The Official LaserDisc Thread

[4Dblu]

does anybody here use DVDO to upgrade there LD video. i'm askin' cause i'm lookin' to get one if it's worth it

[invenio]

Originally Posted by 4Dblu

does anybody here use DVDO to upgrade there LD video. i'm askin' cause i'm lookin' to get one if it's worth it

I'm sure that will improve the video. But considering it's over $1,000, it better give you a significant boost. If you end up buying the processor, let us know how it turns out.

[Pondosinatra]

Well I just grabbed a Sony HX850, so I guess I'll be able to answer my own question as to how bad it'll look on LED versus my Tube soon.

[invenio]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Well I just grabbed a Sony HX850, so I guess I'll be able to answer my own question as to how bad it'll look on LED versus my Tube soon.

Most likely it will look very similiar to your Kuro PDP-5020FD, there shouldn't be a major difference between plasma vs LED for general upscaling of laserdisc's SD content.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by 4Dblu

does anybody here use DVDO to upgrade there LD video. i'm askin' cause i'm lookin' to get one if it's worth it

I used to use a VP30 with ABT102 card, and it was fine for geometry manipulation, but the comb filter in it sucked.

TLK

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by invenio

Most likely it will look very similiar to your Kuro PDP-5020FD, there shouldn't be a major difference between plasma vs LED for general upscaling of laserdisc's SD content.

My LD player is hooked up to my widescreen tube TV. So that's my gold standard that I'd be comparing the Sony LED to...

[Pondosinatra]

Holy crap! The X0 on eBay went for almost $5000.

I bid it up to $2500, but that was as high as I was going to go.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

Holy crap! The X0 on eBay went for almost $5000.

I bid it up to $2500, but that was as high as I was going to go.

Yeah, I see no reason to buy one now, when I already have the LD-S2 and an Onkyo TXT-NR818, with its HQV Vida VHD1900 video processor, that upscales the image beautifully.

TLK

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Pondosinatra

My LD player is hooked up to my widescreen tube TV. So that's my gold standard that I'd be comparing the Sony LED to...

Ya. Crap. It looks so much better on my tube TV. I know I can throw in Video Essentials and try and calibrate it, and it might help a bit - but the biggest thing is it looks really digitized. Whereas on my tube it looks very smooth, film-like.

This sucks.

[4Dblu]

i checked Amazon and they hav the DVDO egde green for $437.56
i'm gonna see if i can get it next month

[4Dblu]

i'm readin' a post from Amazon now from a guy who brought this product and hooked it up to a LD player and says it's FANTASTIC!!!!
this was jus 12/29/12 and he was about to get rid of his LD collection. now i hav somethin' else to buy again
this is why i can't save money, Lol

[meremortal]

Never have seen the X0 but people really seem to overhype the exotic Japanese players. I found the X9 and S9 to only be marginally better PQ than my CLD-97 with the DNR turned off. And for anyone who wants to help play through slightly to moderately rotted discs, the CLD-1010 is another of the red diode players that works reasonably well for that function.

[singhcr]

I just wanted to chime in here and say that I bought my first laserdisc player, a Pioneer CLD-D703. Unfortunately the picture quality isn't so hot anymore but it does have a bit of a pleasing analog smoothness to it and considering it's a late 1970s technology it's rather impressive in that sense. However, the audio tracks blew me away.

I've purchased the Criterion edition of "The Killer" and the Japanese "A Better Tomorrow" and both movies have a PCM mono track of the original audio mix. I've seen these movies many times and they usually have a Dolby Digital 2.0 or a horrible 5.1 remix. I always assumed the mixes were poor because these were 1980s Hong Kong movies and that was that... until I listened to the laserdiscs.

The audio is amazingly clear with vastly improved dynamics and clarity and it makes the DD tracks sound tinny and muffled by comparison. I've ripped the PCM tracks off the laserdisc with my ASIO capable sound card so it's bit-for-bit accurate and will be muxing it with the DVD editions of the films that I have. They are anamorphic DVDs but now they will sound far better! I plan on getting the rest of the Woo classics for their original sound mixes as well which is important to me considering even the BD releases have poorly remixed audio tracks.

[Liquid_Swords]

Stupid question, is there any advantage to buying Japan laserdiscs?

[Xtempo]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Swords

Stupid question, is there any advantage to buying Japan laserdiscs?

As Japanese made or Japanese release? Usually Japanese made are good and they're probably the majority anyway. If your talking about Japanese releases some movies have burn in Japanese subtitles, or are Japanese language only.

[Pondosinatra]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Swords

Stupid question, is there any advantage to buying Japan laserdiscs?

Generally speaking yes. Especially with the later releases they tended to be mastered better, less likely to have rot issues etc. Plus there's a definate coolness factor when a disc shows up with the OBI intact and Japanese lettering on the cover.

That said, I have found the odd disc to have better sound on the US release....and one title in particular (A Bug's Life) doesn't have English subtitles at all.

I really only collect Japanese LD's these days, with the exception of DTS titles. Speaking of which, these just showed up:

[Liquid_Swords]

Yeah some of the Japanese covers are awesome!

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by 4Dblu

i checked Amazon and they hav the DVDO egde green for $437.56
i'm gonna see if i can get it next month

My advice... Don't.

TLK

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Swords

Stupid question, is there any advantage to buying Japan laserdiscs?

Not really. I'd venture most just collect them for just that, to collect them. If you're big on packaging and artwork, the Japanese releases often do have a higher quality print of the sleeve that really 'pop' with strong colors. And many releases feature alternate art that weren't used for the domestic release(s). But audio and video specs from what I've observed are case-by-case but often very similar.

[The Lizard King]

Originally Posted by Liquid_Swords

Stupid question, is there any advantage to buying Japan laserdiscs?

There are pros and cons of buying a Japanese LD vs an American one...

The black levels of Japanese NTSC is lower than for American NTSC (0 vs 7.5 IRE), so Japanese discs tend to look better (especially black) on today's higher-resolution displays. However, the problem, of course, is that Japanese subtitles are often burned into the picture of Japanese LDs, which can be distracting to many.

TLK