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

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by AxC., Feb 15, 2014.

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  1. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Quite a few of the rarer titles have been made available online, Let it Be being the prime example. I think there is also an effort to record and archive the commentary tracks that never made it to DVD.
     
  2. jjh1959

    jjh1959 Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Charles, MO
    Right, but I'm responding to the actual issue of how you go about transfering a laserdisc, not whether it's a good idea to transfer titles that aren't available otherwise. I agree with that idea.

    Also, "Let It Be" has now been done from better elements than the laserdisc, so several of the various boot versions have improved it....until an eventual legit release.
     
  3. PNeski@aol.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    No Unless you are only into Music titles, and have access to Japanese imports
     
  4. Szeppelin75

    Szeppelin75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Panama
    I did a transfer from VHS to DVD several years ago of that concert. Wonderful concert by the way.
     
  5. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    Yeah, until I saw that show (Billy Joel "Live From Long Island"), I did not think he was any great talent. I play that concert occasionally (the laser disc),
    and it is wonderful.
     
  6. tomhayes

    tomhayes Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca
    I just sold my Laserdisc player and almost all of my laserdiscs.

    For old time's sake I kept Laurie Anderson's Home of The Brave, David Byrne's Between The Teeth, and Devo's The Complete Truth About Devolution.

    I sold some Laserdiscs that do not have DVD counterparts, including The Crtierion edititions The Hughes Brothers' Menace II Society and Dead Presidents, both of which had extended cuts and audio commentaries not on the DVDs.
     
  7. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    "Rip" has come to mean digitizing one media to a digital file. For 20 years, we called it "capturing" in the world of editing, and I think that's a better term. But many, many modern audiophiles even refer to "ripping" vinyl to WAV files, so whaddya gonna do?

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ripping
     
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  8. Arnold_Layne

    Arnold_Layne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Waldorf, MD USA
    I keep a Pioneer LD-S9 for a few rare laserdiscs.

    The wall with Alan Parker's commentary
    The Delicate Sound of Thunder
    Star Wars original trilogy
    Pink Floyd at Pompeii (before the director ruined it with computer animation on the DVD release.)
    Beyond the Minds Eye (DVD release has different animation)
    Roger Waters Radio KAOS video EP
    Roger Waters What God Wants video
     
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  9. AZRunner

    AZRunner Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW FL
    I think it's ok to say Pussycat.
     
  10. Jimi Bat

    Jimi Bat Forum Resident

    Location:
    tx usa
    That's what I typed in but the board auto edited me.
    Maybe because I used two words?
     
  11. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Let's see:

    ***** Cat
    Pussycat

    Yup, that's what did it! :)
     
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  12. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    So then...lots of jitter ;).
    I have two boxes of LD's that I can't bring myself to part with. But there are a few that escaped my grasp, such as the Knack Live at Carnegie Hall. (You can actually see that in its entirety on YouTube, albeit in small pieces). But the best LD title never released on DVD or Blu-Ray is the brilliant documentary "Hollywood: A Celebration Of Silent Film".
     
  13. Szeppelin75

    Szeppelin75 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Panama
    I believe he was at top of his game during that era Nylon Curtain time.
     
  14. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Would love to see an "X0" version of Let it be, budokan, etc. and Star Wars for that matter too. Better yet, I'd like an x0 of my own…
     
  15. captainsolo

    captainsolo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Murfreesboro, TN
    I tried one a few years back for seeing films from childhood untouched...and remained hooked. The PCM on later titles really can be astounding, even on old mono films. I now have just over a hundred LDs.
    About 5-10 are different Star Wars copies.
    About 20-30 are Bonds.
    Help. :winkgrin:
     
  16. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Good luck playing those in 10 years. Copy them over to digital files now, while you still can, before all the machines fail.
     
    mdm08033 likes this.
  17. goodiesguy

    goodiesguy Confide In Me

    Location:
    New Zealand
    This is about the only laser disc I'd buy:

    [​IMG]
     
  18. quadjoe

    quadjoe Senior Member

    I know, my LD player is starting to have a problem with the disc tray opening when I first turn it on. This is my second LD player (a ProScan, basically a Pioneer clone). The first was a Yamaha, which actually produced a better picture, but it also developed mechanical issues (another stuck disk tray :( ), and I had to junk it as there were no mechanical parts available. I'm going to transfer 6 movies to the digital domain, and them I'm going to get rid of the discs and player. I enjoyed the heck out of the format in its day, but it's time to move on. Besides, BluRay smokes it.
     
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  19. Vernoona

    Vernoona Well-Known Member

    are you forgetting where you are?

    :shtiphat:
     
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  20. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident


    I think this is one of those posts to garner attention to someone's "Pet" format.

    Everyone realizes that Blu Ray is the only format, that has truly great picture. Heck even my 82 year old neighbor woman easily saw the difference when I showed her a comparison.

    So it can not be lack of knowledge or age, but most likley intentional.
     
  21. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I chalk it up to nostalgia, as well as people that are looking for cheap movies (or movies they couldn't afford when the format was at its prime). The Facebook laserdisc group is amazingly active, though it seems to mostly be people finding discs at thrift stores or eBay.
     
  22. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident


    I loved em when I owned about 50 of them. Sad to have to almost give them away in the late 90s.

    Even though many talk about loving them still, no one is wanting to actually pay anything for them.

    I sold most of mine for a few dollars, and even then had a hard time getting rid of most.

    Ended up having to combine a good one with a mediocre one........
     
  23. DreadPikathulhu

    DreadPikathulhu Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    The only titles that seem to have any value at all are some of the animation and music ones. A lot of people are collecting Criterion discs, but even those can be had for fairly cheap. Yesterday, I picked up the Criterion version of Fellini's Satyricon for $3.99. It originally retailed for $124.99. The MGM DVD blows the picture on the laser out of the water, but there is a nice documentary on the making of the film that is available nowhere else.

    This was one of those discs that I remember holding in my hands back around 1996, wondering how I'd ever be able to afford it.
     
  24. Joel Cairo

    Joel Cairo Video Gort / Paiute Warrior Staff

    Location:
    Portland, Oregon
    My wife and I just watched the "Motown 25" LD set earlier this evening-- what a fantastic show!

    And I'm pretty sure it's not coming out on DVD (or BD) anytime soon...

    - Kevin
     
  25. mdm08033

    mdm08033 Senior Member

    The backup/digitizing question that brought me here years ago is still out there. How do you digitize the analg video AND the PCM stereo track?
     
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