does anyone still own laserdiscs?

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by oldgame

Great movie. I didn't know there was a widescreen version. I just have the full frame version.

Can someone translate this - google translate isnt doing a good job. So is the German DVD of Slipstream full screen or letterboxed widescreen?
http://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/reviews/B012YNLBPS?ie=UTF8

[Class316]

I still have a collection of LDs that I got mostly for cheap. But I don't own a player I keep them for the art and I try to get as many as I can signed.

For instance those Star Wars LDs posted as Wall art (which are p&s by the way but I of course like them for the art) I got the ESB one signed by Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher and the other two signed by George Lucas.

On the topic of Star Wars LDs I also have the "faces" ones.

One LD that I consider my "prized" LD is the Criterion release of Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia which is in excellent shape and the only home version authored by Leni herself! I really want to get this copied to DVD but I sadly don't want the equipment or the know how to do so.

By the way for anyone here that has questions about laserdiscs I recommend looking it up in lddb.com

[bokes]

I kept mine until I played a few on my 50inch HD plasma and the picture was unwatchable.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by bokes

I kept mine until I played a few on my 50inch HD plasma and the picture was unwatchable.

Damn. That bad. I wonder how it would look like on a 30-40 inch LED.

[fdm]

My spreadsheet says I (still) have 39 LD titles, all but a handful replaced (primarily) with BDs and (a few) DVDs.

My player (a Pioneer CLD-3080) mostly crapped out several years back, but I was able to record a couple of the missing LDs a few years ago before it crapped out altogether, but I didn't quite get to all of them.

The player got recycled year before last I think it was. It wasn't worth trying to fix, if it even could be, and for the very few LDs that I didn't get get a chance to save off, not worth bothering to replace it either.

[rgs80074]

wow, was not expecting this kind of reply's to the topic.

I've seen some laser disc vs blu ray compares recently and most of the time the laser disc is better.

But I've been toying with getting laser discs mostly for releases thats been cropped, loss of detail etc, mainly disney titles but If i go that route might as well pick up cheap ones as well.

But my problem right now is the player. My sister called 73 local places today looking for a player. a couple said to call every few weeks they get them in here and there. one had movies about 10 of them for 5 bucks each.

so the stuff is out there its just finding them at the right time. who knows i've probably passed right by players at good wills and such and not even noticed.

ryan

[meremortal]

Originally Posted by rgs80074

wow, was not expecting this kind of reply's to the topic.

I've seen some laser disc vs blu ray compares recently and most of the time the laser disc is better.

But I've been toying with getting laser discs mostly for releases thats been cropped, loss of detail etc, mainly disney titles but If i go that route might as well pick up cheap ones as well.

[Show spoiler]
so the stuff is out there its just finding them at the right time. who knows i've probably passed right by players at good wills and such and not even noticed.

ryan

Most of the time? I'd say LD at its best from a reference disc like Austin Powers and on a top tier player such as the HLD-X* units can nearly produce "dvd quality" video. But to say it's comparable to the average blu ray out there is just laughable. Let's not mislead anyone here.

[toddly6666]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

The best I can tell from the comments after the review -- the open and closing credits are letterboxed inside the 4:3 frame, but the movie itself if 4:3.

It sounds like the posters are saying that they took the USDVD, converted in to PAL with the German soundtrack and released it. Apparently very bad PQ and not much better AQ

Thanks, I'll just rent it then. I was always curious to see Hamill's first post-Star Wars film. A shame that he didnt become a big action star.

[Blu-21]

Originally Posted by hariseldon

Better at what? Certainly not PQ. AQ was better than DVD, but unless the Bluray screwed something royally then even LD DTS is at best a close 2nd.
I;ve never seen an LD that could come close to BD in Picture quality.
I loved the format over the years, but it is what it was and there are areas that it not even in the realm of discussion

LD sometimes have extras that have gone missing (the James Bond original commentary tracks on the Criterion CAV discs). Style it had in spades --beautiful and gorgeous presentations much like a artistic level LP over a plain jane CD cover. Certain cuts may not exist beyond LD (Star Wars OT closer to original cuts), Fantasia original narration tracks, etc. Very rarely you'll run into something with OAR that wasn't released that way later.

There certainly of plenty of LD that were never released afterwards just like VHS that never made it beyond



There are a few aspect ratio casualties, but really very few. items with loss of detail on LD vs BD -- i'd have to see it to believe it. Even the softest BD is better than the comparable DVD, much less LD barring an absolutely botched encode and very few of those weren't replaced.

A different argument can be had on which was the original coloring or what was really intended, but I find very little of it credible. Who the heck knows what Gone With the Wind actually looked like or even what it was supposed to like projected in 1939 -- what light temp, what color screen, which projector was actually the "Absolute 1 Right Way' and audience was supposed to see that film. Each print, each screen, each projector was going to look a little different -- which was the most right 75 years ago you could have argued.

If Disney could have projected his animated cells directly instead of having to go through film to get those pics onto the screen, would he have thought it better or worse instead of right or wrong or would he just have thought it different.

I guess some sound mixes on LD are very loud which to some people equals better than the BD, but there is more to audio than just volume, and in all other areas BD has LD covered for audio quality.

[Class316]

Originally Posted by rgs80074

wow, was not expecting this kind of reply's to the topic.

I've seen some laser disc vs blu ray compares recently and most of the time the laser disc is better.

But I've been toying with getting laser discs mostly for releases thats been cropped, loss of detail etc, mainly disney titles but If i go that route might as well pick up cheap ones as well.

But my problem right now is the player. My sister called 73 local places today looking for a player. a couple said to call every few weeks they get them in here and there. one had movies about 10 of them for 5 bucks each.

so the stuff is out there its just finding them at the right time. who knows i've probably passed right by players at good wills and such and not even noticed.

ryan

Go on ebay there are always LD players

[Thomas Guycott]

I've never owned a LaserDisc player, but I've purchased a handful of LDs in recent years, including a complete Star Trek animated series collection.

[Blu Warrior]

Still have around 200 LDs. Two players but only one works currently. Awesome format, especially the big ol' box sets.

[Drewbee87]

Never owned laserdiscs, seeing as how I seen my first when I was 7 in elementary school.... lol

[I KEEL YOU]

Originally Posted by rgs80074

I've seen some laser disc vs blu ray compares recently and most of the time the laser disc is better.

[bkfountain]

i picked up a few just for the vinyl sized art to be around in my movie room. Tacking down a player is expensive for what it is and I never see them at garage sales/goodwills.

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by bokes

I kept mine until I played a few on my 50inch HD plasma and the picture was unwatchable.

They looked fine on mine, I had to make a new video setting for them tho

But I will be trying them for the first time tonight on my new 55 inch 4k Lcd

[PrestigeWorldwide]

Originally Posted by Drewbee87

Never owned laserdiscs, seeing as how I seen my first when I was 7 in elementary school.... lol

I've never even known anyone who had a laser disc player, let alone actually view one. I do recall my dad and one of his friends talking in the mid 80's about how laser discs were probably going to eventually take over VHS, lol! No idea why I still remember that. I think it's because that was the first time I saw the discs at a store and as a kid, I thought they looked really cool.

[rgs80074]

who knows. maybe we'll get a laser disc version 2.o digital laserdisc thats large enough to contain 4k movies.

i hear there's a problem fitting 4k movies onto the current size of bluray discs.

that might be a benefit to everyone

or just ones delusional thinking.


ryan

[format916]

i remember just going to suncoast and staring at the laserdiscs. i was so young so couldnt afford players or movies. i was happy to spend 10 bucks on vhs. but i remember the only laserdisc i watched was during health class lol.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by Thomas Guycott

I've never owned a LaserDisc player, but I've purchased a handful of LDs in recent years, including a complete Star Trek animated series collection.

you know those are on dvd for cheap, right?

I sometimes check ebay for copies of Trek ones, see if there is anything cheap that would make a good display piece since I like to collect film cells too but I just haven't gotten around to buying one yet. As we have seen, you can do a nice display with laserdiscs.