Any loyal Fans of Laserdisc?

[Charlie04SiR]

I have been collecting them for just about 12 years now. Little by little and they sure add up. last time I counted I had right at 1800 of them, since then I have acquired another 200ish, so I gotta be pushing 2000 of them :D I have always loved the format. My neices love to watch animated laserdiscs :) I get compliments from friends who come over an some people go, whoa, what are those? I have heard from some other audio enthusiasts that Laserdisc players have an excellent laser assembly in them and they play audio CD's beautifully. What got me started with Laserdsics was my older brother when he was serving in the Air Force in Korea during the Gulf war in 1990-92. He had a CLD-2080 Multi-volt model and I bought it from him in 1998. I was just curious if there are still enthusiasts out there who hold Laserdiscs in high regard, especialy since there were many movies printed on the format which are not available on DVD.

[bfalls]

I can't say I 'm really an enthusiast, but I still have a player and about 60 discs. I bought a Pioneer combi-player (CD/DVD/LD) during LD's heyday. I have approximately 60 discs including the Star Wars collectors edition. It's of the original first (Chapters 4, 5, 6) movies. The discs are CAV, so have capacity for special effects.

"The Hunt for Red October" is one of my all-time favorite movies. I originally had it on LD. I later purchased the original DVD release, which was grainy and didn't sound good. I then purchased the special edition which was better, but I remember the LD still sounding better. I finally purchased the Blu-ray and found a DVD worthy to compare with the LD.

The only problem I have with LD is many of the movies we not in AC3 and many of the players required an demodulator/adapter for AC3. I have one, but it's a pain to setup. This thread has gotten me to think about LDs. I may have to get them out sometime over the long weekend.

[thekid]

I picked up a Pioneer CLD-M301 for $8 at a local thrift and picked up a bunch of LD's off of E-Pay. I really like the LD covers-kind of like little movie posters. PQ wise they are not quite as crisp as DVD's but on my HD TV they are pretty good. I am always on the look out for new titles but the local thrifts around here want like $10 per disc........

[squeegy200]

I stumbled across a Laserdisc store recently while shopping in Little Tokyo district in downtown Los Angeles. Apparently, the Japanese have maintained this format and have a vast market of software. I found most of the software titles were Anime and Japanese drama. However, there were a number of live concert titles and a good number of movies.

Part of the appeal of the old LPs was the jacket. It was an experience looking at the enclosed posters and the artwork while enjoying the music. Laserdiscs took this to a new level and offered the experience of watching your music.

One of the very first music videos "Elephant Parts" was originally released in the Laserdisc format. This was a breakthru because music was being captured in high resolution digital for listening and viewing. This was long before the advent of the CD or MTV. Having that big shiny disc in hand and watching your music played on the television was such a novel experience!

[fantao]

Can't believe there's still a Laserdisc store in LA - don't tell me where or I'll be tempted.

I'm still hanging on to my Pioneer CLD-99 plus about 100 odd discs (got rid of many duplicated on DVD when I moved), partly because of nostalgia and partly because I spent so much money on it all. There are still some LD's that I watch because they aren't on DVD - Hong Kong movies and musical concerts (when are they going to release these in HD?).

Some I can't bear to watch anymore because of poor mastering - recently tried Highlander Director's Cut, THX, AC-3, etc but could barely sit through it because of all the chroma noise and yucky picture quality - who the heck authorized this release as "THX"? I guess I've been spoiled by HD. Good LD soundtracks still sound awesome though, better than compressed DVD sound. Other advantages of LD's, they rarely freeze, and no blocky artifacts.

[thekid]

one of the nice things about going through LP's as the local thrifts is that on occasion you find an LD stuck in there. I picked up 4 titles a couple of weeks ago for a little less than $2 per disc...... :)

[Monkey Mouse]

I bought a LD player back in 1992 and sold it (with about 30 discs) back in 1997, just as DVD was gaining steam.

Except for the size and obviously the higher software cost (vs. DVD), LD was of great quality - no compression and played CDs beautifully.

Do they even make the players anymore?

[Dave_G]

I still have my Pioneer CLD-M301 and it works great and I use it often. Some of my LD's have the rot though which really stinks.

Dave