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LOG IN Forgot Login? Register General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board Search Terms:  Search Within:  topics posts since 2019 2018 posts 2017 posts 2016 posts 2015 posts 2014 posts 2013 posts 2012 posts 2011 posts 2010 posts 2009 posts 2008 posts 2007 posts 2006 posts 2005 posts 2004 posts 2003 posts 2002 posts 2001 posts 2000 posts users  search tips  You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7      Non-Film Score Discussion: Anyone here remember laserdiscs?     1 2 3    NEXT   LAST   Last Post   Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:03 PM     By:   henry   (Member) I've been a home theater enthusiast for years, starting with laserdiscs in 1991. They were around for a long time but never made it big. They were very good for their day, but I moved on to dvd and now Blu-ray. Did you guys have laserdiscs, and what did you think of them? Oh, BTW, some of my favorite laserdisc titles were JURASSIC PARK and the STAR WARS movies.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:16 PM     By:   Adam.   (Member) I got my Pioneer laserdisc player in December of 1987. I was disappointed at first because many discs without digital sound were no better than VHS tapes. But better discs soon followed. The Star Wars trilogy discs were state-of-the-art video and audio. The only real drawback to laserdisc is that each side can hold a maximum of one hour of programming. If your movie is longer than two hours, you have to flip or change discs at least twice which is a real mood breaker. That Pioneer also played 8-inch video discs and CDs. It served me well for 12 years until I got my first DVD player. I later sold the player and all movie discs on Ebay.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:22 PM     By:   The Man-Eating Cow   (Member) Yes. I still have dozens of laserdiscs, and a laserdisc player I still use (gasp!). In fact, I just watched the Roan laserdisc of THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME the other day. Now that LDs are going the way of the T. Rex, you can get 'em cheap at places like Half Price Books. Some LDs have superior presentations than their DVD counterparts (including JURASSIC PARK, actually). DVDs and Blu-Rays are steps up, but Laserdiscs sure kicked the snot out of VHS tapes. What a misbegotten, dogshit media that was.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:22 PM     By:   henry   (Member) I got my Pioneer laserdisc player in December of 1987. I was disappointed at first because many discs without digital sound were no better than VHS tapes. But better discs soon followed. The Star Wars trilogy discs were state-of-the-art video and audio. The only real drawback to laserdisc is that each side can hold a maximum of one hour of programming. If your movie is longer than two hours, you have to flip or change discs at least twice which is a real mood breaker. That Pioneer also played 8-inch video discs and CDs. It served me well for 12 years until I got my first DVD player. I later sold the player and all movie discs on Ebay. Hi Adam! I also remember CAV laserdiscs only held 30 minutes per side. Do you remember the store SPECTRUM in THE MALL OF AMERICA? They specialized in laserdiscs, well all disc formats. SUNCOAST also had a pretty good selection of laserdiscs.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:31 PM     By:   Adam.   (Member) Do you remember the store SPECTRUM in THE MALL OF AMERICA? They specialized in laserdiscs, well all disc formats. SUNCOAST also had a pretty good selection of laserdiscs. I bought many laserdiscs from TOWER RECORDS and a local shop called LASERLAND. I also used a mail order store that was in California. I can't remember the name of it though.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 9:44 PM     By:   Eric Paddon   (Member) I was big into them. Still have my LD player and still have a dozen or so LDs not released on DVD. The 1776 and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ones remain prized possessions (though I have transferred both to DVD).    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 10:12 PM     By:   PhiladelphiaSon   (Member) LOVED my laserdiscs!!!    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 10:25 PM     By:   The Man-Eating Cow   (Member) I bought many laserdiscs from TOWER RECORDS and a local shop called LASERLAND. I also used a mail order store that was in California. I can't remember the name of it though. Was it LASERVISION? I used them frequently.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 10:26 PM     By:   The Man-Eating Cow   (Member) SPECTRUM? Never heard of the place. They probably weren't at the Mall of America when I was working at the Barnes & Noble there.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 10:49 PM     By:   Mark Ford   (Member) I bought the original Phillips Laserdisc player (below) when it came out in 1982. It was a big boy and weighed a ton owing to it utilizing a full size helium-neon gas laser and large transformer for the power supply. After it died I got a Pioneer, then a Panasonic which I later had retrofitted with an RF AC3 output. I still have both of them and they both work just fine. The Panasonic is in my media tower and I still play laserdiscs from time to time, the Pioneer is my backup. The discs sure are beautiful looking on their own!    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 10:50 PM     By:   Mr. Jack   (Member) I still have my laserdisc player in the closet, along with a handful of discs that were never completely carried over into DVD (like those gorgeous CAV Disney animated titles from the mid-90's). Ahhhh, memories...    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 11:00 PM     By:   LRobHubbard   (Member) I came to them late - around 2004. But that's when the machines and discs started to get affordable for me... and I could finally see why everyone just worshipped The Criterion Collection. I still keep a working machine around - it's good to have for some things that haven't hit DVD in their entirety... like the CC commentaries for Gilliam's BARON MUNCHAUSEN, THE FISHER KING and Cronenberg's CRASH; Alan Parker's commentary for PINK FLOYD - THE WALL, and TALES FROM THE HOOD with director commentary, which didn't port to the DVD release. And I keep my eyes open for the rare item. Half-Price Books is about the only place to find them in stores, although another music/video store, CD Tradepost, has started carrying vinyl, and even has a few laserdiscs too.    Posted:   Mar 25, 2011 - 11:36 PM     By:   quiller007   (Member) Gosh. You mean you guys still have many of your LD's and none of them ever suffered from "Laser Rot"? I find it quite funny how all these bogus legends of disc deterioration have spread like wildfire on the net over the years, and lots of people still have their laser discs and they still work perfectly fine. Why then do people actually worry about the lifespan of their cd's and dvd's? I've seen laser discs, cds & dvds go through sheer abuse-hell and keep on working like nothing ever phased them. I'm totally convinced that none of us are going to outlive our collections. We have nothing worry about. Den    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 12:15 AM     By:   Joe Caps   (Member) Laser rot was a real problem. I proudced Laserdiscs for Pioneer and I started the pioneer special editions label for the company. Pioneer had little laser rot, but there was a presing plant in Austria that dis most of the classical LDS for polygram (Phillips < DGG< Decca0 and tons of those fell to rot. There was also an american p[ressing plant called Technidisc that Image used a lot that had that problem really bad.    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 12:28 AM     By:   Harrison Castleberry   (Member) I had a collection of about 1500 LDs back in the day and just as I started to replace them with their DVD counterparts I was able to get a pretty good price for the ones I sold...but this was ages ago and now no one wants them. I still have around 150 or so of them, mostly boxsets, DTS titles, and Criterion sets. My player still works well though the picture quality, especially when compared to Blu-ray, looks like VHS. The sound, however, is still very full and robust. The DTS discs are still sound very impressive. @Joecaps: I have the LOST HORIZON LD that you produced and I must say, I still love it! Cheers! Harry    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 3:23 AM     By:   Francis   (Member) I started collecting vhs but skipped the laser disc phenomenon and went straight to dvd. I even started collecting R1 dvd's before I could play them on my player (had to rip them via pc, was a whole procedure). A friend of mine brought back dirt cheap bootleg dvd's from China of the Indiana Jones trilogy (they were the laserdiscs transfered to dvd) so I did enjoy watching those until the real dvd's came out. I did remember a store in a city nearby that had laserdiscs and at first thinking these were lp's I now find myself upgrading dvd's to blu-ray BUT I don't plan to do this with all my titles as in all honesty there are a lot of dvd's that look good enough for me. If they have a 5.1 surround mix and anamorphic, they are good enough.    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 3:44 AM     By:   Grimsdyke   (Member) I still have around 100 LDs and my Panasonic still works fine !! I bought many LDs only for the Iso-Scores like on THE OMEN, ISLANDS IN THE STREAM, SCANNERS, etc. but also many horror movies were (are) cut or banned here in Germany. Just imagine what picture and sound quality DVD would have had had right from the start if they had kept the size of the LD.    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 5:05 AM     By:   John M.   (Member)    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 5:45 AM     By:   Nightingale   (Member) Hi Adam! I also remember CAV laserdiscs only held 30 minutes per side. Do you remember the store SPECTRUM in THE MALL OF AMERICA? They specialized in laserdiscs, well all disc formats. SUNCOAST also had a pretty good selection of laserdiscs. I bought many a disc at SPECTRUM (I'll have to take your word for it on the name) at the Mall of America. Many Space:1999 titles. Also frequented a local store called "Laserware" if my memory serves (WOW! Can't believe I remembered that name.). I still have 2 working players and a handfull of discs. Recently pulled out the Special Extended Version of Star Trek-The Motion Picture (my favorite version of that film-hope to see it on Blu-ray) and showed it on my 96" screen and was shocked how poor it looked. I can't believe I spent all that money and time for this quality, but even by LD standards it was not a great looking disc.    Posted:   Mar 26, 2011 - 9:39 AM     By:   David Kessler   (Member) I have about 50 laserdiscs but never plays them although I have a Pioneer player that works great. The only thing I use my LDs is when I go to conventions and lets people sign them. A Nightmare on Elmstreet (Elite) has Robert Englunds autograph and the tag "This is GOD" (a very nice cover with Freddy in black and the background in his famous red/green sweater) Beastmaster has Marc Singers name on it, Timebomb has Michael Biehn signed it, Lone Wolf McQuade has David Carradine, Fright Night has Chris Sarandon, Hellraiser 3 has Doug Bradley Pumpkinhead has Lance Henriksen cool things to have signed... I do have some Ultimate Fighting discs and obsceur horror titles like Cassandra, Mausoleum, Visitors (the Swedish Besökarna), Motel Hell, Silent Night 1-4, Dust Devil, and some ELITE titles...and the Directors Cut of Scream along with others     Non-Film Score Discussion: Anyone here remember laserdiscs?    < 1 2 3  > >>  Go to page:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7   First Post    General Discussion • Trading Post • Non-Film Score Discussion  Profile • Preferences • Community Rules • Help/Contact • Search Board You must log in or register to post.   Go to page:  1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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