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

Sorry I keep editing my post.

Too bad we can't just buy it on film huh? The way we buy music on vinyl. Anyway, the DVD can look acceptable on an upscaling player.

 

A well-mastered DVD can look pretty good on my plasma, but an ugly DVD isn't gonna get any better via upscaling!

BD really is better in every way. I've not upgraded all my old DVDs because DVD is "good enough" for some titles - sorry, but I'm not really gonna think "Quick Change" is funnier because it looks better.

But others are more impressive - like the Nolan Batmans already discussed, especially since they offer the IMAX footage in 1.78:1...

 

I remember back in the late '60s Sears had a catalog supplement that offered movie cameras, projectors and yes, even movies. IIRC they offered mostly silent films on 8mm or Super 8, but there were some 16mm films offered as well, with sound capabilities. I have no first-hand experience of what those movies would have looked like, but I'm assuming that they'd be at least as good as the 16mm films we used to see in school. OK for a small home screen, I'd guess.

Some DVDs look pretty good on my 60" plasma, but the bad ones are well...bad. Laserdiscs just don't look as good even with upscaling.

 

Why not 70mm projection in my living room? Blu ray is my format of choice of course. I could gladly go on without ever watching a DVD again, but the fact is there is some stuff on DVD which will never make it onto Blu. And just the same, there's material on LD I would like to watch which will never make it onto another format. So what's my recourse? It's just how the game goes. when 4K and 8k downloads are a thing, or holographic VR mind-movies are beamed into our brains, I'm sure there'll be a reason for me to keep a Blu-ray player on hand as well.

 

Unfortunately, there are always going to be movies that are "left behind" when a new format comes along. I was watching Michael Mann's The Keep last night, only available on VHS and LD, and due to issues with the soundtrack and the director hating what the studio did to it, it will probably never show up on another format.

I did hook up my LD player to an upscaling receiver and tweaked the picture using the Video Essentials LD, and got a moderate improvement in picture quality. You'd never mistake it for a DVD, but it is very watchable.

 

I just happened to find an old VHS copy of E.T. last night. I still have a TV in my basement that has a VHS/DVD combo, so was watching that. The picture quality isn't great at all, but the point is to enjoy the movie.

 

Just this week I purchased 40 Laserdiscs. Some still sealed. The majority of them were music LD's like 'Under A Blood Red Sky' Japanese LD. Unless you have the LD or the VHS you'll never get the full show because of the fact that they couldn't get clearance for Bono singing 'Send In The Clowns' during 'Electric Co.' Also in the LD's I purchased is 'The Police Live Ghost In The Machine' which I don't think is out legally on DVD. One of the LD's I got in this recent purchase was 'The Big Lebowski' still sealed...found out that it is a rare LD. Not a big fan of the film...but couldn't resist the fact that selling that one LD will probably pay for the entire milk crate of LD's I purchased.

Still have 3 LD Players. My original Pioneer I bought back in '87/'88 I still have. More so for sentimental reasons. I have another that plays LD and DVD's...also by Pioneer. The third is a recent purchase that plays all regions...PAL, Secam, and NTSC. Been eyeballing a few LD's on Ebay UK recently that have never been released here in the states either on LD or DVD.

Someone mentioned Selectavision Discs. Have one of those machines...but basically I've only ever bought any selectavision discs just for the art on the cartridges/covers. Some of them had AMAZING art as compared to the VHS or LD releases. The art from those discs can also be used as DVD labels if you have printable DVD's.

 

DVD and laserdisc are both garbage now since we have bluray

 

You're absolutely right. Haven't got the player yet but I may as well toss it when it gets here, who wants to watch Let It Be anyway...

 

Great. Send them to me!

 

I ended up with a crate of UMD movies, which are only playable on a Sony Playstation Portable. Up scaled, they were better than VHS or LD, but slightly worse than DVD. Still entertaining!

 

Sure, but it becomes harder to enjoy the movie when the quality is poor. I had no issue with VHS on 17-inch TVs but if I tried to watch one on my 60-inch plasma, I'd have a tough time getting through it - especially if I know there's something out there that presents the movie better.

"Ignore the crappy quality" seems like an odd feeling, especially when we have so many superior options...

 

yea, DVDs really suck!

 

You could send them to me as well.

 

You must be planning some ravin' party to need all those coasters!

 

add me to the send 'em here list!

 

care to join me at the rave my dear Queen?

 

Si! I'll bring some lovely 80's LD's that will make jumbo coasters and fine sport as targets!

 

nah... we'll Frisbee them at the critics! Yea! yea! we'll WREX them!

 

Rex deserves the "oddJob" treatment. LD hunting seems very sporting, in deed. After you bag Rex, you must move on to the network critics starting with Gene de la Shallot....

 

<we>

 

Figure it can't hurt asking the expert of the versions you've seen of Live at Pompeii, which is the best looking in your opinion? Are there any notable differences between the different LD releases? The "columns" cover seems much more common from what I can tell. Definitely interested in getting this disc, shame that the original/theatrical film isn't available on DVD or blu-ray

 

Did that out of frustration from my porch after going into my Katrina damaged house for the first time. Bunches FUSED together.

 

I've never seen LD's fused together. I'm presuming that oil, and who knows what else, in the water did it. It sounds like a collector's nightmare!!! When I last made Community TV about a decade ago, I was gonna shoot LD's and VHS tapes with a shotgun but never quite got around to it.....

 

I remember... a very sad situation for you...something that will always haunt.