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Post by gus4emo on Feb 13, 2016 19:25:07 GMT -5
Hi all, the older people here, did you or do you still own any? I had a Pioneer player, was awesome, sold most of my discs, still have a few, remember when it was called AC3? Just feeling a bit nostalgic here.
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Post by andyman on Feb 13, 2016 19:47:32 GMT -5
Older people. Lol . Ouch . Yes. I have pioneer 504 sitting on the shelf collecting dust and a stack of laser discs. We've come a long way baby!
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harri009
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Post by harri009 on Feb 13, 2016 20:55:04 GMT -5
Older people. Lol . Ouch . Yes. I have pioneer 504 sitting on the shelf collecting dust and a stack of laser discs. We've come a long way baby! I remember my dad having some. How do they look on a modern TV?
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Post by Loop 7 on Feb 13, 2016 21:28:33 GMT -5
I don't own any discs nor have I ever used a player but I am fascinated by the format and the gear. For example, just look at the Pioneer HLD-X9. It's a work of art in my opinion. 37 lbs of beauty!
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Post by garbulky on Feb 13, 2016 21:35:08 GMT -5
Ah Laserdiscs. They brought back some nice memories of a video store in my home town. Though I never had one, I remember marvelling at the gigantic shiny discs and the large covers. What is interesting is that the video was stored in an ANALOG format. Later they stored the audio in digital format but the video itself was still analog. Because it was analog and uncompressed video, the format was immune to macroblocking in high motion scenes. My friend had a cousin that had one of the players and a rare at the time big screen tv. And he described the picture as being very nice.
I also remember one time a COMPUTER playing a laserdisc. Now that was interesting. It was Terminator 2. They had a laserdisc drive that was external to the player. Then they had it somehow interfaced to the PC. And the PC was playing it using some software.
What I think really stood out about the discs were their covers. You couldn't compare the covers with the junk that passes for DVD and VHS covers. These covers were more similar Vinyl covers due to their size.
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Post by 509Paul on Feb 13, 2016 21:41:40 GMT -5
Saw Top Gun on laserdisc a LONG time ago.
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Post by dcg44s on Feb 13, 2016 21:44:00 GMT -5
I still own two players,a Pioneer CLD-505 and an Enlightened Audio Designs T-8000 along with I don't remember how many discs.I remember back in the day,before UHD,before Blu-ray and HD DVD,before DVD when Laserdisc was the best there was,the format of videophiles.
I lusted after LD back then but they were costly and no one local sold players or discs so I had to do without.Years later I was finally able to get my first player,used,and a few discs.I don't expect to ever get rid of mine as I still enjoy owning them.They represent fond memories to me and there is a certain appeal in those big old discs and the huge album sized sleeves with in many cases fabulous artwork.
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Post by andyman on Feb 13, 2016 22:02:34 GMT -5
Older people. Lol . Ouch . Yes. I have pioneer 504 sitting on the shelf collecting dust and a stack of laser discs. We've come a long way baby! I remember my dad having some. How do they look on a modern TV? I remember the AC3 sound being great. Picture quality was twice as good as VHS. 240 vs 480. Lol
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Post by brutiarti on Feb 13, 2016 22:16:21 GMT -5
My great grandfather used to have one, lol. Just joking, but actually my dad used to have the RCA videodisc, i think that format tried to compete with the laserdisc and it lost the format war. Not sure tough PS. Actually i think that the video disc was even before betamax
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Post by mercury on Feb 13, 2016 22:17:53 GMT -5
I remember, I had the Pioneer CLD-1080 where you have to eject and flip over the Laserdisc to side B to continue watching a movie. Later I bought another player, a newer model, where you don't have to flip the LD anymore. It had a jog/shuttle in the front and also on the remote. Laserdisc were expensive at that time and I only bought a few, mostly I rented the Laserdisc.
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guitarforlife
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Post by guitarforlife on Feb 13, 2016 23:58:41 GMT -5
I had the pioneer and the RCA. The pioneer was a laser like a DVD or CD but the RCA had a actual needle that tracked like a record. And the disc (record) was in a plastic housing that you slipped in it. Ah, the good Ol' days sonny. Just kidding I'm not THAT old.
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Post by brutiarti on Feb 14, 2016 0:13:12 GMT -5
I had the pioneer and the RCA. The pioneer was a laser like a DVD or CD but the RCA had a actual needle that tracked like a record. And the disc (record) was in a plastic housing that you slipped in it. Ah, the good Ol' days sonny. Just kidding I'm not THAT old. My dad kept the videodisc only because he had a copy of an original "Let it be" movie disc. Hard to find movie at that time
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Post by gus4emo on Feb 14, 2016 0:33:02 GMT -5
Memories, memories, I had Sony 36 inch which the discs looked spectacular on it, still have a few including Earthquake, the original Stars Wars trilogy, The Fugitive (Harrison Ford ) and about a dozen more, wow, time travel, lol.
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Post by maseline98 on Feb 14, 2016 11:58:31 GMT -5
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Post by 509Paul on Feb 14, 2016 12:04:08 GMT -5
What is the picture quality on laser disc? Was it about the same as DVDs or a little less? With the days of HDTVs and bluray I bet laser disc would be horrible to try and watch.
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guitarforlife
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Post by guitarforlife on Feb 14, 2016 12:21:09 GMT -5
What is the picture quality on laser disc? Was it about the same as DVDs or a little less? With the days of HDTVs and bluray I bet laser disc would be horrible to try and watch. No not at all. I will have to say Ya, there is a difference between the old rear projection T.V.s of the past compared to the new HD TV's. But to tell you the truth for me I cant tell for love or money that a BR looks that much better then a DVD. In fact Most of the time I just buy plain old DVD. Now the RCA thing that had a stylus that played the video disc Ya, that was not the best and once in a wile the would skip just like a record would. But as far as the actual Pioneer laser disc they were very nice.
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guitarforlife
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Post by guitarforlife on Feb 14, 2016 12:29:31 GMT -5
My great grandfather used to have one, lol. Just joking, but actually my dad used to have the RCA videodisc, i think that format tried to compete with the laserdisc and it lost the format war. Not sure tough PS. Actually i think that the video disc was even before betamax I think Betamax was first. I had a Sony way before I ever saw the RCA thing. When I saw it I had to buy one. If I recall I think I had the Pioneer laser disc before the RCA. I do not remember how much they cost I think some ware in the 5-6 hundred dollar range. But I do remember the first beta I bought was $1200.00 and movies were about $100. each. It is crazy when you think the average person can buy a new DVD player 100 bucks or lower and buy a movie new for around $14.00 or used rentals for 4 for $20.00.
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Post by Talley on Feb 15, 2016 7:40:16 GMT -5
My uncle still has his player and all the laser discs he collected at the time. some 100+ movies. he never sells anything. Still watches it from time to time. He claimes it's better than DVD quality or at least it was for the first 6 or 7 years of DVD existence.
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Feb 15, 2016 8:39:12 GMT -5
Had both. Bought both cheap. Laserdisc was not digital. Analog format. Very cool though at the time. Don't own either anymore.
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Post by macromicroman on Feb 15, 2016 8:54:49 GMT -5
Yep, Had a Pioneer unit (I think). It didn't need to have the disk flipped. It did stop and wait while the unit got set to read the other side, however. I also rented many discs. I had Fridays off from work and watched about 4 movies each Friday for a while. I think I was also in a club (something like the old record clubs) and bought about 30-40 Discs. I kept them for awhile. Do not remember how but they all went somewhere. Didn't throw them away but don't remember who I gave them to. The probably thought they were getting LPs.
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