Laserdisc Collecting

Teddy KGB

Капитан Борода
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Like Yohan, this thread may make me buy a player. I've owned this since it first came out on LD. Was and still is one of my favorite films. Sadly it has just sat for all these years. :

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1423859189.966978.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1423859201.871394.jpg
 

smokehouse

I was Born This Ugly.,
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It doesn't see regular use (not even close), but my LD player was made in 1996 or close to...and it still works fine.
 

Arcademan

Now...It's OFFICIAL!!!
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The last laserdisc player I owned was actually a video game...an upright Atari Firefox. Poor machine wasn't designed for the rigors of that game and sadly after a few months on location it went belly-up. Then the neck of the CRT got busted off when moving it and the whole thing was junked. Sure wished I kept it.
 

GohanX

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Does anyone have any clue if there are any reasonably priced receivers for decoding a Laserdisc's RF AC3 output? I would think that there's some old modest receiver that couple probably be picked up cheap since it's old and used, but my searches are only coming up with Pioneer receivers that are still commanding $300 or so. I could always use a RF demodulator, but it would be nice to not have the extra piece of equipment.
 

StealthLurker

Naomi Yamazaki's Wingman
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Mirai Ninja / Cyber Ninja

MiraiNinja_Small_zpsc8b4b0ae.jpg~original


Gunhed

Gunhed_Small_zpsa86ec7d4.jpg~original


I love quirky old 80s Japanese movies like these... lots of them never made it to DVD

ShonanBakusozoku_Small_zps0358863c.jpg~original
 
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Neo Ash

NG.com Audiophile, Club Member,
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Does anyone have any clue if there are any reasonably priced receivers for decoding a Laserdisc's RF AC3 output? I would think that there's some old modest receiver that couple probably be picked up cheap since it's old and used, but my searches are only coming up with Pioneer receivers that are still commanding $300 or so. I could always use a RF demodulator, but it would be nice to not have the extra piece of equipment.

At this stage in the game, I wouldn't tie up a lot of money in this if I were you. Just go with something like a Yamaha DDP1...under $100...should be sufficient.
 

Fakk2

Crossed Swords 2 Bootleg Artist.,
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Anime and horror movies are worth to own on LD with the extras included and better artwork.

Not to mention that the Anime on LaserDiscs have the original voice actors we knew and loved back in the days of Streamline pictures, whereas the new mastered Anime on today's DVD and BRD have new voice actors that I just cannot stand at all, at least from the Streamline Pictures Anime like Akira, and 3x3 Eyes.

I love my LaserDiscs of my Anime and Horror flicks. I play them from time to time on my DVL-H9 now that my CLD-R7G is DOA as is my 704, and I find it hard to even like my CLD-504 and "Other" older LD players that I have laying around here. Hell, to be dead honest, I cannot even view a damn LD on an American made LD Player anymore, (not even the CLD-99s), since I am now so damn spoiled with my H9 and R7G players. The only players I would recommend watching LDs on anymore, at least these days, is the R7G (Rare to find, but has a decent overall picture quality, and can do something others cannot when still stepping), DVL-H9 (basically a beast which weighs a fucking TON, is Pioneers TOP NOTCH LD/DVD Combi player, and has the same quality in picture and advanced 3D comb filter that the S9 used), LD-S9 (Second of everyones favorite in quality, with a picture that is amazing and on par with the DVL-H9 but in a smaller package since it is NOT a combi player, and of coarse the HLD-X9 (the mother of all LD players with the best picture quality, is just as huge as the DVL-H9, is rock solid, and also features MUSE capability for those of us with High Def MUSE HDTV sets before HDTVs came out in America. With it's punch comes a hefty price tag also, but if you want the best, like the Neo-Geo, you pay the price and just deal with it.)

I also have to say I like my Yamaha APD-1, as it served it's purpose in the day, although I will admit, I have not much use for it anymore other than to look at and remissness. Yes, I understand that not everyone has to have the best, but, since I am picky as FUCK, and I am spoiled, I have to have at least one of the top units anymore to enjoy what my LDs have to offer. The American players just do not make the grade.
 

Xavier

Orochi's Acolyte
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Does anyone have any clue if there are any reasonably priced receivers for decoding a Laserdisc's RF AC3 output? I would think that there's some old modest receiver that couple probably be picked up cheap since it's old and used, but my searches are only coming up with Pioneer receivers that are still commanding $300 or so. I could always use a RF demodulator, but it would be nice to not have the extra piece of equipment.

Not sure there is such a thing, never seen one in person and never found online either. When this thread first popped up I double-cross checked about 6 threads at the avsforum and did some googling. Some people named off about five of them and all were proven not to be. Remember if something is advertised as ac3/DD ready that means you need to get a modulator for it. Like when they had "hdtv ready" monitors.

Again the only real major benefit is seperate rear speaker signals.
http://faq.yamaha.com/us/en/article...nce_between_Dolby_Pro-Logic_and_Dolby_Digital

Guess a separate low frequency as well..not sure that LD took advantage of it or that everybody has thier setup that way.

One last thing only some newer movies from say 96+ support it, the movie will have a tiny symbol on the lower right back cover if it does.

At this stage in the game, I wouldn't tie up a lot of money in this if I were you. Just go with something like a Yamaha DDP1...under $100...should be sufficient.

Yeah I see a ddp-1 on Ebay right now for $105 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-DDP-...888?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2dc564b8
Be sure you have 5.1 preamp in, most older receivers do, most newer ones don't.
Where as the adp-1 outputs to toslink/optical:
http://www.laserdiscarchive.co.uk/l...Yamaha_ADP-1_AC3_Demodulator/Yamaha_ADP-1.htm , anything can handle that.

That ddp-1 has optical in so such a thing must exist. ( I found a manual for it, *provided for future use.)
 
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potetoboy

Krauser's Shoe Shiner
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awesome set of laserdiscs Stealthlurker! Mirai Ninja and Shonan Bakusozoku look like great watches.
I try to collect quirky 80's / early 90's stuff as well, many of which probably died on the LD format. Any other recommendations for good/obscure Bosozoku movies?
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
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Yeah, you guys are right about the receiver. I researched a bit and found only a few receivers that supported both AC3 RF and DTS (most were Dolby only) and they had absolutely ridiculous prices. I'm going to just grab a old middle of the road receiver for this setup that supports DTS and Dolby Digital/Pro Logic. I'm not even using rear speakers, I just want to make sure I have all available connections available, and one of those receivers will support all available LD connections except for AC3 RF. I'll make sure to grab one with separate 5.1 inputs as well so I can use a RF modulator should I choose to get one, but I doubt I'll bother.
 
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StealthLurker

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awesome set of laserdiscs Stealthlurker! Mirai Ninja and Shonan Bakusozoku look like great watches.
I try to collect quirky 80's / early 90's stuff as well, many of which probably died on the LD format. Any other recommendations for good/obscure Bosozoku movies?

Unfortunately I don't know of anymore old bosozoku movies... but my neighbor told me of some fairly recent bosozoku movie that came out in Japan that's pretty good. I forget the name, I'll have to ask. There's also this documentary that I've been hearing about:

http://www.choppertown.com/japanese-biker-gangs-speedtribes
 

potetoboy

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^ Thanks for the link, definitely gonna check out Sayonara Speed Tribes.
 

jeffensminger

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Yeah, you guys are right about the receiver. I researched a bit and found only a few receivers that supported both AC3 RF and DTS (most were Dolby only) and they had absolutely ridiculous prices. I'm going to just grab a old middle of the road receiver for this setup that supports DTS and Dolby Digital/Pro Logic. I'm not even using rear speakers, I just want to make sure I have all available connections available, and one of those receivers will support all available LD connections except for AC3 RF. I'll make sure to grab one with separate 5.1 inputs as well so I can use a RF modulator should I choose to get one, but I doubt I'll bother.

Yeah man...that stuff can get expensive. I have a receiver with built in AC3, the Pioneer Elite 59TXI. it's an older model but it will still cost you around $1,000. I guess that's better than it's $4,500 retail price. I'm pretty sure it was the last one pioneer made that had AC3 RF in.
 

GohanX

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So, the glorious day is upon us where I finally receive my player! I got it set up on the PVM and tested it with a CD and a DVD, both work fine, and then I put in my Criterion Robocop and sat back to test the quality of the thing. The movie started and...it looked bad. Really bad. I was thinking, "What the hell, if this is as good it gets I've made a terrible mistake."

I've seen Robocop a million times. I forgot that the first segment in a newscast, filtered to look like it was being played out of an old 80's TV set. The real movie looks great! My player does have a minor problem though, when it switches to side B it will loop for a few seconds at the beginning, but you can fast forward through it and it will be fine afterwords. Looks like I may be opening her up, I bet something got knocked loose in shipping, it wasn't packed very well.
 

dspoonrt

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Congrats on receiving the new player. Glad to hear it's more or less working smoothly.
 

MattBlah

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Glad to hear it's all up and running. There are films that I get sometimes, especially Japanese releases, where the picture is barely any better than VHS, but most of the releases from 90 onward still look pretty good.
 

GohanX

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Yeah, that's why I put a good Criterion disc first. When I was testing some other discs the quality was all over the place, but when it looks good it's really good.
 

GohanX

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I opened the thing up to see if I could figure out why I had the issue and I think I've solved it. There was not a drop of grease on any of the parts that that should have grease. Nothing on the sleds, gears, nothing. The inside seemed like it's unusually clean for a device that is almost 20 years old with vents on the top, I wonder if someone opened it and cleaned up the insides to prepare for sale. The insides look brand spanking new, but I wonder if someone cleaned the grease off and didn't regrease it. I've only done a little testing but seems to be great now.
 

Neo Ash

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I opened the thing up to see if I could figure out why I had the issue and I think I've solved it. There was not a drop of grease on any of the parts that that should have grease. Nothing on the sleds, gears, nothing. The inside seemed like it's unusually clean for a device that is almost 20 years old with vents on the top, I wonder if someone opened it and cleaned up the insides to prepare for sale. The insides look brand spanking new, but I wonder if someone cleaned the grease off and didn't regrease it. I've only done a little testing but seems to be great now.

That's right. Lube her up so she can take all 12" of that LD.











That's what Merc would do......










moistmerc.jpg
 

famicommander

Tak enabled this rank change
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LD players are like record players in a sense. Being an analog format, the quality of your playback device greatly changes the image quality you'll get. In general all Sony players are trash, and almost all DVD/LD combo players are bad. I've given away a few Sony and Denon players in the last few years because they were so bad. I had good luck with low to mid grade Pioneer machines, but now that I have my Pioneer Elite I'll never go back.
 
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