, but DVD crushed LD in PQ by far...of course there may be a few exceptions...

 

Playing this weekend:




Finishing up the 10th and final side in this set. Nearly 10 whopping hours of classic after classic. Does not hold a candle to the platinum blu-ray picturewise, although not all of the shorts are on the platinum blu-rays. Having grown up with these shorts on VHS, the picture quality is still an improvement to what I'm used to, and it's certainly watchable. There were a total of 5 volumes, which I would imagine amounts to nearly 50 hours of Warner Brothers animated shorts.
Still has the original reciept from 1992. This thing cost a scary amount. For the original owner, anyway.


I'm not sure if I would bother picking up the rest of these sets, assuming the platinum blu rays continue to be released, but I would certainly continue looking out for The Compleat Tex Avery box set and the disney b&w boxset as well

 

It was in bad shape when I got it....about 1990....long ago. The HLD-X9 with it's red laser, plays stuff that lesser players can't or can't play well.

 

gotcha...

 

Have you ever seen any of the Muse HiVision discs playing? Just curious, thanks.

 

I was into them a few years ago because I wanted some rare films. Criterion released rare editions of BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK and ORSON WELLES'S OTHELLO. I paid a lot of money for the OTHELLO. Like a number of Orson's films, the rights issues are complicated with people suing each other backwards and forwards - the original version is hard to come by. I still have the discs and the player, but haven't used them for a while.

 

I think Laserdiscs are a lot like this thread. They both refuse to die!

 

Sure, I still have about a dozen of 'em after selling several. I never had as many as 20.

See post # 293 .

 

More like the living dead.

 

Not only this thread, but there is like clockwork a new Laser Disc thread started every year. They generally do last 20 pages or more, and always filled with insightful information. The last thread we had was really great as well. I'll try and find / link it for those that just want more and more info on this fascinating format.