i know that the older laserdiscs did not have cx audio and digital audio tracks, say for example "Popeye", released by paramount home video in the early 80's. how does the audio quality compare to ones that were REMASTERED with cx audio and digital sound?

It all depends on the pressing. Generally the sound is good but on the occasion of a bad pressing you can get audio-rot. I have nearly all of the non-cx titles and have had very little problem.

if i used the cx noise reduction, how would it sound?

On my player, if the disc isn't encoded with it, the cx button on my remote will not do anything. In other words, I don't think it will make any difference.

well, when i tested "raiders of the lost ark", which has analog CX sound, it's pretty darn good.

As I understand it CX is only supposed to be used if the disc was made for it. This is why there is a flag for it that keeps you from being able to mess with it at all in most player/disc combinations.

I don't have any pre-CX discs so I haven't tried it myself.

Note that CX only works on the Analog tracks IF the contents are identical -- e.g.: Stereo, Surround.

If the tracks are different (on AC3 discs, mono commentary track next to mono soundtrack, bilingual mono, etc.), CX would actually distort the sound instead of improving it.

=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CX_(audio)

Julien

Just a heads up, but it's not just earlier discs that lack CX; I have a few 90's releases that lack it (i.e. Escape from New York: Collector's Edition (1981) [ID2330SU]), as well, though they sound just fine imo.

I own the same pressing and it is spot on. Its way better than the SE DVD that was released where it had some dialouge panning centred. The LD is nearest to cinema flashback one could own. Also the missing cassette spool sound effect was missing just before the end credits rolled. I won't be surprised at if that perfect bluray format has the same botched up sound.

I'll keep the Laserdisc its a brilliant Dolby Stereo mix by
Steve Maslow
Gregg Landaker
Bill Varney

This disc doesn't have CX because it has a commentary track on Analog R and the film soundtrack in mono on Analog L. CX won't work on programs like this.

CX was added around 1982 to combat player noise sneaking into the audio. Sometimes you could hear the laser power supply in the audio track. CX helped reduce that, and increased the dynamic range too.

The early discs are not "auto-CX" flagged, so they won't turn on the CX system automatically. If you play one of these discs, you can turn on and off the CX audio with the remote on any player. Once they enabled the "auto-CX" on the discs, and the players ability to read the code, that makes it impossible to set the wrong way.

For a while, they would only CX encode stereo programs. Eventually there were enough complaints that they began CX encoding all analog soundtracks, mono or stereo (with the exception of commentary, bilingual, AC3 or other multi-audio tracks).

my players are on the other side of the room away from my audio gear. my video processor digitizes analog audio and transfer it via 40ft HDMI cable to the front of the room where my audio gear is. Since all purpose of analog audio is defeated this way, I never bother to listen to analog tracks unless its the only option.
I think CX works similar to Dolby B or C on audio tapes. It applies a low pass filter at very high frequencies. If the track is not designed for it, your sound will lose its air. It gets rid of most of the hiss coming from recording.

okay, is there a list of early cx discs? for instance, warner's catalog before 1984?

Use the "Advanced Search" screen: warner's catalog before 1984 without CX

Julien