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 Post subject: What player to get?
PostPosted: 29 Jun 2017, 23:52 
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I'm slowly building a collection of laserdiscs but I have no player, heh. I'm wondering what to get. Main criteria for a player is 1) Must be working, 2) Straight AC3 output (RF Out not preferred), 3) S-video would be nice but not necessary, 4) Jog shuttle on remote, 5) Automatic side flip.

I'm looking in the $300 range or so, not including shipping. THAT SAID, I'm eyeing a Pioneer LD-S9 despite it's price. Is spending the extra cash going to be worth it? This unit has everything I want... I figure if I'm going to spend the money, I might as well get the best. But is the difference between an S9 and something more marginal going to be notable? How reliable is the S9? Will I need to worry about belts or lubrication of parts?

Looking for suggestions here. All thoughts welcome. :P
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 01:17 
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On number 2, all of the players with factory AC-3 have RF output. Any that have straight output are one-off custom jobs and there are probably literally only a handful out there.

S9 is not a great player in my opinion. A D704 with fancy (obsolete) comb filter. I would look for a CLD-97, get it modded for AC-3 and call it a day. For budget players I personally think the CLD-3080 is highly underrated. Stay away from DVLs even though they seem good on paper. I've owned pretty much every player worth considering at some point or another.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 02:22 
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gumbyandpals wrote:
On number 2, all of the players with factory AC-3 have RF output. Any that have straight output are one-off custom jobs and there are probably literally only a handful out there.

S9 is not a great player in my opinion. A D704 with fancy (obsolete) comb filter. I would look for a CLD-97, get it modded for AC-3 and call it a day. For budget players I personally think the CLD-3080 is highly underrated. Stay away from DVLs even though they seem good on paper. I've owned pretty much every player worth considering at some point or another.



What he said.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 03:20 
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substance wrote:
gumbyandpals wrote:
On number 2, all of the players with factory AC-3 have RF output. Any that have straight output are one-off custom jobs and there are probably literally only a handful out there.

S9 is not a great player in my opinion. A D704 with fancy (obsolete) comb filter. I would look for a CLD-97, get it modded for AC-3 and call it a day. For budget players I personally think the CLD-3080 is highly underrated. Stay away from DVLs even though they seem good on paper. I've owned pretty much every player worth considering at some point or another.



What he said.

What they said.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 08:14 
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Like gumbyandpals said, the 3080 is certainly underrated and well worth a look. It does have some smear but noise levels are certainly better than my previous players. I'm very happy to have one in great condition in my setup.

As for the LD-S9, I actually think I'd rather get an R7G. Noisier for sure but lacks smearing completely and has a great comb filter. Cheaper and easier to repair as well. Just don't expect any miracles in terms of PQ.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 12:07 
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S9 is the best PQ I've ever seen on LD. Then my S9 crapped itself and I tweaked the pots and destroyed it. f***en S9..
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 16:08 
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Only player I can think of that has built-in demodulation for AC-3 (ie: not RF out like TS is asking) is the MSB LS-2X Silver.

http://laserdiscarchive.co.uk/laserdisc ... sbls2x.htm

Good luck finding one of those. I remember a website back in like 2007 that was selling one for $2500. It's long gone now.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 21:08 
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What's wrong with a rf demodulator?
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 30 Jun 2017, 21:36 
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The internal RF demodulation was an option, I've seen this board added to a CLD-97. I think the company that made it (precisionlaserdisc) got in trouble as they quickly went away after this, they were still in Europe as BDE I believe. Trouble with the board is that it just demodulates the RF and has it's own separate output. So you need one input into your receiver/processor for this AC-3 bitstream and then another input for the normal digital input. I'd rather have an external demodulator that combines the two with one output.

As for the unit I also agree, forget the S9 and go for a 704. I also agree the older units are good like the 3080 and 3070 but no AC-3 RF output unless you have it added. The 97 is my favorite dual sided LD player but more than your $300.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 01 Jul 2017, 02:25 
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You could probably stuff a yamaha adp-1 in any player, its small enough.

I kinda like to have a separate spdif input as I don't like the ac-3 soundtrack on all LDs.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 02 Jul 2017, 05:17 
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For a first player, I wouldn't be picky at all, just get anything you can find with digital sound that works OK - even if it's a simple single-side player like a CLD-V2400. Then once you get a better one, you have a good backup player ;)

For simplicity I'd recommend anything after the CLD-D504, or say a DVL-9xx (not worth eBay prices, but if you can find one locally for $20, it's not bad)

The 503/70x generation is a bit nicer but if it hasn't had the grip ring cleaned up/replaced it probably will soon. The 3080/95/97 is nicer still, but it's more complicated still and going to be harder to fix/get fixed.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 02 Jul 2017, 07:07 
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Well to be fair, I'm not sure if any of my discs actually have AC3 audio on them. I've added my small collection to the my collection list of the LDDB website, but at most it suggests Dolby Surround for digital audio. Also, I don't have a surround setup at the moment, so it's probably best to forget AC3. I do like the idea of AC-3 RF out though. I did some reading and cleared up the confusion I had with the AC3 RF out, so I now understand why RF versus the straight AC3 out I see on the players is there. It's a bit awkward of a design decision and I don't know why anyone would've ever bothered with that in the first place if a digital out is already there. Anyway, I'm still leaning towards the S9 to be honest, but I'll check into the D704 and the 3080. The 3080 looks pretty decent for a starter machine and I could upgrade later as mentioned.

Thanks everyone. 8-)
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 09 Jul 2017, 05:05 
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jeffl3001 wrote:
Well to be fair, I'm not sure if any of my discs actually have AC3 audio on them.

The funny thing is that many Laserdiscs with AC-3 sound (5.1) do not say so, they have usually the DOLBY Logo with the word "DIGITAL" underneath printed on the back cover. Only some old prints show explicitely "AC-3" or the other old name "Dolby Stereo Digital", and some of the latest prints like "Star Wars I" carry "DD EX" (6.1). But don't mix it up with "Dolby Stereo" or "dts Stereo" - these are no digital formats.
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 09 Jul 2017, 05:25 
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The real question is, did you get a player or is this another risky topic about what player to get :think:
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 Post subject: Re: What player to get?
PostPosted: 20 Aug 2017, 00:37 
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Just seeing this thread now, Yes, I picked up a CLD-3080 (see my recent thread about it). It has some issues which I am trying to clear up if I can, otherwise I will probably pick up another player and keep the CLD-3080 as a backup.
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