Big, bulky, side changes, CAV, CLV, PCM on the digital tracks-just look at what trying to watch Star Wars has done to me.
Maybe I just like the physical connection with older technologies. Laserdisc has brought back many childhood memories and actually made me feel the psychical experience of a film at home. I know a home theater can do this and I've experienced some great ones.
But there's just something about LD that feels right. Usually the films went untinkered and vary in quality. This and the laser rot issue make finding a good LD a crapshoot, and honestly I enjoy the bit of a challenge. My player is a good Pioneer that usually will get stuck on the autoflipping mechanism between sides came with no remote. I love it.
I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy. I like my Criterion CAV 2001 box set better than the DVD. I have a wishlist on the LDDB. I would rather watch these than lifeless pristine digital blu-ray restorations. It's like the video grindhouse.
The video quality may not be the greatest but it brings back some of that childhood VHS nostalgia and meshes with a cinephile's enthusiasm for quality and control.
Thoughts? If you say I'm crazy it might save some analyst fees...;)
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Having never even seen a laserdisc or laserdisc player outside of a faded old copy of Rolling Stone magazine, all I can say is you're not crazy, not at all. I for one love books printed on paper - Ebooks may be more compact and versatile, but I love the feeling of flipping through physical pages and admiring the smells of the actual book.
Of course, I am something of a modern day Luddite, so ...
Sorry Captain, but you're not crazy. Laserdisc was my entrance to true nerdiness. It's how I started my life-long practice of full-film audio rips for listening while driving and flying. I had a Pioneer LD player when they were cutting edge and several of my favorite films. I watched them regularly. Never had an issue with the quality.
Like you, I'm not driven by, or interested in, "lifeless pristine digital blu-ray". I have a few and they're interesting, but they're not my go-to format. DVDs are just fine. I'm there for the story. Just like I've always been.
The Bonds are what did it. The Lowry "restorations" scrubbed the life out of the films. I love my LDs. Plus it satisfies my audiophileness to have lossless 16bit PCM instead of the crappy Dolby 128 and 192 kbp/s I was used to. It sounds phenomenal on this old mid 90's Klipsch surround rig I got from an old school closet.
And did I mention the full frame control!?!?!?!!!! Ultimate movie nerdiness!!!! No more player lockup when you try to go super advance frame by frame!!
That would have really helped with Lawrence.
I think I need Raiders next to enjoy the good old plexiglass reflection in the Well of the Souls. Or Jaws to really rock out in mono. The latest DVD was disappointing because they compressed the track so low to fit those awful 5.1 remixes.
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Anchorhead said:
It's how I started my life-long practice of full-film audio rips for listening while driving and flying.
I used to sit next to my television with a little cassette recorder and record movies. I no longer feel alone.
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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I may not understand why you find LD so fascinating but it's far from wrong. I personally love old-fashioned records... although I do disagree with your statements on the Bond movies. The quality of Lowry's restorations seems to vary from movie to movie - and the blu's, as generic as it seems to say, really do fix some of the problems (Live & Let Die is no longer ridiculously oversaturated, for example.)
A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em
It's not wrong but it might be WONG.
captainsolo said:
The Bonds are what did it.
Yes, I did not like those at all.
“It is only through interaction, through decision and choice, through confrontation, physical or mental, that the Force can grow within you.”
-Kreia, Jedi Master and Sith Lord
EyeShotFirst said:
Anchorhead said:
It's how I started my life-long practice of full-film audio rips for listening while driving and flying.
I used to sit next to my television with a little cassette recorder and record movies. I no longer feel alone.
You're not at all, man. Been there many times myself.
When I was finally able to watch a movie on my giant 26" TV, with the sound through my Marantz & Magneplanar system - it was nerd heaven. ;-)
My Teac deck was the final piece of nerd arrival. Truth is, the sound of films has always been more moving to me. Even now, I listen to my favorite films much more often than I watch them.
Had a pair of these in the late 70s\early 80s. It was a hell of a way to experience Star Wars, Alien, and Blade Runner way back when.
And my rips were made with this;
Seems like a thousand years ago.
I still have my dad's Quad tuner and amp but I wish I had the money to buy back a nice working pair of these.
God Knows where I would put them though.
I remember listening to Star Wars in Stereo on these before they were got rid of because my niece in her baby walker used to bash into it while throwing those new fangled CDs around the room like space aged Ninja stars.
Geeking out on these. I've always had a thing for big and bulky analog equipment.
Currently I'm rocking these Klipsches all around an old 4:3 Sanyo with really good color. You Only Live Twice never sounded this good.
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
^I LOVE old speaker sets. Just look infinitely cooler if you ask me.
Oh, and also... I didn't do the cassette thing with movies, but I did it with Scooby-Doo once. Does that count?
A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em
TV's Frink said:
It's not wrong but it might be WONG.
bkev said:
I did it with Scooby-Doo once.
TMI
Hasn't everyone? Everybody loves Scooby's snacks....
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Hey, what you and bkev and the other weirdos do with a dog is your own business, just don't go around the forum telling us about it.
I truly love my laserdisc collection. I have over 60 titles (not including multiple disks in sets for T.V. shows such as Space 1999), and I will have to be selling or giving them away very soon. I'm moving to Hawaii, and there is no way I can take them with me. Most of my disks are the titles that have been discussed on these forums. The ones that have special extras not found on DVD or they have PCM and AC3 soundtracks that I was keeping for preservation reasons. I will truly miss these disks.
“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison
FanFiltration said:
I will truly miss these disks.
Parting is such sweet sorrow :-( That does stink. What are you going to do with all of them?
The Aluminum Falcon said:
FanFiltration said:
I will truly miss these disks.
Parting is such sweet sorrow :-( That does stink. What are you going to do with all of them?
Most likely give them to people.
“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison
Update: Recently stumbled across three new additions to my LD shrine of sorts.
1. Pioneer DVL-700 mint in box. Image is a bit washed out, but it isn't malfunctioning like my CLD-D702 and has an ac3-RF out.
2. Sony EDP-800 found at a Goodwill for a few bucks. Works like a charm and despite the low bitrate, LD ac3 is incredible.
3. Sony Trinitron KV-36fs17. This is a massive 36" flatpanel CRT that was free on craigslist. It was advertised as a 32" set but only after lugging this behemoth home did I measure it. Trying to get it into my setup currently, but nothing I can think of can actually hold this beast. So it's floor time for now.
I think I'm setup for LD for a while now... ;)
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
Can't believe I've never noticed this thread before.
I keep wishing Pioneer would put out a limited production player or something. Why should vinyl records get all the retro love? Single sided playback and LD only, so as to reduce the things that most often break down in combo players. (If I have to get my CLD-D704 repaired one more time, I may shoot it!) Maybe some digital tweaks you can turn on and off in the video section. CAV still frames jitter like crazy on a modern HD set. And a built in AC3 demodulator, dammit!
BTW, trying to prune one's LD collection down to the essentials is a pain in the ass. Even if there's a better version out on Blu Ray, the cover art is hard to let go of.
Where were you in '77?
I love Laserdiscs for one reason, the covers look awesome! I proudly still use my laserdisc player.
More-and-more I wish I could actually see, touch, and watch a Laserdisc in person. I guess they and their players are exceedingly rare in Canada, though, as I haven't seen a single one in my entire life, not even in the dusty corners of pawnshops or thrift stores.
That is where I found all of my laserdiscs and my player:)
Come down here and if you spend a couple of week browsing thrift shops you will find them. Maybe Canada banned them because people kept mistaking them for records. When I was a kid that is what I thought they were, I remember thinking that some family friends had a lot of film soundtrack albums and wondering why they had a record of the sound track to the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races.
Tho only LD I've ever seen in my life was like 15 year ago, I will never forget that massive ''CD on steroids'', I watched Last Action Hero and I was astonished with the fidelity and clarity of the sound and image. I do remember that the speaker system of that LD player was massive, no less than 4 speakers if I recall correctly. Does LD have 5.1? No clue :P
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