Hi,

since I might be getting a MUSE player soon along with the infamous Sony MUSE decoder ( it is still in the balance but I am in negotiations with the vendor ) I was wondering
how much I should expect to pay for a single disc. A couple of MUSE discs ( Basic Instinct etc. ) will be included in the package
however I have found a seller in Germany who might be willing tosell me the following MUSE titles for 100 € each and I was wondering
whether that was a fair price:

Okinawa Underwater (1992) [00MW-0001]
Atlantis (1991) [PILH-1003]
Hi-Vision Art Library: Sekiguchi [JVAM-3001]
Sakana Hakkei: vol.08 Lionfish [SH3027-00]
Kamui of the Okhotsk (1995) [00MW-0012]
Tamura Shigeru: Ursa Minor Blue (1993) [00MW-0002]
Sea Forest (1995) [00MW-0013]
Song of Africa [00MW-0014]

€100 is a good price for those. movies will run you $150-750 if you can find them. They rarely show up for sale.

I am seriously considering buying a "new" MUSE Player ( Pioneer HDL X0 ) + decoder ( the infamous Sony MUSE Decoder ) + a couple of discs. ( Basic Instinct, plus 4 non movie titles in MUSE )

I wonder what the price for that should be in total ? So I can negotiate with the seller.

Does the seller have an HLD-X0 for sale? In Europe that player usually around 2000-2500 euros but I haven't seen one for sale for quite some time.

Oh really, so you think 2500 $ for the MUSE player, plus Sony MUSE Decoder and 5 discs is a good price ?

And yes, it is the HLD-X0. That's the offer the seller made me.

But isn't the HLD-X0 inferior to the HLD-X9 ?

I am assumming you are looking at the ebay auction from Philippines. The auction includes X0, MSC-4000 and 5 titles. I also believe X0 comes with the manufacturers box which is rare(and extra value). $3600 + $700 shipping is a steal for this set. Basic Instinct is not that rare but Stargate is. All of the discs are missing their Obi so think half value on those. Most collectors will ignore incomplete units regardless of even low price.

Now the bad news. This same deal was on auction at least once before about a year ago. I was relisted a number of times. I considered buying it. Another one by nshen from HK(very reputable seller) was listed shortly after solf very quickly. It made me think why this one didn't sell with all the goodies. I would question what kind of protection you have in case the item arrives broken or doesnt arrive at all. $700 shipping is cheap for this item. I seriously recommend against slow boat on this item. It is super heavy and it wont survice even minor abuse during transit. Also the manufacturers box has no room in it for anything. So how is the decoder and discs are shipped? X0 definitelly needs a second box which will increase shipping cost by $150-200.

ebay and paypal protection is not always very good on all countries. In USA you are pretty safe if item arrives damaged or anything. It takes a while but you get your money back. I dont know if this is true for Philippines.

X0 is superior to X9 in many aspects, especially in terms of picture and sound quality. X9 is two side player, smaller, lighter, cheaper and easier to find. Pioneer built several thousand X9s but only 1500 X0.

Thanks for replying.

I would only pick it up personally. Thanks for the very detailed reply. I know it is very heavy. I have always found a solution in life.
I do not care about the missing OBI. That never really bothered me.

I would never DREAM of sending money to the Philippines and hoping for the item to arrive one day.

In terms of audio quality I highly doubt anyone could notice any difference between the two players, but when it comes to picture quality on NTSC discs the HLD-X0 is better than any other player. On MUSE the differences are rather minor between the X0 and X9 from what I understand.

If it's a local seller and you're able to pick it up in person, then I'd say $2500 is a great price. I'd easily go for that if I had the chance and interest. I was looking for an HLD-X0 for quite some time but my interest in Laserdiscs has decreased dramatically over the last year so I probably won't get one.

What player are you using now by the way?

I have been unsing a CLD-925 for the past 12-13 years now. Still working like a charm except the infamous U1 error.

Heh, if you go from CLD-D925 to HLD-X0 you will notice some differences for sure. I would be very surprised if you wouldn't.

That is very interesting. I would most certainly love to see it !

I went from CLD-97 to X0 it was very noticable. Also keep in mind, to make the X0 a justice, you need to mate it with a good video processor. S-video output on it is junk. You need a good 3D comb filter to squeeze out every possible detail out out it. I used a PMS Crystalio II VPS-3800 for a while than upgraded to Lumagen Radiance 2144. DVDO Iscan duo would be my minimum recommendation.

I have paid the seller a deposit of 200 $ and he has already removed the offer from ebay. He guaranteed me that everything was still working perfectly and that I would have
time to inspect the player thoroughly before paying him.

Good luck friend. As long as everything checks out, you got nothing to lose. If you aren't pleased with it, you can easily sell it for that price once you bring it to Europe.

As I said I would have never bought the player unless I was truly able to throughly check it. But he seems to be OK. He is Hong Kong Chinese btw doing business
in Manila so I hope everything will turn out OK.

In response to the original inquiry, while you could "get lucky" & pay less, E100 each is not a bad price for any of those except, in my opinion, the Sakana Hakkei disc. That is intended to be played in a "virtual aquarium", so it consists of a single continuous shot of fish swimming back & forth, with no soundtrack.

Oh thats good to know. That actually sounds like an interesting title for some reason.

I just wanted to give an update on the MUSE player I bought in Manila.

So I bought the player last weekend in Manila however not everything panned out as it was initally intended to.

First of all, the player was in excellent shape. Hardly any scratches.

I played three entire sides of two NTSC laserdiscs:
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/24167/MLV ... he-Concert
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/23419/SM0 ... the-Spirit

All sides played perfectly and I have to say the video quality was excellent. The picture was very clear and the image
did not contain the faintest signs of rot. I was impressed. The player was getting the maximum quality possible out of the
discs.

Now about the player's MUSE playback capabilities:

I could not test any of the MUSE discs. This is why: The seller had not used the player for a long time and the last time
he made the screenshots for the ebay auction the MUSE decoder he bought this year from Japan this year was working. He told me he
had accidentally connected the coaxial cable to the player's AC3 output instead of the MUSE output the day before we met. He believes that could have
destroyed the MUSE decoder's video part.
HOWEVER the MUSE decoder can still be switched on and the MUSE audio is working and the letters "HD" appear on the player's
display which I thought was very cool. The audio quality was excellent however the video output was dead. I tried my best reconnecting
the cables but it did not work. I hope it can
be fixed somehow. Not even the menu of the MUSE decoder could be accessed. Only the audio was coming out.
When trying to play a MUSE encoded disc using the NTSC output there is no sound and picture however instead of NTSC the words "Hi-Vision"
appear on the screen for a brief period.
The seller gave me a discount of 700 $ after some serious negotiations. He also told me that he had basically not used the player for the last
ten years at least.

I am 100 % convinced that the MUSE playback capabilities of this player are still there. The seller is a millionaire owning his own factory
so there is no need for him to pull a stunt like this. I have tested the player inside the office.

Well, 5 discs were included as well. I wish Stargate would have had a nicer digipack instead of the regular elephant condoms.

My player is currently in Cologne and German Customs still want to see some proof from the seller ( receipt ) and I still need to pay
something for it to be passed through customs. Of course I was not entirely honest about the real price but how would they be able
to find out ?

The remote control is very neat I must say. Well, that's basically it.

Congratulations on your purchase!
With the $700 reduced price for the defective MUSE decoder,
you should easily be able to get a replacement MUSE decoder.

Enjoy!

Well I still got the defective MUSE decoder for free so it might be fixed actually.

I also want to buy a specific Mitsubishi S-VHS recorder with an inbuilt MUSE -> NTSC decoder. It can be bought for around 100 € on
Yahoo Auctions. It would at least enable me to test the player should the MUSE decoder stop working.