If I ever get around to it, I'll scan and post the part change bulletins and you all can have a look. Runco and MSB figured it out; surely we have some good brains on the forum who might be able to do the same.


By default it is off.

Disclord praised level 1 - said it reduced noise without noticable side effects.

If the APL bug causes the metadata in the vertical refresh to become brighter, it would be possible to compensate for it off-player. I could apply my capture card raw ADC hack+TBC+Comb filter software tech to captures, but not in real time.

edit: another relevant disclord quote "the 900 is the best Panasonic player, fully comparable to the Pioneer CLD-97. It's in the small handful of the best US players made.

Remember too, not all the 900's are affected by the APL problem and it can be compensated for by adjusting your set and turning on auto contrast or auto black level."

OK, when I turn it on it is off. So then; MODE 1, MODE 2, STANDARD = LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH?

http://manuals.lddb.com/LD_Players/Panasonic/Panasonic%20LX-900-EN_Scan.pdf Page 20

I guess it doesn't explicitly say that standard is NR off, but it seems to be implied in the wording, so:

Standard = Off
Mode 1 = Noise Reduction Level 1
Mode 2 = Noise Reduction Level 2

Awesome, thank you.

Hello. Could someone compare LX-900 with HLD-X9 (regardless of muse hi-vision ability and separation of digital audio tracks in left or right only) ? Thanx

Good afternoon seroxx, bguzman, gumbyandpals, grasshopper, elahrairrah, rixrex, and the many others comments here.

Just been reading the personal knowledge base from a number of yourselves and must admit I have been impressed with what you wrote.

It's a shame that a certain member is no longer with us as his input and unique viewpoint was appreciated.

I have had my eye on the Panasonic LX 900 / 1000 Players, as I myself have heard good things about them, not to mention how good these machines looked, great collectors items.

Thank you to all who have knowledge of these products & for your contributions to this topic.

I have learned and gained insight and am grateful

Thank you guys

Kindest regards

Another gem from Disclord on the LX900U + Faroujda VP100 processor: disclord @ What's your favorite LaserDisc player?

Looks like that processor fixes the 900 pretty nicely.

I am afraid I busted another myth. Denon LA-3500 does NOT decode Ld-g!!! I tried Independence Day japanese ld and ghost in the shell premium box set. I tried every channel but was unable to display ld-g on screen.

A quick google search brings up a number of people claiming this unit had ld-g. Same for hld-x0s bnc output bypassing dvnr, it does NOT!!! I don't know how these guys test functionality:0. Maybe they just wanna justify their expensive purchase? X0 uber expensive and la-3500 is rare maybe they thought no one could bust their claims easily?

Anyways

Anyways folks. La-3500 is just a plain lx-900u with cooler front face and factory ac3 rf output. It also has the apl error like most 900u. It will soon be offered for sale if still anyone wants it.

The LA-3500 service manual shows it has a CD-G decoder not a LD-G decoder. I'm not sure how the implementation differs but the big "graphics" on the front is definitely for CD-G

Hi, I got the Runco LJR-II which I understand is almost identical to the LX900 on the video side minus the AGC.

I have fired it up and I am not happy as it does not seem to have defeatable noise reduction.

The three settings seem to be standard, Mode 1 and Mode 2. Before I got the Runco I was under the impression that there was an off setting but it seems there isn't, I also checked it in the manual section of the LX900 that does not mention an "OFF" option. I am not a big fan of 20 year old noise reduction and can clearly see that some detail is lost through it compared to my HLD-1000 which is the Muse player version of the CLD-97.

So does anybody have an idea how to defeat the noise reduction without physically modifying the player? I doubt that it is due to the player being soft by design as an LX600 that I also have here does look quite good and about on par with the Pioneer in my system.

By the way: Everything else about the Runco is pretty cool, including the addition of one analog and 4(!!) digital audio outputs and of course the overall look - the Panny players look like the Panny VCR's from that time which imo is not the greatest look.

Just a quick post. I got a used LX-600 at a thrift store and I love it. After playing a rot free Pioneer pressing of the SuperNTSC LD of The Fifth Element, Austin Powers International Man of Mystery, and Goldeneye to test picture quality, I have to say I'm impressed. I wish I still had my LX-1000 for comparison, but my memory of that player is that it was not as sharp as this one. Well transferred LDs really do look almost like DVDs on this player.

Does anyone still make the AC-3 mod kits for this and other players?

AC-3 these days is either DIY (no kits or instructuons) or send it to Kbahr or grasshopper.

Are you sure the noise reduction is non-defeatable? Just because they chose the nomenclature "standard" instead of "off" doesn't mean they don't mean the same thing. There are a number of alignment related things that can cause a softer picture.

Also, despite the good reputation that the Runcos/LX-900s have, the CLD-97 is a better player. (I say this as someone who has or did own a CLD-97, LX-900, and Runco LJR-I)

LD-G is identical to CD-G, but the Panasonic/Denon design doesn't apply it to LD-G. Pioneer's later Karaoke players do.

Edit: And the Runco LJR2's NR is weird especially with super-bright colors. It messes up the red block on the VE zone plate for instance. The regular 900 might be more to your taste.

In the thread Show me yours, I'll show you mine I posted captures of 3 players on the resolution patterns (including the LX-1000u). If you could post a resolution picture for the LX-600 for comparison I would be interested in seeing that.

Tony

Hi all,

While on a VCR hunt at a local junk shop, I came across a lonely LX-900 that I'd noticed in the pile a few years ago, but shrugged off as I had no interest in LD at the time. There was no remote and the jog/shuttle wheel was missing. After noticing that it was still sitting there after all this time, I decided to plug in and see if it would power up and eject discs properly.

It powered up, and upon ejection, was presented with a copy of Top Gun. I took it all home for $20.

I'll happily to get into LD for a cool twenty bucks (thus begins the hunt for decent Star Wars discs), but it seems that many of the unit's functions depend on a working remote. Any ideas on where I might find one? Looks like the part number is VEQ1433.

An even longer shot: any leads for a replacement jog/shuttle knob?

Finally: are there any quick tests that I can perform to check for AGC issues? Dark scenes in Top Gun?

Ironic how hunting for a decent S-VHS unit brought me to LD. Yet here I am.

The AGC issue is pretty overblown IMO. Not all LX-900s have it and even those that do it's barely noticeable. A lack of ringing, false outlines, and CLV smear are huge pluses that outweigh any AGC issue. If only the background noise was better, it would be a killer player. They skimped in a few areas over the first gen Panasonics, but also greatly improved tracking and chroma noise.

In the later players from both Pioneer and Panasonic(perhaps others as well), they have switching-type power supplies. Some call these digital power supplies. These are very efficient, much smaller, due to their adjustable switching frequencies, they can adopt to different voltages (100-240V) and have very steady outputs. You don't need any regulators, just some filtering(not a noise filter) to flatten the output at the end. The bad news is, switching transistors create high frequency noise, very bad for analog electronics. These noise and their harmonics are within the audio and video spectrum. Once the audio and video signal are digitized, they are immune to this noise but while they are in analog domain they are compromised. It is easier to not create noise then later try to remove it. Early players had r-core or toroidal transformers in place of the fast switching transistors. Larger transformers have less conductive noise and more efficient. The transformer also act as an isolation from common mode noise coming from you main electricity.

The Denon LA-3500 has a different power supply than LX-900U. I don't remember if it is switching or linear. I can open it up and check later. Another idea is, it might be possible to use the linear power supply from the LX-1000U on the 900U. They might be interchangeable.

Found a review of the LX-600 in an old issue of Video Magazine. Figured I'd share it here for future (past?) reference...