After many ups and downs with Laserdisc I came across a local CLD-3380 for sale and I'm beginning to think that this may be a chance for me to give the medium a final chance. It's in perfectly working condition and price is just around $280, which is very fair considering how rare these higher end players are in Sweden.

Unless I'm mistaken it should be very comparable to the CLD-97 in terms of PQ. Can anyone here confirm this? Is there anything more I should know about the player before purchasing it? Previously I've had a CLD-R7G and a couple of cheap players, but I've always been interested in how these older elite players fare. I'll be using it with my BVM-20F1.

This is a CLD-3080 with a multi-voltage power supply and selector on the back I believe. Built at the same time as the 97 but the 97 does have better power supplies and all boards are laid out differently. This is a good player if you don't want to spend the money for the 97.

Sounds great. In Sweden, the CLD-97 is pretty much impossible to find so I'll give this one a shot. $280 ain't too bad considering the condition, plus Laserdisc players are very sought after here and even the most basic PAL/NTSC players fetch these prices.

Got it now and have only been able to use it with a mediocre LCD-TV by Philips (plugged straight in with no video processor). Although the TV doesn't handle composite any good, I can still see that the deisgn of this player is very good. Noise in reds are surprisingly low and image is overall more stable than my previous CLD-R7G. When holding it you really get the impression that it's of quality. Extremely well designed to say the least, I really like it so far. Looking forward to play with it on my BVM.

The older players have better power supplies with lower noise which provide lower noise in the video signals. The newer players (the R7G) included incorporated simpler switching power supplies which have more noise on the power signals and the depend on DNR to reduce the noise on the video output signal. You also have to remember this was the time the Dollar verses Yen took a big hit and DNR is cheaper to produce.

If you like the digital look with a sharper picture then the newer players are for you. It's really your personal preference and what you want the player for.