What was the appeal of Laser Disc?

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

Close enough!

LOL.........We'll be at Club Prvilege in Mont Tremblant......Do you have a list??.....I can see bringing those over the border...the Cops: "What the hell are these??" as my pockets are stuffed w/Cuban cigars.

[DavePS3]

I have a hand-written list at home but it'd take a while to slap all those titles down here! I could do it tomorrow if you like.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

I have a hand-written list at home but it'd take a while to slap all those titles down here! I could do it tomorrow if you like.

That would be cool.....thx.

[DavePS3]

You got it. I might be able to get it done here tonight. We'll see how things go with the girlfriend!

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by DavePS3

You got it. I might be able to get it done here tonight. We'll see how things go with the girlfriend!

Hey....babes first.

[DavePS3]

I'd write you a rec't for some idiotic amount like, 40.00 to avoid higher duty.

[DavePS3]

Okay... here we go - in no particular order:

ten commandments box set
alien
aliens
last action hero
hard target
dick tracy (possibly 4x3)
ghost
backdraft
crimson tide
black rain
star trek 4
remo williams (4x3)
andromeda strain
jungle fever
arachnophobia
sleepwalkers
logan's run
delverance (2 different releases)
tape heads (4x3)
Frankenhooker (4x3)
blade runner (criterion)
tomorrow never dies
dances with wolves
alien 3
hook
hunt for red october
robin hood (costner)
sneakers
darkman
dracula (oldman)
in the line of fire
JFK
loony tunes after dark
loony tunes assorted nuts
saturn 3 (possibly 4x3)
the chamber
ghostbusters (criterion)
death wish
pinocchio (disney)
the package
patriot games
osterman weekend
time bandits (criterion)
conan
spinal tap
james & ' giant peach
microcosmos
mo' better blues
do the right thing
akira (2 disc edition)
edward scissorhands
outland
running scared (billy crystal)
lemon drop kid (bob hope)
terminator
terminator 2
running man
total recall
predator
pulp fiction (criterion box set)
glengary glenross
manchurian candididate (sinatra)
LA confidential
level 42 - level best (music videos)
3 days of the condor
mississippi burning
howdy doody time
fifth element
la femme nikita
year of the dragon (rourke)
jurassic park
jurassic park 2
saving pvt. ryan
alien resurrection
fargo
dirty dozen
kelly's heroes
dead man walking
flatliners
battle of britain
true lies
once were warriors
platoon
matinee
natural born killers
the shadow
sparticus (2 disc)
baraka
diamonds are forever
goldfinger (criterion)
dr. no (criterion)
the firm
deer hunter
malcolm x (denzel)
bound
river runs through it
good will hunting
the russians are coming...
thelma & louise
the arrival
first men on the moon (british - harryhausen)
2001 'space od' (box set)
whatever happened to baby jane
midnight express
duel
young doctors in love
aladdin (disney)
fantasia (disney's original with fantasound)
the abyss (directors cut)
heavy metal
mysterious island
excalibur
boyz in ' hood (criterion)
american me
south central
flash gordon's trip to mars (box set serial)
patton
apocalypse now
a few good men
colors
the wall (pink floyd)
it's a mad mad world (box set)
outer limits vol. 2 (box set)
outer limits vol. 4 (box set)
star wars (not the thx release)
empire striles back (ditto)
return of the jedi (ditto)
sword & the sorcerer
rollerball
towering inferno
men of respect
adv' of baron munchausen (neville)
dragon the bruce lee story
under siege 2
waterworld
speed
things to do in denver when you're dead
brubaker
lost films of laurel & hardy (silent)
white nights
batman (keaton)
abbot & costello horror collection box set
lethal weapon3
good fellas
born on the 4'th of july
ransom
give my regards to broad street (4x3)
batman returns
batman forever
fugitive
twister
vice squad (4x3)
fort apache the bronx
clockers
lethal weapon 2
rollerball special edition
the war (costner)
under siege
nutty professor (murphy)
silence of the lambs
the fury
best of the best
no way out
brainstorm
unforgiven
full metal jacket
battle of the bulge
on the waterfront
for all mankind
mask
seven-up's
anderson tapes (4x3)
kingpin
first monday in october
11 harrowhouse
crying game
lion king
mission impossible (cruise)
lethal weapon
ragtime
frightners
il postino
where eagles dare
home alone
a bridge too far
cape fear (DeNiro)
basic instinct
eraser
the thing (carpenter)
scarface (pacino)
goldeneye
star trek 5
addams family
addams family values
wizard of oz (criterion)
seven
pelican brief
waiting for guffman
MIB
mad max
road warrior
taking of pelham 123
monty python - holy grail
bullitt
le mans
young sherlock holmes
grand canyon
from dusk til dawn
long riders (woo!)
blue max
enter the dragon (2 different releases)
vanishing point
die hard
ben hur
blue thunder
cop land
starship troopers
mars attacks
pulp fiction (box set)
reservoir dogs
toy story
usual suspects
bad lieutenant
jumanji
caddyshack
das boot
to live and die in LA
raiders of the lost ark
indiana jones & last crusade
omega man
magnificent 7
nightmare before christmas
willow
tombstone
top gun
commitments
ID4
judge dredd
braveheart
jackie brown
cliffhanger
star trek first contact
abyss (theatrical cut)
great escape
french connection
ocean's 11 (sinatra)
thief (caan)
stargate
a clear & present danger
manhunter
single white female
raising cain
contact
without limits
grand prix
tango & cash
terror train
donnie brasco
river wild
money train
falling down
my family/ mi familia
i married an axe murderer
casino
destiny turns on the radio
3 o'clock high
the gene krupa story
days of thunder
on her majesty's secret service
tora tora tora
you only live twice

[Tok]

Originally Posted by tron3

If it weren't for the fact I have no grey hair, I would really feel old right now.

Maybe we are going the wrong direction in layering blu-ray. How much data would a LaseDisc sized blu-ray disc hold? Similar to BD50? More?

Kind of reminds of the joke some posters played on LD diehards when DVD was starting to become a threat to their format.

Basically the posters rumored that Pioneer was working on a new LD format that would be on a similar sized 30cm disc with HD video and lossless audio. Some of the diehards clung to that rumor for a while. The purists hated the idea of digital compression and after seeing some of the early DVDs you can't blame them. I think the joke was that unless the format had a 30cm form factor, the diehards wanted nothing to do with the future.

As for your question, I believe LD used a wavelength similar to CD so at best with the extra area available on a single side of the disc you might be able to get a couple of GBs compared to 650 to 700MB on a CD. Now if you factored in using a Blu or even DVD wavelength laser you could probably get anywhere from 15 to 100GB on one side, but that is not taking into account the ability to spin and read these properly. Spinning a massive disc like LD was not trivial let alone reading it.

I still have an old CLD-1030 that I tried to retrofit for an AC3 output, but I could never get it to work reliably on CAV discs, CLV discs worked fine. In the end I figure it was not worth the effort when DVD was taking the world by storm. I have a collection of about 30 LDs.

[SNAP]

THX................Yu DA Man.....I'll look it over.

Originally Posted by DavePS3

Okay... here we go - in no particular order:

ten commandments box set
alien
aliens
last action hero
hard target
dick tracy (possibly 4x3)
ghost
backdraft
crimson tide
black rain
star trek 4
remo williams (4x3)
andromeda strain
jungle fever
arachnophobia
sleepwalkers
logan's run
delverance (2 different releases)
tape heads (4x3)
Frankenhooker (4x3)
blade runner (criterion)
tomorrow never dies
dances with wolves
alien 3
hook
hunt for red october
robin hood (costner)
sneakers
darkman
dracula (oldman)
in the line of fire
JFK
loony tunes after dark
loony tunes assorted nuts
saturn 3 (possibly 4x3)
the chamber
ghostbusters (criterion)
death wish
pinocchio (disney)
the package
patriot games
osterman weekend
time bandits (criterion)
conan
spinal tap
james & ' giant peach
microcosmos
mo' better blues
do the right thing
akira (2 disc edition)
edward scissorhands
outland
running scared (billy crystal)
lemon drop kid (bob hope)
terminator
terminator 2
running man
total recall
predator
pulp fiction (criterion box set)
glengary glenross
manchurian candididate (sinatra)
LA confidential
level 42 - level best (music videos)
3 days of the condor
mississippi burning
howdy doody time
fifth element
la femme nikita
year of the dragon (rourke)
jurassic park
jurassic park 2
saving pvt. ryan
alien resurrection
fargo
dirty dozen
kelly's heroes
dead man walking
flatliners
battle of britain
true lies
once were warriors
platoon
matinee
natural born killers
the shadow
sparticus (2 disc)
baraka
diamonds are forever
goldfinger (criterion)
dr. no (criterion)
the firm
deer hunter
malcolm x (denzel)
bound
river runs through it
good will hunting
the russians are coming...
thelma & louise
the arrival
first men on the moon (british - harryhausen)
2001 'space od' (box set)
whatever happened to baby jane
midnight express
duel
young doctors in love
aladdin (disney)
fantasia (disney's original with fantasound)
the abyss (directors cut)
heavy metal
mysterious island
excalibur
boyz in ' hood (criterion)
american me
south central
flash gordon's trip to mars (box set serial)
patton
apocalypse now
a few good men
colors
the wall (pink floyd)
it's a mad mad world (box set)
outer limits vol. 2 (box set)
outer limits vol. 4 (box set)
star wars (not the thx release)
empire striles back (ditto)
return of the jedi (ditto)
sword & the sorcerer
rollerball
towering inferno
men of respect
adv' of baron munchausen (neville)
dragon the bruce lee story
under siege 2
waterworld
speed
things to do in denver when you're dead
brubaker
lost films of laurel & hardy (silent)
white nights
batman (keaton)
abbot & costello horror collection box set
lethal weapon3
good fellas
born on the 4'th of july
ransom
give my regards to broad street (4x3)
batman returns
batman forever
fugitive
twister
vice squad (4x3)
fort apache the bronx
clockers
lethal weapon 2
rollerball special edition
the war (costner)
under siege
nutty professor (murphy)
silence of the lambs
the fury
best of the best
no way out
brainstorm
unforgiven
full metal jacket
battle of the bulge
on the waterfront
for all mankind
mask
seven-up's
anderson tapes (4x3)
kingpin
first monday in october
11 harrowhouse
crying game
lion king
mission impossible (cruise)
lethal weapon
ragtime
frightners
il postino
where eagles dare
home alone
a bridge too far
cape fear (DeNiro)
basic instinct
eraser
the thing (carpenter)
scarface (pacino)
goldeneye
star trek 5
addams family
addams family values
wizard of oz (criterion)
seven
pelican brief
waiting for guffman
MIB
mad max
road warrior
taking of pelham 123
monty python - holy grail
bullitt
le mans
young sherlock holmes
grand canyon
from dusk til dawn
long riders (woo!)
blue max
enter the dragon (2 different releases)
vanishing point
die hard
ben hur
blue thunder
cop land
starship troopers
mars attacks
pulp fiction (box set)
reservoir dogs
toy story
usual suspects
bad lieutenant
jumanji
caddyshack
das boot
to live and die in LA
raiders of the lost ark
indiana jones & last crusade
omega man
magnificent 7
nightmare before christmas
willow
tombstone
top gun
commitments
ID4
judge dredd
braveheart
jackie brown
cliffhanger
star trek first contact
abyss (theatrical cut)
great escape
french connection
ocean's 11 (sinatra)
thief (caan)
stargate
a clear & present danger
manhunter
single white female
raising cain
contact
without limits
grand prix
tango & cash
terror train
donnie brasco
river wild
money train
falling down
my family/ mi familia
i married an axe murderer
casino
destiny turns on the radio
3 o'clock high
the gene krupa story
days of thunder
on her majesty's secret service
tora tora tora
you only live twice

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by CraigW

Kind of reminds of the joke some posters played on LD diehards when DVD was starting to become a threat to their format.

Basically the posters rumored that Pioneer was working on a new LD format that would be on a similar sized 30cm disc with HD video and lossless audio. Some of the diehards clung to that rumor for a while. The purists hated the idea of digital compression and after seeing some of the early DVDs you can't blame them. I think the joke was that unless the format had a 30cm form factor, the diehards wanted nothing to do with the future.

As for your question, I believe LD used a wavelength similar to CD so at best with the extra area available on a single side of the disc you might be able to get a couple of GBs compared to 650 to 700MB on a CD. Now if you factored in using a Blu or even DVD wavelength laser you could probably get anywhere from 15 to 100GB on one side, but that is not taking into account the ability to spin and read these properly. Spinning a massive disc like LD was not trivial let alone reading it.

I still have an old CLD-1030 that I tried to retrofit for an AC3 output, but I could never get it to work reliably on CAV discs, CLV discs worked fine. In the end I figure it was not worth the effort when DVD was taking the world by storm. I have a collection of about 30 LDs.

Do you still watch them?....Last nite we watched the Signature Collection Vertigo in awesome DD. I've been tryingto find the DTS version of it but no luck.

[prerich]

I still own one of my Laserdisc players !!!! I bought LD because of durability, better PQ and AQ. I didn't have to get up and flip my LD's over because mine had an automatic function that played the other side without turning it over. It served as a fantastic CD player also - connected to a gem of a D/A converter - the AMC DAC 8. Good times....yeah, good times.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by prerich

I still own one of my Laserdisc players !!!! I bought LD because of durability, better PQ and AQ. I didn't have to get up and flip my LD's over because mine had an automatic function that played the other side without turning it over. It served as a fantastic CD player also - connected to a gem of a D/A converter - the AMC DAC 8. Good times....yeah, good times.

Nice.....the good ones do make outstanding CD players.

[Switchblade9]

You are absolutely right right, I stand corrected; it was Pioneer and not Panasonic. Thanks for the correction. Man were they crap! But generally still better than VHS. LOL

Originally Posted by SNAP

You're right about that Blade though I think you mean Pioneer, not Panny, pressing the discs. The Sony plant in Indiana was turning out discs that were so bad we could have done better if we were making them in our basements.
Laserdisc was so much more popular in Japan that they took much more care in their pressings and QC.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by SNAP

Do you still watch them?....Last nite we watched the Signature Collection Vertigo in awesome DD. I've been tryingto find the DTS version of it but no luck.

I think the last time I spun an LD was in 2001 or 2002. I had got a hold of the Star Wars SE boxset for a decent price but in the end I sold it while it still had some value before the DVDs were released.

LDs were great for their time, but the lowerend players never really delivered a video noise free picture. You needed at least the CLD 70x series to get a quality picture. A big reason I embraced DVD so quickly was because even entry-level DVD players were delivering the some of best NTSC signals I had ever witnessed.

Sorry I don't have any dts LDs. But that was half the fun in finding deals on hard to find titles.

[Chevypower]

They are nothing to talk about today, but it was the best we had at the time. (Comparing to VHS of course). DVD actually had a better picture, Dolby Digital was standard on DVDs, not all Laserdiscs had the AC3, and it only came in 1995 (near the end of the format's life), was only on high end players, the best video connection was S-Video. You had to flip sides every 60 mins on a CLV disc, and every 30 mins on a CAV disc. Could only freeze frame on CAV discs. The DVD announcement came out 1996/1997? When I immediately ceased investing in Laserdiscs. I sold them all before most people knew about DVDs, to get more money for them.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by CraigW

I think the last time I spun an LD was in 2001 or 2002. I had got a hold of the Star Wars SE boxset for a decent price but in the end I sold it while it still had some value before the DVDs were released.

LDs were great for their time, but the lowerend players never really delivered a video noise free picture. You needed at least the CLD 70x series to get a quality picture. A big reason I embraced DVD so quickly was because even entry-level DVD players were delivering the some of best NTSC signals I had ever witnessed.

Sorry I don't have any dts LDs. But that was half the fun in finding deals on hard to find titles.

That SW box set weighed a ton......I have that plus the DD version of it. DTS discs on ebay cost plenty.........usually over $30.00 which to me isnt worth it. I have 8 DTS discs which cost me a total of $90.00. I just sold the Star Trek box set for $75.00.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by Switchblade9

You are absolutely right right, I stand corrected; it was Pioneer and not Panasonic. Thanks for the correction. Man were they crap! But generally still better than VHS. LOL

LOL.......Your 8MM projector that you had when you were a kid was better.

[Tok]

Originally Posted by SNAP

You're right about that Blade though I think you mean Pioneer, not Panny, pressing the discs. The Sony plant in Indiana was turning out discs that were so bad we could have done better if we were making them in our basements.
Laserdisc was so much more popular in Japan that they took much more care in their pressings and QC.

Ah, I forgot about the infamous Sony pressings. Some diehards claimed laserot was not an issue if you stored your collection in an environmenatal chamber.

I think my CAV copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit suffered from rot. But I don't know which plant it was from.

[hendersd]

Nothing can quite match the sexiness of those big LD box sets. Yes, they were expensive (Thunderball CAV set; $125!) but hunkering down with those sets was great fun. The box that made me get a player was The Golden Age of Science Fiction, followed by The United Artists Sci-Fi Matinee sets. Most (but not all!) of those films are now available on DVD. It was a great ride while it lasted. I sold off most of my LDs but kept all of the genre titles 'cause some of the cover art is terrific, and as I said some of the titles have yet to make the digital leap.

[SNAP]

Originally Posted by CraigW

Ah, I forgot about the infamous Sony pressings. Some diehards claimed laserot was not an issue if you stored your collection in an environmenatal chamber.

I think my CAV copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit suffered from rot. But I don't know which plant it was from.

Coincidentally, the Laserdisc movie that has the most reported laser rot is the film Eraser (1996). The discs for this title were replicated by Sony Digital Audio Disc Corporation, U.S., in Terre Haute, Indiana.....no surprise there.