What's the most you ever spent on a laserdisc?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Atari265278, Mar 6, 2010.

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  1. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    If I had to leave an LD sealed, it wouldn't be worth $10 or a $100 to me.
     
  2. Clark Kauffman

    Clark Kauffman Forum Resident

    Spent $200 on the "Anthology" laserdisc set, then grabbed another sealed copy a few years later for $40.

    Also spent about $200 on the "My Fair Lady" anniversary box (with gold CD, 70mm frame, book, poster, lobby cards, etc.).

    I spent $125 or so on "The Thin Man Collection."
     

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  3. RockWizard

    RockWizard Forum Resident

    Funny thing...way before Roxio put out the converter for VHS(and as it turns out LD) to DVD, I was kicking around the idea of transferring a LOT of LD's to DVD...especially the ones that were exclusive to LD/VHS. Back then, I couldn't make up my mind whether to just use a standalone DVD burner, or get REALLY involved and hook things through the PC. Oh well....he who hesistates is lost!
     
  4. minerwerks

    minerwerks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    My memory is getting a bit clearer on this one (Toy Story laser box set)... I think I managed to get it marked down to around $60. I think I found it in a mall in south Florida while I was working a video job. I'm glad to have it because it has all the Pixar shorts done prior to Toy Story and "Knick Knack" has the original girl in the snowglobe which revised in all other releases.
     
  5. michael w

    michael w New Member

    Location:
    aotearoa
    RRP on the big Toy Story Box was $125.

    I recall it vividly as a friend just HAD to have it when it first came out.

    Air shipping to NZ was about $60 !

    Many years later when Ken Cranes was clearing out their LD's I bought several boxsets including Toy Story for $39.99 and some Criterions that had original RRPs of $100-125 etc.

    :winkgrin:
     
  6. Oatsdad

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

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Thanks for the clarification. Glad I was only 99% sure about it being $150 - that 1% saved my butt! :D
     
  7. fabtrick

    fabtrick New Member

    Location:
    NorCal
    I already had a used one. Of course, should the disc have succumbed to laser rot..... Better to LEAVE it sealed. I also think it MAY have been a "remastered" edition - but it's in storage, so I don't really know....
     
  8. michael w

    michael w New Member

    Location:
    aotearoa
    NP, being part Magpie, I kept all my Image flyers, those little digest sized LD books, Big Emma's catalogue, Widescreen Review, Perfect Vision etc.

    For diehard LD fans there's this nifty website, the LaserDisc Database.

    http://www.lddb.com/
     
  9. tomhayes

    tomhayes Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca
    I think I paid about $100 each for Start Wars (Remastered box, whatever it was called), Criterion Brazil CAV, The Phantom Menace (Japanese version), and Criterion Baron Von Munchausen.

    I bought a copy of Devo's Men Who Make The Music for $75 off eBay.

    I paid $50 for quite a few including blowout at Tower Video for Do The Right Thing (Criterion)

    I sold a Talking Head's Stop Making Sense in 1999 for $250 or so.
     
  10. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    Which should (theoretically) drop like a rock once an Avery DVD and/or BD box is released.

    Which should be inevitable insofar as very many golden age toons have seen release in the past few years.

    Either way, the LD box is very nice, with quality prints and transfers.
     
  11. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    I would not buy a sealed LD. Somebody needs to open them and make sure they're not rotted. This just isn't the same as records.
     
  12. moople72

    moople72 Forum Resident

    Location:
    KC
    Over 200 bucks each on The Wizzard of Oz and The Beatles Anthology.
     
  13. yesstiles

    yesstiles Senior Member

    I'm surprised at the late dates here. I always thought laser discs were an 80's thing. I didn't know they were sold after 1995 or so.
     
  14. Sully

    Sully Forum Resident

    Location:
    Verona, NJ USA
    For me it was the Criterion CAV box set of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Bought it the day it was released but can't remember what it cost (IIRC about $125).
     
  15. Sully

    Sully Forum Resident

    Location:
    Verona, NJ USA
    Didn't DVDs start getting big around 1997?
     
  16. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    DVD started late winter, early spring of '97. It wasn't getting all that big till '99....seems like it really took off then....
     
  17. Damian72

    Damian72 Formerly Suede Pickle

    Location:
    TX
    DVD was a slow start. I remember renting a player to test the waters. Seems crazy now when you can get a player for so little.
     
  18. minerwerks

    minerwerks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA, USA
    Close. When DVD came along in 1997, they co-existed for several months, but by the middle of '98 the writing was on the wall and laser releases dwindled to nothing very fast. One of the last gasp releases was a long-delayed box set of "The Frighteners" from Universal, and that finally came in November 1998.

    Let me add that even though laserdiscs got a lot of attention in the 80s, by the 90s, it was a film-lover's format of choice and the only reasonable option for the average consumer's attempt at high-end home theater. Laserdiscs were pioneers in 5.1 sound for the home, and many films were also issued in dedicated DTS editions. I don't have stats, but the number of monthly laserdisc releases in the early to mid 90s felt like a lot more than releases during the 80s.
     
  19. nail75

    nail75 Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Germany
    Exactly 0 Euros.

    I know one person, who had a laserdisc player, but he has long sold everything. None of my friends had it at the time. I have never seen stores that were well stocked with laserdiscs. Of course VHS was common and today it is DVDs. Even Blu-Ray today is more common here than laser discs ever were. I know that a second hand music store that I frequented during the 90s had one row of laser discs, but that is about it. Whatever laserdiscs were, they were not a German thing.

    My first extended stay in the US was in 1998 and laser discs were completely or mostly gone at that time. DVDs were the big new thing and I had friends asking me to buy them some of them. DVDs took off like laserdiscs never had.
     
  20. Anthology123

    Anthology123 Senior Member

    The Beatles Anthology and the Star Wars Remasters. The one disc I bought without hesitation was Delicate Sound of Thunder. I missed my first opportunity to buy it in the mid-90s and one more came out when Laserdiscs were being phased out, I bought it at Tower Records.
     
  21. Oatsdad

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

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    The DVD for "The Matrix" was the format's first "killer app". IIRC, it was the first DVD to sell more than 1 million copies, and it was the one that pushed a lot of people to get into the format...
     
  22. Oatsdad

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

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Yup. I was pretty anti-DVD in the early days but I got my first player in summer 1998. It was obvious that the death of LD was a WHEN, not an IF thing, and it seemed pointless to fight the inevitable...
     
  23. Oatsdad

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

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Actually, compared to other new formats, it became dominant really quickly. It killed off LD in about 18 months, and it overtook VHS a few years later.

    Compare to CDs: they started in 1982 and weren't dominant until late 80s/early 90s...
     
  24. Scope J

    Scope J Senior Member

    Location:
    Michigan
    The Residents Twenty Twisted Questions is
    the only one i own , think it was around $20


    [​IMG]
     
  25. Rachael Bee

    Rachael Bee Miembra muy loca

    I was never anti-DVD. I'd had LD for 11 years and getting an improved format seemed natural to me. I was sold on DVD when I saw the Panasonic traveling demo at Now A/V about March of '97. I had a player by June when the Sony 3000 came out. I think a lot of folks who'd only had LD a very few years were P'ed off that DVD came along....only a year or two after they ponied up for a not-cheap LD player.....and the discs.

    As soon as DVD became apparent, I concluded that all WS movies were gonna be better on DVD and that I should concentrate my LD collecting on Academy Ratio films and music.
     
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