Been wanting to collect and watch laserdiscs for awhile but have had the hardest time finding a stinking player that works for awhile now. Not even sure what kind of player is good or not either or what a fair price is. Anyone here think they could shoot me some tips?
Pioneers are known to be good, but with LD you should expect at least some maintenance expense from time to time.
Laserdisc is a really rewarding hobby. I collected them in the 90s when they were new and started again recently to get all those movies that aren't on blu ray or have alternate versions etc. For a player, you want a later model Pioneer Elite player. It's going to cost you a few hundred as they are still in demand but it's worth it to get the best picture quality, especially if you intend on watching it on HDTV. You will also need to upconvert the original analog signal to 720p/1080p hdmi. I have a DVDO digital converter and it works great.
Do lds have region lockouts? It seemed like lds were a lot popular in jpn, maybe a player would be more affordable from a jpn source?
Second half is right. Anyway what kind of common problems are there with these things? Hoping I might be able to score a broken one with an easy fix for cheap now.
Absolutely be sure the player has a Jog Shuttle dial, the rock solid slow to fast scan of a Laser Disc is one of its best features. This is true, Laserdiscs do not even have Macrovision which was strange considering how easily copies could be made to VHS tape. Back in the day, Macrovision was not put in due to concerns of hurting the analog video quality of Laser encoding. The only "Region Protection" would be either a PAL or NTSC video disc which will only display on a matched screen. Fortunately, Japan discs are NTSC compatible to the US market. I have the earlier 1981 Laser release by Magnetic Video NTSC-J Planet Of The Apes with exclusive Japanese sound track, so funny watching the apes talk! Get LaserDiscs only for the interactivity and out of print videos or collectibles such as the original Dragons Lair arcade Laser Disc. Keep in mind for just buying to watch a movie, even a DVD has better resolution then Laser Discs. Wrote a Guide on Racketboy that may help, fun to discover some real treasures! Movies do look better on anamorphic DVD, but certain Laser Disc versions have unique special out of print features. LASER and CED Disc Guide - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=232140#p232140
DVD might have better overall resolution but the analog tracks of a laserdisc are far superior since there is zero compression. Often the laserdisc mastering is off of the original prints. For instance, the Alien 1979 THX clv disc is taken from a 70mm preview version as is the soundtrack, so you get this booming six track sound that you can't get on a dvd. Not until Blu Ray could you really match laserdisc audio wise. You will also notice the colors on laserdisc will more correctly match the original film as there was very little color retiming and DNR nonsense in that era. Also, buying a laserdisc player to fix is not the greatest idea as they're extremely difficult to calibrate and get right. This is an instance where you want to buy a working player outright.
Laser video discs are pressed with analog "recorded" composite hookup. The resolution lower and artifact errors are much more noticeable. I love Laser for its interactivity and out of print stuff, but prefer watching movies on DVD. See my Guide linked above for the details of Laser and CED formats.
