Preserving Hi Def laserdiscs (MUSE)

As a result of discussions in other threads, i thought it would throw this out there.

There are a lot of movies that were released in Hi Definition on laserdisc. I have a laserdisc player, muse decoder and lossless hidef capture gear that can transfer MUSE discs if anyone wants it done.

The list of MUSE discs is here:

http://www.lddb.com/list.php?format=laserdisc&list=muse&max=117

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I'd be interested in preservations of the BttF 1-3 MUSE LDs.

Do you own those?

I don't own any, just offering a service up to anyone that might have them.

They hold their value really well, so I guess people could buy them and resell them again when finished and end up not losing much or even making money if they were lucky.

poita, why don't you make a capture test of your MUSE laserdisc?

Just to evalutate the resolution and the (eventual) compression artifacts of MUSE.

I agree with dvdmike, a really exiging thing! If only I have a MUSE decoder...

I'm not sure A League of their own is a particularly good quality disc. But I will cap it once I am done with the film stuff.

A lot of people should be interested by the Hi-Vision preservation of the Back To The Future trilogy.

I'd love to see how good/bad it looks.

That would be cool if a lot of people are after BTTF, then perhaps they could group together and purchase a set to offset the cost? I don't know how much it is, but for example $200 divided by 20 people is only a tenner each. It might be the best way to get discs of interest unless you can find a collector out there who is interested in transferring their library.

Just BTW, the only MUSE disc I have was the one that was jammed in my player when I bought it. :D

Jetrell Fo said:

poita said:

That would be cool if a lot of people are after BTTF, then perhaps they could group together and purchase a set to offset the cost? I don't know how much it is, but for example $200 divided by 20 people is only a tenner each. It might be the best way to get discs of interest unless you can find a collector out there who is interested in transferring their library.

The only problem here is who retains the physical source once the transfer is complete and who covers the cost of the media for those 20 people? 

Jeez, I would imagine the 20 people could each pony up the $1 cost of a BD25 blank each.

As for the ctual laserdiscs themselves, that would be up to the group to decide up front. You could stick them straight back on ebay with a buy it now until they were sold, or donate them to the guy doing the transfer (LOL) or hang them on a Christmas tree or offer them to the highest bidder that wants to buy them within the group. I don't know really, just throwing it out there, there is nothing in it for me except unpaid work anyway :P so it was just a suggestion as to one way to make it doable if it is something people want to do.

To me, it doesn't really matter, if I was only paying 5 or 10 dollars, and getting a nearly impossible to find transfer, and not having to do any of the work, I would personally consider that pretty good value and wouldn't care much who ended up with the original discs.

e.g. If I could give someone $100 today as part of a group to get an IB print of ANH, have someone scan it and return me a copy of the scan, I wouldn't hesitate. Wouldn't bother me in the slightest who ended up with the physical goods at the end of the day.

Just my 2c.

Well, 5c now, we did away with 1 and 2c pieces quite a few years ago in Oz..

SilverWook said:

poita said:

Just BTW, the only MUSE disc I have was the one that was jammed in my player when I bought it. :D

Yikes! How did you get it out? I had to send one of my players in for repairs a couple years back when some sensor mechanism failed, stalling the stop/eject cycle, leaving a disc stuck inside. Lucky for me there is still a dedicated reputable LD repair business left in the states.

Had to pull the X9 completely apart. The only way I could afford one was to buy a broken one and repair it. I had no idea it had a disc in it until I got it apart. Didn't realise it was a MUSE disc until a few days back!

Sorry if I came across as mean myself, no intention there at all. Just throwing out ways it might work. My 3 month old is waking every 45 minutes this week :O so my writing style may be a bit more direct than usual :)

I was just trying to point out that if enough people are interested, they could buy a disc pretty cheaply if they all got together. Drink water instead of one's beverage of choice for a week or two and it would probably cover it, and have healthier kidneys to boot!

The key is, are there plenty of people interested? If so it works out cheap.

If enough people were genuinely interested I would be willing to buy a MUSE title or two and resell it again when done if people were willing to commit to cover the difference if any.

Maybe someone should start a thread to see if one title is of more interest than another?

Anyway, sorry if I came across as a bit short, I am stupidly tired...

This bloke apparently has most titles:

http://home.q03.itscom.net/nsa/muse.htm

I've never heard of MUSE before, curious to see how this turns out.

dvdmike said:

I think expectations should be kept in line, most of these discs would not pass for HD in 2013, so bar a few exceptions I think costs should be kept low

I was expecting maybe, maybe somewhere closer to DVD quality, but I really don't know a single thing about the format =)

For all I know, it could just be similar to Superbit.