The Official LaserDisc Thread

[J. J. Hunsecker]

At one time I had over 250 laserdiscs. I sold most of my collection in the past few years. I'm now down to about 50 disks. The ones I kept are either rare, or have special features not available on DVD. (I gave up a lot of good ones, too, including the Criterion Blade Runner and 2001. It was difficult, but I needed the shelf space.)

The rarest LDs I have are animated cartoons: The Compleat (sic) Tex Avery, Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection vol. 1 & 2, the Japanese LD of Song of the South, Happy Harmonies, etc. I still kept all the Golden Age of Looney Tunes LDs, since some of those cartoons aren't on the DVD collections yet.

I love the artwork and packaging on the LD sets. It seems more care went into them than on their DVD and BD counterparts.

[LaserD]

Originally Posted by J. J. Hunsecker

At one time I had over 250 laserdiscs. I sold most of my collection in the past few years. I'm now down to about 50 disks. The ones I kept are either rare, or have special features not available on DVD.

My 1990s collection was only about 50 titles, and I sold off about half of those, mostly that I no longer had an interest in or I had DVD copies that were superior. Since then, I started collecting again and my current collection is around 90! As long as my player still keeps working, I'll be watching them.

[Crimson King]

I just opened my bin and they are still in good shape, one of the discs has some stange blemishes on it though (looks like brown spots)

[Atreyu]

I bought a laesrdisc player years ago because I wanted my films in the letterbox format. A couple of years ago I bought one off of Ebay for about twenty bucks. Only bad thing on this one is I can't play the other audio tracks as you need a special remote which is too expensive for my blood.
What I liked about two laserdiscs that come to mind appears on The Lawnmower Man and It's A Mad Mad Mad World. On Lawnmower it was the director's cut, Mad World was a restored cut with extra footage put right into the film. Now when both were released on dvd they were the standard theatrical cuts with the excised footage being placed on a bonus section. I still have the laserdisc of Mad Mad World and refuse to get the dvd. If and when these two hit blu I truely hope they will be the longer versions.
A few collectors lasers I can think of is Criterion's Cav vewrsions of Dr. No,and Goldfinger. Ther have an audio commentary that for some reason was banned when they released them on the CLV speed.
I also understand that Criterion's CAV It's A Wonderful Life contains an inaccurate audio commentary.
Another rare one was of Roger Rabbit cartoons because when they were produced the glue that was used to hold both sides together was defective so the whole batch was supposedly destroyed, but a few survived.
Also MCA Discovision's CAV release of Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein is extremely rare as only about 800 were produced with only about half of those being playable. Would love to get my hands on a copy of that one.

[LaserD]

Originally Posted by Atreyu

What I liked about two laserdiscs that come to mind appears on The Lawnmower Man and It's A Mad Mad Mad World. On Lawnmower it was the director's cut, Mad World was a restored cut with extra footage put right into the film. Now when both were released on dvd they were the standard theatrical cuts with the excised footage being placed on a bonus section. I still have the laserdisc of Mad Mad World and refuse to get the dvd. If and when these two hit blu I truely hope they will be the longer versions.

I also have the Special Edition of Lawnmower Man. I read that the only DVD version with the laserdisc Director's Cut (40 min. longer) was released in Scandinavia, but as a 4:3 pan and scan disc. The LD cover art is framable. The cover art and the film's amazing virtual reality sequence make up for the decidedly B-movie fare of the rest of the film! This is one title that really needs a nice remastering for blu-ray with the director's cut intact.

[jj5206]

around five years ago i saw a laserdisc player and three movies for ten bucks...i'm still kicking myself for not picking them up...

[P@t_Mtl]

Originally Posted by BillyJack

No way, shpping the darn things would pain in the tukas!

True that. I have been looking at buying a player from Ebay however. I do miss watching my Laserdiscs.

[Crimson King]

Originally Posted by P@t_Mtl

True that. I have been looking at buying a player from Ebay however. I do miss watching my Laserdiscs.

Dem' Laserdisc players are HEAVY! Plus you have the risk of the USPS or UPS deliverer accidentaly dropping the package, or being accidentaly damaged "in shipment"

[KrugStillo]

Oh man LD's I miss those days. I started collecting LD's in about 1994, I had a good 4 years or so until DVD came in. I remember as a kid my Memere had an LD player and my sister and I used to watch classics like Xanadu, Jaws and The Incredible Shrinking Woman. In 2002 I moved to Chicago and had to sell alot of my stuff, I currently had a DVD player so getting rid of the LD's wasn't so bad. I remember selling a box of like 50 LD's to a kid for like $75. He was insanely happy, I felt good about it. Then in Chicago maybe around 2003 I had been selling my LD's to a place called Reckless Records on Broadway I finally sold them all off (I originally had about 150 or so). I was trying to sell my player to a pawn shop but no one would buy it. I literally carried this heavy Pioneer (I don't remember the model) about a quarter of a mile and finally gave up. I placed it lightly in the top of a trash barrel took one last look and walked away. I hope someone took it and got some more use out of it. It had started getting quite loud towards the end so I think it was on it's way out anyway. I will say I miss the packaging, box sets were really cool. I had the Jaws set with the CD and the book and I paid like $150 for it when I bought it. Although LD's were the main reason for all my credit card debt when I was younger. I do still have a DVD copy of Dead Poet's Society the extended cut that I transferred myself. I also have a transfer of the Criterion Crash and Trainspotting and the entire Russ Meyer box set (The Vixen Collection). I made menus and even laid the audio commentaries onto second tracks. The Russ Meyer one is the coolest one to still have. Unfortunately his company have never reissued any of his (RM films) movies in newer transfers. They are all still the same 4:3 transfers from back in the day. Ahh, a trip down memory lane.

[ScuseMe]

Originally Posted by quetzalcoatl

I still have 200-300 LDs too bad they are all in storage at the moment.

Same here. I couldn't bear to part with my LD's, so most of them are safely packed away in the basement. I do have my CLD-3070 (vintage 1989) hooked up to my iMac through an ADVC110. I'm in the process of converting my LD music concerts to DVD with Final Cut Pro.

It's a shame, but a lot of those concerts (Jeff Healey, Kate Bush, etc.) will probably never appear in DVD, let alone blu

Michael

[quetzalcoatl]

Originally Posted by ScuseMe

Same here. I couldn't bear to part with my LD's, so most of them are safely packed away in the basement. I do have my CLD-3070 (vintage 1989) hooked up to my iMac through an ADVC110. I'm in the process of converting my LD music concerts to DVD with Final Cut Pro.

It's a shame, but a lot of those concerts (Jeff Healey, Kate Bush, etc.) will probably never appear in DVD, let alone blu

Michael

Mine are in storage because I donot have room right now. I would like to have them out and available.

[Ex Accountant]

I used to love Laserdisc! Most people didn't have a clue as to why I would spend up to $50 on one movie (which was 1/2 price at that!), but I absolutely had to have my T2 and Aliens CAV editions. Insert Disc. Watch 30 minutes. Flip it. Watch 30 minutes. Repeat as necessary. With superior PQ, letterboxing, audio commentary, etc, however, VHS just couldn't touch it. I wish I had kept a few just so I could show my kids and grandkids.

Originally Posted by Sussudio

I know this is kind of a broad question, but for those who have a good knowledge of Laserdisc, what are some of the movies that are considered extremely rare?

I know this is a vague answer to you question, but I remember my brother selling some Hammer horror movies for a pretty penny.

[moviefan66]

I bought my 1st Pioneer player CLD-1080 around 1988. I remember demo-ing Indiana Jones Last Crusade for many family members and friends. With my Pioneer VSX 9300 I was in Dolby Pro-Logic heaven. I upgraded to a Pioneer flipper with Dolby digital RF output. Then had to get the Pioneer RF demodulator and a new Dolby digital receiver. I had many Dolby digital laserdiscs that I had replaced with DVDs later but none of them could match the sound dynamics of DD on Laserdiscs. I believe the signal wasnt as compressed as on DVDs but someone may know better than I.

I had over 300 laserdisc at one time. One of the best things back then was that new releases werent sold widely to consumers on VHS. Alot of them had "rental prices" and werent sold in stores because that was the business model. LD didnt have that at all so I could buy new releases the day of release.
I Started selling them off around 2001 on Ebay. Some of the ones I got the most money for were Looney Tunes boxed sets. Twilight Zone and Outer limits boxed sets. I made out pretty good on some of the smaller releases like The Fog, miracle Mile, concert LDs and many of the DD discs. Some of the last movies I remember buying were Saving Private Ryan and The Matrix. I think the last LD I bought was a Japanese Import of The Phantom Menace only because it wasnt released immediately on DVD. It had japanese subtitles. I did eventually get it on DVD. Better picture on DVD, worse sound. Oh and that demodulator I sold it a few years ago for twice what I paid in the late 90s.

Good memories.

[scarycreature]

Oh, man do I remember LD. I didn't have many titles, but I definitely remember watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade over and over on my 32-inch Sony CRT. I couldn't believe the magnificent picture quality over VHS. Just about the time I started collecting a few LD titles, DVDs hit the scene. I knew immediately that DVDs would sound the death-knell of LDs. I sold my LD player and all my discs to a pawn shop and never looked back.

I wish I had my LD player for one reason only: Van Morrison's 1989 Beacon Theater concert was released on VHS and LD, but has never been released on DVD. I have a VHS copy, but alas, no VHS player anymore...

[LordCrumb]

Just found this thread again. Whew, thought it might have been binned for a minute there.

[ScuseMe]

Originally Posted by scarycreature

I wish I had my LD player for one reason only: Van Morrison's 1989 Beacon Theater concert was released on VHS and LD, but has never been released on DVD. I have a VHS copy, but alas, no VHS player anymore...

That sounds like an awesome concert! It's a shame that the studio's don't release more of these concerts on DVD/blu. I also have a few concerts on VHS, but I haven't got around to capturing/authoring them to DVD yet (I have a new SVHS player still in-the-box waiting for this task ).

Michael

[LaserD]

Originally Posted by ScuseMe

I haven't got around to capturing/authoring them to DVD yet (I have a new SVHS player still in-the-box waiting for this task

Same here. I bought and nice Pioneer DVR for my preservation project. I know that blu-ray.com has some rules around discussions (no discussion) of copying, so none of us wants to get banned here. The small group of collectors out there know what they need to do to preserve their collection for their personal future enjoyment, just like vinyl LP collectors and their USB-linked phonographs. It's comforting to know that we have a means to do so.

[LordCrumb]

One of my Braindead laserdiscs got completely destroyed in the post the other week.. luckily the cover (see my HT gallery) was surprisingly undamaged... currently trying to get money out of the Courier company to replace it...

[talstarone]

This is Sweet.Didn't realize that this thread existed.Glad to see it though.
I still have my Pioneer LaserDisc Player and about 30 LaserDiscs Total.
Two of which were purchased New in 1996 and never opened.
They still have the plastic wrapping and all the Stickers on them(Including the Price Tags from SunCoast Video)They are:Patriot Games and Wyatt Earp.

I have been debating adding it to my set-up.Since there are some of my favorite movies I have on LaserDisc that aren't available on Blu-Ray(Like Last Of The Mohicans).

Just thrilled to see LaserDisc has this much of a following still.

[blurayas11]

Here is my laser disc collection: https://www.blu-ray.com/community/ga...&folderid=2553
The laser disc player Pioneer Elite CLD-99 still works great.
When I show the disc to some of my friends they are in awe to see the size of them and never knew that they existed. It is like everyone uses power point these days and some do not know what slides are.