Should i buy these Laserdiscs??

A thrift store near my house has a pile of about 40 Laserdisks, all for 3$ each.

All fairly famous titles. La Bamba, lords of flatbush, Marty, Hud, Guns of Navarone, etc.

I was thinking it might be a good idea to pick all of these up.

What say you, my SH bretheren?

 

Only buy them if you want the actual movies. As far as collector value? Probably zilch, unless you stumble across a special edition or Criterion. It's a great cheap way to build up your collection, but to be quite honest, I have a stack of about 20 to 25 LDs that I've replaced with far better DVDs, and right now they are worthless since there is no demand for them.

 

Thats kinda my feeling Rudy.

Bu there WERE a bunch of special editions in the pile.

hmm..tough one here...they also take up a lot of space.

 

As a former laserdisc collector, I have to (unhappily) agree with Rudy. I have a precious few LD's that are better than their DVD replacements and none of the titles you listed seem all that "collectible" to me.

 

Yea, thats true, LDs, just being analog doesnt make them better than 90% of todays restorations. I have a bunch of LDs and the DVDs of the same titles do look better, at least most of time.

Not The Wizard of Oz, tho....i have the Ld made from the 1955 Technicolor print.

 

Check for Warner Brothers and MGM cartoons, as well as Who Framed Roger Rabbit (it's uncut, unlike the DVD version)...

 

I just watched my LD of "To Kill A Mockingbird" the other night and, though the print might be a slight bit soft compared to the DVD, the DVD doesn't have nearly the depth of supplementals that the LD does.

 

I think 3¢ is an ok price.

 

Grumpy Old Men on DVD is pan and scan, while the LD is widescreen

 

IMO, the best things to collect on LD at this point are Academy Ratio films, 4/3 TV shows, and most especially music discs. DVD has only a minimal advantage on Academy Ratio stuff. There's a few Academy DVD's that thrash their counterparts but it's because they got so much digital resorationn work.

The "taller" the format, the closer LD comes to DVD. It's well suited for 1.33-1 & 1.37-1.

I'd pick up the good ole Academy ratio films...

 

Did you see any Music laserdiscs?

 

The same is true for a number of other Warner Bros. titles. There's several I've been wanting on DVD but I'm gonna wait until they do widescreen transfers of them.

 

Naturally, I'm hanging onto my two Star Wars LD sets, and that Technicolor Wizard of Oz. Plus, there are some music LDs that I have a feeling I'll never see on DVD, so I'll be hanging onto those also. As for buying new LDs...probably not, unless it's only a buck or two for a title I don't yet own. I may actually blow out my current extra LDs in groups of ten on eBay just to give them a good home.

 

At $3, you know you're not going to find the same exact title on DVD
for equal or less anytime soon, so its not a bad idea.

Not sure there's any reason to buy them ALL since it didn't sound like
you were offered a package deal.

I think it's mostly a matter of taste. Just go throught the pile
and buy the ones you think you might enjoy some rainy day.

And keep in mind that if the disc has a PCM digital soundtrack,
it's all but guaranteed to sound than a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack on
a dvd.


The general rule of thumb is DVDs look better, LDs sound better.

You may want to let that influence your decision. Perhaps focus
on the titles with more active soundtracks...

 

Which thrift store is it, Mikey? If you don't get 'em I might go and pick through...

 

The Green Berets on DVD is letterbox widescreen, but it, like many other DVDs authored in the early DVD era, it is a flipper disc.

 

Oh, i thought it was 3¢, since the $ sign in the orig. post was mistakenly put after the 3 instead of in front of it. So, nevermind, $3 is too high.

 

I wouldn't get them. Everytime I fire up my old LaserDisc I'm reminded of how superior DVD is on every single thing. The only thing I use my LD now is to play the original, THX Star Wars LD's.

 

I have two that I have the feeling wont be re-issued on DVD that are favorites of mine. 25 X 5:The Continuing Adventures of The Rolling Stones, and Marvin Gaye from the Motown On Showtime series.

 

Well, I went back today and took another look, but I decided to pass. The only titles I really needed are all available on DVD for a few bucks more.

Plus, only two Criterians, "La Strada" being one of them.

I asked the store if I bought them all if they would throw me a 20% discount and they said No. That ticked me off a little.

Since I'm big on picture quality and will be buying a DLP projector soon, i guess I'll just get the DVDs of the title I want.

Still, they DID have The Lords of Flatbush AND La Bamba...........................

 

Hey, Mikey...which store? Or is it a secret?

 

And for Power, its the Thrift store on 23rd and 3rd. Red Awning. no records hardly at all tho, just fair warning.

 

Thanks, mikey! I just want to see the LDs, mostly.

 

Good Luck!!

 

I've got a couple of lasers that in my eyes are better than their anamaphoric DVD versions, and a couple others that are not as good but very suprising how close they are. It really depends on your LD player and how good your sets line doubler, comb filter, and Aspect ratio modes are. The better the equipment, the better LD will look. Of course anamaphoric DVD is still largely superior in video quality, but LD can look very good with the right setup.